CNN Says ‘Thomas The Tank Engine’ And ‘Paw Patrol’ Are ‘Fascist’

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Bless their hearts. Lefties are so cute… in a sick, twisted sort of way. The Free Beacon has an eye-opening article about how some leftist parents view a couple of very popular cartoons as “fascist.”

CNN’s parenting writer Elissa Strauss wrote that parents are concerned over Thomas the Tank Engine and Paw Patrol:

Strauss noted that “Thomas the Tank Engine” has been labeled “a ‘premodern corporate-totalitarian dystopia‘ in the New Yorker, imperialist and sinister in Slate, and classist, sexist, and anti-environmentalist in the Guardian.”

“And yet people—presumably parents—spend $1 billion on ‘Thomas’ merchandise every year,” she marveled.

Paw Patrol is another problematic show, according to Strauss, because of the show’s “gender and social inequality that go unchecked.” Plus, the main character Ryder is a “megalomaniac with an “unstoppable God complex.”

Why does Strauss think kids are attracted to these regular doses of “primary-colored authoritarianism?” She helpfully explains:

“…young children… (are) drawn to worlds in which identities are fixed, order trumps imagination and transgressions are met with routine punishment.

This clash between what parents desire for their children and what children desire for themselves is most easily observable in cartoon preferences. So often, the more parents dislike a show, the more their children love it.”

She goes on to say these shows offer a “neat moral order” and that “children take comfort in the idea that someone is in charge.”

However, as a former kid, I don’t think that kids’ rebellion is most obviously seen in their choice of cartoon.

“Children know there are a lot of scary things in the world, that there are a lot of bad things that can happen, and these shows make them feel like they could be part of fixing it,” said Tovah Klein, director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development. “But they know at some level that they can’t take care of things solely on their own, and being part of a team makes them feel safe.”

Thankfully, CNN’s article found at least one parent with common sense.

“I think it’s evolved a lot over the years, which is why I don’t really agree with the ‘fascist’ label,” Sa’iyda Shabazz said. “I think the characters show empathy more, and friendship is a bigger theme. And not for nothing, they’re trains. Order and doing as you’re told is important to running a successful train line.”

In deed. That’s what was missing from the liberal parents’ perspective. Thomas the Tank Engine isn’t about how a young man dropped out of college to stick it to the man and pursue his dream of being a hipster shepherd. It’s about a train. And I guarantee these same parents who are so loudly complaining about the fascist cartoon would be the first to complain if their holiday travel plans were even remotely interrupted by a late train.

Hat Tip: FreeBeacon

Image Credit: Jim, the Photographer

CNN Says ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ and ‘Paw Patrol’ are ‘Fascist’