No , VIRGINIA, there is no Santa Claus

[Thudlow_Boink]

@SenorBeef

Well, it’s the exact same argument presented in debates on religion here, which dress themselves up as intellectual..

I actually think Santa is a really good lesson in skepticism for our children. We trick children into believing that there’s this benevolent being that’s always watching over them, watching them at all times to evaluate their behavior, and rewarding good behavior. Our culture embraces this guy, your peers and those you trust are telling you he’s real, and you’re forming a real emotional stake in his existance.

And then the rug is pulled out from under your feet. Oh, ha ha, yes, there’s no magic guy who somehow delivers presents to the whole world in one night. It was always your parents all along, tricking you. Even though you were so sure in your heart that Santa must be real, well, no, there’s just no magic there. Sorry.

Except that, I never felt tricked. I never had the rug pulled out from under my feet. At some age, I realized that “Santa Claus” was a benevolent conspiracy to make me, and all children, happy. Santa Claus was my parents arranging for me to have toys and candy and happy surprises, without them taking credit for it. Which, when you’re old enough to appreciate it, is a more wonderful and heart-gladdening thing than the literal existence of a fat elf in a red suit who lives at the North Pole.

So today what I believe is that Santa Claus is a symbol of, or metaphor for, something that really does exist.