Let me begin this post by telling you, just in case you are not aware, that I am a socially liberal woman (Yes. I’m a woman. I have an Origin of the World. I enjoy being referred to as a woman) but I abhor extremes with any social ideologies. Extreme conservatism is not a good thing. Neither is extreme liberalism—or, as we are now calling it, progressiveness.
Yes. I truly do believe that women are empowering among many others..
Honestly, I hope I’m making myself clear. I’m a proponent of the Black Lives Matter movement and at the same time, I make no apologies for my pale skin tone and freckles. I’m rather proud and happy of my Irish roots.
Although I’m a Roman Catholic, I respect my Atheist, Agnostic and Non-Christian friends. In fact, unless you are an extremist in your religious or non-religious ideologies, I respect you.
In addition, it’s always a good idea to have a sense of humor when discussing religion!
Body-shaming isn’t my jam. In fact, I lost a number of followers of this blog due to one “popular” and quite funny and eccentric well-knows bloggers because she body-shamed a woman on a post and I called her out on it. And her make-believe liberal friends mad at me for that! No matter what size you are, it’s your body. I respect you.
Poking fun at how others look isn’t my thing either. My preference is to make fun of myself because if I can make one person laugh at my imperfections or shortcomings, I’ve done a good deed.
My favorite fun shirt at the moment is “I gotta good heart, but the mouth tho” is very much on target. I have a complete gutter mouth but I’m charming and everyone gets a laugh out of this shirt because they know its true!
If one wants to be referred to as “they” or any of the gender-neutral references, please let me know in advance so that I may comply. In the same vein, I don’t mind being referred to as woman, female, lady, even broad. Its all good and I’m not offended.
Yes. Gender is a spectrum and I’m of the woman spectrum. I respect your gender. Please respect mine.
Gay pride is something I am passionate about. One’s sexuality is their business. If two men want a relationship. That’s great. If two women want a relationship. That’s great. Everyone is free to love the person they want to love. And same-sex marriage should have been put into place a long, long time ago.
But presently, I’m having some issues. And those issues stem with the recent turn of events regarding both a childhood toy and an author who assisted in my, as well as others, learning to read for pleasure and honing in on our ability to rhyme and speak in sing-song voices.
I’m referring to Mr. Potato Head and Dr. Seuss.
Last week, Hasbro decided to drop the “Mr.” from Mr. Potato Head to make the toy more inclusive. (Hasbro article)
Now, if you are of my generation, you will remember that Mr. Potato Head had a partner—a wife, in fact. Okay, maybe she was the wife of a different potato—perhaps a Butter Potato or a Sweet Potato but there was, in fact, a Mrs. Potato Head.
The original Mr. And MRS. Potato Head in all their styrofoam glory!
And if you are familiar with the vintage Mr./Mrs. Potato Head TOY, you remember the TOY as it were originally, with the thin head made of Styrofoam. After a few uses, pieces of the Styrofoam would break off and it got a bit wonky. And so, we would head to the pantry or fridge, depending where mom stored the potatoes, take the vegetable and place the embellishments into a real potato. Giving new meaning to playing with your food.
Might I add that the Potato Heads were a rather diverse couple as they could be changed from a potato to fruits or vegetables. I’ll call the Mrs. Pepper for now!
To be honest, I have no idea WTF suggested this re-naming of Mr. Potato Head but I think it’s inane. It is ridiculous. And children, for generations, did not give a shit what the gender was simply because you could turn a potato either into a woman or a man with the help of the little plastic features that came with it.
I pondered the gender of this potato last night. It had no ding-dong nor did it have a love canal. It was a vegetable. So I cooked it and ate it.
In my mind, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head were made for future makeup artists, no matter what the child’s gender. A young boy that leaned toward a future of makeup and beauty could pretty-up a potato with eyelashes and red lips. Not to ignore the stunning dress, shoes and purse but this was also a future fashion designer’s dream!
And for the girls who were tomboys (am I allowed to use that word), perhaps they could dress Mr. Potato up to be the image they wanted to be.
It’s true. All my more masculine girls could have a toy that they could relate to. So then tell me, just what is so bad about Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head?
My point it we all know that any potato has no gender. A potato will grow eyes if you leave it uneaten for too long but it is a vegetable. And if the toy version is referred to as “Mr.” it is fine. It is non-offensive.
Actually, I find the more modern Potato Head couple to be less attractive then the ones I grew up with. They are too cartoonish looking. Not that there’s anything wrong with looking like a cartoon….
In fact, my favorite Colorforms toy of all time was “Miss Cookie’s Kitchen” I freaking played with that toy for ages, rearranging the various items in her kitchen. God forbid this would ever be sexist due to the Miss in Cookie’s Kitchen. But subconsciously, this Colorforms set actually started my love of all things cooking and kitchen related. And did a fine job indeed.
So sexist. A woman in the kitchen. Then why are there so many male chefs?
But let’s talk about the wonderful Dr. Seuss. Shall we?
All the good he’s done with giving the gift of imagination and reading to children and now six of his books are banned. That is messed up!
Six books by Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss are no longer being published. The two banned books I am most familiar with, because I loved both of these books as a child, are “And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street” and “McElligott’s Pool” These two books showcased the talents of Dr. Seuss’s illustrations beautifully. I loved both stories but more so, I was mesmerized by the uniqueness of this drawings.
“McElligotts Pool” is no longer being published due to the “Eskimo” fish illustration.
I LOVED this book. And often took it out of the library to mull over the delightful illustrations. Not once did the book give me a racist or ethno-centric thought!
I never realized that the term “Eskimo” was so offensive. I remember enjoying “Eskimo Pie” ice cream which has, as of June in 2020 been renamed to “Edy’s Pie”.
This–the illustration of Eskimo fish is what got the book banned. I’m still shaking my head….
And I make no apologies for feeling that the term Eskimo Pie is a lot less offensive than Edy’s Pie. Think about that one. Yeah. Edy has some pie!
As a child, I never recalled the term “Eskimo” to be a derogatory term for Indigenous Arctic people. I never used the term in a snarky way. In fact, the only time I used the word was when referring to the ice cream or a furry jacket I had back in the early 1960’s which was called an “Eskimo” jacket. It was simply what the jacket was called.
Back in the early to mid 1960’s I wore Eskimo jackets as that was what the outwear was called. It wasn’t offensive. Nobody thought any less of Artic people. In fact, these jackets were a great source of warmth in the winters!
“And To Think That I Saw it On Mulberry Street” is no longer being published because of an illustration of an Asian person. A Chinese man to be exact. Again, as a child, I knew better and was more diversely educated than to think that this illustration depicted the usual person born in China.
The book, first published in 1937 is merely about a boy named Marco who walks along Mulberry Street and the visuals of his wild imagination come into play. That’s it.
And excuse me for eating with chopsticks every time I eat Asian food.
..this is the illustration that got the book to no longer be published. Now, I don’t know about you, but even as a child, I knew very well that the term Chinaman wasn’t used and nobody I came in contact with from China looked like this. Let us use our common sense.
Do all Irishmen look like the Lucky Charms Leprrechaun?
The only thing I find offensive here is that children are subjected to eat this garbage.
And to all those who are offended by Seuss’s so-called racism. Didja know he was a liberal who despised Hitler? Where’s your liberalism now???
I’m guessing those who condemn Seuss have no idea he was quite liberal politically.
I see him as more inclusive. While not banned, the book, “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” is about everyone having different qualities.
I cannot even remember how many times I’ve read this book…
Whether thin or fat.
No size-shaming here. Everyone is equal!
Whether your teeth are yellow and you are slightly weird. It’s all good.
And I never thought this guy needed to get his teeth fixed either..
It brings a message that it’s ok to be different.
And thanks to Seuss for including all ages–such as old! And thank you for encouraging children to converse with their parents.
I don’t think Dr. Suess was thinking anything derogatory with his Eskimo fish or with his Asian man eating with chopsticks. It’s all about how the overly-sensitive and extreme progressives interpret these books.
I think it was just about releasing imagination!
And it is a shame because growing up, I didn’t give a second thought to ethnicity. It just wasn’t a big deal. It didn’t matter whether you were Chinese or Italian, Catholic or Jewish, brown, black, white or yellow. Perhaps parents and the overly-sensitive should take a look at what offends them and teach their children better from it.
The only thing I found offensive in Dr. Suess’ writings was the mess Thing One and Thing Two made in the house! Had I messed the house like that as a child, there would be severe repercussions.
Seriously. I found the mess Thing 1 and 2 made far more offensive than the Eskimo fish!
Look. Racism is wrong. And ethnocentric behavior is questionable. But to all those adults who feel Mr./Mrs. Potato Head should be gender neutral and for those who feel Dr. Seuss is a racist monster, remember that actions speak louder than words.
Teach your children. Educate yourself on how to treat others. Step down from your self-righteous horse and look around. We are surrounded with more pressing issues at the present time.
What’s your opinion on this? Perhaps I’m not sensitive enough. Let me know your thoughts!