More E CrassMass

The original Saint Nicholas (AD270-343) was apparently of Greek descent, lived in Turkey and was a wealthy orphan. At some point he donated his entire inheritance to the Christian Church and went on to become the Bishop of Myra (date unknown). Possible attendant of the First Council of Nicaea in AD325, where he may (or may not) have slapped an Egyptian theologian (Arius) for preaching that God was greater than Jesus. Not withstanding this anecdotal violence, the Council declared such beliefs as heresy.

Saint Nicholas is acknowledged as the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, prostitutes, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and .... students.

Documented factual accuracy concerning Saint Nicholas is scant at best, however there is a consensus that as a child he adhered to the Christian doctrine of obedience. His key attributes as an adult were generosity, altruism and benevolence. Many anecdotes attest to selfless and remarkable acts, including anonymous dowry gifting to prevent prostitution. He is also associated with an act of resurrection, whereby he interceded to prevent the sale of three pickled children by a pork merchant. Diocletian Rome must have been really quite barbarous.

There is a distinct contrast between a native of Asia Minor from an Orthodox religious minority and the modern day rotund, bearded purveyor of material gifts who lives at the geographic North Pole. The only extant aspect would be his name, everything else appears to have been blatantly disregarded, or rampantly commercialised by the stakeholders listed above.

Any association between Saint Nicholas and the birth of Jesus Christ is conspicuously absent. There are even Christian sects who denied the festival of Christmas entirely. Most notably the English Puritan republic who denounced Christmas as an annual celebration of sin. (1644-1659)

Saint Nicholas - A tool for mind control:

Despite the previously mentioned lack of recorded information, the diverse origins of the anecdotal evidence would indicate that he probably was real and probably did become the Bishop of Myra. However, a belief in a 4th century ecclesiast from Asia Minor is in no way representative of the widespread 'Santa' narrative taught to young children. Generally speaking, the story endorsed by retailers, parents and other family members includes elvish manufacturing, flying Reindeer, magical sleighs, over eating and material obsession. None of which could be considered anything to do with reality, except the over eating and material obsession.

No analysis of the Santa Claus phenomenon can avoid looking at the works of Walt Disney and his corporation. The Disney Corporation is broadly loved by their consumers the world over and subsequently their motives are rarely scrutinised. However the documented use of Disney imagery in psychological experiments inclines any researcher to question the motivation. Then there's the whole 'Lemmings in the Hudson' fiasco, but that really is a whole other mind control story.

At the most basic level, conspiring to fool your children into believing in Santa Claus prepares them for more subtle mind control in later life. Given the widespread need for a herd mentality in the capitalist environ, teaching your children to believe in a fat man in a red suit who will give you free stuff if you behave, prepares them for having the wool repeatedly pulled over their eyes as conformist adults.

Summary:

A cynic would argue that the entire concept of Saint Nicholas (or Christmas in general) has been hijacked in exceedingly mercenary ways - for nearly two millennia. Not to mention the Christian rebranding of a much, much older winter solstice / fertility festival. A deeper dive would suggest that the most extreme period of this commercialisation has occurred over the past two centuries. Between the market driven imaginations of American advertising interests and the widespread hypocritical hedonism of the 1800's, the fundamental tenets of charity and philanthropy have been forcefully pushed out of view.

Nonetheless the vast majority of the western world still engages in the annual rituals associated with the name of Saint Nicholas and in the retail world his modern image is concretised as a figurehead for the 'Peak of Season'.

In essence, a child's belief in Santa Claus is motivated by material gain and possibly some form of latent gluttony. It is encouraged by adults who have (at some point) been forcefully disavowed of this belief structure. Despite the lingering memory of this potentially quite painful watershed, the average person will not seek to deter children from such beliefs. Often acquiescing to the illogical narrative for many years until an indeterminate point whereby the child is considered grown up enough to 'handle the truth'.