A Complaint

About misleading descriptions and adjectives and general naming of objects:

My brother and I were driving up from DC yesterday, and to ease the pain of the interminable drive through the snow, we listened to various music and podcasts. Towards the end, we started listening to 'This American Life,' a streaming podcast from Chicago Pubic Radio (www.thisamericanlife.org) - they talked about myriad things, including the effects of the economy on both teenage-hangout levels in malls and adult workers in the malls. They also gave an account of infighting in a group called AORBS (pronounced Ay-orbs), or The Amalgamated Organization of Real Bearded Santas, which brings us to my complaint. The whole of the story was given from the point of view of 'oh man, if Santas fight like this, how can we ever expect there to not be fighting in the world?'

News flash, This American Life!!!! They aren't Santa(s), they aren't even the embodiment of Santa. They're men, plain and simple. Men with beards and similar appearance to that of the much beloved Mr Claus. Perhaps many of them are even quite jolly, and I'm sure a few of them have a sneaking suspicion that they might really be Santa. The fact of the matter is that even though this organization is supposed to represent the round jolly good nature of Christmas, it is made up of men.

Don't hold up men dressing up as Santa as some kind of excuse for the lack of peace in the world. That's like using the word you're trying to define in the definition.

Done now.