No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus. The man you trusted lied to you, that's all.
I truly, deeply, hate this piece of writing.
Not because of the monstrous level of twee and kitch, vomit-inducing though it is. That's a known risk, whenever adults address children on the subject of Christmas.
Nor because of the sloppy logic it proposes. First he states that the consequences of believing in Santa Claus are positive, so it follows that the belief must be correct. Then he states, categorically, that failing to prove a theory false is the same thing as proving it to be true. I've seen that pair of arguments elsewhere, and though it's galling to see critical thinking rubbished, it's not exactly unusual.
No, what I hate is that Virginia says, straight-up, that she is asking her question of this newspaper editor in particular because she trusts that the answer will be the truth. And she isn't told the truth; his answer is a deliberately-constructed lie.
That isn't cool. It's one thing to let a person go on believing something false. Goodness knows, I never told my little brothers the truth behind the man in red. But when a person asks outright, it means they would rather know the truth than believe something pleasant. You have to respect that, no matter if the answer is "No, there's no Santa Claus" or "Yes, mum, I'm gay" or "Actually, your omelettes are terrible". No matter if the person is eight years old or eighty. There's no excuse for that.
Not because of the monstrous level of twee and kitch, vomit-inducing though it is. That's a known risk, whenever adults address children on the subject of Christmas.
Nor because of the sloppy logic it proposes. First he states that the consequences of believing in Santa Claus are positive, so it follows that the belief must be correct. Then he states, categorically, that failing to prove a theory false is the same thing as proving it to be true. I've seen that pair of arguments elsewhere, and though it's galling to see critical thinking rubbished, it's not exactly unusual.
No, what I hate is that Virginia says, straight-up, that she is asking her question of this newspaper editor in particular because she trusts that the answer will be the truth. And she isn't told the truth; his answer is a deliberately-constructed lie.
That isn't cool. It's one thing to let a person go on believing something false. Goodness knows, I never told my little brothers the truth behind the man in red. But when a person asks outright, it means they would rather know the truth than believe something pleasant. You have to respect that, no matter if the answer is "No, there's no Santa Claus" or "Yes, mum, I'm gay" or "Actually, your omelettes are terrible". No matter if the person is eight years old or eighty. There's no excuse for that.