What is Digg?239 Comments
- Battlecry, on 12/21/2007, -7/+61Santa Claus is about as real as a mythological figure can get. NORAD tracks him on Christmas Eve. The post office accepts letters with no postage and delivers them. He's available at any shopping mall. Stories, songs, movies and books are written about him in abundance. Heck, he flies over my hometown in his sleigh (via helicopter) every year.
I play the role as Santa for my huge Catholic family, and there's nothing better than seeing the thrill in the eyes of my little cousins and nieces and nephews. I hope they believe in Santa Claus forever. Part of me still does. - nico623, on 12/21/2007, -6/+48LEAVE SANTA ALONE !!!!
- AriaStar, on 12/21/2007, -4/+45I've got more happy memories of watching for Santa out my window on Christmas Eve than any damage caused by learning to use reason and realizing he doesn't really fly in a magic sleigh. This taught me to use reason on other areas of my life, such as the truth about an omnipotent god having a son born to a virgin.
But sheesh, we're talking about letting kids be kids and have fun, not mini-adults. - arduenn, on 12/21/2007, -1/+33Story buried as inaccurate for the blasphemous presumption that Santa doesn't exist.
- DCGaymer, on 12/21/2007, -3/+30Do you remember who told you, "There is no Santa"?
My first grade teacher made a point of telling the whole class, "There is no Santa...he does not exist". Afterwards at recess the kids got together and discussed it....and pretty much hated her for it. In our mind's, Mrs. Treeacre killed Santa. - UtopiaInTheSky, on 12/21/2007, -0/+25SANTA IS JEWISH?!
- Prototek, on 12/21/2007, -3/+23Doubting Santa's existence means no presents.
- ubuwalker31, on 12/21/2007, -9/+28I was the Jewish kid in kindergarten who, when asked if Santa was going to leave me any presents, responded "Who is Santa Claus?" My friends explained, and I said "are you stupid? You really believe that a fat man in a red suit with flying reindeer leaves you presents? Your parents buy you the presents, duh." After having officially ruined Christmas for the entire class, everyones parents called my parents, and I had to go to the mall to sit on Santa's lap, as a form of cultural sensitivity training. So on Christmas Eve, we went to the mall...standing in line, I was completely freaking out, and my Mom asked why I didn't want to sit on the scary looking guys lap. I told her that I didn't want to sit on the wierd Rebbe's lap...my mom laughed and explained Santa some more, and what Christian people believed, and I calmed down a little. So, when I went to sit on Santa's lap, he asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him, nothing, I am Jewish. So, Santa leaned in and whispered in my ear, "me too."
When I become a parent, I will only tell my child religious stories that I will want him to believe forever. So, if as an adult you don't take Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny seriously, why should your children? Lying about this stuff makes them take religion less seriously...which...at least in my mind...is a bad thing. - Hervard, on 12/21/2007, -1/+18As long as you don't let your kids catch Mommy kissing Santa, it's all good.
- fusuke31, on 12/21/2007, -9/+26Santa? Shouldn't kids be raised to celebrate Festivus instead?
- da_bradler, on 12/21/2007, -20/+37Santa is to kids as Jesus is to adults, they just never want to let the illusion go
- Xander6, on 12/21/2007, -0/+17thats the dumbest thing ive heard in a while
- bosssmiley, on 12/21/2007, -3/+19Belief in an invisible force that rewards virtuous behavior. Among children we call it 'believing in Santa Claus'; among adults 'the Protestant work ethic'.
- evilregis, on 12/21/2007, -1/+17As a child you believe in Santa. Then you disbelieve in Santa. Then you become Santa.
- j3one, on 12/21/2007, -0/+16ok, but I have a bad feeling about where this is going...
- trying2hide, on 12/21/2007, -9/+24I've got a 9 year old that still believes in Santa and I think that is fine. He asked me this year, I asked him if he wanted the truth, he said "No." I told him I would tell him anyway. The truth about Santa is believing in the spirit of giving. And even if it is only once a year, the world can come together for one night and be right and total strangers can give another total stranger something out of the goodness of their heart. I told him that I still believe in Santa. Once you stop, something in your heart dies. He had tears in his eyes and told me that he knew there really was a Santa.
- kitwaites, on 12/21/2007, -4/+19Very sweet! Merry Christmas to you and yours and I hope Santa enjoys a well-earned glass of sherry and a mince pie at the end!
- NJank, on 12/21/2007, -1/+14if only it actually worked that way. The strangers and giving thing. That only exists on TV. For marketing purposes. To make people feel good about Christmas. So they buy more stuff for everyone. Did you tell him the real truth about Christmas? The world collective 'plunge further into debt but justify it with a decorated tree' holiday?
- nicksauce, on 12/21/2007, -7/+20What's funny is that reasoning out of santa is essentially the same as reasoning out of god.
Hypothesis: Santa gives presents to every kid in the world in one night.
Falsification: While I cannot directly disprove this, a much more reasonable hypothesis is that each person's parents put presents under their tree. While I have never actually observed this, it is much more logically consistent.
Hypothesis: A cosmic jewish zombie was was his own father can make me live forever if I symbolically eat his flesh and telephatically tell him I accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from my soul that is present in humanity because a rib woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.
Falsification: While I cannot directly disprove this, a much more reasonable and logically consistent hypothesis is that there is no god. - Dylson, on 12/21/2007, -0/+13Well slap my ass and call me sally!
- nnssa, on 12/21/2007, -1/+14i told the kids at my fifth birthday party, and regretted it later. even the jewish girl went home crying.
- GarciasCheese, on 12/21/2007, -5/+17To understand the harmful effects of carrying the idea of fantasy figures into adulthood, please see the Bible, the Crusades, the Sale of Indulgences, the Inquisition...
- MerryMortician, on 12/21/2007, -1/+13HOW ABOUT A SPOILER ALERT dammit!
- nicksauce, on 12/21/2007, -0/+11You are an idiot. On a side note, wtf is a water raccoon?
- inactive, on 12/21/2007, -1/+11I think that Santa Claus was very educational for me. My mother ALWAYS denied that Santa wasn't real - even to this day, and I'm 30. It was really my first lesson in critical thinking, because I was totally convinced that Santa Claus was fake, and was always trying to prove it.
- inactive, on 12/21/2007, -4/+13Festivus is a myth to prepare you for indoctrination into things like creationism, which is the idea that by some series of rare and fortuitous events, things like water raccoons can become Jesus...
- john570, on 12/21/2007, -0/+9I remember asking my Mom when I was about six if there really was a Santa. She replied "Well what do you think?" The gig was up right then.
- rolf, on 12/21/2007, -2/+11As a fellow Christian, enough with the persecution complex already!
Atheists get verbally attacked by Christians on a daily basis -- sometimes in a very unChrist like manner.
Turn the other cheek my good man. - induren, on 12/21/2007, -2/+11How about not giving them the ***** fairy tale to believe in the first place?
- UtopiaInTheSky, on 12/21/2007, -0/+8I'm loving all the Santa stories in the comments so far.
- Ev3nt372, on 12/21/2007, -1/+9I cant wait till Richard Dawkins writes "The Claus Delusion" specifically aimed at little kids.
- JQP123, on 12/21/2007, -1/+9Be nice, do as you're told and you'll be rewarded.
Santa or Jesus; take your pick, it's the same basic story line. - mary76, on 12/21/2007, -0/+8My dad told me that there was no Santa when I was 6. He didn't want Santa getting credit for all the cool presents he picked out. He made me promise not to tell my mom that he told me there was no Santa. The years before he told me, the good presents would be from dad, and the mediocre ones would be from Santa.
- borchard76, on 12/21/2007, -4/+12I have to say that I tend to agree. I'm not Jewish, but rather Christian. Frankly I'm not going to push Santa on my kids, but I'm not going to make a big deal about it if they want to do things that involve Santa (like writing letters). I think its when you push that aspect of things that the religious aspect of Christmas is lost. But I also think that if you push back too hard the kids get the message that its important to you to not believe. So when my kids ask if Santa is real, I'll tell them the truth. I'll never encourage them to believe in Santa, and all the presents come from Mom & Dad.
As for you Jewish folks out there: I see no reason you should be forcing your kids to go along with the crowd as cultural sensitivity training. Now my kids are learning about Hannukah because I think its a fine idea, but I don't think anyone should be forced to participate in rituals of rival theologies. Nor do I think that those rival theologies should be curbed at all. Let's just all enjoy the holidays. - 10goto10, on 12/21/2007, -1/+9I worry about the effect of parents worrying about the effect of the Santa story on kids once they figure out who's really been eating the cookies and milk left by the fireplace.
- Albionshores, on 12/21/2007, -2/+10A case of Oy-Oy-Oy not Ho-Ho-Ho?
- nnssa, on 12/21/2007, -0/+7mine will be.
- fusuke31, on 12/21/2007, -2/+9there there..
- polyGone, on 12/21/2007, -0/+7I always used to wonder why my parents weren't freaked out about random holiday entities entering our house.
- merien, on 12/21/2007, -2/+9Christmas has not been about Jesus since a few millennia. It is an ancient winter solstice feast.
- tungsai, on 12/21/2007, -1/+8Q: Why doesn't santa have any children?
A: Because he only comes once a year... and when he does, he comes down a chimney. - KickinitLegit, on 12/21/2007, -4/+11Festivus for the rest of us.
- yish, on 12/21/2007, -1/+8The truth about Santa is that he was re-invented by American corporates as yet another way to encourage consumerism. If XMas is about the 'spirit of giving' then why is it the peak time of year for suicides and mental hospitalizations for depression? All I see around me is kids frustrated by the fact that their friends got a more expensive game console to stack on top the one from last year. Maybe its time for some grown-ups to wake up to the truth about Santa?
- fcain, on 12/21/2007, -1/+8The story says that it's okay to encourage your kids using their imagination, when they play make believe. But I don't think they actually believe their own imaginative stories. They don't think that their Elmo doll is going to get up and walk around.
With Santa Claus, you're looking into their eyes and lying to them. That just feels wrong to me. - polyGone, on 12/21/2007, -1/+8The delicate matter of the truth about Jesus....Might want to address that one, as well.
- NJank, on 12/21/2007, -0/+6wow. that was fast. how quickly and deeply can we bury that one? Ready! GO!
- inactive, on 12/21/2007, -0/+6Fairy tales are good for kids. Santa is yet another fairy tale so it's great to present it as such. Kids don't need to be lied to in order to enjoy Chistmas. That's a misconception. Too many have been absolutely devastated when they learned the truth after having been told a story presented as truth by people who didn't believe it themselves.
- MikeyisaFag, on 12/21/2007, -8/+14"NOM NOM NOM" exclaims Santa.
- mocharabbit, on 12/21/2007, -0/+5No but it would have made for an interesting "Lifetime" movie. o_O
- Efoi, on 12/21/2007, -0/+5My parents told me there was no Santa from the beginning.
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