The Santa story raises children to have a conspiratorial mindset that some will retain for the rest of their lives, amirite?

I'd argue that it has the opposite effect. Children eventually find out Santa isn't real by using critical thinking skills.

by Anonymous 6 months ago

It takes an alarmingly long time for a lot of kids to come to that conclusion.

by Felixking 6 months ago

At what age do you think it becomes alarming? 🥴

by Rueckerchadd 6 months ago

Yet these critical thinking skills can't get over Jesus being fake

by Mazie05 6 months ago

Well, Jesus was a real historical person, as agreed by the majority of historians. Religious outlooks are taken separately.

by Anonymous 6 months ago

A real fake person who stole his story from Horus

by Mazie05 6 months ago

Ooh, very edgy and cool. Anyway, religious views aside, Jesus was a real historical person.

by Anonymous 6 months ago

People who unironically believe in God, miracles, etc have zero critical thinking skills. Same for Trump supporters etc.

by Lubowitzjovanny 6 months ago

Trump supporters and people who believe in God are the same persons

by Mazie05 6 months ago

For most children you'd hope that would be the case, yes. However, once they use their critical thinking skills and realise that the whole of society lied to them, they still have to somehow retain their trust that society is lying about other things. I think it's probably the case that for some small percentage of kids, discovering that the whole of society (from Hollywood movies to their own parents) engaged in a conspiracy to deceive them leaves the door wide open for them to retain a distrust of society and its institutions when it comes to what is true and what is false.

by Hahncathy 6 months ago

But distrust is the best thing to foster as long as it comes with critical thinking The dangerous ones are those who trust and are sheep because they don't use critical thinking or the ones that don't trust but do not use critical thinking anyway.

by Anonymous 6 months ago

Also, parents: lying is bad. If you tell lies you will end up on Santa's naughty list and he won't come down the chimney and bring you any presents.

by Historical-Kale 6 months ago

Nah. Jewish kids like mine ruin it for them! 🤣

by Anonymous 6 months ago

These days, people could do with a little extra "conspiratorial mindset"; politicians and corporations might find themselves under a little more scrutiny

by Anonymous 6 months ago

It's a great learning lesson for children. Sometimes they are all lying to you.

by Felixking 6 months ago

This is absurd. Millions and millions of kids have believed in Santa over decades, century+ even and it has not caused a boom in conspiracy theorists. Every single person I know (friends, family) believed in Santa Claus as a kid and zero of them are conspiracy nuts. I know that's anecdotal, but you'd think if the Santa story was causing widespread mistrust of society, at least one person would be a conspiracy theorist. 99.8% of kids, when they find out Santa is not real, understand it was make believe not a conspiracy.

by Anonymous 6 months ago

Bruh…

by Anonymous 6 months ago

Killjoy

by Anonymous 6 months ago

People who are well adjusted and above 10IQ will be able to separate santa from reality. People being into hard-core conspiracies is a much pronounced issue with more moving parts.

by Complex-Narwhal-8165 6 months ago

Well the thing is that adults generally have more critical thinking skills than preschoolers….

by Anonymous 6 months ago

I don't think it's as dangerous as OP does, but I do think it's weird. I never believed in Santa, my parents told me its not real but its a nice story/tradition. I was still a good kid, I still loved Christmas, and I don't feel like I missed out on anything. Some kids take it really hard when they find out, and do you really want your kids distrusting you or questioning you at such a vulnerable age?

by Anonymous 6 months ago

I guess I am a super human who believed in Santa as a child and not in conspiracy theories as an adult.

by Aggravating-Song 6 months ago

That's what they want you to think.

by ContentAdeptness8626 6 months ago

I think I actually agree.

by Chemical-Brush-8294 6 months ago

This is a pretty genius take. Thank you!

by Anonymous 6 months ago

I believe this too. It broke my trust in adults tbh.

by Anonymous 6 months ago

When I was a kid, yes.

by Anonymous 6 months ago

Yeah that makes sense

by maggiokelley 6 months ago