Critics target NORAD’s ‘militaristic’ Santa tracking
DENVER — The U.S. and Canadian military will entertain millions of kids again this Christmas Eve with secondby-second updates on Santa’s global whereabouts. But there’s something new this year: public criticism.
A children’s advocacy group says an animated video on the NORAD Tracks Santa website injects militarism into Christmas by showing fighter jets escorting Santa’s sleigh. It’s a rare swipe at the popular program, which last year attracted a record 22.3 million unique visitors to its website.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command defends the video as non-threatening and safe for kids.
The kerfuffle erupted two weeks ago over a 39-second video on noradsanta.org called “NORAD Tracks Santa Trailer Video 2013.”
A five-second segment of the video — which is also available on youtube.com — shows two fighter jets flanking Santa.
The Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood said the video brings violence and militar- ism to a beloved tradition. Others had similar criticism. Blogs and Twitter lit up with volleys from both sides.
Josh Golin, the coalition’s associate director, reiterated his criticism in an interview — but he called the brouhaha “a media-manufactured controversy.” The coalition hadn’t known about the fighter jet video until reporters called, he said.
“Nobody in my organization was out there protesting,” he said.
U.S. navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a NORAD spokesman, said he understands the critics’ point of view but disagrees.
“We really do feel strongly that it’s something that is safe and non-threatening, and not something that would negatively impact children,” he said.
Davis said the fighter escort is nothing new. NORAD began depicting jets accompanying Santa and his reindeer in the 1960s, he said.
And he insisted the fighters in the video are unarmed: They’re Canadian CF-18 Hornets, and the wing racks that would carry bombs or missiles are empty, he explained.
The flap drove more than 265,000 viewers to the YouTube video on Monday.