Santa, The Tooth Fairy and the Fantabulous Fabularium of Innocent Myths

[thesummerqueen]

[snort] If I can find Lewis Black's bit on 'Chanoookah' I'll post it. We're a bitter bunch.

[frankiej]

I don't see how some of you could have still believed in santa up to the age of 8 onwards... It baffles me.

[Faith No More]

Santa is a less harmful myth because people eventually tell their kids he isn't real while the god myth is perpetuated until we die.

The question then becomes whether perpetuating the naive wonderment of being a child or preparing them for the reality of adulthood at an early age is better. Personally, I can see pros and cons both ways.

(I was always skeptical of Santa because the elves were supposed to be making the toys at the north pole but he always brought brand name merchandise. Wtf Santa?)

[Cinjin]

Are you kidding me? I didn't even know that Santa existed until I was in high school! My parents were douchebags.

kidding.


I have a strict rule with my son. I refuse to lie to him on any level (unless for some reason it depended on his life), so I simply don't mention Santa Clause. If and when he asks me if he is real - I will tell him the truth. Santa is a creepy fat bastard who has been wearing the same damn suit for hundreds of years. He refuses to die or even upgrade his fashion sense. He lives in the most inhospitable climate on the planet so as to protect himself from taxation and very likely incarceration for the wanton breaking and entering of billions of homes. He works exclusively with tiny child-like people and is probably in violation of every union labor law there is. He himself only works one damn night a year and spies on children the other 364 days. It's not unreasonable to assume that he should be on the sex offenders watch list for this alone if he's not already. He's basically a robber-baron with a monopoly on the advertising world during the months of November and December. He has no qualms being unkind to children and even brags about leaving them filthy lumps of coal instead of a present. They say the devil wears a red suit ... well he may very well have a white beard and a sack of presents too.


... or maybe I'll just tell my son he's not real and leave it at that.

[thesummerqueen]

I have beef with this santa situation anyway, and I've mentioned it before. That whole Rudolph song is a poster for cult-like behavior. This little reindeer, who is a little different, gets treated with derision all his life and with one word Santa wipes all of that away? I asked my buddy Spall: "I’m wondering because this song is sung by children everywhere and I think it teaches us all a certain lesson in our youth – if an authority figure that we revere says we should love someone in his employ, we’re almost obligated to do so, and we frequently do it happily. The reindeer didn’t know if Rudolph was actually going to be good at leading them…he could have been like my last three boyfriends and shite at directions/navigating. Shouldn’t we award love on a system of respect?" And that's shite too - did he only deserve love if he was useful to Santa in some way? Disturbing.

[Cinjin]

I have beef with this santa situation anyway, and I've mentioned it before. That whole Rudolph song is a poster for cult-like behavior. This little reindeer, who is a little different, gets treated with derision all his life and with one word Santa wipes all of that away? I asked my buddy Spall: "I’m wondering because this song is sung by children everywhere and I think it teaches us all a certain lesson in our youth – if an authority figure that we revere says we should love someone in his employ, we’re almost obligated to do so, and we frequently do it happily. The reindeer didn’t know if Rudolph was actually going to be good at leading them…he could have been like my last three boyfriends and shite at directions/navigating. Shouldn’t we award love on a system of respect?" And that's shite too - did he only deserve love if he was useful to Santa in some way? Disturbing.

In addition, if Rudolph's nose, suddenly stopped working does that mean he is to be devalued and return to a life of mockery or does that mean his nose is like everybody elses and he can join the ranks of normalcy? (ie. a star athlete who receives a lifetime injury)

Also did Santa really love Rudolph or did he just use him? Does a coach love his star player, or does he just want to win ball games?

[Diamond]

When my brother and I were kids, our parents didn't necessarily agree on whether or not we should believe in Santa. My dad had the whole "imagination" argument whereas my mom wanted us to know "what Christmas is really about" (in other words, that Bible story). In the end, my brother and I would pretend Santa was real even as we got older. We always had big enough imaginations as it is without actually believing in things like Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.

When I decide to have a kid, I will tell him/her about Santa and other fairy tales, but I'm not going to make him/her believe in it. With any luck, s/he'll have just as big of an imagination as me and my brother. Plus, I won't have to anticipate that day s/he finds out the truth and gets disappointed.

Besides, to me, Santa has always been just a tool to get kids to be good. Sure, it never works, but...

[chris]

The song certainly doesn't mention this as a possibility.

http://youtu.be/P_Qx3Q9UTuk

[Diamond]

The song certainly doesn't mention this as a possibility.

http://youtu.be/P_Qx3Q9UTuk