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Is Santa bad for your soul?

December 19, 2014
 Wilson

Writer

It’s the holiday season and while the true meaning of Christmas brings joy, many believers wrestle with the idea of Santa. Kids love it but does it detract too much from what is being celebrated? Is jolly Saint Nicholas helping or hurting at this point? Glenn has more on radio this morning.

GLENN: The first department store Santa, when was it?

PAT: I'm going to say 1841.

GLENN: Shut up. Give me the show prep. 1841.

STU: I was going to go with the '30s. I don't know.

GLENN: Yeah. 1841. Store in Philadelphia brought Kris Kringle in. A neighbor of the store owner played Kris Kringle. He went into the shop on December 18th to lure in holiday shoppers. Santa arrived via the chimney with a sack that said, my friends shop at Parkinson's, on the side.

STU: It's not a good name for a store. It's a disease.

JEFFY: What are the odds?

PAT: It's weird.

GLENN: My question is: The whole Santa thing. I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

STU: We'll be careful here, of course.

GLENN: What are you talking about? Because he might bring gifts and if I say something he doesn't like --

STU: You don't want to give away what gifts he's bringing.

GLENN: I want my gifts from Santa. I'm totally cool with Santa. I got it.

I could go so many ways. It would be very very funny. But I won't now.

STU: Good.

GLENN: So the question is: Santa being real, the overcommercialization of the whole holiday, how evil is that, that we have perverted this whole holiday and made it all about -- and it's all been done for shopping.

PAT: Yeah.

STU: I mean --

PAT: It's bad.

STU: Is it evil or a nice wonderful addition to the holidays?

JEFFY: Yeah.

GLENN: That's kind of where -- I'm really -- because it's such a great magical thing. It really is great. I love it. This is where -- have you guys ever heard of -- have you ever heard of -- what's his name Krampus. Yeah, Krampus.

STU: Bill Krampus?

PAT: Steve Krampus?

GLENN: This is from Europe. Krampus is the counterpart to Santa. And in 'The Immortal', which we will have out in book form next year, in 'The Immortal', you'll meet Krampus. But we're not taking him the way that the Europeans do. But he is -- Santa comes with Krampus, who is a demonic sidekick of Santa. I'm not kidding.

PAT: What?

GLENN: If you're good, Santa gives you presents. If you're bad -- I'm not making this up. Look up Krampus. K-R-A-M-P-U-S.

If you're bad, Krampus beats you.

STU: This is the worst --

PAT: That's an awful --

GLENN: Yeah. Then he takes the kids who are bad. He beats them. Shoves them into a sack and carries them off to hell.

STU: I mean, that does seem like that is Krampus.

GLENN: Did you see the picture?

STU: He's terrifying.

PAT: Whose tradition is that?

GLENN: Eastern Europe.

PAT: That's pretty ugly.

STU: No wonder eastern Europe sucks.

PAT: That's why we left that stupid continent in the first place. Right?

It sucked. And it sucks now.

STU: Jeffy likes the women from eastern Europe.

GLENN: In 'The Immortal', you'll love Krampus. It will explain a lot. You'll just love Krampus.

So I'm looking at this. And there's reasons for -- for instance, the reason they did Krampus is because, you know, they were trying to show the other -- you have to be good. Naughty and nice. Now you don't even get coal.

STU: Yeah. That is an issue. Santa for a long time tried to do a naughty nice list. Tried to say, you're naughty, you're nice. Nice people get gifts. Naughty kids do not. That seems to have gone by the wayside. Maybe changed policies. Government interference.

GLENN: Now everybody gets presents. You don't get coal. You certainly don't get thrown into a sack and thrown into hell.

STU: Oh, that I might actually support.

GLENN: It depends on how bad you were. Don't make your bed a couple of times, I don't think we send you in the sack to hell, but three of four times, maybe.

In the Czech Republic, Saint Mikulas day, where people dressed as an angel, the devil, and Saint Nicholas walk around, handing out candy to children who sing a song or recite a poem. When the people have house parties, the devil covered in coal shows up in Santa's place. Terrifies the little children. The children have to sing a song for the devil to prove that they've been good. Otherwise, the devil takes a potato sack out, threatens to take them to hell in the potato sack. It's almost the Krampus thing. That's in the Czech Republic.

JEFFY: Starting to like this guy.

STU: Does seem like a role Jeffy can step into.

GLENN: So I'm glad we don't have that.

So honestly, is Santa good for our soul?

PAT: I think good. But you have to --

JEFFY: Yes.

PAT: Here's what bothers me. When Santa becomes Christmas. For instance --

GLENN: You're going to love the immortal.

PAT: In the Santa Claus, the movie, there is a place -- we were just watching this last night. There is a place where Tim Allen as Santa says -- this is 'Santa Clause 2' --

GLENN: Well, 'Santa Clause 2' is where Santa is like ho-ho, I'm the devil. Nobody watches 'Santa Clause 2'. 'Santa Clause 2' sucked. That's the one with the toy -- that's awful.

PAT: He has to marry her by midnight. And he's explaining this to her right at five minutes to midnight or whatever it is. And he says, well, so, there's no pressure. It's just that, if we don't get married, I don't become -- I cease being Santa. And the kids go without presents, and they won't be happy. And Christmas ceases to be. But no pressure.

What do you mean Christmas ceases to be? What are you talking about? That's a horrific, bad message to send to kids.

STU: A little over the line.

PAT: Way over the line. I love the series.

JEFFY: I do too.

GLENN: I hate the robot thing.

PAT: I like the series.

GLENN: I like 2 except for the robot thing.

PAT: If you keep Santa in perspective --

GLENN: That's not happening. Everything about this holiday now -- I mean, Black Friday -- Thanksgiving was changed in the -- in the -- it was the last Friday of November. They changed it during the Great Depression just for the holiday sales. Everything -- Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, what a great story. That was Montgomery Ward. They needed a hook to bring people in. Here's the first Santa. 1841. Kris Kringle comes in the story and says, my friend, shop at this store. Everything about this was about commercialization.

STU: Is that bad, though? I mean, you have a situation where tens of millions of children who were not raised in faith-based households consider the celebration of the birth of Christ that day the best day of the year. And maybe they won't learn all the whole truth about Christmas and believe the real meaning of it, but --

GLENN: That's a good point. But, remember, I'm the guy who told you about 20 minutes ago, I see dead people. I've been dead since 2008.

STU: And you told us about Krampus.

PAT: Which is a downer.

STU: A little bit. But there's hope there.

GLENN: You'll love Krampus.

STU: I don't think I'll ever love Krampus. Doesn't he bring kids to hell in a potato sack?

PAT: He's the guy who gives you cramps.

'YOUR voice makes a difference': Coca-Cola takes a 'pause' on woke initiatives after BIG boycott

Earlier this year, Coca-Cola became the poster child for how a corporation could shove leftist ideologies onto its consumers. The company suspended advertising on Facebook in a push to censor former President Donald Trump, published a manifesto about racial equity, and demanded all legal teams working for Coke meet certain diversity quotas.

But now, after Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and many other conservative voices called for a boycott of the company's products, Coca-Cola appears to be shifting directions.

The Washington Examiner reported that the company issued a conciliatory statement after conspicuously failing to appear on a published list of hundreds of corporations and individuals that signed a statement denouncing the Georgia voting bill.

"We believe the best way to make progress now is for everyone to come together and listen respectfully, share concerns, and collaborate on a path forward. We remained open and productive conversations with advocacy groups and lawmakers who may have differing views," the company said. "It's time to find common ground. In the end, we all want the same thing – free and fair elections, the cornerstone of our democracy."

Then last week, Coca-Cola Co.'s new general counsel, Monica Howard Douglas, told members of the company's global legal team that the diversity initiative announced by her predecessor, Bradley Gayton, is "taking a pause for now." Gayton resigned unexpectedly from the position on April 21, after only eight months on the job, to serve as a strategic consultant to Chairman and CEO James Quincey.

"Why is Coca-Cola 'taking a pause' on all of these? Because you have been standing up," Glenn Beck said on the radio program Monday. "You and others have been standing up. Your voice, it's the power of one. Your voice makes a difference."

Watch the video below to hear more form Glenn:

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn's masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.

'The problem is NOT racial': Bob Woodson, civil rights activist who survived segregation, counters 'race grievance' LIES

This week on "The Glenn Beck Podcast," civil rights activist and Woodson Center founder Bob Woodson joined Glenn to call out the leftists in the "race grievance industry," like the Rev. Al Sharpton and Black Lives Matter, Inc., who, he says, are "profiting off the misery of their people."

Woodson lived through the appalling segregation laws of the last century and has a much different message about what it means to be "oppressed" than the so-called "anti-racist" activists today.

Woodson said he believes the real struggle for impoverished minority communities "is not racial." He argued that leftists "at the top" derive "moral authority" by claiming to represent "so called marginalized groups," while they prosper at the expense of those "at the bottom."

"There's nothing worse than self-flagellating guilty white people and rich, angry black people who profit off the misery of their people," Woodson said.

"I call what Sharpton and some of those are doing is worse than bigotry. It's treason. It's moral treason against their own people," he added. "The only time you hear from them is when a white police officer kills a black person, which happens maybe 20 or 21 times a year, but 6,000 blacks are killed each year by other blacks. So, in other words, their message is black lives only matter when taken by someone white, which means you are betraying the black community when you turn your back on 20 children that are slaughtered and you don't march in that community and demand that those killers be turned over to the police."

'The problem is not racial," Woodson asserted. "The problem is the challenge of upward mobility. Any time you generalize about a group of people, blacks, whites, Native American, and then you try to apply remedies, it always benefits those at the top at the expense of those at the bottom. ... It's a bait and switch game where you're using the demographics of the worst of these, to get resources that helps the best of these, or those who are prospering at the top. So, if I was the president, I would say an end to the race grievance business, that America should concentrate on the moral and spiritual free fall that is consuming people at the bottom."

Watch the video clip below to catch more of the conversation, or enjoy the full podcast here or wherever you listen to podcasts:

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn's masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.

Mark Levin decodes Biden’s first address to Congress, EXPOSES radical plans for our country

Image source: Video screenshot

Following President Joe Biden's first joint address to Congress, Glenn Beck joined fellow BlazeTV host and author of the new book, "American Marxism," Mark Levin to expose what they called the "Liar-In-Chief's" radical plans for our country and to explain why the far Left's proposals and programs are really a "frontal attack" on our Constitution, our country, and our way of life.

"Substantively, this is a frontal attack on our Constitutional system of limited government. It is a frontal attack on our capitalist system. He's basically throwing out all the bromides for the radical left groups that now form the base of the modern Democrat Party. And I make the case that ... this is Marxist bullcrap in its broadest sense," Levin stated.

"Here we are, a country now where one man can get up in the middle of the night and make a list of everything he wants to do to the country," he added, speaking figuratively. "It's like an unreality where we're living in separate worlds ... the whole thing is a fraud."

Watch the video clip below to hear Levin expose the lies and misinformation in Biden's speech and explain why he believes the true message is absolutely chilling for the future of our nation:

Want more from Mark Levin?

To enjoy more of "the Great One" — Mark Levin as you've never seen him before — subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.

Biden's Big Speech: The Glenn Beck & Mark Levin Rebuttal

After months of delays and COVID-19 excuses, President Biden finally delivers his address to the joint session of Congress. It is a truly historic moment, as only a few hundred members of Congress received an invite. While some have compared this speech to JFK's moon landing challenge, it will likely be more like FDR's New Deal nightmare. Will Speaker Pelosi continue her tradition of ripping up the president's speech? Will VP Harris cackle to a quiet audience?

Glenn Beck teams up with fellow BlazeTV host Mark Levin, author of the new book "American Marxism," to take on the progressive plans that could completely transform our economy and our way of life. Steve Deace, BlazeTV host and author of "Faucian Bargain," joins to discuss why it's not enough for conservatives to just lament the dangerous Democrat agenda; we must activate against the woke infection of our institutions. Plus, a power panel to rival CNN talking heads: Stu Burguiere, BlazeTV host of "Stu Does America," and Jason Buttrill, head researcher and writer for Glenn Beck.

Watch the video below:

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn's masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.

Subscribe today and save $20 with promo code "MALARKEY".