MacRaven - Dave Haxton's Weblog

Tue, 14 Nov 2006

Oh, my. "Tasteless" doesn't do this justice. Have these people no shame at all?

You don't have to be a heathen to be offended by this rank attempt to propagandize very young children: I can only imagine how deeply devoted Christians must feel at seeing the being they consider the very son of the one true god reduced to a talking doll! Wasn't there something in that book of theirs about "graven images"?

Worse still, the website of the company involved shows a whole line of "biblical talking dolls". Where's Balaam's ass? What's next, a talking golden calf? Oops, it's been done!

A talking Jesus doll has been turned down by the Marine Reserves' Toys for Tots program.

(link) [CNN]

/Asatru | 6 writebacks | permanent link

On 11/15/2006 02:39:55
Ash wrote

Hi, Dave. :) I see what you're saying about the dolls being tacky, and I completely understand why the were refused. On the other hand, I'm seeing a strange Catch-22, in that the Marines are giving out toys as part of a Christian festival, and yet they won't give out Christian-based toys. They say they're not professing one religion over another, and yet they're honoring the religious season of a particular religion. It's a strange place to draw the line, I think.

On 11/15/2006 07:14:33
Dave H wrote

Yule

I'd say that the Winter Holiday is pretty much a cross-religion thing. Just about every major world religion marks the season somehow, with the possible exception of Muslims, and I'm ready to stand corrected on that count because I honestly don't know. I know we put up a Yule tree and exchange gifts, and I'm certainly not a Christian. That being said, here in the US "Christmas" has become a thoroughly secular holiday - Christians (and others) bitch about it all the time. So I'm not sure the Corps is off-base here, or trying to support any particular religious tradition or another. One thing I do wonder about is whether they've ever caught flack for distributing "war toys" - toy guns or miniature soldiers, that sort of thing. Or for perhaps demanding dolls for girls and tractors for boys. I would suspect this is not the first time they've caught some political Hel for an essentially charitable act, and can only hope that they don't let the latest brouhaha drive the program to extinction. Thanks for the comment and Be well, Dave H.

On 11/15/2006 12:48:23
lwood wrote

Wow, those are tacky...

Those are definitely tacky--I can see picking them up for one's kid if one is in a Christian home, surely, or donating a pile to a Christian-oriented charity such as the Salcation Army or the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, but not TfT, which is secular (as was pointed out). Kudos to the Corps for saying and doing the right thing, and politely to boot. -- Lorrie

On 11/15/2006 12:50:25
lwood wrote

Also, in the dialect of my contemporaries... OMG BLUE-EYED JESUS WTF!? -- Lorrie

On 11/15/2006 12:55:01
SB wrote

I don't know how the toys are distributed, whether they simply make piles based on percieved gender preferences (boys, by and large, are not big fans of Barbie) or whether it's some sort of first come, first serve deal, or whether they ask the parents "what kind of toys does your kid like, we'll see what we have". I do know that other charities specifically ask for toys "for boys" and "for girls" and that several of them have had some pretty strange classifications, for instance Legos are "for boys". What I also don't know is what kinds of toys they really could use more of. I try to donate at least one (now they have a thing that lets you donate cash at some places too) but it's hard to get toys that are culturally diverse when you're limited to shopping in the deep discount sections. I feel awful because I can't afford to give more, and to more charities, and that the people who are attempting to pick up the slack for folks like me always seem to have some sort of agenda.

On 11/15/2006 18:07:13
Analemma wrote

Lorrie- I noticed the blue eyes, too. In fact, the doll looks quite a lot like my Eric, who is decidedly German. Maybe we shouldn't have been so surprised when, this past Easter, some kid in a restaurant asked him if he was god. Never mind that he was dressed as a Viking because we were on our way home from the Renaissance Faire! (and he does make a handsome and authentic-looking Viking)

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MacRaven
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