http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/homeless_doll_costs_hairstyling_4Ic0hC7Lacpfo8HQbczsQM
Fairly large op-ed piece under the cut.
And while you were snoozing, the creators of American Girl, which is sold by Mattel, got bold. They engaged in all-out political indoctrination.
Snuck into the collection is a doll that comes with a biography that is weird and potentially offensive enough to keep Mom running to the Maalox. Gwen, you see, is harboring a terrible secret.
She is homeless. A homeless doll.
In the history books that come with every American Girl doll — bringing to life these little monsters until impressionable little ones believe they are actual people — you learn that Gwen’s father walked out on the family. Her mother lost her job.
As the little kiddies learn to read about this doll as if she’s a human being, one learns that, as fall turned into winter, Gwen’s mom lost her grip.
Mother and daughter started bedding down in a car.
For $95 — more than your average homeless person would dream of spending on a rather mediocre baby substitute — Gwen Thompson can be yours. A mixed message if ever there was one.
For starters, men are bad. Fathers abandon women without cause. She’s also telling me that women are helpless. And that children in this great country, where dolls sell for nearly 100 bucks a pop, are allowed to sleep in motor vehicles. But mothers don’t lose custody over this injustice. Because, you see, they are victims, too.
Just wanted to paste so people could see what I was responding to. There’s more, it’s just as poorly thought out.
The writer seems to believe it’s indoctrination to inform children that children actually sleep in motor vehicles or are homeless. She seems to believe that children shouldn’t know that some members of society actually DO live in cars, even when it isn’t their fault. Or that relationships can fall apart and your life can be destroyed.
While anyone with a functioning brain can see the reason they give the dolls stories (hint : a homeless doll elicits more sympathy and compassion than a generic rich girl template), it appears some people are so backwards that they believe every homeless person deserves being homeless. Yes, instead of raising children to feel compassion for someone who’s down on their luck, they should avoid such “weird” and “potentially offensive” ideas. Or if you’re one of the ones without a functioning brain, you can go on to have a career as an opinion writer at the NY Post.
The broader issue brought up by the writer is spending $95 on a “homeless doll” seems somewhat stupid. I wasn’t willing to make a judgement until I look up some further info on the dolls.
….these are a problem? They’re designer dolls. They wear age appropriate clothing. They all have very sympathetic stories. They range from the Great Depression (Dad losing his business), staying true to your heritage, staying strong while escaping slavery, bullying, educating yourself, etc… they appear to have fairly complex stories for children, while giving them some glimpses at history. It would seem to me that these teach very good lessons. Compared to the trashy Bratz, these seem great for little girls.
Let’s face it, people are going to get their children overpriced dolls/toys/bullshit because that’s how things are. If it helps their kids learn, if it teaches them to be a decent person, even better. You can get snarky and say, well they should’ve donated that $95 to a homeless shelter. Yeah sure, they could’ve, if they wanted their kid to bitch about how Christmas sucked. Introducing them to good concepts, getting THEM interested, that can lead to results that last a lifetime.
If you’re reading this and thinking, but Dr_Teng, you buy overpriced statues and toys! You could be giving all of that to the homeless, why don’t you?
It’s a hobby. This particular hobby has led to me learning how WordPress (what powers this site) functions, learning more CSS, doing far more photography than I had been doing, and motivated me to learn how to paint well. As far as I’m concerned, this hobby has been a tremendous success for me, regardless of cost.
And I do my best to help the less fortunate, just not on this site, so booyeah. Double score on that one.
Of course, the real question is why I bothered to write up an op-ed to a hack writer in a borderline tabloid like the NY Post. It’s just pathetic to see someone so deluded that the mere concept of a poor person sends them into a fit of rage.
