Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”

newyorker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 279 posts

Re: The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”

#121

Post by geowwy »

humanrebar wrote: post #99
dmlorenzetti wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The comparison with Mr. Rogers is instructive. Both shows seem rooted in a minister's desire to encapsulate ideals derived from the Bible. But while Mr. Rogers is New Testament, the Thomas books are Old Testament. Henry, for example, gets punished for the sin of VANITY -- he doesn't stop in the tunnel in order to shirk work, but rather to avoid getting his nice new paint messed up. To see the difference between the s…

I think the New Testament disagrees with your characterization of the Old Testament. Pretty much the entire New Testament goes on about how the Old Testament is a series of stories about how cycles of rule making and rule breaking do not lead to real justice, peace, or life. In particular, both Romans and Hebrews (though not exclusively those books) cite Old Testament stories to make the case that the Old Testament (…

Agreed. That characterization of Old Testament vs. New Testament is one of my pet peeves.

There's some horrific brutality and violence in the Old Testament. But the overall story is one of Yahweh's love and compassion for his people in a world where everything is falling apart around them. The same theme carries through into the New Testament.

If the Old Testament is really as bad as people say then Judaism really has a problem. But in my experience Jews aren't any more violent than Christians.

Re: The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”

#122

Post by danbolt »

NegativeLatency wrote: post #24
paulddraper wrote: post #13

Thomas & Friends is gold. The show is dignified and wholesome. It is always about respect, diligence, and humility. It isn't there for stupid antics and wacky laughs. It doesn't blast color explosions and ADHD-fueled off-the-charts mind-numbing exuburance to capture kids attention. And it's been doing that for decades (pretty much eternity, as far as kids TV goes). Not since Mr. Rogers has there been a better kids TV…

As a kid I also really loved Theodore the Tugboat. Similar kind of show, but with boats. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Tugboat

I remember watching that as a little kid too. Did it ever get syndicated outside of Canada?

EDIT: I skimmed the Wikipedia article, and discovered it had a pretty wide distribution. I'm impressed!

Re: The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”

#124

Post by geowwy »

linkregister wrote: post #107
humanrebar wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the New Testament disagrees with your characterization of the Old Testament. Pretty much the entire New Testament goes on about how the Old Testament is a series of stories about how cycles of rule making and rule breaking do not lead to real justice, peace, or life. In particular, both Romans and Hebrews (though not exclusively those books) cite Old Testament stories to make the case that the Old Testament (…

This analysis, while novel and interesting to me, is not supported by the bulk of events in the early Old Testament. I will name some examples of God personally meting out the death sentence en masse as punishment for sin in various books of the Old Testament. 1. The Great Flood (Genesis), 2. Sodom (Genesis), 3. The Plagues of Egypt (Exodus), 4. The Exile of the Israelites from the Promised Land (Exodus). Redemption,…

> ...the mainstream Christian opinion that the Old Testament is vengeful and the New Testament is merciful...

That's not mainstream Christian opinion. It's called Marcionism and it's universally condemned by mainstream Christianity.

Re: The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”

#125

Post by ux-app »

Aloha wrote: post #109
ux-app wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The show is dignified and wholesome. really? I always found it to be quite creepy. The constant obsession with being a "really useful" engine. The shaming of engines who don't toe the line. Victimisation of engines who misbehave. The show makes me strangely uncomfortable for some reason.

As an engineer, being "really useful" is a goal that fits within my worldview as good and noble.

sure, that's a great characteristic for things. Not so sure about implying that people should be assessed the same way.

Re: The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”

#126

Post by WalterBright »

colordrops wrote: post #118
WalterBright wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In fact the vast majority of Americans that have a vocation work under a corporation. I'm curious about that. The total # of government employees is about 22 million. Add to that over a million in the military. The total # of employees is about 127 million. The number of people employed by the Fortune 500 is about 27 million, or 17% of the workforce. http://fortune.com/2015/06/13/fortune-500-most-employees/ Corpora…

Do you seriously think that there is no corporate agenda in the US? It's not even conspiracy theory. A good chunk of the daily news stories are related to the topic.

I've been involved with various corporations. I have yet to be informed of what the national "corporate agenda" is.

When I read the business news, it always seems that corporations are at each other's throats, always suing each other, trying to get the government to run each other out of business, lobbying against each other, etc.

I'm curious if you can provide a link to the national corporate agenda. Maybe it's lowering corporate tax rates? Everybody wants lower tax rates on their own interests.

Re: The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”

#127

Post by mst »

stordoff wrote: post #36
paulddraper wrote: post #13

Thomas & Friends is gold. The show is dignified and wholesome. It is always about respect, diligence, and humility. It isn't there for stupid antics and wacky laughs. It doesn't blast color explosions and ADHD-fueled off-the-charts mind-numbing exuburance to capture kids attention. And it's been doing that for decades (pretty much eternity, as far as kids TV goes). Not since Mr. Rogers has there been a better kids TV…

> Better known as Sir Topham Hatt since the 1950s. Seemingly only in the US ("the Fat Controller is always referred to by his real name, "Sir Topham Hatt" in the US"[0]). I was born in 1990 (UK), and as I recall he was almost always refered to as "The Fat Controller". [0] http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Sir_Topham_Hatt#Trivia

Similar. I grew up on the Thomas books and don't remember hearing "Sir Topham Hatt" til today - only ever "The Fat Controller".

Re: The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”

#128

Post by dingaling »

rukuu001 wrote: post #108
paulddraper wrote: post #13

Thomas & Friends is gold. The show is dignified and wholesome. It is always about respect, diligence, and humility. It isn't there for stupid antics and wacky laughs. It doesn't blast color explosions and ADHD-fueled off-the-charts mind-numbing exuburance to capture kids attention. And it's been doing that for decades (pretty much eternity, as far as kids TV goes). Not since Mr. Rogers has there been a better kids TV…

> It is always about respect, diligence, and humility My 2yo nephew recently started watching Thomas. It was my first real exposure to it. After watching a few episodes I remarked that the central messages of Thomas are: - Authority always knows best. - Never think for yourself. - You have no value until you are 'useful'.

> Never think for yourself

Independent thinking is lauded ( Toad suggesting how to save the whale ), but unilateral action is not.

> You have no value until you are 'useful'.

In the wider context of society that's entirely accurate. Community doesn't exist unless people contribute to the group.

Re: The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”

#129

Post by linkregister »

geowwy wrote: post #124
linkregister wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This analysis, while novel and interesting to me, is not supported by the bulk of events in the early Old Testament. I will name some examples of God personally meting out the death sentence en masse as punishment for sin in various books of the Old Testament. 1. The Great Flood (Genesis), 2. Sodom (Genesis), 3. The Plagues of Egypt (Exodus), 4. The Exile of the Israelites from the Promised Land (Exodus). Redemption,…

> ...the mainstream Christian opinion that the Old Testament is vengeful and the New Testament is merciful... That's not mainstream Christian opinion. It's called Marcionism and it's universally condemned by mainstream Christianity.

Your characterization of my viewpoint is highly distorted. No credible mainstream Christian rejects the Old Testament.

Re: The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”

#130

Post by ux-app »

geowwy wrote: post #121
humanrebar wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the New Testament disagrees with your characterization of the Old Testament. Pretty much the entire New Testament goes on about how the Old Testament is a series of stories about how cycles of rule making and rule breaking do not lead to real justice, peace, or life. In particular, both Romans and Hebrews (though not exclusively those books) cite Old Testament stories to make the case that the Old Testament (…

Agreed. That characterization of Old Testament vs. New Testament is one of my pet peeves. There's some horrific brutality and violence in the Old Testament. But the overall story is one of Yahweh's love and compassion for his people in a world where everything is falling apart around them. The same theme carries through into the New Testament. If the Old Testament is really as bad as people say then Judaism really ha…

dude, c'mon get real. I've read the old testament. It's brutal. Yahwe loved him some genocide.
Post reply on HN