Okay, but why would they do that since THEY thought Santa was real?
I already said I figured they were dumb.
Occam
Still doesn’t make sense. Either you thought they believed in Santa—in which case they wouldn’t have to worry about buying presents—-or you knew they were buying the presents because they knew they couldn’t count on Santa since they knew he didn’t exist.
Santa Claus: Yes
Monster under the bed: No
Easter Bunny: Yes
Invisible Friend: No
Sky Daddy: Yes
Bogyman: No
No wonder they get confused!
My parents used to threaten us with ‘The Sandman’. None of my friends ever heard of him. My parents used to tell us that if we didn’t go to sleep, the Sandman was going to come and sprinkle sand on us to put us to sleep. That never made sense to me, even as a 4 or 5 year old. It made far more sense to stay awake in case he tried to sneak in to get us!
Actually, it would have been you who was being illogical, not the adults.
That’s a possibility that you are proposing, but since we, as adults, now recognize that there’s no Santa Claus, it turns out that I WAS being logical. The situation that I did not consider as a small child was that the adults were lying to me, therefore I was stuck with the idea that they must be illogical as well as misinformed.
Come on, you know you have lost this. Accept it damnit. Be a man.
Sorry, George. I do have to admit that you did a great job of nit-picking, but that’s my forte’. I won’t say that you lost, just that you were mistaken.
Nope. You came to the right conclusion, but how you got there was not logical, because it was the wrong explanation. It’s as if I discovered that smoking causes cancer because people who smoke get sick a lot more with colds and the flu (from touching their mouth as they take a drag) and these viruses then cause them to develop cancer.
Santa Claus: Yes
Monster under the bed: No
Easter Bunny: Yes
Invisible Friend: No
Sky Daddy: Yes
Bogyman: No
No wonder they get confused!
My parents used to threaten us with ‘The Sandman’. None of my friends ever heard of him. My parents used to tell us that if we didn’t go to sleep, the Sandman was going to come and sprinkle sand on us to put us to sleep. That never made sense to me, even as a 4 or 5 year old. It made far more sense to stay awake in case he tried to sneak in to get us!
It seems to me that belief in the supernatural causes far more fear than is necessary to function optimally in life. I wonder why our culture comes up with all these notions that promote children’s tendencies to believe in supernatural things. Is there some functional reason to promote paranoia in our children?
It seems to me that belief in the supernatural causes far more fear than is necessary to function optimally in life. I wonder why our culture comes up with all these notions that promote children’s tendencies to believe in supernatural things. Is there some functional reason to promote paranoia in our children?
there was at one time. Folk stories in which the bogeyman or whatever one would call it/him/her served the function of protecting the child from potential harm. “don’t go into the woods unescorted or the monster wil get you”. In order to punctuate the fear, adults would emulate the monster/whatever by donning masks and other disguises to bring the creature to life. This kept the kids nearby so you wouldn’t have to constantly watch them. It serves no useful function now except in scaring kids into believing in hell and demons (see hell houses sponsored by fundie churches)
Sorry, George, but I don’t understand your example as germane. Could you point out the error you think you see, directly?
Occan
Yeah, you’re right. What I wrote has nothing to do with what you said. That’s what happens when one complicates something which should have been simple. You shouldn’t have deduce that the adults didn’t realize that Santa was real if they had to buy the presents. You thought here wasn’t logical.
I just hope this doesn’t become another “envelope” discussion.
Most of the gifts were from my parents or relatives, but a few were marked as from Santa Claus. Since the day has been a little stressful, I decided to have a second glass of my usual evening glass of wine, so I’ll have to work though the logic of that tomorrow morning.
Come on, you know you have lost this. Accept it damnit. Be a man. 
