There is no Santa. There is only us.

On 12 January 2010 an earthquake tore through Haiti. The tragedy was complete. 230,000 dead, 300,000 injured, more than a million left homeless.

12 months later and the headlines are full of “one year on” stories. Editorials are shocked – shocked – that, despite the largest aid relief program in history, little has been done.  Rubble lies where it fell.  No houses have been built, no infrastructure projects begun.

It took the International Red Cross that year just to get permission from Haiti’s government to build 350 temporary wooden structures on a tiny piece of land in the middle of one tented camp. Despite international good will and support, Haiti’s government is as corrupt, venal and brutal as ever.

This should not be a surprise.  Before the earthquake Haiti’s government and political system was amongst the world’s most corrupt.  Its economy is merely a process by which the powerful steal from the weak.

No amount of outside good will or charity was going to change that.  The Haitians themselves must demand this change and, if even after such a disaster, they still choose not to demand it of their leaders, then there is very little anyone else can do about it.

That hasn’t stopped the commands of international aid agencies begging Western governments and citizens to donate more cash.  As if money alone has the mystical power to solve these problems.

This tragedy of believing in magic over reality extends beyond disasters.

A recent fad is to wear a Power Balance bracelet.  Says the company’s promotional materials:  "The hologram in Power Balance is designed to resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body."

It’s complete garbage.  The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission forced the firm’s Australian distributors to retract their claims.  "Consumers should be wary of other similar products on the market that make unsubstantiated claims, when they may be no more beneficial than a rubber band," says ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel.

There is no outrage that this lie is being foisted on an unsuspecting public; no protest at the fraud being perpetrated.  Yet how easily people believe lies directed at serious companies producing real, scientifically proven products.

In 1998, Andrew Wakefield published a paper in The Lancet in which he claimed that the most widely-used vaccine against mumps, measles and rubella causes autism.  The immediate result was a collapse in public confidence in the vaccine and a dramatic increase in cases of MMR, including child fatalities. 

Here’s the truth.  MMR kills.  There is no link between the vaccine and autism.  A full investigation by the UKs General Medical Council found Wakefield guilty of dishonesty and irresponsibility.  The Lancet retracted the article in February 2010.  The BMJ started 2011 by documenting exactly how Wakefield’s fraud had been committed and how he planned to profit from it.

Despite this weight of evidence many parents remain convinced that vaccination is harmful. Perhaps doctors should hand out rubber bands instead?

The mistrust of science and confidence in magic continues.  Genetically modified foods are feared despite regular scientific studies which find them safe. Bayer is accused of instigating the death of European bee colonies.  Colony collapse disorder still has no proven cause but the most likely culprit is a virus and parasite co-infection.

Yet people want to believe in Santa Claus. "You're actually lying to your children, but if you think about it, Santa's more the spirit of giving, so I think it's nice for them to have something to believe in," says Charlie Taylor about a phone application she uses to pretend that Father Christmas just ran round the corner of her house.