Re: Separate but equal?

On Thu, 2 Sep 2010 00:34:20 -0700 (PDT), Billy Green wrote:

"South Park" did not invent that. They're just picking up on
something that's been around for centuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair#Prejudice_and_discrimination_towards_redheads

I just noticed that the little tyke in the Ally Bank commercial who's
denied an ice cream cone by the smarmy-yet-hot banker is a ginger.
Hmmm ... was it just a coincidence or subtle prejudice that the
red-haired boy is the one who can't get an ice cream cone?

This is sort of surprising since some people have flaunted their red
hair, namely Lucille Ball, who even made jokes about wanting to be a
redhead so bad that she used Henna Rinse.

But if we're really supposed to disdain red-haired people, there'd
have to be a passage in the Bible condemning them, right? Oh wait,
there is:

The Lord said to her:
Two nations in your womb,
two peoples, going their own ways from birth.
One shall be stronger than the other;
the older shall be servant to the younger.
When her time had come, there were indeed twins in her womb. The first
came out red, hairy all over like a hair-cloak, and they named him
Esau. Immediately afterwards his brother was born with his hand
grasping Esau's heel, and they called him Jacob. ... One day Jacob
prepared a broth and when Esau came in from the country, exhausted, he
said to Jacob, "I am exhausted; let me swallow some of that red broth"
.... Jacob said, "Not till you sell me your rights as the first-born."
Esau replied, "I am at death's door; what use is my birthright to me?"
Jacob said, "Not till you swear!" So he swore an oath and sold his
birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and the lentil broth,
and he ate and drank and went away without more ado. Thus Esau showed
how little he valued his birthright.
--Genesis 25:23-34, New English Bible

I don't know how it's worded in the King James Version, but I do
recall Baptist Sunday School teachers -- and illustrators of Sunday
School books -- claiming Esau was a ginger, based on Genesis 25:25.
Though from reading the NEB, he could have just had ruddy skin and
maybe been a brunette. (The Jerusalem Bible's description of Esau: The
first to be born was red, and as though he were completely wrapped in
a hairy cloak.)
.

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