From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Thu Dec 12 2002 - 11:10:36 MST
> (Robert J. Bradbury <bradbury@aeiveos.com>):
>
> > This topic came up at the most recent Transhuman Atlanta, during a
> > discussion of whether the Santa Claus legend...
> [snip]
> > This year, tell your little children about the Fairy of Doubt, who brings
> > presents only to those children who don't believe in him;
> [snip]
>
> If you do this with the legend of Santa Claus I'm going to get
> really concerned about how you handle Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
> And then of course there is Mickey and the Krell machine.
>
> Some fairy tales are best left untouched.
I'm all for keeping existing mythology intact, as well as for
creating more. The question, though, is whether ot not a myth
retains its value when it is told honestly, /as a myth/. Certainly
the literary and emotionally evocative value of Achilles' heels
and Procrustean beds and screaming Cassandras is not lessened by
knowing that they are creatures of fiction. Is, then, the Santa
Claus legend of some value even when children are told up front
that it is fiction? I can imagine it might serve as a simple way
to understand the concept of reciprocity: be good and you get
rewarded. I don't see how acknowledging that the rewards actually
come from parents changes that lesson.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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