Of course, he's a fictional character and therefore no more white than he is black, brown, purple, or the best color of all, midnight green. I therefore criticized Megyn Kelly when in 2013 she remarked.
In Slate, they have a piece on dotcom, "Santa Claus should not be a white man anymore." And when I saw this headline I kind of laughed and I said "this is so ridiculous. Yet another person claiming it's racist to have a white Santa," you know. And by the way for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white. But this person is arguing that maybe we should also have a black Santa. But Santa is what he is and just so you know, we're just debating this because someone wrote about it, kids.
But the years since then have demonstrated that Kelly was condemned for a different reason. Though she was derided for maintaining "Santa just is white," few commercials and ads in the mass media since then have depicted the big guy as anything but white.
Surely, marketing departments have known for a long time that blacks, Latinos, and others buy gifts and are susceptible, as are whites, to advertising programs imploring them to buy, buy, buy. Yet, it is clear that marketing executives believe that consumers relate, for whatever reason, to a white Santa.
Nonetheless, when Megyn Kelly declared "Santa is just white," she was showered with torrents of complaints. Admittedly, her remarks pertaining to Santa were misguided because she seems a little too pleased that he is portrayed as white. Nevertheless, there must be an explanation(s) for the vitriol that she was subjected to, given that white Santa had been (and continues to be) the industry norm,
With psychologists, sociologists and others evidently choosing not to weigh in with an explanation, foolish is the man or woman who would speculate. So I will.
Megyn Kelly is an individual and represents low-hanging fruit. She thus is vulnerable to accusations of "racism" and the like. By contrast, the assorted business owners, entertainment honchos, and other moguls who control our largely capitalistic system are less exposed to criticism. Criticizing them would be to question a system of what could be described as institutional racism.
That would cut to the core of the underpinning, and nature, of our economic system, which would come under unwanted scrutiny. It would challenge assumptions about the core of the economic system and be uncomfortable for those with copious money and power. Better to characterize someone as racist; it was in fashion then, is in fashion now, and is not abating.
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