Posted on 07/23/2014 5:08:05 PM PDT by AuditTheFed
My five year old son likes Thomas just fine. He also happens to be black. I wonde what Miz Tracey would have to say about that?
I dunno. I always check out the 1-stars before reading the sample and then, maybe, downloading. The 1-stars are full of fragile little darlings who cannot stomach any adult characters who swear or have sex. I have read 1-star reviews of military thrillers that complain about all the bloodshed! It has reached the point where authors preface the synopsis with admissions that the book contains adult content and, perhaps, violence.
I recall Cory Doctorow in shock that readers of “Little Brother” had no problem with teens overthrowing the government, but were outraged that 17-year-olds were having sex.
Then there are the readers crying *rip-off* for cliffhangers. It’s really bad when they whine over a free download,IMO.
It is a rare low-ranking review that I have encountered that discusses character development, plot or language facility. OTOH, I agree that there can be loads of gush in the 4-5-star reviews.
My most recent peeve, however, is insecure authors who respond submissively to critical reviewers, apologizing, promising revisions and basically crying for mercy because they used an expletive, described sex or included blood and gore.
Authors need to write and stand by their work. Readers can review and have a personal opinion, but I think I am going to just read the sample and take a chance, from here onward. It’s not like spending $2-$3 or less and a few hours of my time on a bad book is the end of the world.
Nothing personal,BTW. You just happened to push one of my current buttons.
Of course, in response, the producers of Thomas will change the smoke colors to something more homosexual.
Well bust my buffers Percy. Someone on Sodor just felt microagressed!
They would say you are a traitor to his race for allowing him to like something that is "racist".
Oh, sorry. I'm 55. I meant 'happy'. ;)
Now back to Obama making the world a more tranquil place. /s
Ed
Willie Green is saddened by this news
I’m sure he is.
If they think that is racist then this Cadbury commercial is hyper-racist(?)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzFRV1LwIo
It involves a gorilla, drums, and chocolate.
When my grandsons were small and sleeping over at our house, I always let them watch “Thomas” just before bedtime due to its monotone narration which would theoretically settle them down for sleep. Unfortunately, I was the one who usually dozed off immediately.
There is some sort of status on the left that comes with finding the most ridiculous example of “racism”. The more preposterous, the more sensitive and sophisticated the finder.
They are also completely ignorant about Reverend W. Awdry’s Railway Series. Awdry was an Anglican minister and railroad buff who vacationed on the Isle of Man during the World War II. Man is part of the Anglican Diocese of Sodor and Man. (Sodor from Norwegian for “Southern Islands”, i.e., the Hebrides, it’s a long story.) He drew from his passion for trains, his love of Isle of Man, and his (completely wholesome) affection for his son and his son’s friends in constructing the series. Awdry and his son actually constructed a large scale map of the Island of Sodor, which lie in the Irish Sea, just west of Great Britain. Awdry modeled the characters of the engines on his son and his son’s friends. The character of Thomas did not even appear until the third book in the series.
Surprisingly, the characters in the series resembled English boys in the middle of the 20th Century. The Britt Allcroft animated cartoons resemble the characters in Awdry’s railway series, but have been updated to include female characters and “racially diverse” engines. The Britt Allcroft characters are a little more anodyne and sweet,(even Gordon, the blustering bully) than the in Awdry’s creation.
After the war, diesels began to replace Awdry’s beloved steam engines, and labor unrest spread in the United Kingdom. The books show the rivalry between the steamies (representing the old English working class, rapidly being displaced ) and diesels, representing the forces of modernization that were disrupting the status quo in Great Britain.
There is far more to these books than Ms. van Slyke even begins to grasp.
To be fair, even the leftwing Guardian readers think the woman’s a loony.
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