The Tyranny of Thomas the Tank Engine
Ideas on pursuing our individual dreams, not the dreams of others. Learning to hear our inner voice to guide us toward them while filtering out the noise of modern society’s dream pushers.
Hi,
Thomas the Tank Engine bothers me.
A lot.
If you don’t have children and/or are fortunate to not know who this is, here you go -
Thomas is a cheerful blue train that runs around with his other train friends trying to be “useful”. Our son enjoys following his adventures. We work to balance the attention he directs to Thomas with other activities, including books by the wonderful Enchanted Lion publisher.
Yet Thomas is still there.
What bothers me so much about this little “useful engine”?
Well, for starters, he and friends are always trying to please Sir Topam Hat. This is a fat man in a top hat and tuxedo, holding a stopwatch. He does our approvals for things like being “busy”, “useful” and “on time”.
Ugh.
Living this kind of work life would be my ultimate nightmare. It was my nightmare for a long time, working “on the clock” at jobs I despised, for approval from people in the form of minimal compensation.
I think about what kind of message Thomas and his friends are sending. The not-so-subtle brainwashing is troubling. It’s an industrialists dream though.
Can you imagine having these ideas of compliance and obedience planted in your mind at such an early age?
Yet I find this happens so much, not only to us as adults. As Thomas demonstrates, it happens early in life.
Thomas isn’t the only one guilty of this influence. Many of the other commercial kids “book” series are too. That’s for a different time though.
For now, I feel grateful for the awareness to see this messaging. While I don’t want to be overt destructive with our son and ban Thomas, I can at least balance out and explain the messages.
It’s a constant battle, though. Marketing to kids is big business. Get them hooked early and they’re customers for life.
I’m starting to group it with other devious and damaging marketing practices like the food and pharmacy industries. But this discussion is for another time too 😊
For now, I’ll continue to fight the battle to protect our son’s attention from Thomas’ tyranny 😆
Catch you next week,
Chris
Semi-Random Thoughts
The blog migration’s done. You can see it here. I’d love to hear what you like and more importantly, one thing you’d like to see changed.
Photo of the Week
Image by justrollingwithit
See more of justrollingwithit’s VSCO.
Current Reading List
Ayurvedic Cooking for Self Healing by Usha Lad
Ayurvedic Cooking for Self Healing has 137 ratings and 12 reviews.
Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution by Robert E. Svoboda
Prakriti book. Read 37 reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. Dr. Svoboda’s original work on the constitutional types in Ayurveda.
The Cabin Porn Book
The Cabin Porn Book by Zach Klein: Inspiration for Your Quiet Place Somewhere. From handmade tiny homes and rustic log cabins to modern A-frames, Cabin Porn encourages those yearning of a simpler life in nature. Feature photography by Noah Kalina.
How to Build Your Dream Cabin in the Woods: The Ultimate Guide to Building and Maintaining a Backcountry Getaway by J. Wayne Fears
How to Build Your Dream Cabin in the Woods has 118 ratings and 14 reviews. Sarah said: Practical advice about buying land and constructing a cabin that f…
The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan by Andy Couturier
The Abundance of Less has 133 ratings and 29 reviews.
Music of the Week
124 RECORDINGS - MAY MIX by OWAIN-124 RECORDINGS | Free Listening on SoundCloud
Stream 124 RECORDINGS - MAY MIX by OWAIN-124 RECORDINGS from desktop or your mobile device
Podcast of the Week
Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase on leaving Goldman and the Innovator's Dilemma
Fred is an “OG” in the crypto world. But we barely talk crypto — instead, we talk about his journey. Fred joined Goldman as an FX Trader because it was “the cool kids” job, only to find an industry suffering from the classic Innovator’s Dilemma — one focused on extracting rents, instead of innovation.