Angry at Kenyan train in Thomas the Tank Engine, the NRA posts picture of trains in Klan hoods

Is that because Scouts are always prepared, and four-armed is forewarned?

2 Likes

To be fair the production quality isn’t great, but creepy as all hell. You know that scene from Alien Resurrection in the clone room…

3 Likes

It may interest you that, in the American version, George Carlin and Alec Baldwin were among the narrators.

Heavens, it’s been a good 7 or 8 years since we were in that phase in our house… The young man still loves him some rail transportation, though.

2 Likes

last year

9 Likes

If Thomas & Friends had Tinky Winky as a guest, would the NRA’s heads ker-splode?

3 Likes

John Finnemore is here to soothe you:

5 Likes

Is there some version of the “trolley problem” here that ends up with all the NRA/Klansmen types being the ones run over by a Thomas the Tank Engine train, because that would be the least harm/greatest good outcome?

4 Likes

I think that equality, diversity, inclusivity is not the real (or root) issue for some of these people. It is that these things signal that their side is losing.

4 Likes

That was simultaneously so much better and so much worse than I expected.

I pay I decide :smiley:

Besides, if you have a 2 year old, you play together rather a lot. I have laid (and removed) miles and miles (to scale, at least) of railroad tracks. With blankets and cushions standing in for mountain ranges. Loads of fun. Luckily I still get invited to join in , even though they’re older now.

And in case you were serious: Thomas the train is indeed marketed to children. That doesn’t make it any less bad. I see it as my task as a parent to try and keep up the quality of the media intake of my children. Call me elitist, but I’d rather have they grow up with Winnie the Pooh (the real books, not the weak disney abomination) than the cheaply made computer-generated cartoons which fill Netflix. There’s loads of good stuff coming out. More than they can watch, actually. Especially if you also want to read to them. There’s absolutely no need for my children to watch badly made garbage. even if it badly made garbage skillfully marketed to children so they like it.

/grump

3 Likes

I was being serious. And I’m glad you added the grump and recognize you are being one.

You may purchase the stuff. But it is made for them. I loathe the teen titan stuff but my 10 yr old loves it. It’s made for him. Our parents thought [insert whatever childhood property you like] was garbage but we loved it. It was made for us.

So I hear everything you’re saying. But the truth is it’s made for them and sometimes it’s best if we bend a bit for them to be happy and have those opportunities to create their own nostalgia.

6 Likes

word salad is some people’s native language

2 Likes

Favorite conductors for Thomas the Tank Engine:

Ringo Starr

images

George Carlin

Unknown-1

7 Likes

Okay, so… real talk; Thomas has always creeped me out (Blaine the Mono, anyone?) and the Island of Mordor sounds too much like Stepford to me, but this reaction to the addition of more diverse characters is ridiculous.

7 Likes

Not sure if the link has made it in the thread yet, but this gives the real scoop on the corrupt island of Sodor and the crony capitalism overseen by one Sir Topham Hatt:

3 Likes

Okay… Much like everyone here, I’m really confused.

How does one feel threatened by the addition of what appears to be the worlds cutest train (I mean, they actually made an effort to give her more normal human facial features rather than creepy giant eyes staring into your soul)? How tiny does your self image of your particular race have to be to feel threatened by a fictional character in a kids show? (or how tiny does your “D” have to be to get this worked up because you know diversity?)

8 Likes

If you are suggesting that Loesch has a tiny penis, I am into this idea and how it will play out.

2 Likes

“She” is cute, like Janelle Monae cute.

2 Likes

I love how the chyron reads “kids show now bringing gender and ethnic diversity”…

As if that’s somehow a bad thing.

Nobody tell them about Sesame Street.

13 Likes

Sure. And part of the nostalgia is that your parents hated it, right? :slight_smile: I’m not some dictator. I didn’t burn their 2 Thomas trains when they got them as birthday presents :smile:.

But that it’s made for them is not an argument imo. There’s loads of utter garbage marketed at children, all ‘made especially for them’. But mainly for the creators of the merchandise off course. It’s not as if I go around forbidding them stuff, I just try to keep their media diet saturated with stuff I do like. My parents did the same and I’m glad they did. At least the things I watched as a child and developed nostalgia for are still enjoyable as an adult.

To the topic at hand: the handwringing about the new characters is utter nonsense off course. What I dislike about the show is the commercial toys tie-in, not any of the made up stuff those NRA idiots make up.