Monday, December 22, 2008
Deconstructing Santa Claus
We always tend to think of Santa Claus as just a nice friendly old man, but is he really? I mean, let's look at the facts on Santa:
1) Conditional love: only likes you if you've been "nice", not if you've been "naughty", or if you cry or pout too much.
2) Overlooked Rudolph's tormenting and exclusion until he became useful to him.
3) Has us under surveillance: "He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows when you've been bad or good." (Bush should've tapped Santa to run Homeland Security.)
4) What do we really know about the labor standards at Santa's workshop? Does he pay his elves a fair wage? And do they really choose to live way up there at the North Pole, or does Santa leave them no choice in order to keep their jobs?
I don't know, maybe we should reconsider this Santa guy. I'm not liking him so much. ;)
BTW, for a more serious look at the real Saint Nick, check out this excellent article at Christianity Today.
