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Thomas the Tank Engine is classist, sexist and racist: New low for The Guardian.

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"For the record, all the "villains" on Thomas and Friends are the dirty diesel engines. I'd like to think there was a good environmental message in there, but when the good engines pump out white smoke and the bad engines pump out black smoke and they areall pumping out smoke it's not hard to make the leap into the race territory."

What the hell is wrong with this woman?
Original post by TheAnusFiles
Oh it is. The Graun is as bad as the Mail these days.

I don't know what's worse: angry old white man who hates everything that isn't straight white and supports the Tories; or Hampstead Sally who just writes complete rubbish about how owning plants is white supremacist neo-colonialism


This is so hilariously close to how I imagine both Guardian and Mail writers it's unreal :rofl:

In both cases man
Original post by imtelling
I'll help. Let me know once it's up. :smile:


Its up.
Original post by yo radical one
This is so hilariously close to how I imagine both Guardian and Mail writers it's unreal :rofl:

In both cases man


My dream is to work for both and dress the same article up in different clothing.

The Mail: Ice cream banned in Leicester city centre as to not offend Muslims

The Guardian: Why the eating of ice cream is pushing minorities out of city centres
Original post by imtelling
Its sometimes difficult to tell whether the Guardian is a serious news site; a satire news feed or a student daily staffed by unwashed Marxist's who hate 'Capitalism' and white people.

In a possible new low, ( i say possible because in the last few years we have seen other new lows ) The Guardian is claiming that Thomas the Tank Engine is classist, racist and Sexist.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/22/thomas-the-tank-engine-children-parents

The article is beyond parody. The Guardian is literally making stuff up for click bait, and in the process is creating division and ruining children's lives.

People always go on about the Mail and its motivations, and they might be right, but i have never seen this level of pathetic and divisive drivel anywhere else but in The Guardian.

Is the Guardian a danger to the fabric of British society?

--

EDIT:

To be fair to Guardian, it's getting ripped to shreds by the commentators below the line, and it's keeping the comments up.


The article was posted under the ''Comment is Free'' section of the website, which is separate to the main 'proper' news section. ''Comment is Free'' is open to the public (people can submit their own ideas) so you're bound to get over analysis such as this.

A lot of good articles can still be found on the website, although I not convinced that the same can be said about the Daily Mail. I'd happily have crazy articles like this pushed to their own part of a news website than sensational celebrity trash found everywhere on a news website.
(edited 9 years ago)
For the record, all the "villains" on Thomas and Friends are the dirty diesel engines. I'd like to think there was a good environmental message in there, but when the good engines pump out white smoke and the bad engines pump out black smoke and they are all pumping out smoke it's not hard to make the leap into the race territory.


Hehe. I think this is best (as in worst) article I've ever seen on Grauniad.com

The argument above is amazing. She also seems ignorant of the fact that the steam engines racist "white smoke".is...steam.

"Tank" as in "water tank". Clue's in the name, love. :biggrin:
Original post by SHallowvale
The article was posted under the ''Comment is Free'' section of the website, which is separate to the main 'proper' news section. ''Comment is Free'' is open to the public (people can submit their own ideas) so you're bound to get over analysis such as this.

A lot of good articles can still be found on the website, although I not convinced that the same can be said about the Daily Mail. I'd happily have crazy articles like this pushed to their own part of a news website than sensational celebrity trash found everywhere on a news website.


Not to mention the breathtaking hypocrisy one sees in their condemnation of female sexuality and pornography, while having a bar on the right hand side that is nothing but voyeuristic ogling of female celebrities in bikinis.
I think the Guardians a good paper, this article is annoyingly 'politically correct' though
Reply 28
I certainly have a lot more respect for the Guardian than many on here and wouldn't even dream of putting it in the same category of the DM and at least it doesn't have all that tripe showbiz bs like 'TOWIE star avoids puddle'. But in this instance, I have to agree, this has got to be a joke article, please say it is, that argument for it being racist is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, black just happens to be the typical colour of villains and evil, it has nothing to do with race. That paragraph doesn't sound like the writings of a sane person, so she's either insane or taking the piss.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 29
I saw this earlier on today and I skimmed through it hoping it was some sort of satirical piece. Nope.

Since when did the fringe lunacy of Tumblr-esque social justice warriors make it into mainstream publications? It beggars belief.
Reply 30
Original post by imtelling
Its sometimes difficult to tell whether the Guardian is a serious news site; a satire news feed or a student daily staffed by unwashed Marxist's who hate 'Capitalism' and white people.

In a possible new low, ( i say possible because in the last few years we have seen other new lows ) The Guardian is claiming that Thomas the Tank Engine is classist, racist and Sexist.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/22/thomas-the-tank-engine-children-parents

The article is beyond parody. The Guardian is literally making stuff up for click bait, and in the process is creating division and ruining children's lives.

People always go on about the Mail and its motivations, and they might be right, but i have never seen this level of pathetic and divisive drivel anywhere else but in The Guardian.

Is the Guardian a danger to the fabric of British society?

--

EDIT:

To be fair to Guardian, it's getting ripped to shreds by the commentators below the line, and it's keeping the comments up.


Thomas the Tank Engine was always one of my favourites!! If you look had enough you can probably find dark underlying messages in any programme! They're TRAINS for goodness sake!
If this article was in The Onion it would be a journalistic masterpiece. But oh so sadly it isn't.

This woman has issues (not to mention way too much time on her hands), and should probably stick to the hallowed social justice halls of Tumblr with the other wingnuts where she belongs.
Reply 32
Original post by imtelling

EDIT:

To be fair to Guardian, it's getting ripped to shreds by the commentators below the line, and it's keeping the comments up.


Also, Guardian staff are doing quite a lot of the ripping. :tongue:
Original post by TheAnusFiles
My dream is to work for both and dress the same article up in different clothing.

The Mail: Ice cream banned in Leicester city centre as to not offend Muslims

The Guardian: Why the eating of ice cream is pushing minorities out of city centres


When have you ever seen a DM headline that long?

it'd be

"immigrant scum demand cornetto ban!"
Original post by Olie
I certainly have a lot more respect for the Guardian than many on here and wouldn't even dream of putting it in the same category of the DM and at least it doesn't have all that tripe showbiz bs like 'TOWIE star avoids puddle'. But in this instance, I have to agree, this has got to be a joke article, please say it is, that argument for it being racist is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, black just happens to be the typical colour of villains and evil, it has nothing to do with race. That paragraph doesn't sound like the writings of a sane person, so she's either insane or taking the piss.


Agree with what you say at the start, but I cannot quite believe that you can blithely say 'black just happens to be the typical colour of villains and evil' without considering the social and historical forces that have made it so.

The writing is the writing of a person perhaps trying too hard to make connections between aspects of the programme and worldview-formation, but she is certainly correct in doing so. Misguided, and perhaps a little inept at insightful cultural criticism, but certainly a long way off insane.
Reply 35
I like/read the Guardian but she has definitely read too much into it.

While there are cartoons that you can say are racist (Noddy), you can't say the same for Thomas.
Original post by tengentoppa
"For the record, all the "villains" on Thomas and Friends are the dirty diesel engines. I'd like to think there was a good environmental message in there, but when the good engines pump out white smoke and the bad engines pump out black smoke and they areall pumping out smoke it's not hard to make the leap into the race territory."

What the hell is wrong with this woman?


The white smoke being steam... You know from a steam engine.

Yeah she is ridiculous. Damn racist chemistry.
That is an absolutely hilarious article. She was paid to write it. People are paid to write their obviously wrong and stupid opinions. Probably the same person that wrote an article about watching the World Cup being sexist.
Original post by KingMessi
Agree with what you say at the start, but I cannot quite believe that you can blithely say 'black just happens to be the typical colour of villains and evil' without considering the social and historical forces that have made it so.


Or perhaps it is more simply that darkness = scary because humans cannot see in the dark which is therefore dangerous. And light = good by opposition.
I enjoy the guardian for their reporting on world events/news. But their opinions pieces like this are just :facepalm:

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