Santa bashers getting their jollies

Oak Lawn (IL) Reporter ^ | 12/11/03 | Michael M. Bates

[mikeb704]

It’s been a rough year for the images of popular figures.

We’ve learned that America’s homemaker, Martha Stewart, apparently wasn’t as fastidious with her personal financial activities as she is with her salads.

We found that the queen of nice herself, Mz Rosie O’Donnell, isn’t all that congenial. Not to mention that she has a mouth on her like John Kerry’s.

Then there are those appalling allegations against Michael Jackson. Who would have dreamed that the ultra strait-laced singer, a modern day Peter Pan, would have ever used those innocent sleepovers with young boys for anything other than sharing cocoa and cookies? I mean, is it possible that all those years of grabbing his crotch in public could have affected him?

Actually, I’m enjoying the sight of these obnoxious characters getting their comeuppance. What I’m definitely not savoring is seeing another well-known figure, Santa Claus, getting trashed.

A New York disc jockey recently suggested parents have their children listen with them to his program one day last week. At the appointed time, he announced that Santa doesn’t, if truth be told, bring Christmas presents. Parents do.

Not surprisingly, some parents didn’t find this acknowledgment pleasing. The station was flooded with angry e-mails and phone calls.

The DJ defended his actions. Newsday quoted him as saying, "My message was directed at adults, to get people away from trampling people in stores . . ." This was before it became widely known that the woman involved in the incident to which he referred has made a cottage industry out of suing stores for a plethora of professed injuries.

Then there’s the Florida teacher who took it upon herself to tell a class of first-graders that Santa is make believe. A spokesman for the school district said that reprimanding the teacher was out of the question. That’s because – get ready for the knee-slapping punch line here – "We have no Santa clause."

I’m glad Joy Boy sees the humor in bursting the bubbles of a bunch of six-year-olds. I don’t.

In Kansas a minister dressed as Santa has been visiting pre kindergarten to third-grade classrooms. He asks the children if they know what Christmas is all about. Often one of the children will answer that it’s about Jesus’ birthday.

This, we all know, simply can’t be permitted. The only acceptable way of using Christ’s name in public schools is as a curse. So the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is demanding an immediate investigation. They don’t want Santa Claus visiting schools.

Hollywood made its contribution to kicking the jolly old elf in the teeth this year. The movie "Bad Santa" features a vulgar, foulmouthed, grumpy old drunk eager to share a meaningful quickie with any woman in sight. Sort of like Ted Kennedy with a white beard.

We’ve certainly come a long way from the days when a major New York newspaper’s editorial page would answer a child’s question with, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy."

A long way we’ve come. In the wrong direction.

Some self-styled experts claim that telling children there’s a Santa Claus is harmful. Someday, they say, they’ll decide that their parents lied to them and hold it against them. Other critics charge that letting children believe in Santa Claus is blasphemous and distorts Christmas.

I think that’s nonsense. Believing in Santa provided me with some of the best memories I have. I’ve never resented my parents for telling me about Santa.

To the contrary, I appreciated their efforts to make me happy. Childhood is a time when we should be allowed our modest fantasies. The harshness of what passes for the real world comes all to soon.

And I don’t think believing in Santa Claus means a child can’t know about and appreciate the birth of Our Savior.

So humbug to all the Santa bashers. I trust he’ll have enough lumps of coal to go around this year.

[HarleyD]

I never believe in the Easter Bunny. The thought of a rabbit coming around hiding eggs just seemed ridiculous to me. But a man in a red suit with eight tiny reindeer who flew around the world in one night delivering presents seemed completely logical to me.

[Sunshine Sister]

I believed in Santa too. Nothing wrong with that. He never failed me. Neither did the Easter bunny or the tooth fairy! Let the kids alone. The author is exactly right. Kids grow up way to fast so let them enjoy their make believe.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

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...T'was SANTA & US vs. "THEM"..

...outside the Beverly Hilton's 'HATE BUSH' Meeting last Tuesday Night in Bevery Hills =


'THE NUTS HATE BUSH BUT WE LUVYA DUBYA: Beverly Hills AfterFreep Report!'


http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1032739/posts


*****See KCAL-TV Channel 9 Photos at Post's 36 & 110*****

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[mtbopfuyn]

Better watch out. Santa's checking his list and the Naughty Kid List is growing by leaps and bounds. He's had to place an extra order of coal this year.

[talleyman]

The three stages of learning are knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. As a child, I believed in Santa. As a teenager, I learned "the truth". It was only much later, when I had a child of my own, that I learned "the truth" was wrong. "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus..."

[Itzlzha]

Better watch out. Santa's checking his list and the Naughty Kid List is growing by leaps and bounds. He's had to place an extra order of coal this year.

The Watermellon-Greens have obtained a court order demanding that Santa MUST use low-sulphur Coal...and the Klintons and Mokhtar Riady(and his masters, the PRC) are making HUGE profits!

Again, Santa DID have a US source for said coal, but Klinton made it a National Monument...all to drive up Mokhtar's profits!

[onyx]

Good post, but be warned. We have a whole lot of Santa "victims" here on FR. Why on one thread alone, the whining went on for 275 posts.

Thanks for the ping, Ronnie.

[Howlin]

*Sigh*

Here they come!

[onyx]

ROFLMAO! I'm tempted to ping 'em just for laughs.

[cupcakes]

Not only that, after blasting some scrooge on Freerepublic the other day, I remembered something that helped firm my decision up about Santa or no Santa. It was something said to me in a way I had never thought of before.
The reason most kids don't come away thinking their parents are *liars* of the worse order for pretending there is a Santa. As parents when we play Santa, we give without any expectation of recognition on our parts, sometimes for the first time in our lives. "Santa" gets all the credit. As kids realize who "Santa" really is, perhaps they don't outwardly express that as a learned lesson, but the fact that the tradition continues means some kind of lesson and joy for giving gifts anonymously is had by people. I wish I had time to explain it better.

My 5 yr old still believes in Santa. She's smart as a whip and I know at some point, I expect before she hits 7 or 8, she is going to figure it out. I can tell already by how she is that she won't hate her dad and I for doing it. If anything she will be positively giddy to help with the younger kids and I know she'll still get some joy in finding presents under the tree for herself from "Santa";-)
Someone who ends up with a sullen and hateful child when they find out there is no Santa has some deeper issues to wrangle with and should have that child seen by a psychologist imo.

[cupcakes]

Hey Sun, don't you have fun with Santa movies too still? I still find myself just having a blast letting myself slip into make believe when I watch those and shed a tear or two remembering what it was like to think like a child. I have fond memories of my childhood and the Santa thing. I never felt betrayed by my parents over that issue, not ever.

[cupcakes]

Hey Sun, don't you have fun with Santa movies too still? I still find myself just having a blast letting myself slip into make believe when I watch those and shed a tear or two remembering what it was like to think like a child. I have fond memories of my childhood and the Santa thing. I never felt betrayed by my parents over that issue, not ever.

[cupcakes]

Hey Sun, don't you have fun with Santa movies too still? I still find myself just having a blast letting myself slip into make believe when I watch those and shed a tear or two remembering what it was like to think like a child. I have fond memories of my childhood and the Santa thing. I never felt betrayed by my parents over that issue, not ever.

[cupcakes]

LMAO--ain't that the truth.

[onyx]

LMAO! is right. That was one unforgettable thread.

[Sunshine Sister]

You are so completely right about Santa. When I went running to Mom with tears in my eyes she explained that well maybe Santa was not a real person but a special spirit of the season. That spirit was that we love others, be thankful for our bounty and help those who were not as fortunate as us. (We were really poor back then but I didn't know it!)

She explained how much fun it was to think about what I was going to give the other family members and last but not least, if Santa was not real, how did all those presents get there? I was a happy camper!

[Tamzee]

Careful on this thread, folks... Santa's online ;-)

[mikeb704]

But a man in a red suit with eight tiny reindeer who flew around the world in one night delivering presents seemed completely logical to me.

Sometimes, it still does.

[mikeb704]

Let the kids alone.

Unfortunately, some adults think they're doing children a favor by treating them as grown ups before their time.