Christmas Spirit and Authoritarian Values (Don’t) Mix

Well, this didn’t even take a day. A rightwing page, which won’t be getting any extra advertising from me here, ran an article on how the Pope likened current refugees to the Holy Family. In a predominantly Catholic country, which prides itself on its authoritarianism, this did not go over well. One suspects this may also have plenty to do with the fact that the current Pope is from Argentina (therefore from a Third World country, their words not mine) and thus not really an authority. Most probably still wish the German back. At least he was dogmatic and put law before emotion. But that’s another debate for another time.

The comparison did not go over well. This was to be expected. After all, everyone here knows that Jesus was white (with very light brown hair and the bluest of eyes) and that Mary had alabaster skin to beautifully offset those innocent blue eyes (Joseph was just some scruffy older guy, but since he saved Mary and Jesus we’ll just make him “Mediterranean white”).

With nearly 1,000 comments in the past hour alone, I’m not inclined to read them all, but the ones that stood out do bear mentioning.

 

 

 

Has no one told the old guy that the Holy Family was only there to fulfill the prophecy, ran one. After which they went back home.

 

 

 

Likening a bunch of military-aged men to a family in desperate need of shelter points to brain deficiency of the highest order, ran another.

 

 

 

And my favorite. Clearly the old guy doesn’t know the Bible. The Holy Family went to Bethlehem to fulfill the Word, because Herod wanted to kill all male newborns. After that they went to Egypt with God’s guidance, not because they were invited by the EU.

 

 

 

That the writer of this last pearl of wisdom got checked in the next comment (ironically, or maybe not, these were all male “commentators”) with, several years passed between the Exodus and the birth of Jesus, before breaking down that there were two different Josephs, should come as a small measure of comfort. But those voices of reason are very few and very far between, and the fact that these Einsteins feel comfortable enough to use their real names when spewing this kind of hatred only amplifies how rightwing this country has become. You have more of a chance of being fired for espousing liberal values than for spewing hateful rightwing propaganda. Peace on Earth indeed.