The Evil of Dora

My daughter's Dora doll is hardly as dangerous as lead paint on either an emotional or physical level.
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In the New York Times this Sunday, Gary Cross, a professor
of history at Pennsylvania State University, pens a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/opinion/16cross.html" target="_blank">breathtakingly confusing op-ed on the dangers of,
not only outsourcing toy manufacturing, but allowing "licensed toys"
(Dora, Barbie, etc...) from being introduced to our children. "Young
people" just haven't developed the critical judgment necessary to,
gulp, deal with "consumerism." href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767924320?ie=UTF8&tag=davidharsanyi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0767924320"
target="_blank"> Like any good paternalist, Cross uses a scare
(the recent target="_blank">Mattel recall, in this case) to kick things off.
We quickly jump to commercials.

....In the early 1970s, child advocates like Action for Children's
Television recognized that television ads for toys had a magical power
over children. They tried to ban these commercials to give parents,
not toy companies, control over the desires of their offspring. In
1978, Michael Pertschuk, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission,
argued that ads appealing to young children were inherently
"unfair."

"Unfair"? So then it's a great life lesson for kids. Cross believes
it's time to rethink our decision to "allow" advertising and cartoon
promotion of toy lines "that has produced year-round marketing and
piles of plastic toys, bought and soon discarded." Magical powers, you
see, can be used for evil.

After all, we ought to be just as concerned about the impact of
character licensing and toy advertising on our children's psyche as we
are on protecting them from ingesting leaded paint and magnets.

Actually I don't even know Professor Cross, so "we" don't have any
say in my kids toy selection. My daughter's Dora doll is hardly as
dangerous as lead paint on either an emotional or physical level. The
thing is, parents are already free to restrict their children from
watching television and from buying licensed toys. In fact, with the
technology most American children need not watch any commercials by
using (Tivo) and tuning in target="_blank">Noggin. Do I need George Bush or Harry Reid to
help? No.

Moreover, though I have no idea why a non-licensed toy would be any
less harmful to children, I can, still purchase such toys at any Toys
R Us. No, it's not always easy for a parent to say no to child, but
(and I'm no parenting specialist) exhibiting some self-control and
delayed gratification are both key in raising a successful child. Or
more important, at the very least, then another federal intrusion on
parenting.

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