Listen to this article: You get your first taste of it when you're little. You find your Christmas presents in your parents' closet in early December, or maybe some older kid just tells you that Santa Claus isn't real. What the hell? What the hell is this? Some freaky psyop run by your parents, just for kicks? And all the other parents are in on it too? And Hollywood? All those movies and TV specials about Santa were just lies? How far does this go?
Here's one: the reward of work is financial compensation. Bullshit: last job I had paid me better than ever but I felt like a drone filling a hole in the corporate model. Best jobs I ever had encouraged my creativity and the best of those paid the least (per hour, anyway). It points to why Dr. Richard Wolff's revelations about worker-owned businesses is so important. Imagine that you're employed in a fairly repetitive job, the conventional wisdom telling you to suck it up and take your boredom to the bank. Then the company becomes worker owned & suddenly, you're being tasked to contribute your creativity to the running of the company. Very different—and I'd argue superior— job experience. When your parents, relatives, friends lie to you about what "should" influence you career choices (money/status etc,), tell 'em "no thanks" if you see in those suggestions a low possibility of expressing your unique creativity in your worklife.
Great article! Just one thing - I am not sure the tacit assertion that we grow out of the lies and develop a more woke and cynical view of our cultural lore is true. There is a lot of evidence that adults cling to many lies we were taught as children.
The legacy of our parents' (and teachers') lies is what keeps the rigged economic system functioning for the few. Fuzzy notions of patriotism still justify teens enlisting in the military or joining racist militias. The SCOTUS decision on Citizens United did not unmask the fraud that American citizens choose their leaders much less that America is still a democracy. Public schools do not mention oligarchy unless it is in reference to Russia or some other foreign nation of which teens have no clue. Most recently, GOP leaders are amplifying the lie that systemic racism does not exist in the USA, and that it is unpatriotic to assert otherwise.
As for Santa, he would not exist had Coca Cola not invented him to make a buck. He also provides parents with welcome disciplinary leverage when kids are still unskilled at self-discipline switch to tantrum mode. Even for adults, Santa is an annual reminder to update our wardrobes and provides an excuse for irrational self-indulgences such as bass boats, more jewelry, and new golf clubs.
I remember being very struck by a Bunraku performance. The bright little puppets acting out their dramas, and the black-clad, dispassionate/compassionate puppeteers putting them through their paces. We're all like that. The drama and delusion continue even when you've caught a glimpse of the enigma behind them. The only difference is that you know it's a show.
The amount of pain you must have overcome in your life and the bravery that it took is humbling.
Great article. So true.
Here's one: the reward of work is financial compensation. Bullshit: last job I had paid me better than ever but I felt like a drone filling a hole in the corporate model. Best jobs I ever had encouraged my creativity and the best of those paid the least (per hour, anyway). It points to why Dr. Richard Wolff's revelations about worker-owned businesses is so important. Imagine that you're employed in a fairly repetitive job, the conventional wisdom telling you to suck it up and take your boredom to the bank. Then the company becomes worker owned & suddenly, you're being tasked to contribute your creativity to the running of the company. Very different—and I'd argue superior— job experience. When your parents, relatives, friends lie to you about what "should" influence you career choices (money/status etc,), tell 'em "no thanks" if you see in those suggestions a low possibility of expressing your unique creativity in your worklife.
The Santa lie is one of the buggiest lies because basically the everyone around you while you’re a kid pushes it
Excellent subject. I would love to see you digging deeper into it.
Great article! Just one thing - I am not sure the tacit assertion that we grow out of the lies and develop a more woke and cynical view of our cultural lore is true. There is a lot of evidence that adults cling to many lies we were taught as children.
The legacy of our parents' (and teachers') lies is what keeps the rigged economic system functioning for the few. Fuzzy notions of patriotism still justify teens enlisting in the military or joining racist militias. The SCOTUS decision on Citizens United did not unmask the fraud that American citizens choose their leaders much less that America is still a democracy. Public schools do not mention oligarchy unless it is in reference to Russia or some other foreign nation of which teens have no clue. Most recently, GOP leaders are amplifying the lie that systemic racism does not exist in the USA, and that it is unpatriotic to assert otherwise.
As for Santa, he would not exist had Coca Cola not invented him to make a buck. He also provides parents with welcome disciplinary leverage when kids are still unskilled at self-discipline switch to tantrum mode. Even for adults, Santa is an annual reminder to update our wardrobes and provides an excuse for irrational self-indulgences such as bass boats, more jewelry, and new golf clubs.
I remember being very struck by a Bunraku performance. The bright little puppets acting out their dramas, and the black-clad, dispassionate/compassionate puppeteers putting them through their paces. We're all like that. The drama and delusion continue even when you've caught a glimpse of the enigma behind them. The only difference is that you know it's a show.