Published: 9 Dec 12 14:22 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/44944/20121209/
A 10-year-old was told he could not dress up as a gingerbread man at his school's traditional Lucia celebration as all references to the cookie had been banned in order to avoid offence.
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I suspect there is more to this story than meets the eye. I am thinking that the teacher was being cruel to Mio either because he is a brat in class or because he is an immigrant and when the school administration realized that this might snowball with press attention, they decided to make up some cock-n-bull story about it being a foregone conclusion that the gingerbread men would not be part of the festivities. They were about to get caught being prejudiced and decided to make up some BS to protect themselves. There is no reason whatsoever to prohibit gingerbread men in the Lucia celebration. Nobody is allergic to little boys dressed up as gingerbread men.
While any ban on kids dressing up as gingerbread men is absurd and needs to be kicked in the butt, I have to say what an arrogant woman Miss Simic sounds like.
Fancy living in a European country, and then refusing to let your kid dress up in their traditional costume, for something that is celebrated once a year, and because it somehow resembles a costume warn by a hate group on the other side of the planet 100 years ago.
People like Miss Simic are able to find racism in about anything these days. It is ridiculous. Attitudes like Simic's are sign of political correctness spiraling out of control. In our bid to be seen as opposing all forms of racism against non-whites, whites have inadvertently left themselves open to be criticized for being racist at every given opportunity, even when there is none to be found.
Tintin comics, Disney cartoons, Lucia costumes. What will we deem as racist next in Sweden? I vote the story of Casper the ghost, if I remember right he was all white and they do say that ghosts resemble KKK members!