Santa Tell Me - Campsite Dream
I love the concept of this song: if Santa has omniscient knowledge of if you’ve been bad or good, presumably he also knows whether your boyfriend’s love is real? (The Ariana Grande version is a little too smooth for my taste, but this tropical house cover is short and sweet.)
The oracular surveillance aspect of Santa Claus mythology is a little uncomfortable. I’m not sure how global this part of the story is, but it’s not terribly recent; when Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town became a hit on US radio in 1934, it already included the lyric he sees you when you’re sleeping. Newer versions tend to omit the verse more connected to the song’s Great Depression origins, which entreats people to give to their neighbours:
We’ve gotta dig deep and cover the list, gotta see that nobody is missed…
Let’s keep the home fires burning, let’s give without a pause
Let’s prove to those less fortunate that there is a Santa Claus.
I tend to believe that such practical generosity is more important than questions of badness or goodness. Quoting There Are No “Bad People”, a blog post I’m rather fond of:
I don't know what it would mean for a person to "be bad." That fails to parse. People don't have a hidden stone deep inside their brain that is either green or red depending on whether they are good or bad. "Badness" is not a fundamental property that a person can have. … Asking whether a person is "fundamentally good" or "fundamentally bad" is a type error.
…
We aren't here to alter the color of the fundamental "goodness" stone buried within us; we're here to make the path through time be a good one. Life is not a game of "wind up good at the end"; life is about steering the future.
That said… wouldn’t it be kind of nice if there existed a trustworthy oracle who you could consult about whether you’re steering things in a useful direction? I often feel very uncertain of whether the ways I spend my effort are making the future better, and there is a lazy part of me that wishes someone could just tell me if they are. Alas, I don’t believe anyone else knows, either.
Operating under moral uncertainty,
Tessa