In many American homes, reading the 19th century poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” is a major part of each Christmas season.
Even those who have never read the work in its entirety can probably recite its opening lines: “‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring – not even a mouse.”
For one Canadian publisher, this classic piece of literature is due for a politically-correct update featuring a non-smoking Santa.
In an interview, she discussed her hack job on the nearly 200-year-old poem, saying, “I just really don’t think Santa should be smoking in the 21st century.”
Of course, as Michelle Obama tells us between bites of deep-fried snacks, obesity is “the number one greatest security threat that we have.”
The censored St. Nick, though, will be keeping his extra pounds. If this do-gooder is worried kids will start smoking pipes with the classic Santa as a role model, shouldn’t she also do something about his bowl full of jelly?
“He doesn’t eat in the story. That’s not my issue,” she said, dismissing the topic entirely.
Her crusade against Clement Clarke Moore’s brilliant interpretation of Father Christmas did extend to other peccadilloes — primarily related to his wardrobe.
The revamped Santa will be wearing faux fur instead of the real thing. Apparently kids were hearing this poem and immediately running out to round up minks and a can of Prince Albert.
It’s not just the grumpy conservatives like me who think this whitewash of American tradition is utter nonsense.
A spokesperson for the American Library Association didn’t hold back, calling the publisher’s rewrite “an act of censorship that denies the audience access to the author’s authentic voice.”
The National Coalition Against Censorship came out with its own statement, saying that “putting children in an insulation bubble … is not only impossible, it is unproductive.”
Those two quotes sum it up quite succinctly.
Kids are being exposed to so much trash, violence, sex and drugs in the most prevalent forms of media on a daily basis while one vigilante publisher thinks she’s going to make her mark on society by putting Santa on the patch. Let’s try to clean up our present societal decay before we try to sterilize the past.
To see the original version of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” click here.
B. Christopher Agee founded The Informed Conservative in 2011. Like his Facebook page for engaging, relevant conservative content daily.
Photo credit: hegarty_david (Creative Commons)
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“I just really don’t think Santa should be smoking in the 21st century.”
He shouldn’t have been smoking in the 20th, 19th, 18th, or 17th, either, but people back then found productive things to do with their time, rather than trying to tell others how to think, live, and do.
The idea of rewriting someone else’s literature, repainting a portrait, recomposing a cantata, or destroying any other creativity is reprehensible and shows how little regard the publisher has for the ideas of others. Clements’ poem has been around a lot longer than anything this publisher will ever publish.
this bitch is brain damaged ! fools , over bearing assholes and dogooders will be the down fall of civilization ! a thousand years from now mankind will not even remember being free !