Lets talk about the elf on the shelf. It's a fun concept at
first, a children's book that also comes with an fun doll to play hide and seek with,
Christmas themed to boot. Looking closer at it, it suddenly becomes a lot less
friendly. The elf on the shelf's book details how he reports back to Santa
every night on the behavior of the children. Furthermore, if the children touch
the elf, the magic is destroyed and they get no presents from Santa. This
essentially puts the children in a microcosm of a fascist surveillance
state. With every move observed by the
elf and punishment threatened at misbehavior, it conditions the children to
follow authority merely due to being watched. The kids have never actually had
Santa never visit them due to the elf reporting bad behavior, but the threat is
enough. The spectre of no-Santa is enough to keep them obedient under constant
surveillance, which the elf does through magic. Any attempt to resist the
state...sorry, elf, by touching him results in the magic being destroyed and no
presents given. Quite the interesting moral we're teaching these children at
such a young age, that the tool of surveillance is so powerful that merely
interfering with it delivers punishment.
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