Penelope Trunk Should Be Visited by Three Ghosts Tonight
7th December 2010
Freeberg spanks Trunk in an interesting way.
One of the major problems in the world is people who are so fanatical about tolerance and diversity that they seem congenitally incapable of MINDING THEIR OWN BUSINESS. Penelope Trunk is one such. Freeberg refuses to let her get away with it.
It all comes down to this — if your productivity & cheerful demeanor slip a notch or two because you were just reminded someone has a different belief from yours, then you are the problem. Just like the wedding guest who says “I’m not coming if X is coming” is the problem.
Indeed. Judging by her discussion, Trunk is Jewish; her whole tirade is just “What about me?” writ large, which matches her other writings: It’s the world’s job to bend itself to fit her interests and objectives (and personal peculiarities, of which there are many), and if it doesn’t, well, then, the world had better get with the program. And she completely misses what Christmas (among other social institutions) is all about.
You know what I hear when someone says “Merry Christmas”? Lots of things, chief among them the very same thing I hear when someone says “Welcome to Hooters sir!” I know I’m someplace where there aren’t any tightasses. I hear “Come, let us break bread together because we’re all here together, we’re all brothers and sisters; maybe we have some long-simmering dispute, but if we do, we’ll pick it up in January. Have a seat at our table, and leave your troubles on the doorstep!”
And you can’t say any better than that.