Ban All the Racist Toys!
Tim Stanley marvels at the wisdom of those who would ban toys for potentially being vaguely associated with a religion, race, or other part of the human experience:
[W]hile we’re at it, can we not clamp down on other areas of the nursery that have become infested with bigotry? Paddington Bear pushes some very negative stereotypes of Peruvians as marmalade chomping spongers who don’t wear trousers. Harry Potter reduces the ancient religion of Wicca to a conjurer’s stereotype and the Teletubbies have often been accused of being nothing less than a bunch of John Inmans. Why does Barbie like clothes rather than engineering or running for high office? And in Dora the Explorer one can detect the ugly whiff of neo-imperialism. What right has this little madam to “discover” places that are already inhabited, projecting on to them her own privileged understand of the world? Yes, she is a Latina, but her racial identity has been appropriated by corporate power to push a “safe” image of Hispanic culture.
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