Every year, as Christmas comes around, I start to wonder why we lie to our children with the Santa myth. What do we gain by perpetuating this story? Is it just a disciplinary tool, a crutch for parents who want to convince their children to be good on penalty of not receiving any toys? If so, that is another demonstration that most people don't live their lives as if they believe in God. If people honestly thought hell was a possibility, wouldn't they live strictly moral lives, as per the bible's morality?
If the metaphysical layout posited by Christianity was true, the Santa meme should be unnecessary. And yet the latter meme survives. It's fascinating that something that so closely mirrors the widespread conception of a personal god also survives in our meme pool. What about the Santa meme makes it fit?
Does it really enhance the experience of credulous youngsters? I don't remember exactly how old I was when my mom dropped the S bomb on me, but it was definitely before my fourth Christmas. But it definitely didn't ruin the holiday for me. I loved Christmas as much as the next kid for at least another decade. Most people seem to associate belief in Santa with the 'magic' of the holiday. Perhaps they perpetuate the Santa story because of that perception.
An important partner to the 'Santa exists' meme is the 'don't ruin the secret' meme. Maybe the second meme is the one I should be asking about. When I was a kid, I didn't tell all the other kids that the whole Santa thing was a lie. Most people carry the Santa meme without believing its truth value is positive, but almost everyone who knows of it but doesn't believe in it still thinks anyone who does believe it should be protected from the truth. This is what Dan Dennett refers to as 'the spell' in the title of his book Breaking the Spell. Our society, en masse, acquiesces to pretend that a big guy in a red suit comes down everybody's chimney on Christmas Eve and leaves them presents. It's embarrassing, really. Supposedly reputable news organizations all talk about Santa like he's real.
They have to. They'd lose all their advertisers and be inundated with hate mail if they broke the spell. It's happened before. And the same thing happens when someone points out that religious stories are not real. Believers get all offended when you compare their beliefs to the Santa meme, but that's primarily because the comparison is so apt. People who believe Jesus rose from the dead, walked on water, and rode dinosaurs take umbrage at the notion that their religion is akin to believing that Santa flies around the world in one night on a sleigh.
We all learn to respect the delusions of children with respect to Santa Claus, and we all learn to respect other people's delusions about Jesus. It's the same protective spell in both instances. I don't really know where it comes from, but I suspect it applied to Jesus long before Santa came on to the scene.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment