Angry Josh isn’t afraid to challenge irrational beliefs, even those which comfort small children.
Today’s comic is also available on Christmas cards. Click here to order some.
November 23rd, 2009
Angry Josh isn’t afraid to challenge irrational beliefs, even those which comfort small children.
Today’s comic is also available on Christmas cards. Click here to order some.
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Josh is only mostly wrong this time. The man is out there, and he’s got plenty of presents for everybody. Ho ho ho!
EXCELLENT!!
i remember being EXTREMELY PISSED at being LIED to when i found out there was no Santa – taught me alot about “adults”. and of course my parents acted alternately hurt and angry when i confronted them, but nary an acknowledgment of my point about TRUST, which struck me as an only slightly-less-malignant stunt than lying to get me into the car to go to the doctor for my “shots”.
AND TO THINK I LEFT THAT FUCKER COCOA!! (which the ‘rents no doubt enjoyed.. but hey, at least they never stiffed me on the presents, hehe..)
Couldn’t it be argued though that telling your kids there is a fat guy who watches you and decides whether or not you’ve been naughty or nice and then, based on that decision, decides whether or not to get you presents is simply a way to teach kids their are consequences for your actions? Good or bad? I mean, I’d rather parents lie to their kids that way then say “Johnny, if you do bad things you will burn for all eternity in hell where tiny goblins will nibble away at your body causing you excruciating pain,” Which is the method lots of parents teach, which in turn raises the kids to either be fear God, or resent Him, either of which takes away from the good lessons that can be taught from the Bible. (I understand this is assuming that parents are religious in anyway, if they are not, well then, I guess my argument is shot in the face.)
I have mixed emotions on this topic. I don’t think that parents should lie to children about Santa, any more than they should lie about God, however I don’t think a person from outside the child’s family should be the one to break the truth and certainly not in the (humorously exaggerated) manner shown in this comic
You are awesome for this!
And as christmas cards? awesome.
He’s not real?
Pat K is making a list and checking it twice.
You get Beer if you have been nice.
Of course you get twice as much Beer if you have been
naughty.
I’m a big believer in Parents’ Rights, including using whatever bullshit they want to get their kids to behave. I personally prefer more rational approaches to childhood education, but it’s easy for me to say – I have no kids, and quite possibly never will. There’s a strong correlation between religion and fertility, and without enough people being willing to go through the trouble of reproducing the economy is definitely doomed to collapse. If you want to influence a child’s belief system – have your own kids, and let other parents raise theirs however they see fit.
So — yes, Virginia — if your mommy / mommies and/or daddy / daddies and/or parent(s) of other genders (gulp) say there’s a Santa Clause, they’re probably right.
Let’s see a holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus, who was born in the summer, by the way. Is supposed to have walked on water, turned water into wine, fed thousands with a couple loaves of bread, and was raised from the dead…
But, some folks get riled up because people give kids a benevolent grandpa kind of guy that remembers them and gives them presents. Once kids figure out the truth, then they are one step closer to being in the adult club. Where they can help make young children’s lives happy. I note that the child is crying in the comic, as the angry guy forces the “truth” upon him.
I have never told my child that Santa was going to get him. Some folks teach of the vengeful God that will.
If only the truth is to be told to children… perhaps you can graphically demonstration how they were created.
After looking at the comments so far, both here and on Free Keene where this is cross-posted, I am amazed by how much the God analogy was lost on people. Was it that subtle? I thought I was hitting people over the head with it.
Meanwhile, I see so much being read into my motives. This happens a LOT. This comic is for the most part just an honest characterization of Angry Josh. I live with the guy and am often inspired by his rants. Sometimes he gets into these modes where he’s shouting discussions that he would like to have with people but has managed to restrain himself. Other times he is repeating things where he failed to restrain himself or simply had no desire to.
“Sometimes he gets into these modes where he’s shouting discussions that he would like to have with people but has managed to restrain himself.”
HFS i do the same thing! especially stuck here with mom, who’s no interest in anything non-soap opera. so i have hypothetical convos in my head (and sometimes out loud when it’s really passionate) with people whose positions i know well and can therefore estimate their responses. good to know i’m not alone there! i’ve always liked this Josh character
.
i think telling someone there is an unseen (and never allowed to be seen) entity that watches over us and judges our actions, doling out pain and pleasure according to its whim, is a good way to make kids *paranoid* (and resentful, and everything else that religion makes people toward a God of they believe in one), and prime them for life in a surveillance society. Santa sounds alot like the CIA, hehe. everywhere yet nowhere.
also, i don’t feel it’s my job to be complicit in some lie to their kid by hushing up on the matter. let them perpetrate their kid-disrespecting treachery on their own time, and take care not to tell lies that are so *easily debunked*. i found out when i neighbor posed as Santa, and it was painfully obvious, and we all ran around saying, “Santa’s a lie, that was Mr Dempsey!”. although some said, “that’s not the REAL Santa..”.. they were younger and hadn’t yet realised parents could lie, but i’d already gotten the “Doctor = Ice Cream” lie, so it dawned on me pretty quick kid-kind was being mass-duped by adult-kind, and i never trusted anyone – ESPECIALLYan adult or authority figure as much again.
for me it’s a trust issue. some kids blow it off, some don’t. but for me it went beyond Santa to RESPECT – lying is disrespectful, period, and doing it to your kids only really teaches them one thing: that it’s ok to lie “for a good reason”, and shows “the rules” up to be mostly for the convenience of the rulers, who feel no need to follow them themselves because they “know best”.. SOUND FAMILIAR?! yep, as is the micro, so is the macro..
The artist in this video want’s people to know that he does not believe in Santa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al6OgqAX_kg
He is also known as the Black Carl Sagan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2pFBBWvqdY
Dawkins explains to a man that he (the man) is delusional.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfcYRKk0sa8
Chopra owned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qySx8tSs8BQ
$ Reason’s greetings
This is why it pays to be a jew. No lies about fat dudes in red outfits. Just a bunch of candles. Like Adam Sandler said, instead of one day of presents, they have 8 crazy nights.
“Reason’s Greeting”, love it! hope you don’t mind if i borrow it
i chose not to subject potential offspring to the “slings and arrows of human existence”, but if i did, i’d raise my kids to understand cause and effect, and encourage them to develop their own moral and philosophical system based on their observations of the present placed in a historical context, and let them learn from their mistakes. morality cannot be coerced, only behaviour can. and inasmuchas “love is letting go of fear” (Leo Buscaglia), fear is the opposite of love and the root of contempt.
and yeah, i like Jewish wisdom too, it’s very “down-to-earth”.
i LOVED Greydon Square, i gotta get some of his stuff. brave man!
I just think people didn’t wish to beat the religious analogy over the head. No thanksgiving comic though??????
I’m just glad to know that there is more than one angry Josh in the world. I have always believed that I could make the world a better place if only there were more of me.
Josh: me too!! hehe, when i finally move to NH, Dale must keep us separated
I think the God analogy was overshadowed by the giant Christmas tree. Not to mention the punch line.
Does that child look like Dale when he was little? It does to me.
LOL yeah it does
did you get coal in your stocking one Christmas, Dale? is that what this is all about?