Ha! I’m glad you quoted the most terrifying Christmas song (or any song), Santa Claus is Coming To Town. I never thought anything of it when I was young but when I was going through a difficult period of defining my disillusionment in a post 911 world (in my mid 40s), it hit me like a ton of bricks. At that moment I was in a place that already puts me in a dissociative fugue. The grocery store. I froze. I wasn’t even in the frozen food isle. Holy Crap I said out loud. A woman down the isle and looked at me puzzled. I feigned shock over a price increase.
[The only other time I said something to myself out loud louder than I thought was when I said “Oh no. It’s new and improved” in the most darkly cynical tone. A woman down the isle laughed out loud. That was an unexpected bit of comforting camaraderie. ]
The digital revolution was under way, the Patriot Act was a reality, and the Orwellian department of homeland security was showing its intrusive nature. The reality sunk in; that tech companies and government agencies would have air tight asymmetrical power of surveillance and be able to act in it. The dream of every despot and nefarious religious leader’s dream come true. This always relied on people self policing under the watchful eye of an all seeing eye of a god (who was always their religion- go figure) or psyops like Santa to do the work but now they have the tools. I figured by that time the tech was designed to atomize and isolate people in a generally unseen way so that the power of the people to rise up and organize against our new feudal lords could be prevented preemptively. The advent of “social” media and other events, particularly of the last 5 years has done nothing to disabuse me of this view.
Fortunately I had parents and grandparents who absolutely saw Christmas debased as “strictly commercial.”
An aside: I figured out Santa was fiction by the time I was 5. I had doubts. At least I could doubt Santa without the promise of eternal hellfire, haha. When I figured it out my parents were happy with it, my mother in particular because she herself figured it out by 5 as well. As she told it, she analyzed the physics of one guy going over the entire planet seemed off to her. Santa’s reputed girth and the dimensions of their home’s chimney clinched it for her. Object lesson: when she gleefully told her best friend the truth she learned as confirmed by her parents, her best friend beat her up screaming There Is a Santa Claus!
I took mom’s moral to the story to heart. Her life long friend, who I knew too- a sweet kind & generous person- proved that Articles of faith can’t be questioned under penalty of corporal punishment. That the predominant collective will viciously enforce the will of our captors.
Thanks for this wonderful post! It really cheered me up!
Doubting the Santa thing is an early intelligence test. Couldn’t agree more. It really is so messed up when you think about it. This is not my last thing on this topic for the season.
And thank you for sharing! Love to know others like you and your mom had similar experiences.
I burst out laughing at the last paragraph. It’s so over the top. You write like a soldier hyped up on speed running out of the trenches screaming, all guns blazing.
it’s funny and at the same time a slash fest of a critique of our decaying western culture. Bravo.
Ha! I’m glad you quoted the most terrifying Christmas song (or any song), Santa Claus is Coming To Town. I never thought anything of it when I was young but when I was going through a difficult period of defining my disillusionment in a post 911 world (in my mid 40s), it hit me like a ton of bricks. At that moment I was in a place that already puts me in a dissociative fugue. The grocery store. I froze. I wasn’t even in the frozen food isle. Holy Crap I said out loud. A woman down the isle and looked at me puzzled. I feigned shock over a price increase.
[The only other time I said something to myself out loud louder than I thought was when I said “Oh no. It’s new and improved” in the most darkly cynical tone. A woman down the isle laughed out loud. That was an unexpected bit of comforting camaraderie. ]
The digital revolution was under way, the Patriot Act was a reality, and the Orwellian department of homeland security was showing its intrusive nature. The reality sunk in; that tech companies and government agencies would have air tight asymmetrical power of surveillance and be able to act in it. The dream of every despot and nefarious religious leader’s dream come true. This always relied on people self policing under the watchful eye of an all seeing eye of a god (who was always their religion- go figure) or psyops like Santa to do the work but now they have the tools. I figured by that time the tech was designed to atomize and isolate people in a generally unseen way so that the power of the people to rise up and organize against our new feudal lords could be prevented preemptively. The advent of “social” media and other events, particularly of the last 5 years has done nothing to disabuse me of this view.
Fortunately I had parents and grandparents who absolutely saw Christmas debased as “strictly commercial.”
An aside: I figured out Santa was fiction by the time I was 5. I had doubts. At least I could doubt Santa without the promise of eternal hellfire, haha. When I figured it out my parents were happy with it, my mother in particular because she herself figured it out by 5 as well. As she told it, she analyzed the physics of one guy going over the entire planet seemed off to her. Santa’s reputed girth and the dimensions of their home’s chimney clinched it for her. Object lesson: when she gleefully told her best friend the truth she learned as confirmed by her parents, her best friend beat her up screaming There Is a Santa Claus!
I took mom’s moral to the story to heart. Her life long friend, who I knew too- a sweet kind & generous person- proved that Articles of faith can’t be questioned under penalty of corporal punishment. That the predominant collective will viciously enforce the will of our captors.
Thanks for this wonderful post! It really cheered me up!
https://explosm.net/comics/rob-santalist
Doubting the Santa thing is an early intelligence test. Couldn’t agree more. It really is so messed up when you think about it. This is not my last thing on this topic for the season.
And thank you for sharing! Love to know others like you and your mom had similar experiences.
I burst out laughing at the last paragraph. It’s so over the top. You write like a soldier hyped up on speed running out of the trenches screaming, all guns blazing.
it’s funny and at the same time a slash fest of a critique of our decaying western culture. Bravo.
Not speed, but drugs did help in the production of ugh.. whatever this is. Thank you!
🤣👏🏻🤣👏🏻
Mate I love your writing, never stop!