Okay, I don't want to introduce natter or an edit war but this entry really REALLY bothers me: "You Tube user Shockofgod likes to claim that this is indirectly the reason people become atheists: When they realized Santa isn't real, they decided that if Santa isn't real, neither is God. Actual atheists beg to differ."
I'm an atheist, and I don't like Shockofgod, but for me personally, the realization that Santa wasn't real did directly lead to me becoming an atheist. I probably would've come to the same conclusion eventually without it, but the Santa myth spurred me to rethink the concept of a supreme being. I also think belief in Santa is in many important ways comparable to a belief in any other supernatural entity. This isn't true for for every atheist, but is true for some, and potholing to Insane Troll Logic is downright insulting.
I'd like to remove this entry entirely. Objections?
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It is Insane Troll Logic. If ghosts aren't real, does that mean Reptillians aren't? Or vice versa? Plus, he mischaracterizes the relationship between Santa and God in a way that's so incoherent I can't even articulate it well enough to edit the entry, as I'd like to do; watch the video and you'll see.
My posts make considerably more sense read in the voice of John Ratzenberger.
I just did.
Add a title. Stay safe; stay well. Live beyond… memento vivere! Should intermittent vengeance arm again his red right hand to plague us?
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Definiton is too long (it may need a rename)
, started by FallenLegend on Mar 8th 2011 at 10:44:36 PM
Dunkies addict
I'm kind of wondering about that quote - it doesn't really seem to fit the trope, and it to be eeking a bit toward the Rule Of Cautious Editing Judgment.
My posts make considerably more sense read in the voice of John Ratzenberger. Hide / Show Replies
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the development of this trope in this thread or the old YKTTW thread, as well as to Black Cat and Some Sort Of Troper for their contributions in the TRS thread.
Glad to get this trope into shape at last: I have loved this trope since I saw it debated in Monty Python And The Holy Grail as a kid, but when I tried to write it down as a TV Tropes trope page I botched it. Launched it with a name and title that failed to communicate the concept I was feeling. Partially because I was new and inexperienced: I had only been a member here for two months, and it was one of my first 25 tropes. :-)
I mean, define "legitimate". What makes a president or king "legitimate"? That they can send an army to back up the claim, and that army will follow the orders given by that person? What makes a fairy godmother legitimate? That the shoes stay solid until midnight? If they didn't, wouldn't you know?
What if an immortal, powerful being gives a magical item to a group of people, and tells them, "This magical item will choose your next leader. Follow that person absolutely, or you will all be wiped out." and they believe it, and follow the person that the magic item tells them to follow... but if they hadn't followed that person, nothing would have happened? It's not fixed, immovable fate that dictated things, just that one powerful being, who just wanted to make two groups of supernaturals go to war with each other so he could see them in pain...
I feel like this was sort of the point in the series I'm thinking of, but it never gets fully brought home in canon. Hesitant to list it.
Edit: If the presents aren't "legitimate" but people follow the leader anyway, I think actually that it should still be listed here. I mean, look at all of world history — people go to war over causes they believe to be just, or divinely sanctioned, constantly, and even if you personally believe that this or that time, they were right, they can't all have been right. It's probably likely that no more than 10% of them or so could have been right — whichever you choose to say is right, it necessarily invalidates 90% of the others — but that never stopped anyone from killing over it. And there are countless examples of people spending generations, centuries, telling people "The presents aren't from Santa! There is no Santa! Stop following their orders!" with no effect.
So like.
Edited by lavendermintrose I made this Idolized Julius Kingsley icon back when Akito first came out, and now that the crossover is actually happening, I don't care.