Plato on Pop  Philosophy and pop culture  Say Goodbye to the
Santa Claus Lie  Can lying to your children about Santa be
excused in the name of imagination?  Parents often feel a twinge
of guilt when they lie to their children about Santa Claus. But
in her article, “The Santa Lie: Is the Christmas Con Hurting our
Kids?Slate author Melinda Wenner Moyerbut argues that the Santa
lie “belongs in the ‘good lie’ pile.”  There is no need for
guilt, she says, “because parents invoke him for their kids’
sake.” I disagree. We need to pay attention to that twinge of
guilt to steer us clear of immoral and potentially dangerous
behavior.  I first argued this in 2009, in an op-ed for the
Baltimore Sun, entitled “Sorry, Virginia,” I suggested the Santa
Lie should be avoided for three reasons. (1) It’s an unjustified
lie, (2) it risks damaging your parental trustworthiness and (3)
it encourages credulity and ill-motivated behavior. One of the
arguments people made in response—amidst an unbelievable amount
of hate mail I recie