Christmas 2015

Trollheart · 12-17-2015, 02:33 PM

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

Trollheart · 12-17-2015, 02:45 PM

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plankton

There are other ways to do this without resorting to lies and treachery.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plankton

At the end of the day it's still a lie, and it's all for materialistic gain. You can sugar coat it all you want, but deceit will only breed negativity. It may not manifest itself immediately, but the end result will be of a maleficent nature.

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****.

Chula Vista · 12-17-2015, 02:53 PM

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.

The Batlord · 12-17-2015, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plankton

Back up my claim? Ok.

I'll let D.K. Johnson do most of the 'backing up' though.

From: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...anta-claus-lie

It's really an interesting read. Here's more from his blog:

AgainstTheSantaLie: Hate Mail From My Op-Ed

Having a daughter myself, I never pushed Santa onto her, nor did I discourage the idea, I let her figure it out for herself. Over those years where everyone around her would perpetuate the fantasy, I'd always steer her in the direction towards the truth. I never signed her presents "From Santa", and I didn't play into all the rituals that go along with it. I merely waited for her to see things as they really are. Our relationship is very strong, and she is an extremely well balance human being. Not only because of the fact that I wouldn't play into the Santa farce, but my whole outlook on parenting is to teach her the truth, love, compassion, and understanding. I've never told her to stop doing something "Because i said so", I'd always explain things to her and try to understand her outlook on things rather than force my will upon her. I can only explain my situation though, and why I feel this way. You, Trollheart, and even Batlord for that matter, have your own experiences and a lot of what you believe is wrapped up in what you were taught by your parents.

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.

Plankton · 12-17-2015, 03:12 PM

Yawn indeed.

Trollheart · 12-17-2015, 03:31 PM

**Frownland** · 12-17-2015, 03:33 PM

Trollheart · 12-17-2015, 04:17 PM

Zhanteimi · 12-17-2015, 04:30 PM

EDIT: Merry ****down!!

Spoiler for GF:

Trollheart · 12-17-2015, 05:51 PM

12-17-2015, 02:33 PM	#91 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Goddamn Zorn! Everywhere I go! Alright, I'll listen to it but I'm not gonna like it... __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-17-2015, 02:53 PM	#93 (permalink)
Chula Vista Toasted Poster Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: SoCal by way of Boston Posts: 11,332	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. __________________ “The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

12-17-2015, 03:12 PM	#95 (permalink)
Plankton Just Keep Swimming... Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: See signature... Posts: 7,765	Yawn indeed. __________________ See location...

12-17-2015, 03:31 PM	#96 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-17-2015, 03:33 PM	#97 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	__________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

12-17-2015, 04:17 PM	#98 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-17-2015, 04:30 PM	#99 (permalink)
Zhanteimi Mord Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Tokyo Posts: 4,873	EDIT: Merry **down!! Spoiler** for GF: Last edited by Zhanteimi; 12-17-2015 at 07:46 PM.

12-17-2015, 05:51 PM	#100 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018