New at Reason

Tim Cavanaugh | July 8, 2005

Chuck Freund says Santa's newly made-over look is nobody's business but the Turks.

Comments

|7.8.05 @ 4:47PM|#

Is this the Fun Link?

|7.8.05 @ 4:57PM|#

No, joe, the Plan B thread is the Fun thread. Because putting women's health in jeopardy to make a moral point is always funny! (according to right-wingers, at least).

|7.8.05 @ 4:58PM|#

Yet another shining example of how consumerist culture can bring people together!

|7.8.05 @ 5:06PM|#

Now that I think about it, it occurs to me that the more statues and memorials and holidays and other memorializations we use to honor a person, the less valued that person and his/her ideas become. A Christian saint becomes a symbol of vacuous consumption, George Washington's ideas of what a president should be are now silly, Lenin has become a cool home decorating accessory.... Perhaps we could put up a few statues of, oh-I-dunno, Osama bin Laden?

|7.8.05 @ 5:13PM|#

JMoore,

There is a really good German movie called "The Nasty Girl" (starring Lena Stolze) which addresses the exact phenomenon you are referring to. The film deals with issues of Holocaust denial in a small German town. I highly recommend you see it.

|7.8.05 @ 5:52PM|#

JMoore,

Santa Claus was given to us by the Dutch. The Dutch also gave us the word boss and the concept of a public prosecutor.

Anyway, in entertainment law one of the reasons why public personalties often vigilantly protect their publicity rights is because image is a commodity with diminishing returns after a fair amount of usage.

smacky,

Yeah, great movie. Its hard to believe that it was done in 1989.

|7.8.05 @ 7:42PM|#

This conflict could be easily avoided if more people would simply embrace the great tradition that is Festivus.

|7.9.05 @ 7:59AM|#

Festivus for the rest of us!

|7.9.05 @ 11:54AM|#

Serenity, now!