Comment by Ericka Quiñonez on July 6, 2011 at 8:10pm

how sad! is there a place where I can email the producers?

 

Comment by Tim Jones on July 6, 2011 at 9:19pm

Oh christ how subtle! Leap of faith? Don't understand but I still believe? The only saving grace (excuse the pun - ok it was intentional lol) is that children may not get the deeper undercurrents and implications of the cartoon.

 

As an aside what do you think the reaction would be if a non-subtle message of atheism, science and reason were to be put forward in a cartoon (granted Twilight was skeptical at the start - but she believed in the end) - I think you'll find that there would be outrage - typical christian hypocrisy

 

Cheers all

 

Tim

Comment by Camila Quevedo on July 6, 2011 at 10:07pm

While I don't expect much sense or reason to come from a cartoon like My Little Pony, I have to say you're right. A lot of what Pinkie Pie, the pony with the supernatural sense to predict the future, says sounds like Christian rhetoric that is used on children who actually question the religion that is forced on them and what bugs me the most is that the logical character, Twilight, eventually gives in to the circumstances and ends up "believing". You're absolutely right that this episode is being bluntly anti-intellectual and pro-religious to anyone older than the demographic it's aimed at.

However this is not the first time that the whole "just believe" thing has ever shown up in children's media. Peter Pan is the one that comes to the forefront of my mind, "if you don't believe in fairies Tinkerbell will die" and "just think happy thoughts and, with a little pixie dust, you can fly". Magical thinking is generally what comes to mind when you think of things aimed at children and the skeptics are always played as the party poopers/losers of the group. Just think about it. Velma from Scooby-do, intelligent, constantly loosing her glasses and is the "ugly" chick. Donatello from TMNT, geek, intelligent, bringing the rest group down with less action-y solutions to their problems and, if I remember correctly, nobody wanted to be Donatello when they were a kid. And it's not just in kids media either, watch some movies and see that the skeptic are always played in the negative.

Comment by Jessica Gibson on July 7, 2011 at 12:15am

Wow. That was complete BS, and yes, I did watch the entire thing. They are teaching kids that there are some things you just have to believe without any explanation? It pissed me off even more at the end, because the purple pony just gave up when she couldn't explain what was going on when it all was sheer coincidence (or it would have been if all those things really happened). I'm glad that when I was little the only things I watched were violent cartoons.

Comment by Rev. Chris Pagan on July 7, 2011 at 12:34am

Ok, 15minutes 30 seconds is far more than any one persons should take of that. The entire episode was dripping with religious propaganda and incredibly anti-intellectual. 

 

Oh and @Camilla: I was always to be Donatello. He was the man.

Comment by Craig Nomazlab on July 7, 2011 at 12:56am

Wow, 4 minutes in and it's already clear.

Comment by Paul Prescod on July 7, 2011 at 5:38am

It is sufficient to watch the last 3 minutes to get the point...

Comment by Heather Spoonheim on July 7, 2011 at 8:19am

Ok, I drank enough gin to get me through the entire episode but then passed out before I commented.  This is a terrible message to be sending to young girls.  On the upside, I was glad to see the obviously butch pony playing such a practical role in the episode.

Comment by Matt Peters on July 7, 2011 at 2:01pm

I'm curious. Does anyone know of any media that promotes skepticism and critical thinking for children (and I'm not just talking about science literature)?

Comment by Paul Prescod on July 7, 2011 at 2:12pm

Skeptical media for children: http://www.skeptic.com/junior_skeptic/

 

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