Perpetuating the myth of Santa Claus to children is bad

I'm hopeful it will be fun and challenging. I would first simply like to ask my opponent what he is arguing for. Is Santa Claus a good person for children? I would now like to begin refuting my opponent's arguments. Refutations "Now this story [Rainbow Fish] is unquestionably "irrational" - indeed there are not a great many things in this world more fantastic than a mythical talking octopus - however its usefulness is by no means dampened by its fantastic nature. " There are various levels of irrationality. The story you used as an example is not extremely irrational. For example, there are fish with beautiful scales. And you have an octopus, a wise mentor, who helps the fish share. This is a very good moral, yet not too irrational. Santa Claus' moral is unclear and the idea of Santa is extremely illogical. Compare these two stories. A pretty fish compared to flying reindeer. A talking octopus to a super obese man who flies all over the world and knows who is good and who is bad and flies down the chimney to give presents or coal. "I doubt seriously that you will take your 5 year old and explain to him that he should be a good child simply because the societal standards of American culture demand he abide. " That is much better than telling a child to be good simply to receive more presents of higher quality. The child is acting like a nice person simply to get what he wants. That's not just or right. "That's like saying a religious person who believes in miraculous things is by his very nature an entirely irrational person - one who is incompetent to make decisions in any field of his life because he holds certain beliefs. " I'm not religious, but that is easy for you to say because you are atheist. A person who is religious probably finds that their religion is not irrational and that God does exist and is watching over them. They find their religion completely logical. How would a person be faithful if he didn't believe? They're brainwashed and confused because Gods don't exist. That person is incompetent. I apologize if I am offending any religious readers, but I feel I need to make this point. Some religious people do make idiotic decisions. For some reason, a man dragged a cross through his downtown home [1]. Muslims suicide bomb to end up in Paradise. Jews believe the world was created in six days, with God resting on the seventh and that the world is only 7000 years old. These are all very confused religious followers. Children can believe in ridiculous things once they learn of Santa Claus, from magical powers to fairies and monsters, as I once did. "This is one of the most fantastic statements I've read in awhile. How is a man - real or not - who spends 11 months and 30 days of a 12 month year building toys to deliver for free to children a "class oppressor"? Here is the definition if you were unclear on the meaning of the word "oppressor": an unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power. " An oppressor is a person who oppresses and the definition of oppress that I was using means to "cause to suffer. " The poor will suffer because their parents, who are technically "Santa Claus", will give them fewer presents than the rich, whose parents spoil their children regardless whether or not they are kind. Even if you have the nicest child in the world who is poor, he will still not receive more presents of a higher value from "Santa" compared to the worst child who is filthy rich. Rich parents still care about their children and want them to love their parents, and the way to do that is by giving them good presents and not poor ones. No parent would purposely give their child coal. "The Naughty List is not about impulsive punishment - it serves as a reminder that there are consequences for bad behavior. " The naughty list is simply meant to scare children to be nice. In other words, it's a threat. However, it's also useless. Again, parents love their kids and don't want their kids to hate them so they give them presents so that the children will be happy. "It seems to me that you are rather conflicted in your intentions and I would appreciate a little clarification. Are you arguing that we should do anything necessary to protect our children from harm, or that we should tell them unconditionally the nature of the world in which we live and the harm it will eventually cause them. " What I meant when I stated that we should have a strict regard for the truth is that we should not make up ridiculous stories to tell our children, but teach them the morals, and that Santa is too irrational for anyone to listen to. Children can learn to believe in magical, wishful thinking rather than using their heads and using logic and actual evidence. "I'm unsure of your experience with Santa Claus - though I may deduce that he has harmed you in some grave way - however I'd like to inform you that most children discover on their own that Santa Claus is not real. " And the older children will spoil it for the younger children who see that their dreams and hopes all topple down and crash. We should not lie to our kids to have them develop a hope for magic and fairies and then have them find out on their own that their parents are liars. Why not have them invest their ideas into the future, for technology, space exploration, and physics? Why not have them further advance the theories and the ideas of why we are here and how the universe was created? Why not do all this rather than have them believe in a nonexistent, obese man whose outfit was shaped by Coca-Cola [2]? Santa Claus will not help the child in any way. These are my main arguments, once again. 1. Santa is too irrational to brainwash children with. 2. Santa is evil. 3. Children will be disillusioned. 4. Santa stunts intellectual maturity. 5. Kids will lose their self-confidence and confidence in their parents when they find out the truth about Santa. 6. Santa is not the true meaning of Christmas. Because I have not expanded on this point, I will do so now. Christmas is a holiday on December 25th which is meant to commemorate the supposed birth of Jesus or Jesus Christ, the central figure of Christmas, hence the "Christ" in "Christmas. [3]" Christmas is the traditional birthday of Jesus and should have nothing to do with Santa Claus, who, in the United States, was born in 1899 approximately [4]. Lying is bad and is the constant no-no of moral story books, so why should parents do it to their children about Santa? I look forward to the next round. Sources: 1. . http://www.wtol.com... 2. . http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com... 3. . http://en.wikipedia.org... 4. . http://answers.yahoo.com...