I'm Telling You Why ...

Wednesday, 4 December 2002

Right now there's a danger of this blog turning into the central clearing house for the Australian branch of the Ebenezer Scrooge Fan Club. I've had two more E-mails on the topic: Rob Corr of Mentalspace has alerted me to this ugly little report from yesterday's Oz of death threats against staff at a child-care centre that has "banned" Santa, while Darren from Adelaide wrote to alert me to this Daily Telegraph report of the misguided headmaster of a Sydney Christian school who shocked parents and shattered the beliefs of his students by issuing a school newsletter reaffirming the school's strong stand against the fantasy of Santa and other sacred symbols of Australian childhood. Doesn't this man realise that he is playing into the hands of the politically correct and the Muslim extremists who are determined to tear down the foundations of our democratic society?

Now that our PM has made it official that any deviation from an unwavering belief in the reality of Santa is a thought crime punishable by social ostracism at the very least, it's not surprising that the language of unbiased reporting is so careful to reflect the PM's general community attitudes. The Oz report's opening line makes no concessions to the misguided thinking of the politically correct Santa abolitionists:

A CHILD-care centre that bans Santa Claus has received a death threat.

Similarly the Telly is at pains to distance itself from any taint of political correctness:

NOT only does western Sydney school principal George Glanville not believe in the spirit of Santa, he is trying to destroy the magic of Christmas for hundreds of his students.

It may be egregious to suggest that this particular beat-up by the PM and the Murdoch press is a pretty damn stupid and irresponsible exercise which has created a lot of unnecessary divisiveness and petty hatred purely for the sake of self-indulgent gibes at imaginary political enemies. As both reports show, despite their worst intentions, there are many good reasons of conscience and consideration to support a Santa-free Christmas celebration or at least a mature approach to the myth that allows children to have the fun without the pretence that Old Nitty-Whiskers is actually real. Just why the PM and the Murdoch press regard this as a positive threat to society is beyond me. Perhaps they're worried that Santa might not be putting any nice defence goodies in the community Christmas stocking this year if we're bad little boys and girls and don't at least pretend to maintain the faith.