confusedguytoo:

irregularincidents:

In 1983, Presidential aide to Ronald Reagan, Edwin Meese, due criticism to his… hot takes on a Christmas Carol, when he told a National Press Club audience in Washington that, ’Scrooge had a bad press in his time. If you really look at the facts, he didn’t exploit Bob Cratchit.’

Meese, who previously said he didn’t believe that there were any people going hungry in the United States in the midst the Regan Administration’s dismantling of social services (they were), went on to say that Scrooge was actually a compassionate figure, as he considered Bob’s wage of 10 shillings a week to be generous, and how the family were still able to afford a Christmas goose (within the context of the book, a very small one divided between Bob’s large family) for their dinner.

Naturely, this wonky interpretation of the book caused a great deal of annoyance for both Dickens scholars and Victorian historians.

‘That sounds like a Republican interpretation,’ said Harvard University Professor Jerome Buckley when he heard about Meese’s comments. ‘There’s a good deal of rationalization here and it’s not at all in the spirit of Dickens.’

There were later allegedly people trying to say that Meese was joking… But considering both his own comments on those living in poverty and the actions of the administration he was working for, I think we can say that he was being 100% serious.

…Which also begs the question, if he thought that Scrooge’s behaviour in the story was meant to be acceptable, what the hell did he think that the plot of the book was about? A humble and virtuous businessman being hastled by four socialist ghosts into giving greedy, ungrateful Tiny Tim a handout?

Many of Reagan’s ilk are very pro-charity as long as it comes from individuals or religious groups. It’s possible he thought Scrooge’s behavior toward society in general was the issue, because he did reject calls to give to charity.

Of course there’s also the fact that people like this tend to call people who care “bleeding hearts” and his argument is that if people thought about it instead of just went with their feelings they’d disagree with the premise that Scrooge underpaid Bob