December is upon us, and there's no going back now. The build-up to Christmas has begun to snowball, and everyone is getting ready and coming around to the fact that for the next few weeks we will have the same small playlist of Christmas songs playing nonstop wherever we go. There will be no escaping them, and they will continue to repeat in our heads long after we have left the store, where the weather outside is frightful!
'Fairytale of New York' by The Pogues and Kirsty McColl offers us a breather from the other tinseled, nostalgia-filled, mushy Christmas songs out there.
'Fairytale of New York' is not your average run-of-the-mill Christmas song, there's no Christmas cheer and peace on earth. It bathes in drunkenness, arguments, depravity, and a longing for the good old days, but to be fair, isn't that the real meaning of Christmas?
Like most things, it doesn't always stand the test of time in our ever-changing society. What was ok to say years ago, is no longer acceptable in today's society, and that includes a myriad of words and phrases.
F***** is without a doubt in there with them.
If you can't remember which word is starred out, if you go to sing the line, I'm sure it will come back to you: "You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy f*****"
This word now sets 'Fairytale of New York' up with some problems. Like a lot of people, though they love the song, they think it's a good enough reason for the song to be pulled from the regular list of Christmas songs we hear blasted out in stores this time of year.
That word is not alone in the song; there are others that are not up to scratch for 2018 either.
Here's a couple of views from people on Twitter:
"4 weeks till Christmas so all the straights can get excited about singing Fairytale of New York and screaming "F*****" without repercussions."
"As if Fairytale of New York doesn't have the word "F*****" beeped out at 9.36 am. The het's are really living the homophobia for Christmas."
It's becoming evident that it's making people annoyed that this song has such an offensive word, who'd have thought it?! Sadly, however, it probably goes without saying, some people see no issue with it and actually take pride in it. There will always be an ongoing argument. Have we gone entirely PC crazy? Others get so easily offended, and then there are those who get triggered by the notion of someone telling them they are using an offensive word.
So what can we do, where exactly do we draw the line? When can we stop judging work from the past on whether it's PC for today or not? Take for example 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and its use of the N-word. Would the book have the same deep effect and power it has without the use of the word? Though to be fair, if you go around screaming lines from Harper Lee's book over the Christmas parade, you maybe have some other issues!
Who knows, maybe it's one of those things, that the right thing just happens, maybe people will just stop screaming out the word with pride when they hear the song. Maybe, who knows?
