Tooth Fairy Bullshit

[Catholic_Lady]

Does believing in the tooth fairy make you crazy? I don't think it does. I think it's a misinformed fantasy that even intelligent, sane people could believe. That's why I equate it to a belief in gods. I think it's right to call out tooth fairy beliefs in the same way it's right to call out god beliefs. It's the beliefs I am pointing at and not the person with the beliefs.

If society accepted it in adults, it's exactly the same thing. The only real difference is we don't teach it as fact to adults, we really probably wouldn't accept adults who believe in it.

That's kind of the point we are trying to make, right?  Look how society doesn't accept these other obviously magical beliefs in adults, and since Christianity is essentially the same sort of thinking, why does it get a pass?  

It's silly and childish, just like believing in the tooth fairy or Santa as an adult would be.  That IS the message atheists who make this comparison are trying to send!  And yes, it actually probably is a bit insulting.  As I said in my probably TL;DR post earlier, I was insulted when it was presented to me when I believed.  I don't think we are trying to be intentionally insulting, just trying to get them to see how silly it is.  It worked for me (though it took time), but I think it backfires for post people, who can't see past their own hurt feelings and emotional needs.

Let me clarify again, in case my message was lost. 

It's not the fact that Tooth Fairy belief is false, that would make me think a Tooth Fairy believer is nuts. It's the fact that the only people who believe in them, in our society, are little children. It isn't a belief that normal adult people in our society hold. In our society, it would take a pretty nutty adult to believe in the Tooth Fairy.  

If Tooth Fairy belief was a belief that normal adult people in our society held, I would see it the same exact way as I'd see Buddhism, or Islam, or Hinduism - I would see it as being false, but would not think there was anything wrong with the people who believed in them.

It's like how in our culture, spitting on someone's shoes is seen as something a weirdo would do. Why? Because it's not a normal thing to do in our society. There might be another culture out there who sees spitting on someone's shoes as a sign of respect. In that case, the person doing the spitting would not be a weirdo, he'd just be another regular person. 

Society/culture matters. In our society, it would be very strange for a grown man or a grown woman to believe in the tooth fairy. So if someone told me they did, I'd think "uhhh ok.... you're kind of a weirdo." Not because the belief is false, but because normal people in our society don't believe in that. 

So when you legitimately equate a belief like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc etc... to a belief that is only held by little kids in our society, it's very insulting to our character, our intelligence, our sanity, etc etc.