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Is Santa silly?

Arran

I'm writing this as someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas in either a religious or cultural sense. From a young age I was told that Santa doesn't exist and is just a silly hoax that parents play on their kids. It never affected me in any bad way and neither was I expecting to find wrapped presents mysteriously appear on the morning of the 25th day of December. If anybody in my family received a Christmas gift then it was usually opened on the same day. A downside to this is that even from the age of 4 or 5 I went round telling kids at school "Father Christmas isn't real, it's all made up, your parents buy Christmas presents from the shops" which often resulted in me getting into trouble whenever they got upset. I once had to report to the head teacher after completely reducing a classmate to tears.

Is the concept of Santa a silly nonsense or is it part of the joys of childhood? Do you tell your own children the truth or would you prefer to go along with the cultural norm? Is pleasing one's classmates more important than knowing the truth? What about children at school who follow different religions so do not celebrate Christmas - where do they fit in?

Parents

  • Paull said:

    No proof of cause and effect ? Without cause and effect nothing would exist, what more proof do you want. Saying that cause and effect does not exist is like saying mathematics does not exist.

    Actually I never said Santa was a problem. I said telling lies to children about his  existence was a problem.

    I didn't say cause and effect didn't exist. I said that there was no proof for cause and effect in the instance you gave. There is no proof whatsoever provided by you or anyone else on this thread that pretending Santa existed to children caused any direct or indirect harm. In fact, IntenseWorld has already shown that your assertions are incorrect, by the link provided earlier in the thread. You've neither given sufficient evidence nor a compelling theoretical possibility that the myth of Santa's existence does any harm. Indeed, it's already been proven that it hasn't. You can speculate all you like about the "poor confused mind of an innocent child", but that's all it is: speculation. But the fact of the matter is, is that the evidence doesn't support your position. The study, and the fact that most people's experiences of their childhood with Santa are positive, prove you wrong.

    As for "wrong thinking", how can you be so sure they're wrong? They're telling the truth, as they see it. Surely if you herald the truth so much, it's incumbent upon you to accept it, however insulting and incorrect. Dismissing their truthful opinion as "wrong thinking" is a bit of a copout, if you have such a regard for the truth.

    I'm going to finish with this discussion, as the same point is being repeated over and over again, and I think the evidence shows quite clearly that the fable of Santa's existence has no overall negative impact. Points about believing a world solely on truth being a happy world and anything else are just beliefs; they're not based on any fact. If Arran wants to get back to me on the remarks I made in response to his point about other faiths, I'll be glad to answer. It's time for me to have a pint...the substance of which, I'll decide later! I'll drink to anyone's health if they're interested.

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  • Paull said:

    No proof of cause and effect ? Without cause and effect nothing would exist, what more proof do you want. Saying that cause and effect does not exist is like saying mathematics does not exist.

    Actually I never said Santa was a problem. I said telling lies to children about his  existence was a problem.

    I didn't say cause and effect didn't exist. I said that there was no proof for cause and effect in the instance you gave. There is no proof whatsoever provided by you or anyone else on this thread that pretending Santa existed to children caused any direct or indirect harm. In fact, IntenseWorld has already shown that your assertions are incorrect, by the link provided earlier in the thread. You've neither given sufficient evidence nor a compelling theoretical possibility that the myth of Santa's existence does any harm. Indeed, it's already been proven that it hasn't. You can speculate all you like about the "poor confused mind of an innocent child", but that's all it is: speculation. But the fact of the matter is, is that the evidence doesn't support your position. The study, and the fact that most people's experiences of their childhood with Santa are positive, prove you wrong.

    As for "wrong thinking", how can you be so sure they're wrong? They're telling the truth, as they see it. Surely if you herald the truth so much, it's incumbent upon you to accept it, however insulting and incorrect. Dismissing their truthful opinion as "wrong thinking" is a bit of a copout, if you have such a regard for the truth.

    I'm going to finish with this discussion, as the same point is being repeated over and over again, and I think the evidence shows quite clearly that the fable of Santa's existence has no overall negative impact. Points about believing a world solely on truth being a happy world and anything else are just beliefs; they're not based on any fact. If Arran wants to get back to me on the remarks I made in response to his point about other faiths, I'll be glad to answer. It's time for me to have a pint...the substance of which, I'll decide later! I'll drink to anyone's health if they're interested.

Children
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