squigglydigglydoo:

Yeah, I think you’re right!  And “dated” is certainly a decent adjective to describe it, but the fact that it’s still brought up sorta gets on my nerves, y’know?  It should be a non-issue at this point; I can’t BEGIN to tell you how many times this whole creeper view of it was debunked.

But to retire a song?  Man, are you kidding?  No way!  Music, just like literature, is always going to be relevant to some degree.  It’s part of history.  Does it speak directly to the modern generation?  Perhaps not to a lot of it, but to some of it, you bet your bottom dollar it does!  I know it’s one of my personal favorite holiday songs.  Just because it doesn’t reflect modern society quite as much doesn’t mean it’s no longer “relevant.”

History is always relevant, man.

Besides, I’m uncomfortable with quite a lot of what plays on the radio nowadays, in particular songs that say things like “fuck the police” and start verbally degrading women, calling them “hoes and bitches” and things.  Yet, somehow, that still speaks to some of our generation.  I would argue to anybody who brings it up that those kinds of songs are far more harmful and creepy and uncomfortable than a joking banter between a man and a woman in a holiday classic, even if that joking banter is misconstrued.

But I’m not about to argue for that to be taken off the air, because quite frankly, obviously some people like it.  I personally vehemently DISlike it, but my personal tastes, no matter whether they’re just mine or shared with many, shouldn’t take away from the preferences of others, especially when it comes to freedom of expression, even in the media.

That’s actually a larger can of worms that I’ll only pry open a little bit here so as not to get on a huge tangent.  A lot of people of today’s culture seem to have this notion that if they’re offended, the thing is inherently bad and should be destroyed.  That’s, uh, not how it works.  If you’re personally offended, I’m sorry, but the thing has just as many rights to exist as you do.  I know I’m offended every single day by people I know, even my friends, cracking mean-spirited jokes about my politics and ethnicity, but I’m not about to try and say “you can’t say that!”  You know?  The same sort of things goes for songs and media and anything that people might point at and say “not okay!”

Yeah, maybe it’s not okay, but that doesn’t mean it has no right to exist.