Tinny Chinni: Washington Post Publishes Op-ed Urging 'Let's Give Santa the Boot'

Dante Chinni calls himself  "a card-carrying member of the East Coast Media Establishment Complex," and he proved in on Sunday with an article in Sunday Outlook section of The Washington Post: "Instead of leaving cookies, let's give Santa the boot."

Secular liberals always first want to save the country for science and rationality, and Santa Claus is "reality's exception" for little kids. "America doesn’t need any more people who deny reality — at any age." Santa also quite obviously favors the super-rich:

Second, Santa raises all sorts of questions about justice. For children, Saint Nick comes off as the ultimate judge and jury. Here’s a guy with this massive list of all their annual good deeds and transgressions. He knows all — even sees them when they’re sleeping!

And yet, Santa doesn’t dole out justice all that well. I mean, no one gets an actual lump of coal. He always seems to conclude that everyone has been pretty nice — and that the wealthy kids deserve a little more. How is it they have always been better? Good Lord, is Santa a Calvinist?

Yes, at some point kids have to learn that life isn’t always fair, but the whole point of Santa is that he is above all that. What kind of world is it where this wonderful, all-knowing grandfather figure — who spends his year tracking who has been naughty and nice — gives the school bully a PlayStation and the poor kid not much at all?

And that brings us to the third and most important reason I'm over Santa. We simply don't need him. The world, the real world, is an incredible place all by itself. It is big and complicated and fascinating, and Santa Claus and magic cheapen it. This is something we grasp when children ask us questions like "Why is the sky blue?" or "What's it like on the other side of the world?" The answers are amazing, thought-provoking and illuminating.

Sit down and talk to your kids about space. Try to explain how it all works. It's more incredible than a magical fat man in a red suit.

Chinni has written for Newsweek and The Christian Science Monitor as well as the Post.

PS: Chinni’s website also includes liberal-media plaudits for his book Patchwork Nation: The Surprising Truth About the ‘Real’ America:

“A wonderful book that takes us way beyond red and blue” - E.J. Dionne, Washington Post

“A book to keep always at your side and in your mind” - Jim Lehrer, PBS

(HT: Dan Gainor)