Dec

NYT has gift guide for people “of color”

Geez, where do you even start? I’m speechless.

Thank goodness Mary Katherine Hamm isn’t.

Yes, from our moral and intellectual betters at the New York Times comes the culmination of diversity awareness—the separate but equal holiday gift guide. Mediaite reports:

What I would like to know is who thought this was a good idea? In this year’s NYT’s Annual Holiday Gift Guide there is a section devoted to “Of Color | Stylish Gifts.” From the intro to the section.

“Somali fashion, do-it-yourself henna kits, children’s books that draw inspiration from the lives of Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor: it’s not hard to find gifts created for and by people of color this holiday season. Here are some possibilities.”

The section runs along such idea lists as “Frugal Travel,” “Chic and Cheerful,” and “Cosmetic Enhancements.”

Here’s the link to the original, in case you’d like to offend one of your friends or relatives by proclaiming via painfully stereotypical gift idea that the only thing you know about them is their skin color, and you assume that it defines them at the exclusion of all else.

The gospel cruise is perhaps my favorite offering. Is Michael Scott now editing the New York Times? Actually, some of the gifts are nice, but they’d be nice for any number of New York Times readers, not just for their minority readers. ..