Its wrong that our civilization lies to the children about Santa Claus

I do not particularly care about lying. Actually, I prefer it in virtually every encounter I have with other people. I see it as essentially a bedrock, the foundation, the glue keeping together both personal relations as well as institutional relations, such as in business and government. Santa Claus is as my opponent suggests a deception, but it is at best a harmless one. Consider birthdays, college graduations, and funerals. Each of these requires acting or prevaricating. Any decent person is likely to realize these are simply rituals that are about as truth and authentic as the dialogue written for hardcore pornography. From my perspective, children need to learn and acquire real-world skills like lying to children, family members, romantic partners or investors. Second, the fact that adults lie to children misses one question that deserves the most attention: do children believe in Santa Clause or are they simply acting out pre-prescribed roles, acting surprised, taking pictures with a Mall Santa because they realize this is what their parents want from them. First, how long does the Santa Clause lie even work? Maybe until the kids of seven or eight, for the dumb ones maybe twelve years old, beyond that even if they maintain their belief they can expect ridicule, death-threats, physical violence all of which are sanctioned by the ethics of elementary and middle school. My opponent is too caught up in the ethical dilemma but missing how children and adult interact. Santa Claus is a belief that no one actually believe in but it works anyway. For instance, asked parents whether believe in Santa Claus and they will say, “of course not, we pretend for the children; if we told them it would disappoint them.” And similarly, if you ask children whether they believe in Santa Claus they too will say almost exactly the same thing, “no, we know that Santa Claus isn’t real but we pretend for are parent’s because we don’t want to disappoint them.” In reality, no one believes the lie only the belief and obligation not to disappoint the other party. Therefore, the real question is if we have a problem with lying to seven and eight year olds about Santa Clause, should we have a problem with lying to them in other situations. For instance, why is mommy crying in the bathroom? Well if were honest instead of saying “oh, no she’s not crying, she’s laughing but you cannot go in there or no, she’s not crying she just has a cold” we should say instead, “your mother is crying because mommy just found out that daddy twenty grand in a real-estate scheme she warned was bogus from the beginning” or “your mother is crying because she’s bipolar, drink vodka like a Russian peasant on cold winter nights, and also because she found pictures of daddy’s mistress; that’s her in the leather mask holding whips and dildos in her hand. Santa Claus is just a narrative about a holiday, a mythology we collective narrative we all agree too. Questions for my opponent: So would it be better to get rid of Santa Claus all together? Would a world where every parent in the United States say, “sorry kids Santa Claus is a lie, just like the tooth fairy, and why should be continue with this terrible tradition, so no presents or any of that?” Should we also end Thanksgiving because it is historically inaccurate?