***my apologies to all of you who have heard this story already since we've been jabbering about it so much.***
So, here's a little story for you. About three years ago, Eric and I (and Baby Hope) took a road trip to Montana. Eva stayed with Grandma Patenaude in Crookston. It was nearly Eva's birthday, so Grandma took her shopping at Wal-Mart. Eva picked out a little doll. Later, Grandma apologized to me for buying the doll since it is the annoying variety that talks and moves. We sometimes joked that it was the "possessed" doll because even when it was turned off sometimes it would spout out baby gibberish.
Well, the doll hasn't been much of an issue until today... My friend Sarah was picking up her two girls who had playing at our house and she heard the doll "talking". She immediately picked it up and listened again. "Do you hear that???" She made me listen to the doll a few times, then she said, "It's saying 'Islam is the light!' ". Sure enough, after I listened to it again I heard it... hidden between the "mama" and other gibberish. My personality would be to ignore it, especially since we've had the doll for three years and never noticed, but this time my curiosity was aroused.
Later, I googled "Fisher Price doll says Islam is the light" and came up with tons of links! Eeeek!!!!! Of course there are the super conservative fundamentalist crazies who ranted about One World Order and how Obama is the Antichrist, but mostly a lot of people just felt cheated and deceived by a company hawking a seemingly harmless baby doll. Targeted at two year olds.
As my mom commented, we must be "Wise as serpents, and gentle as doves", and I guess that applies to even the ubiquitous stash of plastic that fills our kids' shelves.
Entertaining certainly. Disturbing probably. Enraging maybe. Annoying for sure.
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