Goddamn Zorn! Everywhere I go! Alright, I'll listen to it but I'm not gonna like it...

I will not like it. I will make it my business not to like it.

I liked it.

Nice one.

I get what you're saying Frown, but it's hard to take these quotes without feeling angry.
What Plankton is not taking into account here is people's, particularly children's capacity to sort out "little white lies" from big ones. If, for instance, a kid is told some fat guy is gonna come down his chimney and leave toys for him, and later discovers this not to be the truth, 99% of them are gonna
shrug and say "oh well". They're not going to carry this into adult life as a burning reminder of how cruel the world is and you can't trust anyone etc.

On the other hand, if your mother says "This is uncle Fred. He's going to be sleeping in your room for a few days." And later you discover Uncle Fred was abusing you, and your mother knew, THAT's deceit and it's definitely gonna colour your adulthood.

What I'm pointing out here is that there are different types of lies, and little white ones, made with no other ulterior motive than to bring a little wonder and fantasy into a child's life, should not be equated with other, darker ones that have a totally different intention. You can lie to your child and still love them, which is something Plankton does not seem to accept. To him, all lies are treachery (not even sure where he got that word from, as it hardly applies) and will lead to "negative behaviour" in later life. Which is, quite simply, bull****.

By association, this opinion tries to assert that anyone who was told Santa exists will grow up maladjusted, angry and antisocial. This is also bull****.

Good lord.

Best Santa story. Back when both of my kids were really young we had a huge family Christmas party at our apt. We were on the second floor and had an attic above us. A few hours into the party my dad snuck off and went up into the attic to put on the suit and grab a bag full of presents. He started making a bunch of noise and of course we played it up the "Santa's here" thing with all of the kids. It was priceless when he finally appeared. You couldn't buy the looks on their faces for a million bucks.

Yawn. I've heard that same self-indulgent bull**** from countless militant atheists who wanted to discredit absolutely anything associated with religion. That argument seeks to draw a connection between believing in Santa in childhood, to being more likely to believe in what atheists see as dangerous nonsense.

Most people who raise their kids with Santa are Christians of some sort, and their household either explicitly or implicitly encourages a belief in the Christian God. How much of a role Santa might play in the whole affair of a child's development of credulity isn't something that can be easily studied, as the test subjects would all be more likely to develop it in the first place.

Yawn indeed.

EDIT: Merry ****down!!