The War on Christmas...

[New high charity 24]

Kill joy, We can all believe, It's a time of happiness and Joy, why can't we be friends?

[Wilgrove]

Santa is an inportant figure. It teaches children that if you are good, you get things in return. An important life lesson for youngsters. And without Saint Nick, its impossible to have a good Christmas. Have you ever had fun sitting at the top of the stairs watching for someone who you knew didn't exist? No. Thats why we have Santa.

Oh, so THAT's why he was giving that strange lady on the corner of the street $100. She must have been a very good girl.

Nah, she was sucking up. You know, kissing ass,

HA HA.....Sexual innuendos.

[The Christian Reich]

It turns out to be your decrepit grandmother with Alzheimer's, her last words, as her blood gushes all over you and the living room floor, "why is everything red? Did the communists take over?"

Nice job, jerk, nice job. You killed grandma. And no, she didn't get run over by a reindeer, she be dead.

Funny as hell im still laughing...

Dont piss santa off...

REMEBER SANTA CLAUSE 1?

The greatest Santa film ever.

[Zonolia]

it was...

[Kwewu]

No.

I was raised believing in Santa Claus. I was a good boy, and Santa dropped off presents for me. Around 12, when i was old enough to understand that Santa Claus was actually my parents' wallet, I was fine with that. My parents WAS Santa Claus. Sure, they didn't fly around in a sleigh pulled forth by reindeer, but I was still happy to get presents from Santa Claus. So what if it was a 'lie'? It wasn't really, once you think about it. I still believe in God, i'm still a virgin, all these things that my parents told me. I do not have 'low self-esteem', no problems, nothing. There is nothing bad about it. I have met no one that was emotionally scarred by finding out that Santa doesn't physically exist. He exists inside of us (Cheesy, i know).

[Cannot think of a name]

So, I spent a few years being a character performer for children. I've been all four ninja turtles, Batman, Big Bird, the Easter Bunny, and even Santa Claus.

Somewhere along the line, there is a disconnect with our younger selves and our older selves. Maybe our memories aren't as well formed from the time, maybe we color them with something else, I don't know. And of course as with a lot of things there is some mileage that may vary in the vernacular of the internet. But here's one of the things that I really came to understand pretending to be something I'm clearly not in order to entertain kids.

Do you, when you watch The Tourist or Salt or whatever that bendy bullet movie was that Angelina Jolie is actually a super spy assassin? No. Of course not. You may have varying levels of belief in the super spy assassin that she portrayed, but just about everyone (maybe there are some people out there who think that everything they watch is a 'reality' show, I don't want to make anything definitive here...) stops short in their belief that she actually is a spy.

We call this our 'suspension of disbelief.' We know that the whole thing is shot and shot again and assembled and the wires hidden, explosions were made more dynamic and this two hour long strip of fake has been assembled for our benefit so for two hours we can pretend that Angelina Jolie is in fact a super spy assassin chick.

If you have a kid, I understand that you feel like the entire world is oriented to that kid, that the world dances to the tune the child calls and that's that. But remember when you were a kid, it really didn't feel that way. I'm not going to come down on the side of who is right and who is wrong, what is important is perception here.

So when all but the littlest of kids are introduced to Mickey Mouse or Donatello or the Easter Bunny or Santa, there is at least some sense in them that this is total bullshit. But they don't care. They don't have the term 'suspension of disbelief' to describe what they're doing. They know that Mickey and Donatello is fiction the same way that you know that Angelina Jolie is not a super spy assassin. But they also know that someone went through the trouble of dressing up as their favorite character and pretend to be them just for them. And its awesome. An adult was willing to act more like a kid than they were for the day just to entertain them. And it's awesome. They don't have the vocabulary to articulate they're layered understanding of the situation, but they know. They know that I'm in that suit...sometimes they look for me inside the helmet, sometimes they really don't want to know. Sometimes they get self-conscious, the adults think they really believe I'm a bipedal turtle trained in the martial arts and they have to save their dignity by proving they don't think I'm real--but make no mistake, the rest of the kids think that dude is a drag. They are enjoying the theater.

I'm not sure if this really helps the discussion, I just thought it would be good to have some insight from the person inside the costume.

[GothicLust]

Okay so I think my point is that when you're talking about myths nobody really believes them, my little sister did not think medusa was real but she sure as hell thought a fat guy dropped out the chimney and ate her dry ass cookies.

You shouldn't outright lie to kids.

[Osthia]

Oh, so THAT's why he was giving that strange lady on the corner of the street $100. She must have been a very good girl.

Nah, she was sucking up. You know, kissing ass,

HA HA.....Sexual innuendos.

Child's reaction:
My Reaction:

[Zonolia]

Isnt...overall, santa is a...

Illegal immigrant
homeinvader
stalker
threat to home land security
a ufo
a commie

[Sungai Pusat]

I know it is a lie, my parents know Santa is a lie. In fact, everyone in my household knows that Santa ain't real. And I'm gonna tell that to my children when I grow up and as soon as my children can understand English.

I sense your children will hate you and probably poison you in your old age. St. Nick is like karma. What comes around, goes around.

Well, that is just weird. XD Anyways, we wouldn't really since I live in the tropics, we don't live in a place with a chimney anyway. In fact, the place I live in rarely has any location with a chimney, since we'd rather use the air-con rather than a chimney, considering the temperatures here.

[Grand Zulimat]

look i think hes pointless. i grew up with no such santa. i had a family who wrapped presents when i wasent home. im sixteen now and still strong with out this jolly saint nick. only thing that hurts me is those stogies i used to smoke.
by the way a stogie is a ciggarettes.

[Wilgrove]

Okay so I think my point is that when you're talking about myths nobody really believes them, my little sister did not think medusa was real but she sure as hell thought a fat guy dropped out the chimney and ate her dry ass cookies.

You shouldn't outright lie to kids.

It's just harmless fun, whats the harm in letting kids believe in alittle magic once a year?

At least letting kids believe in Santa is better than sucking all the fun out of the holidays like my uncle is doing.

[Jostedule]

Im sorry I could not stop laughing

[Osthia]

Isnt...overall, santa is a...

Illegal immigrant
homeinvader
stalker
threat to home land security
a ufo
a commie

Here are a few others:
Pedophile (HELL YES)
Murderer (Possibly)
Racist (He never goes to the Jewish kids, remember?)
Slave Driver (Poor elves work 24/7, from News Years to Christmas, and not a single break)

[The Christian Reich]

What about this beautiful man

[Mike the Progressive]

I sense your children will hate you and probably poison you in your old age. St. Nick is like karma. What comes around, goes around.

Well, that is just weird. XD Anyways, we wouldn't really since I live in the tropics, we don't live in a place with a chimney anyway. In fact, the place I live in rarely has any location with a chimney, since we'd rather use the air-con rather than a chimney, considering the temperatures here.

Santa has a teleporter. And when Scotty isn't beaming the captain up, he's helping Saint Nick.

[GothicLust]

Okay so I think my point is that when you're talking about myths nobody really believes them, my little sister did not think medusa was real but she sure as hell thought a fat guy dropped out the chimney and ate her dry ass cookies.

You shouldn't outright lie to kids.

It's just harmless fun, whats the harm in letting kids believe in alittle magic once a year?

At least letting kids believe in Santa is better than sucking all the fun out of the holidays like my uncle is doing.

Lies are never harmless. Harmless to you? Sure. Harmless to the person duped? Not at all.

There is a lot of fun to be had at the holiday without tortured lying. You know some dipshits get up on their roof and prance around like reindeer to fake out the kiddies?

That's bullshit.

Besides kids can still "believe" in a cursory way. Like I "believe" in Elmo.

[Sungai Pusat]

Well, that is just weird. XD Anyways, we wouldn't really since I live in the tropics, we don't live in a place with a chimney anyway. In fact, the place I live in rarely has any location with a chimney, since we'd rather use the air-con rather than a chimney, considering the temperatures here.

Santa has a teleporter. And when Scotty isn't beaming the captain up, he's helping Saint Nick.

Like I said, temperature: It's freaking hot here in Singapore!

[Osthia]

What about this beautiful man

Oh my God! I recognize him from the homeless shelter! *Gets zapped by a bolt of lightning*

[Mike the Progressive]

Santa has a teleporter. And when Scotty isn't beaming the captain up, he's helping Saint Nick.

Like I said, temperature: It's freaking hot here in Singapore!

Santa is going to kill you.

[Wilgrove]

It's just harmless fun, whats the harm in letting kids believe in alittle magic once a year?

At least letting kids believe in Santa is better than sucking all the fun out of the holidays like my uncle is doing.

Lies are never harmless. Harmless to you? Sure. Harmless to the person duped? Not at all.

There is a lot of fun to be had at the holiday without tortured lying. You know some dipshits get up on their roof and prance around like reindeer to fake out the kiddies?

That's bullshit.

Besides kids can still "believe" in a cursory way. Like I "believe" in Elmo.

Hey, I believed in Santa, and when I found out the truth I went "meh", Hel I figured it out by myself. It's just harmless fun.

Honestly, how can a family not tell their kids about Santa, but cook a birthday cake for Jesus? Am I the only one who finds that weird?

[Der Teutoniker]

Do you agree?

Do I agree that a mythical holiday figure does not literally exist as he is depicted towards children? Sure. Who would disagree?

Gotta be honest, not exactly sure what the point of this post was. I'll be telling my children that Santa exists, I had a hell of a lot of fun believing in Santa, and it has only left me with good memories.

[Wilgrove]

Do you agree?

Do I agree that a mythical holiday figure does not literally exist as he is depicted towards children? Sure. Who would disagree?

Gotta be honest, not exactly sure what the point of this post was. I'll be telling my children that Santa exists, I had a hell of a lot of fun believing in Santa, and it has only left me with good memories.

Exactly!

[Mike the Progressive]

What about this beautiful man

Oh my God! I recognize him from the homeless shelter! *Gets zapped by a bolt of lightning*

If it's any consolation, I'm going to hell too.

[Der Teutoniker]

Honestly, how can a family not tell their kids about Santa, but cook a birthday cake for Jesus? Am I the only one who finds that weird?

My ex-fiancee grew up never believing in Santa, and she, too, didn't want to "lie to her children". I'm pretty sure I put the foot down on that one. My fucking kids are being taught that Santa is real. I never felt betrayed that my parents lied to me, that's just a ridiculous interpretation of the situation.

Thankfully, the current wife agrees with me on the issue.