Another "Just Kidding" Moment About Racism on Fox

Unless you just popped in from Mars (greetings and salutations if you have), then you must be aware of the kerfuffle over Megyn Kelly at Fox News saying that of course Santa Claus and Jesus are white and you'd be crazy to suggest otherwise. This was in response to an article at Slate.com by Aisha Harris that argues having only white Santas perpetuates a "white-as-default" culture that can have a negative effect on non-white families.

Now, as a white guy, I have never given this much thought. Which is at the same time the benefit of being a white male in current-day America and the curse of being completely clueless about how other people perceive what we may consider "normal". The goal is to recognize that what I experience in this country is not what most people experience, and to be empathetic and to try and see things from other points of view. I really sucked at this when I was younger but I like to think I have gotten better at this as I have aged. Which is the long way of saying that Ms. Harris has a completely legitimate point. And while she couched it in a tongue-in-cheek suggestion we turn our symbol of Christmas into a penguin, it's a point worth looking at and discussing.

Unless you are on Fox. Enter Megyn Kelly:

"By the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white but this person is just arguing that maybe we should also have a black Santa. Santa is what he is and just so you know, we are debating this because someone wrote about it, kids."

....

"Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean it has to change...Jesus was a white man, too. He was a historical figure. That's a verifiable fact -- as is Santa. I just want the kids watching to know that. My point is, how do you just revise it in the middle of the legacy of the story and change Santa from white to black?"

As Jesus himself said, "Suffer little children to come unto me...so that I may use them to shield my blatant racism." Or something like that.

In My Day, We Called It "Being A Spoiled Little Shit"

So it's pretty hard to read a news site or turn on the television without hearing about the spoiled little shit who killed four people while driving drunk and only got probation. The reason? He suffered from (and I am not making this up) "Affluenza". According to his attorneys, the spoiled little shit named Ethan Couch was brought up in a consequence-free environment by his parents. And the judge bought into it. And so now in Texas a spoiled little shit is free while an entire family was buried. All because his parents are apparently worthless when it comes to actually being parents.

What a spoiled little shit looks like

And what did this spoiled little shit do before he killed four people?

Earlier on the night of the accident, June 15, Couch and some friends had stolen beer from a local Walmart. Three hours after the crash, tests showed he had a blood alcohol content of 0.24, three times the legal limit, according to the district attorney's office.

But hey, he grew up under the non-existent thumb of over-permissive rich douchebags. So he must not be able to use logic, comprehend basic concepts of right and wrong, or rationalize that it's wrong to steal beer and drive drunk. Let alone kill people. Probation for all!

Wonder how this would have gone down if a poor, black kid had killed four people? I think we all know probation wouldn't be on the table.

People Are Insane

So a few months back I mentioned there is a new drug making the rounds called Krokodil. It's a mixture of codeine and harmless things like gasoline or paint thinner. It has one major side effect: your skin falls off.

Of course it comes from Russia, where they'll apparently drink or inject anything for a momentary high. But to their credit, at least they didn't shoot the drug into their genitals. Because, y'know, your skin falls off

According to José Sotero Ruiz Hernández, an official with Mexico's National Institute of Migration, a 17-year-old girl in Puerto Vallarta presented lacerations to her genitals that she said were caused by her addiction to krokodil.

"The young woman who used this drug had an infection that had rotted her genitals. It wasn't sexually transmitted. She said she'd been using krokodil for the last two months," Hernandez said, according to a Huffington Post translation of Mexican newspaper El Periodico Correo.

It's not like it's hard to find out that this shit rots your skin. How far past the pale do you have to be to willing shoot a flesh-rotting cocktail of crap into your business?

Oh, here's why they do it:

It is significantly cheaper than heroin, and reportedly ten times as potent.

I guess in their minds, the "cheap high > rotting junk" equation makes sense.

And This is Why I Hate Flying

No. Fucking. Thanks.

I need to become a billionaire so I can travel everywhere by luxury train / massive yacht.

Nice save by the pilot, though.

This is Awesome

As video games become more and more realistic, shouldn't the consequences of your actions also become part of the game? Not your in-game actions, your actions outside of the game.

To wit, and from the fine blokes at Deadspin, here is what happens when you swear while playing NBA 2K14 on the Xbox One.

Now, it should be pointed out that had the Rage King calmed down for a few seconds, he'd have likely realized you can turn this feature off. Still, I think it's pretty cool.

And they aren't the first ones to do it. The FIFA series has this as well. Swear too much in career mode while playing and you get a stern letter from your club's owner. Which I found out first-hand playing FIFA 13. I might have a slight swearing problem. Which is to say it's a big problem. So turning this feature off may be a good thing for me going forward.

But think of the possibilities. In any multi-player game, you could design the game to react negatively to someone using insulting language. See how many times someone says "fag" in Call of Duty if it results in them being left with only a knife for an hour. Something to think about...