Why can we have a PC Santa but not a PC Jesus?

Thank Coke for that…they spread the whole Santa thing

I disagree. Most westerners portray jesus as being as lily white as themselves. He almost certainly was not. He was likely swarthy, Aramaic looking and could even have been quite dark, as in African. It seems to me that their savior in particular has been through the just-like-me PC treatment. I frankly don’t care what color Santa is, although I imagine the constant changing strainst the credultiy of the little types that still believe in him as a single entity.

Have whatever Jesus you want PC or MAC,
if this is a genuine question then my answer is… I don’t think as many people have an issue about it as you believe, I know the Greeks portray the colour of Jesus as dark skinned as well as white and nobody cares, same goes for many other European countries.
If your intention was to create a flame based racial/religious argument then so far it looks like a FAIL.

@ETpro St. Nicolas was from the area of Turkey I think? Probably darker as well. But, didn’t Santa Claus get developed by the Germans? Or, was it a different part of Europe?

What about a PC Buddha?

I’d think people would be more concerned that Santa can have little girls sit on his lap and wiggle in plain view of everyone.

@Odysseus If your intention was to create a flame based racial/religious argument then so far it looks like a FAIL. If it was your intention to completely overlook the question; FAIL. As @ETpro alluded to, for a long, long time many people fashioned Christ to look like them, especially Europeans. Then a movement happened to make Jesus reflect more of the region where he was born and lived, which is the Middle East. Are you following me here? Now there are those who still wish to see Christ as blonde hair and blue eyes but they are seen by many at least around these neck of the woods as on the outs and devoid of the factual Jesus. Now, some of these same people will groan because there was no Hispanic, or Black Santa at the mall. You can see where this is going, I hope? The question is not Santa vs. Jesus, it is more why is it more acceptable to have multiracial Santas when Santa though a fictional entity, came from an actual European Saint, supposing, and less palatable to have a multiracial Jesus? Got that?

@Deja_vu I don’t think there is one. I have never seen a Budda that was anything other than Asian, and have never heard anyone question it. I guess because Budda was Asian it is hard to see him as anything else, like trying to imagine Italian ninjas or something.

@ratboy I would not be a Santa and get blackmailed by some kid who if he don’t get the mini bike he wanted will say “Santa put his hands___________”.

@Hypocrisy_Central , I can assure you that I did not overlook the question, I read it fully. Maybe round your ‘neck of the woods’ its acceptable to have dark skinned santa but no dark Jesus but I have lived in several different countries around the world and have never found it to be an issue.
Maybe its time to move out of your ***neck (of the) woods ?

Thing that annoys me is that you Know the answer but you want people to take the bait.
Its ok to have a Chinese, Inuit; Mongol Santa because Santa is now a commercial product spawned from a generous dude that helped orphans in Northern Europe. Jesus on the other hand refers to a religious diety from the middle east who could have been white, dark or even black (this is your true argument in question) but could not have possibly been Inuit, Mongol etc as your PC simile of santa has as a comparison.

Why do you need a PC Jesus when you have this
The true lord and saviourrraaaaaawrrr

@Odysseus Thing that annoys me is that you Know the answer but you want people to take the bait. If I know the answer than you wasted your time answering didn’t you? What is annoying is people thinking there is a fish on the end of the hook when there is no hook, and no line.

Its ok to have a Chinese, Inuit; Mongol Santa because Santa is now a commercial product spawned from a generous dude that helped orphans in Northern Europe. OK, that is a theory, one you could have came to right off the bat instead of hopping in a fishing boat. You can have any type of Santa because like Zeroxes photocopies have become quite generic. That is your train of thought, right? How hard was that?

Jesus on the other hand refers to a religious diety from the middle east who could have been white, dark or even black (this is your true argument in question) but could not have possibly been Inuit, Mongol etc as your PC simile of santa has as a comparison. Is it because Christ is a deity (spelled right) and not generic that people have difficulty having him ”personalized” to suit their choosing? Logically where Christ was born and His earthly family bloodline it is near impossible for him to be Chinese, European, or even to a great extent Black less you want to now go fishing about the authenticity of the Bible as man made or real.

So, if a person right or wrong cares to acquiesce on a any race Santa should they stake such a hard stand on an any race Christ (even though we know logically He most likely is not anything other than Middle Eastern? That is direct and to the point or do I need to actually see what bait I am using for my imagined rod and reel I don’t have?

Dude , read that back to an audience.
Thanks for correcting my spelling mistake. And some wee pointers 4 u… trevally is great bait.
Africa is pretty close to Israel, damn they almost touch.
I love Black Muslim secretly Hindu from a white Christian mother Santa. Happy Christmas !

@Hypocrisy_Central , dude I can see that you have the required intellect to string three sentences together, maybe I’m preemptively judging you but I will be honest… I find you nothing but a moderately educated troll.
You appear to have the ability to tackle your question all by yourself, so I found it slightly condescending, and feel that it was some what inflammatory , I guessed for your own amusement.

Sorry. Im agnostic atheist pagan whatever, but when I see people on here trying to hack down believers of ANY religion, I get Pissed. Let them be

It is because Jesus is a religious figure and Santa Claus is a marketing creation.

@Odysseus best comment I’ve read here in a longtime!

@Odysseus I think you are being too hard on @Hypocrisy_Central. Because of this question you were able to let him know that in other parts of the world it is different than America on this issue. You are getting too caught up in how he worded the question, or maybe his initial assumptions.

@Hypocrisy_Central Africa is very close to Israel. The Middle East is technically Asia actually. By American definition generally people from the Middle East along the Medeterranian Sea are classified as white. I worked with an Arab guy who was blond and blue eyed. Populations move around, wondering Jew and all of that. However, I agree that most likely Jesus had dark hair, and a darker complexion, and for that matter I think wavy or curly hair is more likely than straight. What is curious is I wonder if during his time, if whiter skin was idealized. I wonder if that helped the story stick?

White people throughout history have thought black people are inferior, so it is not difficult to understand why they might want their Lord and Saviour to be very white once they really began to market an image of him in artwork and photography. Even among darker skinned populations they covet lighter skin, even today, which I find a little outrageous. Black guy the other day told me that African Americans have a paper bag bag test. What kind of ridiculous bullshit is that? I’m white, and I would never think to judge beauty or anything else based on how dark someone is. Someone with beautiful features is beautiful no matter what shade. However, I am willing to admit I wish I was a little darker, because I am so pale people think I am sick half the time, and it is tiring to have to protect myself so much from the sun.

Ummm.. my comment to @Odysseus was based on all religions. Didn’t agree with @Hypocrisy_Central about starting a flame as you stated @JLeslie ! Thought O was a little hard on HC also. But, his (O’s) comment about trashing any religion was well-said.

I’m not a religious expert and am just giving my opinion, so please don’t anyone flame me, okay?

But I think the answer is that Santa Claus is a fictional character, so it’s okay to portray him as in your own culture: American, Chinese, Japanese, Black, etc.

But Jesus was (supposedly) a real person who really existed. We’ve all seen his picture and know roughly what he looked like: he was born in the Middle East of Jewish ancestry, he was white, had long black hair, and a caucasian facial structure. It would be silly to portray him as black or Chinese, because he wasn’t.

I believe Buddha is depicted to look like the local Asians. Each statue of him reflects the group that would view him. There are some statues that are more vague, and sort of Eastern regional generic. I’ve only seen him as an Asian, but there are so many kinds of Asian, and they do look different.

To answer the main question… Some people, how do I put it… Get their panties in a bunch over such things. Some people don’t.

Im kinda bothered that Jesus is always portrayed as white honestly. The man was from Israel. How many native white Israelis do you see walking around?

@ragingloli—that explains the last supper; there were no apostles left afterward.

@ragingloli —RAAAAWR!

Always worth seeing again. And again. And again.

BTW, my Santa runs on Linux.

Santa is a historical figure??

Jesus has long been portrayed as being of the same race as whoever was portraying him. His actual appearance has long been a subject of debate; but if he really had the ancestry attributed to him in the Bible, then he probably looked Middle Eastern.

Some links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depiction_of_Jesus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_of_Jesus

@JLeslie Africa is very close to Israel. The Middle East is technically Asia actually. Yes, just over the water. If one wanted to split hairs over things, Egyptians are actually Africans because Egypt is on the continent of Africa. Moroccans are too but somehow never get called ‘African’ much, (guess it does pay to have lighter skin). And as things are actually Greenland would be more of a continent than Europe, its about as big (if not slightly larger) than Australia and have about as much water surrounding it; way more than Europe (but I guess when you have a greater hand in drafting up the maps you don’t want to be the only one with out a continent to yourself).

And you discovered the little known secret of race within the Black community. I had to deal with that growing up as a child my whole life. When I was growing up there were two “benchmarks” so to speak, the “paper bag test”, and the “comb” test. If you were no darker than a grocery bag chances are you were perceived as being able to get further easier than if you were the darker skinned “blue black” version. If you could also pass the “comb test” (being able to take a straight fine tooth barber’s comb and rake it easy through the hair with out snags) you were really “in like Flint”. My mother and the other ladies of the neighborhood call it “having that good hair”. And in school you felt it too by how the teachers and principal treated you. Get into a fight if you were the lighter skinned “Hi yella”, “mulatto”, “crieo” you got called on more, got to bang the erasers more, did not get into as much trouble or punished as severely if you did. You were basically more accepted or tolerated if you were lighter skinned and had “that good hair”.

@Answerbagger But I think the answer is that Santa Claus is a fictional character, so it’s okay to portray him as in your own culture: American, Chinese, Japanese, Black, etc. Santa maybe a fictional entity but he is based off a real person. If one can accept an Asian Santa I wonder if they would see the same as another totally fictional being, Superman, would many here in the US be cool if the Chinese created a Chinese Superman or would many here see it as an imitation and not the real thing? It would be hard for mew to identify with an Asian Superman because I didn’t grow up with one didn’t really grow up with many black Santas. I remember once we were at a department store or the mall when we seen a Black Santa my brother and I (we were young at the time) did not see him as the “real Santa”, we wanted to know why they were trying to fool us with a counterfeit. From the tale we were told in class that Santa came from St. Nick and he was some Austrian or German dude so he couldn’t be Black.

Who wouldn’t want their Savior to appear as them? In that spirit even it if is not very factual I can look the other way on that, so long as they don’t try to sell it to me as real. LOL

@Hypocrisy_Central So, since the maps, continents, countries are obviously a little bit arbitrary, who knows exactly what Jesus looked like really. When I went to college, I literally had someone say to me, “how can you be Jewish, you have blue eyes and light brown hair.” If he was writing a story, or drawing a picture, in that guys mind all Jews in the story would have dark hair, darkish skin, and dark eyes.

Your point about Egyptions rarely being called African, is simply a matter of what has become customary, and I guess also maybe about the people in the country? Rarely is the Middle East or India referred to as Asia, but of course it is, and part of Russia too. I guess it is how we simply customarily refer to countries, how the references have evolved, partly due to geopolitics, and how the media refers to the part of the world. Personally, I think America too often uses the region or continent instead of an exact country name.

Mine’s Mac.

All the way.

First, PC really just mean generally accepted by the masses (i.e. a political candidate is safe in using the word or floating the picture since most people are not opposed).

With this in mind, PC does not mean right, good, or otherwise, just means it’s safe to use in campaigning. At least as far as my understanding goes.

Your use of it only makes me think that you are asking why it is not widely accepted and unopposed.

My first consideration: No one knows what jesus looked like, we can only speculate based on what we conclude was his origin, and what the people there looked like… to the best of our ability. Many would even question his existence at all.

This leads me to think that most people that believe jesus walked the earth and is who he is claimed to be, are basically choosing which appearance they will consider true or preferable. It’s a choice is the point.

Santa is a fictitious representation of a person many consider a saint, but fictitious none the less. People have less issue with anyone altering fictitious characters, no matter how far they may deviate from their origin. Santa can be any skin tone, just like mickey mouse, and many won’t get to bent out of shape.

Jesus is believed by many to be a real historical person, and thus could have only one true appearance. And of course everyone who chooses their gods or deities also chooses what traits about those gods or deities they wish to consider true. So everyone has their chosen image of christ, many which differ from another, and just like any judgement or chosen belief, they defend it with all their might… hence, sure paint santa all day long, but Jesus, don’t touch.

Just my thoughts as they streamed to me. I’m not professing this as fact.

@Sinqer And of course everyone who chooses their gods or deities also chooses what traits about those gods or deities they wish to consider true.
That by default would make the god a non-God from the start. If I, the created being, can create what the Creator looks like, then I am better than the Creator and why should I follow anything that I create and am better than?

@Hypocrisy_Central I didn’t say create their gods or traits, I said choose, meaning they do not design/create the being, they pick one of those available. I always compare it to choosing a pack of cookies off a shelf, and then declaring that those are the only real and true cookies, the rest are false knock-offs. I bring this up because most people who believe in one or more gods would never concede their creating the god(s) they believe in (creation). I have never heard any declare that they found a god somewhere (discovery), at least not without first being introduced to the concept of a god. Though most people readily agree that there are many different views of god, though believers don’t often welcome the concept that they have chosen from many different gods. Non-believers have little problem seeing the many different views of ‘the god’ as no more than a buffet of gods, each with their own traits and attitudes, declarations and judgments.

“That by default would make the god a non-God from the start” That depends on your definition of a god, yes?

“If I, the created being, can create what the Creator looks like, then I am better than the Creator and why should I follow anything that I create and am better than?” To this I offer a question of my own: Can an omnipotent god, or any god for that matter, create a superior being? ‘No’ would imply that you know what god, or any given god, is capable of. And I would be quite curious as to how you know this. If the answer is ‘yes’, then a creator is capable of creating something that which he can or must follow. You’re only better than the creator if you have not created him better than yourself. And why anyone would follow any particular god, tenet, red wagon, whatever I could only speculate on, but because I am aware that I do not know, I am also aware that others may have a reason where I do not.

The reason I chose the word ‘choose’ intentionally is because for all I know, one of them is the right one (though I certainly reserve my doubts).

Though I do acknowledge the reasoning you applied. I don’t mean to argue it as wrong or such, just responding with those thoughts that come to mind for consideration.