The NRA goes after . . . Thomas the Tank Engine

[billvon 3,109]

No, this is not from the Onion.

As the parent of two small kids I have seen more than I ever wanted to see of Thomas the Tank Engine. Mostly books since we have two voracious readers. For people without kids, Thomas the Tank Engine works on a railroad on the mythical island of Sodor, which looks a lot like England. He has a bunch of friends who are also engines who work with him - Percy, James, Emily - and other friends like Harold the helicopter and Cranky the crane. Occasionally they come across engines from outside Sodor, like Hiro, an old broken down Mikado-class engine from Japan, or the Logging Locos, three irresponsible narrowgauge engines from the US, or Ashima, a tank engine from India there for a railway show.

So far so good. (And BTW the Internet is a great tool for parents with small kids who have a million questions. "What kind of locomotive is Dash? Why can't he run on regular rails? How do switches work on narrow rails? Do they have those in the US?")

But now the NRA is OUTRAGED!!!1!!!1 that they have a new character - Nia from Africa. From their TV channel:

"This is horrible. That's where it gets really strange to me. Am I to understand this entire time that Thomas and his trains were white? Because they all have gray faces. How do you bring ethnic diversity? I mean, they had to paint what I guess they thought was some sort of African pattern on the side of Nia's engine."

And to drive the point home, they photoshopped a picture of Thomas and his friends wearing KKK hoods.

Do these people really have nothing better to do than to manufacture racist outrage over a children's TV show?

[DJL 235]

WTF? https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/nra-tv-thomas-tank-engine-firends-kkk-dana-loesch-a8537296.html

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[billvon 3,109]

Yep.

Japanese characters? Fine; historical reference. US characters that act suspiciously like hillbillies? That's OK too; they're funny. An engine from India? OK of course. Lots of trains in India.

But an AFRICAN CHARACTER? That's outrageous! They are perverting the minds of children everywhere.

[JerryBaumchen 1,465]

Hi Bill,

Quote

They are perverting the minds of children everywhere.

Oh, they're perverting some minds; I just don't think it is children.

Jerry Baumchen

[grimmie 186]

The NRA has become a complete joke. That's not even funny.

[RonD1120 62]

I looked at the clip and it appears to me that Dana was disgusted at the creators for introducing the racist portrayal, not defending it.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[billvon 3,109]

Quote

I looked at the clip and it appears to me that Dana was disgusted at the creators for introducing the racist portrayal, not defending it.

NRA TV created the photoshopped image of Thomas and friends wearing the white hoods.

[jcd11235 0]

RonD1120

I looked at the clip and it appears to me that Dana was disgusted at the creators for introducing the racist portrayal African character, not defending it.

I think your keyboard must have been hijacked by Russian bots.

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[yoink 321]

The irony is that I’m pretty sure I remember an episode from my childhood of Gordon in blackface after hauling coal...

Glad to see the NRA are spending their members cash wisely.

[DJL 235]

RonD1120

I looked at the clip and it appears to me that Dana was disgusted at the creators for introducing the racist portrayal, not defending it.

I understand you're not up to speed on how TV production works but they don't broadcast a first draft and this wasn't a live show. The host knows exactly what material they're going to cover. Besides, no she didn't respond in disgust, she responded by describing exactly what was in the picture.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher