Deconstructing Rudolph 

It’s that time in America again. All Christmas all the time. (Some radio channels take that quite  literally.) Thanksgiving received scarcely any notice this year, and forget about Chanukah. (Actually, do forget that — it’s another essay entirely.)

But I am not writing to excoriate America’s penchant for bright lights and catchy tunes. I am writing because I have selected Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as the anthem of these divisive and mean-spirited times.

How could it have taken me so long to realize that the song celebrates discrimination? Here, the “other” has a shiny nose, but it would work just as well if that nose was hooked, and good for opening chimney covers.

Oh how we exult when Rudolph’s tormentors decide to tolerate him because he can be useful to them. We let them off the hook for past behaviors, as if they are somewhat praiseworthy for no longer laughing and calling Rudolph names.

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Just what are we supposed to learn from this? And what about Santa, who has allowed his reindeer to exclude Rudolph from their games in the past and now comes — red-and-furry-white hat in hand — to seek his help? Does this mean that undeservedly ostracized groups need to bend over backward to prove their utility to the in-crowd before they can be treated as equals?

Why, then, if the Christmas oeuvre can embrace such a song, is the season dubbed a time of goodwill and peace for all men (and women)? You would think that if goals such as fellowship were truly strong, then Thanksgiving would be the holiday of choice.

Not to veer too sharply into politics, but it would be naive not to align the message of Rudolph with what we’re hearing today. If the human “others” don’t have shiny noses, they have strange accents and speak a different language. They eat different foods and like different music.

Still, the message is the same. They will need to do something to justify their existence here before we can deign to accept them. Or at least not round them up and deport them. What will be the criteria for selecting deportees?

What if they work and pay taxes but still have a shiny nose?

Lois Goldrich of Fair Lawn is, among other things, an editor emerita of the Jewish Standard.