The big question: were you saying this before reading Harris's column?
It's pretty obvious that St. Nick and Jesus weren't as white as the average English person circa AD 0-500 was, yet white people constantly depict them as such. My guess is that they feel that their role models should come from their own backgrounds and cultures, otherwise they have little value as role models. This is probably why Kelly is pushing back against Harris - these are Kelly's role models, not Harris's.
So, yeah, it's silly, but it's a little strange to only call out Harris for writing a column in Slate advocating this and not say anything about the white people who have invested a great deal of work in actually constructing the analog of what Harris advocates over the course of several centuries.
The big question: were you saying this before reading Harris's column?
It's pretty obvious that St. Nick and Jesus weren't as white as the average English person circa AD 0-500 was, yet white people constantly depict them as such. My guess is that they feel that their role models should come from their own backgrounds and cultures, otherwise they have little value as role models. This is probably why Kelly is pushing back against Harris - these are Kelly's role models, not Harris's.
So, yeah, it's silly, but it's a little strange to only call out Harris for writing a column in Slate advocating this and not say anything about the white people who have invested a great deal of work in actually constructing the analog of what Harris advocates over the course of several centuries.