Baby, It's Rough Out There

'Tis the season for holiday music played 24/7 on local radio stations, holiday specials on TV, and holiday movies on the Hallmark channel.  This has been going on since at least November 1, leaving Thanksgiving as collateral damage.

However, as the Christmas season has expanded, so has scrutiny over certain aspects of holiday culture we once took for granted.  Some of those haven't fared so well in light of changing times.

Take the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside", a novelty ditty which is seen today as an invitation to date rape that nobody could have foreseen when it was written back in 1944.  Today's #MeToo movement prompted some radio stations to pull the song.  Others have since returned "Baby" to the airwaves because of (A) conservative listeners wanting it back on, and (B) corporate ownership not giving its stations a choice in the matter.

Or how about "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", which was popularized by singing cowboy Gene Autry back in 1949?  When an animated TV special based on the song was introduced in 1964, what was once considered harmless family entertainment has turned into something parents don't want their kids to see.  Rudolph's red nose, the subject of much verbal and physical abuse before Santa Claus discovered a use for it, has become a parable for all the bullying and mass shootings we see today.

The holiday songs and TV shows haven't changed.  We have.  We are much more aware of domestic violence and sexual abuse against women, and children killing themselves and others because they were, as Lady Gaga would say, "born this way".

As the holiday season goes on, try to remember that most of what you hear and see were written and produced before 1970, a golden age for family entertainment and values.  We don't live in that world any more, no matter how much conservatives would like to see it.  Just enjoy these for what they are as reflections of a past society, and happy holidays.