We live in a world where people just seem to be a little bit on the sensitive side. Seems as if they find something to complain about every week and recently, they have been going after things related to Christmas. At first, it was Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer but now, they’re going after a Christmas music classic. It has been around for almost 60 years and it is a Christmas song that you probably hear often.
Social media begin jumping on this bandwagon a few days ago. They are really divided over the situation, with some saying that it is the worst song ever and others saying you need to look beyond the words at what it is really saying. It started when an Ohio radio station stopped playing the song ‘Baby It’s Cold outside’ from their 24 hour Christmas rotation. The #MeToo movement was cited as the reason.
The radio station that started all of that was Cleveland’s Star 102 WDOK-FM. They had received complaints from listeners that the lyrics were “manipulative and wrong”. Others are saying that it normalizes date rape, including the lyrics “Say, what’s in this drink?”
“The world we live in is extra sensitive now, and people get easily offended, but in a world where #MeToo has finally given women the voice they deserve, the song has no place,” host Glen Anderson explained in a blog post.
Considering the social climate today and the sensitivity of many people, public outlets, including radio stations and malls are having to reconsider many things. This Christmas classic is really not out of the ordinary for something to be targeted.
Lydia Liza and Josiah Lemanski are a couple from Minnesota and they have always disliked the message within the song. It centered on a conversation between a man and a woman and he was trying to persuade her to have another drink and spend the night. She repeatedly said “The answer is no” but he continued to persist.
“I’ve always had a big problem with the song,” 25-year-old Lemanski told CNN. “It’s so aggressive and inappropriate.”
Liza added, “We started thinking of the open-ended questions that the song has. You never figure out if she gets to go home. You never figure out if there was something in her drink. It just leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth.”
With so many people arguing and nobody coming up with a solution, this couple decided to fix the lyrics. They were originally written in 1944 by Frank Loesser and he would sing it with his wife at the end of a party.
They rewrote the winter tune and released it as a viral recording online.
They insured that the woman said that she “really can’t stay” and her male counterpart accepts the response and doesn’t push it any further. The woman in the modern version goes home but she does agree to go on a date to the Cheesecake Factory first.
You can hear the new version here:
“I thought we were just doing like a really good, cool, funny thing and it just felt right,” Liza said. “And emphasizing consent is one of the causes that I’ve always really been behind because I don’t think I can think of one friend of mine who’s a woman who hasn’t been in dangerous situations with men.”
The updated lyrics have met with a lot of support. People have even suggested that they fix other songs that have questionable lyrics, including Robin Thicke and Pharrell’s “Blurred Lines” and Ella Fitzagerald’s “She Didn’t Say Yes, She Didn’t Say No.”
Not everybody is on board with their decision that the song is a problem.
Jen Kirkman, a well-known comedian explained that the song has a different meaning then and it is being interpreted by today’s standards.
“Say what’s in this drink” is an old movie line from the 30’s that means “I’m telling the truth.” She wanted to get down and stay over,” she tweeted.
I’m so tired of this. The song seems odd now not cuz it’s about coercing sex but about a woman who knows her reputation is ruined if she stays. “Say what’s in this drink” is an old movie line from the 30’s that means “I’m telling the truth.” She wanted to get down and stay over. https://t.co/3TaQbUSoB1
— JEN KIRKMAN (@JenKirkman) December 1, 2018
Some Facebook users are pointing out that people tend to be too sensitive and are looking for something wrong so that they can be offended over something. They argue any point that can be argued and aren’t happy until they have the music banned.
Here’s a comment from another Facebook user who has the same idea:
Since WDOK in Ohio decided to pull “Baby it’s Cold Outside” from its playlist because someone was offended, I feel that these other holiday songs must also be removed as they are offensive as well. Do so immediately.
1. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus: subjecting minors to softcore porn
2. The Christmas Song: Open fire? Pollution. Folks dressed up like Eskimos? Cultural appropriation
3. Holly Jolly Christmas: Kiss her once for me? Unwanted advances
4. White Christmas? Racist
5. Santa Claus is Coming to Town: Sees you when you’re sleeping? Knows when you’re awake? Peeping Tom stalker
6. Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Everyone telling you be of good cheer? Forced to hide depression
7. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Bullying
8. It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas: Forced gender-specific gifts: dolls for Janice and Jen and boots and pistols (GUNS!) for Barney and Ben
9. Santa Baby: Gold digger, blackmail
10. Frosty the Snowman: Sexist; not a snow woman
11. Do You Hear What I Hear: blatant disregard for the hearing impaired
12. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas: Make the yuletide GAY? Wow, just wow
13. Jingle Bell Rock: Giddy up jingle horse, pick up your feet: animal abuse
14. Mistletoe and Holly: Overeating, folks stealing a kiss or two? How did this song ever see the light of day?
15. Winter Wonderland: Parson Brown demanding they get married…forced partnership
See how ridiculous everything can be twisted? Everyone gets so offended these days that it is impossible to even communicate anymore. We as a society can’t have any music, interact with others, build anything, believe in anything because someone else will be offended. Just stop the madness.