November 28th, 2008
Good lord. So today I was talking to someone at work and I said something innocuous like, “Are we going to decorate the office for Christmas?” Which was translated in the mind of the person I asked into “I hate non-whites and non-Christians and think they should all be SHOT or at least ENSLAVED because they are SO CLEARLY inferior and lack THE BLESSING OF JESUS because she replied, “Well that’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”
I can’t tell you what sort of company I work for at the moment (confidentiality, you understand) but it’s the sort of place that absolutely reeks of white guilt and apparently I touched that nerve.
So I said, “What, harsh? I just mean, like, are we going to put up a wreath or something?”
And she said, pointedly, “This is an inclusive office.” And then she walked away. Oh ho ho… it includes everyone but Christians who celebrate Christmas! (And athiests who do – that’s me!)
I feel the need to disclaim here, but I’ll keep it short: I was trained in the post-modern paradigm and my first degree is in history and let me tell you, I figure I have as good an appreciation for how spectacularly horrible white folks could be and sometimes are as any white person alive today in the western world can have. I get it. I just don’t get how hanging some ornaments on the office plants equates with oppression. It takes a lot of convoluted apologist arguing to explain it and please spare me because I’ve studied that, I’ve written about it, I totally hear it. And I totally don’t buy it. It’s a stereotype of a new and currently socially acceptable sort and I say poo to it. End disclaimer.
So I ask you, internet: should I put up some Christmas stuff in my office? Say, non-denominational Christmas (ha ha!). No images of Jesus or Santa, just some festive stuff in red and green. It is, after all, my cultural tradition and a completely valid expression of my worldview based on the norms of my family, its heritage, and the way I make meaning (she said with a chortle).
But seriously. It’s a few decorations. Acceptable? Or a tool of the patriarchy? You decide!
Put up Xmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah decorations, and see how inclusive they really are.
I recommend a bobble-head Jesus in a Santa hat.
I like bobble-head Jesus in a Santa hat, but make sure it’s black Jesus, holding a menorah, and wearing a Darwin fish pin.
I’m pretty much out of the festive decorating myself. I don’t see much reason for it personally. If I worked at an office my atheist sensibilities wouldn’t get upset with some festive decorating though, so I say go for it.
If it’s not detrimental for your career, do it. But then go balls out. A Nativity scene, with a shiny white baby Jesus.
~ I.