LEGO on the front page of the newspaper!?! - Is Canada really that boring?
The short answer is NO! Canada is not that boring. No matter what Americans might think, about our igloo communities that are nearly always paralyzed by snow storms, but I digress...
It must have been a slow news cycle this past Saturday because the headlines on the front page of most newspapers I saw, had to do with the weather, local crime (while serious, it still is almost never front-page news in Canada) and yes even LEGO.
More After the Break
LEGO has recently released a new line of LEGO toys geared towards girls, and of course, wouldn't you know it the feminist movement is all up in arms about such a thing. I mean how dare girls have toys made for them, right? That's just ignorant and insulting. Only boys need toys, for girls are so much more advanced than boys, than to need toys.
Of course to be charitable, the argument they present is not as simple as that, but has to do with the promotion and the continuation of the promotion of sexist stereotypes in Western society. With feminists appalled that anyone might suggest that a girl might want to play nurse instead of Commando for an afternoon. Stating that girls already have such a LEGO toy it's called LEGO.
However, the credibility of such an argument is greatly undermined by the fact that this same group of people also go after Barbie for being sexist. Yet, Barbie has never changed and always has been the promotion of the stereotype of frilly, soft, girly, girlyness. It is not like it has ever changed.
Look my point is this. Barbie makes Mattel roughly $3 billion a year in profit and it is one of the most girly girl toys on the market. So it seems that LEGO is simply assessing the market and making a good decision, by creating toys geared towards girls, that promote girly girlyness; or as the feminists call it discrimination against woman.
However, it must be noted that LEGO is not, nor has ever taken the position of, telling it's female customers that this line of LEGO toys is the only one that they can ever purchase., and the rest of the LEGO is for the boys so back off woman. Nor, by promoting this specific line of toys to girls are they preventing boys from ever playing with it. No. The company has simply stated that the company wishes to extend to customers of both sexes the opportunity to enjoy and purchase LEGO that appeals to those who appreciate girly girlyness, if they so choose. Cause, yes, whether feminists believe it or not, or like it or not, some girls want to be girls
(in the traditional sense of the term).
Therefore, if you are a feminist who doesn't want your girl to play with girly girl LEGO, than simply buy them other LEGO, with pirates and ninjas and police men. And if you are a mother and you want to allow your girl(s) to play with this new girly girl LEGO, than by all means more power to you.
The point is this, feminists are free to make the decision whether to buy it or not. They are also free to have their opinions heard about why they dislike the new line of LEGO toys. Yet, to petition governments with 50,000 signatures and smear LEGO and attempt to have the company coerced into removing this line of LEGO toys simply because they don't like it, is simply immoral. And is just another attempt of a few elites and of special interests groups to grab power and legislate to others how to best run their lives. In this case deciding what they can and can't make, sell, buy and cherish.
Which means that not only are they advocating for crony Capitalism, but also that parents who do buy such toys for their girls, are simply to dumb to know any better and are incapable of being able to raise their own children as they see fit. Well, I don't know about you, but I always thought that if someone was insulting your parents you had the duty to defend their honor.
Moreover, it should be noted that the same freedom that they want, the freedom to be able to choose whatever you want to play with, they are trying to restrict for others, who just happen to play with the kind of toys they dislike. Look, if they are so sure that this kind of LEGO is sexist and demeaning than it won't sell and the idea will die, because all good companies want to make money.
Yet, if Barbie's profit margin is any indication, I think that this new line of LEGO toys is going to make some profit, and that means that not only was it a good decision, but it will also mean jobs. Which in this economy, whether here, in the United States or in Europe (LEGO is based in Denmark), that's good. Not only is it good, but it means that career woman and feminists have the opportunity to compete and be hired by LEGO. In fact, LEGO, according to a 2009 company profile, hires about 7000 employees world-wide, some of which are definitely woman.
So, to label LEGO as all of a sudden some evil macho sexist entity, because it dared to offer their customers, a wider array of LEGO characters and possibilities with LEGO, is just incomprehensible.Besides last time I checked you could just take the head off of a girly girl LEGO character and put it on the body of a pirate or soldier LEGO character or whatever you want.
I will just leave you with one last thought. If theses companies, that make girly girl toys, are all evil sexist male pigs who are indeed seeking to keep woman folk in bondage to men. Than why do feminists seem to want to only ever have toys that show woman doing traditionally male things? I mean if men are so evil, then why do feminists seem to demand that girls become like them and participate in their activities and leave their own traditional activities behind?
Just something to think about, and yes please do let me know what you think in the comments below and feel free to voice your own opinion.
- Corey S.
<THINK ABOOT IT>
Original Article in the National Post January 21, 2012.
PS: I am not sure whether a quite news cycle is good or bad, but LEGO, weather and local crime, really? Come on Canada let's try to be just a little more interesting than that. And by the way LEGO still rules and although the kits I used to get at Christmas time as a kid always had one piece missing, no matter how long my parents searched for it, it is one of the best inventions ever. Keep up the good work LEGO and captialism and stay free.
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