I’ve been on a self-imposed hiatus the past three weeks, first due to unexpected gall bladder surgery and then due to a prolonged search for a new vehicle after one of our family cars was wrecked (no one injured thankfully!).
But while I haven’t been writing, I’ve still been observing, and what I’ve seen is scary. The Biden administration and the progressive left are in the process of instituting a cultural revolution that may ultimately rival China’s disastrous attempt in the 1960s to re-engineer society into a politically correct construct. Whatever didn’t fit into the box of what China’s communist masters deemed suitable was lopped off from social institutions, from cultural norms and ultimately from people themselves.
That same thing is happening in America right now, with the encouragement and applause of our educators, our journalists, our business leaders and our politicians. The only ones not signing on to the radical restructuring of society are everyday Americans. Despite the pretense that we live in a democracy, we are being told what to do, not asked our opinion about what should be happening.
Whether it’s transgenderism, white shaming, history revisionism or erasing borders, we the people are just along for the ride. And if you raise your voice to oppose what is happening, then you will be silenced. During China’s Cultural Revolution, they would cut your tongue out or bury you alive if you didn’t praise your oppressors, but this is the 21st century. Our oppressors just take away our Twitter or YouTube privileges. For now. The physical torture may come later.
So what roused me out of my stupor of numbly and silently watching the “fundamental transformation” of America into a progressive dystopia?
Oddly enough, it was a childhood toy — Mr. Potato Head.
According to the design website FastCompany.com, toymaker Hasbro has decided that it’s time to de-sex Mr. Potato Head. From now on he will be known simply as Potato Head.
According to Fast Company, “On the surface, it may seem like a subtle shift, but it is designed to break away from traditional gender norms, particularly when it comes to creating Potato Head families—how toddlers frequently play with the toy, according to Hasbro’s research. But starting this fall, when the new brand is unveiled, kids will have a blank slate to create same-sex families or single-parent families. It’s a prime example of the way heritage toy brands are evolving to stay relevant in the 21st century.”
Maybe I’m missing something, but if kids were into gender-bending potato experimentation, couldn’t they have just married two Mr. Potato Heads in the first place? No, there’s something more dangerous at play here than just “staying relevant.”
Face it, this is just the latest assault on traditional values in a culture war that that’s left Christians in danger of being reduced to social outcasts. When and why did 6-year-olds become interested in turning potatoes into sex toys in the first place? How did we let childhood become a “safe zone” for political indoctrination?
And why are we comfortable letting the geniuses at Hasbro tinker with our cultural and human values as if they were interchangeable moving parts on a toy? Despite the insistence of progressives, gender isn’t just a mask you can put on and take off. It’s a fundamental state of being, part of what makes us who we are.
In addition, Hasbro isn’t just banning a gender title; it is essentially banning marriage from the potato vocabulary altogether. Mr. and Mrs. are not about gender. They are about commitment. “What God has put together, let no man tear asunder.”
Or a toy company either.
“Culture has evolved,” says Hasbro VP Kimberly Boyd. “Kids want to be able to represent their own experiences. The way the brand currently exists—with the “Mr.” and “Mrs.”—is limiting when it comes to both gender identity and family structure.”
Yeah right, and it’s also limiting when it comes to inter-species breeding. Technically, is there any reason why Potato Head shouldn’t breed with Little Bo Peep? I suppose next year Hasbro will introduce a slab of beef called Meat Head that can seduce Potato Head onto the chopping block.
The opportunities for woke toymakers are probably endless, but the changes also present challenges.
Disney, which recently introduced politically correct warnings on “The Muppets,” will now apparently have to add cautionary labels at the beginning of the “Toy Story” movies as well. Don’t be surprised to read something like this the next time you rent “Toy Story 4”:
“The movie you are about to watch represents out-of-date values and stereotypical gender representations. Since the film was made two years ago, Disney has woke. Please note that not all male potatoes are misters, and not all misters are men. We apologize for not gender-mashing our potatoes earlier. Also, we now confess that Sheriff Woody is a vile stereotype of a sexually oppressive male using his social position to pleasure himself by dominating the other toys. Please excuse our ignorance. For more information or to purchase gender-neutral versions of the characters in the movie, visit www.SexToyStory.PC.”
Yuck!
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Heartland Diary is solely operated by Frank Miele, the retired editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Montana. If you enjoy reading these daily essays, I hope you will SUBSCRIBE to www.HeartlandDiaryUSA.com by leaving your email address on the home page. Twitter and Facebook may ban me at any time. Also please consider purchasing one of my books. They are available through the following Amazon links. My new book is “How We Got Here: The Left’s Assault on the Constitution” and is now available in paperback and as an eBook. It is 536 pages long and chock full of research on the progressive movement and the patriotic heroes who have fought against it. My earlier books include “The Media Matrix: What if everything you know is fake?” and the “Why We Needed Trump” trilogy. Part 1 is subtitled “Bush’s Global Failure: Half Right.” Part 2 is “Obama’s Fundamental Transformation: Far Left.” Part 3 is “Trump’s American Vision: Just Right.” As an Amazon Associate, I may earn referral fees for qualifying purchases through links on my website. Also please subscribe to Heartland Diary on YouTube by clicking here for News Every Conservative Can Use.
“. . . has woke.” Frank, I believe you are fully tuned to observe the Left-Wing Extremists and report back to us. Thanks for that.
Is the Mr. Potato Head transgender ridiculousness meant to distract us from the Biden horror show? Changing Mr. Potato Head in order to conform with the socialists indoctrination that youngsters should choose their own gender is quite insane. The country has gone insane, though, since Biden is negating every good thing President Trump worked so hard to do for us. Is the change to Mr Potato Head the saddest thing toy manufacturers have tried? No. There is more. We are now suffering through cruel criticism from faceless, nameless “woke” uneducated loud mouths that the muppet program does not have enough wokeness. Are these people crazy? Let’s not forget the complaint that The Disney movies are not “woke” enough but will have warnings rather than be remade because the cost would be prohibitive. I pray the woke indoctrination will go after someone so powerful (like the Muppets) and the population wakes up to this fascism and calls it out and it disappears. Sadly for parents and grandparents, California has started more nonsense that they think it’s a great idea to create ONE GENDER toy sections at all toy stores and the stores will be fined $1500 a day if the stores do not conform. I need to go to the boys section for my grandson’s birthday presents. I need to go to the girl’s section for my granddaughters’ birthday presents. Why am I being punished? I hate to shop anyway so why are they making it harder for me? (Glad you’re well, Mr. Miele and glad you’re back.)
Joe Morrisco
Bedminster, NJ 07921
Being sensitive to a few of the special needs of a mere 5.6% of the nation’s populace is understandable; but Frank’s Potato Head discovery is illustrative of left wing, Godless, extremists running on empty. Oh, Frank, just a cautionary correction re: one of your statements. “What God has put together, let no man (OR WOMAN) put asunder”
Hope you are on the mend and that your new vehicle is the best ever.
Woke Potato Head people need to look at the truth. We just heard a stunning piece of information that BLM has access to $90 million dollars. This type of money can pay for busses to bring paid mercenaries to a destination targeted for destruction. When the grand jury came back in the Rochester case where they chose, after a thorough investigation, not to indict the Rochester policemen who had to deal with a naked man hyped up on PCP, a young BLM member in Rochester covered by a ski mask, since cowardice is their forté, grandly announced their slogan about “you don’t do what we want you get no peace.” And this country has allowed this by putting out ridiculous distracting stories about transgender toys. Did BLM get their blood money from the old fashioned gang-type “protection” money from American corporations? Did American orporatons just not want to deal with these people and paid them off? An expensive way to protect themselves from masses of BLM people bashing windows, setting fire to businesses, and looting stores? Jason Hill, a professor at DePaul University, was on the Tucker Carlson show 2/25/21. He said
Black people are being weaponized as weapons of mass destruction through the Robin Diangelo misrepresentation of racism. His interview is worth viewing. Protection money, scared corporations, and $90 million dollars has changed our country. Very insidious. Wish we could do something. But BLM and antifa are in charge while the enemies are distracting us.
Joe Morrisco
Bedminster NJ