Czarcasm, if it makes it any easier, you may presume that our decision to ban Disney is based on our membership in a hypothetical religion that considers Walt Disney to be the Antichrist. (This is, of course, not true.)
And you are not discussing the issue, either. What is so wrong about Disney to warrant all of your vitriol?
Please read my previous comments about hijacking, milroyj. You’re doing the same thing Czarcasm and so many others are trying to do.
I wish I could lose like that.
to be fair, they’re really playing at a bit of a disadvantage.
have you even had the consideration to contact them, and tell them what the goal of their existance was ---- catering to you?
On Cracker Barrel they have changed from what I have seen(I knew a gay guy at the one I work at). I suspect that the simple fact that they are a resturant based buisness forced them to change.
Your post, your words, deny them.
Fuck you and the gender re-assignment doctor you rode in on.
now I know what makes these debates so great.
Moderator’s Note: Reprise, you post anything like that outside of the Pit again, and you WILL be banned, is that clear?
I’d imagine that some folks would consider a decision to keep God out of your child’s life to be quite horrible.
Everyone here understands that instructing your child in religion is a very important, very personal decision. There are vocal proponents for a wide spectrum of religious belief and non-belief at this message board, so nobody here would be surprised if you had said “I’m keeping that creepy old God away from my kid” or “my baby’s gonna be buddies with Christ”.
But this strident stance on Walt, who most people here see as a relatively benign if not a positive influence on a child, begs questions. So you get questioned.
I knew a guy who didn’t like trees.
He never gave a reason, just “I don’t like trees”.
He wanted to move somewhere in the midwest where there weren’t many trees.
He wasn’t afraid of trees, he didn’t run away from trees, he just didn’t like them, would be happy to tell you so, but never gave any kind of reason.
All of us in the neighborhood thus thought he was a bit crazy. His business, of course, but a bit crazy all the same. ( we were all about 16 or so )
My point is that repeated statements about how much you hate Disney, and about the evil influences of Diseny, without any explanation as to why are probobly going to get the same reaction. Disney is viewed, by and large, as a neutral to positive thing. Saying “We just don’t like it” is going to get the reaction you’re getting-“why?”. If no answer is forthcoming, people are going to start thinking you’re a bit nuts on the subject and act acordingly, that’s human nature.
Actually, many have already discussed that, and pointed out the fact that it’s not really a valid question to ask. Disney movies are not “sacred” to most rational people, and I think it’s been pointed out several times that arguments of faith are almost assuredly going to cause more problems than arguments about Disney. That was all dealt with on page 1 of the thread.
Now some of the posters are trying to figure out why you and lee have such a beef with Disney… a valid question, and perfectly on-topic. However, you and she both refuse to answer. Kind of makes for a short discussion, no?
Perhaps if you were more willing to deal with all sides of the issue, not just the parts you liked to talk about, we could get farther?
I doubt they’re more concerned about Disney than religion - everyone KNOWS (or has been taught) that religion is so multi-faceted it’s pointless to argue the subject and rude to foist opinions of the subject off on anyone else. When you ban Disney (which, as mentioned before, is generally viewed as neutral or positive and is also, as mentioned above, a topic seemingly as innocuous as ‘trees’) you’re just going to have to expect a few questions! Stand by it if you will (and good for you for having such depths of conviction), but to compare the questions about the Disney stance with the non-questioning regarding the religion stance seems like a pretty self-evident answer.
Someone else also mentioned in this thread that your child will miss out on some schoolyard conversations and possibly be made fun of for this lack of exposure. Whether you like it or not (and I’m guessing you don’t), Disney is about as American as apple pie and baseball - with their own special saying, ‘They built the better MANtrap.’ There will be kids who will look askance at your kids for this lack of ‘knowledge.’ IMHO, childhood is rough enough with glasses, braces, curly or straight hair, etc. without adding to the mix - but it is YOUR decision and since kids survive war, starvation, street gangs, terrorism, abuse, etc. - they will, of course, survive without The Mouse.
::grumbles:: I hate it when I’m echoing the post just before me! I must hit the button faster…
But Lee and KellyM, just to play devil’s advocate: apparently you put the same emphasis on religion* and Disney, since BOTH are banned in your home?
[sub]* admits that’s a bit of an assumption, since you only said you were not having your child baptized or raising him/her in the church. [/sub]
So the question I’d like to know is why you place equal emphasis on religion and Disney – or maybe why you expect everyone else to place said equal emphasis?
Darn, WeirdDave beat me to it, though I was planning to use “I don’t like blue jellybeans” as my example of a specific phobia that is repeated but never explained.
I have to echo the opinion that Lee/Kelly are acting a bit nuts; brandishing an unexplained hatred of something, then over-reacting when the reasons behind that hatred are questioned. Further, even accusing us of some kind of conspiracy in favour of the hated object. There’s no point starting a thread and then getting huffy when your premise is challenged or ridiculed.
I personally dislike irrational behaviour more than I dislike Disney, so my leanings in this particular discussion naturally side with Disney and against Lee/Kelly.
Except it’s not the same emphasis. Religion isn’t being banned, only Disney is. THe way I read the OP, the child will be given a choice as to what religion he/she wants.
Thus, the OP is making Disney ‘more worrisome than a lack of God’, because it seems there will be a God.
Morelin
I have two problems with Lee and Kelly’s position, that I see echoes of from other posters:
The first deals with the irony* of an inflexible and irrational parent, which are themselves the ultimate role model, attempting to ban products in order to not expose their child to improper role models.* If you can’t explain your reasoning to a group of intelligent folks, many of whom dislike Disney already, what chance do you have of making sense to an angry pre-teen?
The second deals with a transgendered couple, who are already far from normal parents, raising the bar of normalcy even higher, by banning, sans rationale, the ubiquitous Disney. Are you committed to raising this child as normally as possible, or in whatever way you see fit, regardless of the consequences? If there was a support group of similar parents whose advise you respected (as opposed the short shrift and the nuclear overreaction here), I suggest you speak with them about this and other parenting influences.
As a coda, I note that parts of society that affect femal role models are everywhere. Will you ban sports for the sexist cheerleading? Barbie? Sitcoms that make fun of women?
A common situation for parents is the difference between raising their children as they see fit and raising them normally. Choosing the former is fine, but works best if you can fairly explain to the child why you don’t do what everyone else does.
Good luck,
Ace
I’d just like to add the final step, which would be to donate the unwanted toy to your favorite charity so another child can enjoy it.
Ah, what a perfect vehicle with which to make my point. If you found out that somebody refused to allow, say, Planter’s Peanuts into their house, because they belonged to a religion that consider the CEO of Planters to be the anti-Christ, wouldn’t that strike you as a bit odd? Wouldn’t you be more likely to ask about that then about why they’re an atheist, given that atheism is not unheard of?
Granted, your rationale behind your Disney ban isn’t quite that insane, but given the inconsistency in your views (Shrek, for example, meets hardly any of the criteria you mentioned above, yet you claim to like it; further, you refuse to allow Pixar movies even though they meet almost all of your criteria, and are only tangentially related to Disney) and reluctance to explain your reasoning (you have provided some insights, but only after insistent prodding by other posters), it’s not surprising that people do a double take, and even tend to tease you about it.
To answer the OP directly: There’s nothing sacred about Disney. Your attitude towards it is simply a curiosity that others will tend to make fun of, because that’s what people do. If you’re going to continue to keep you and your family ten yards from all things born of the House of Mouse, I highly suggest you adopt a thicker skin.
Jeff
what would YOU rather be doing? Sitting at home watching fantaisa or another wonderful film to expand your imagination and mostly always teach you a valuble lesson on a sunday morning; or off in church learnign what NOT to do for the rest of your life?
Disney IS god for today. Disney teaches children thier morals now, it tells children what is good and what is bad, teaches them of love and virtue, and to never talk to strangers. in a world of disney, god is obsolete.