drugs

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, toy reviews, Uncategorized

Aside From Breaking Bad Action Figures, What Else Is “Offensive” At Toys “R” Us?

Today, with 20/20’s David Muir as my inspiration, I visited the Toys “R” Us down the street from where I work, equipped with my camera.

I wanted to find out what other potentially offensive and/or inappropriate toys can currently be found there.

Of course, the reason this is relevant is because headlines are revolving around concerned parents who do not approve of Breaking Bad action figures being sold at Toys “R” Us: Over 7,000 parents signed a petition to get the store to stop selling those toys.

They believe that the characters, like Walter White, who began selling meth to provide for his family after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, should have no place in a “kids’” toy store.

Appropriately, or should I say inappropriately, the Walter White action figure comes with a bag of meth as one of his accessories.

I get it that that’s not something I would want my nearly 4 year-old son playing with.

However, I wanted to explore the situation to make sure there’s not a double standard in place here…

Aside From Breaking Bad Action Figures, What Else Is "Offensive" At Toys R Us?

In other words, if certain parents are concerned over Breaking Bad action figures, does that mean they’re okay with other toys that are currently being sold there and have been being sold there?

Aside From Breaking Bad Action Figures, What Else Is "Offensive" At Toys R Us?

Let’s take a look at what I found…

Aside From Breaking Bad Action Figures, What Else Is "Offensive" At Toys R Us?

Near the front of the store are the video games. As you can see, several of them have the “M for Mature” rating, containing profanity, sexual content, nudity, alcohol, drugs, gore, and violence.

Aside From Breaking Bad Action Figures, What Else Is "Offensive" At Toys R Us?

As far as other action figures, Toys “R” Us also sells The Walking Dead (which is another popular show from AMC) in which you can run over a zombie with a motorcycle, Game of Thrones (which I hear is full of nudity), Chucky (a violent, possessed doll) and Friday the 13th  (featuring the popular serial killer, Jason Voorhies).

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/10/21/357841739/toys-r-us-under-fire-for-breaking-bad-action-figures

Aside From Breaking Bad Action Figures, What Else Is "Offensive" At Toys R Us?

Notice all the weapons here too; all currently for sale at Toys “R” Us. Granted, there is an indicator on each of these packages to tell you what age is appropriate for a child to have the toy.

But still, if we are to find these toys offensive anyway, I suppose the age indicator is slightly irrelevant.

Please note that these toys are in the same aisle as WWE wrestling action figures and Ninja Turtles.

Aside From Breaking Bad Action Figures, What Else Is "Offensive" At Toys R Us?

Which, speaking of…

I quickly saw the slippery slope here…

The age indicator tells me that Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and GI Joe are all appropriate for children under the age of 10.

Aside From Breaking Bad Action Figures, What Else Is "Offensive" At Toys R Us?

So I suppose the weapons are excusable because they are used to fight the bad guys… though you can just as easily buy them too, along with their weapons.

I feel like I’m definitely seeing some double standards here. This is my understanding:

There are people who are upset about Breaking Bad action figures being carried at Toys “R” Us because that glorifies drugs and violence.

Aside From Breaking Bad Action Figures, What Else Is "Offensive" At Toys R Us?

However, Toys “R” Us has been selling video games that contain profanity, sexual content, nudity, alcohol, drugs and violence that is easily arguably much worse that what is featured in the series Breaking Bad.

An action figure is just a representation; whereas a video game actually shows the content on the TV screen.

You can’t buy the Breaking Bad DVD series at Toys “R” Us, but you can buy these video games show here.

Not to mention, our society quickly dismisses the toy weapons of characters which cater towards children, in the name of self-defense and military.

If we should be offended Breaking Bad, shouldn’t we also be offended by the other stuff too, to some degree? Where do we cross the line? Apparently, with a bag of meth as an accessory… but not all this other stuff.

Aside From Breaking Bad Action Figures, What Else Is "Offensive" At Toys R Us?

Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting

My Toddler’s Dependency on Drugs (And Why I’m His Enabler)

February 22, 2012 at 7:52 pm , by 

15 months.

I’m not comfortable with the fact my son is quite regularly under the influence of either Children’s Advil or Amoxicillin. But it’s not like I have a choice.

Being at daycare, he  is constantly exposed to germs which often cause him to get a fever, resulting in him being sent home for that day and the next.

Additionally, the fever tends to be the product of an ear infection or pneumonia or something of that nature which requires a prescription for Amoxicillin.

So I’m constantly praying each day while I’m at work that he doesn’t get a fever or I’m wondering if I should have given him fever reducer that morning to prevent him from being sent home.

I feel horrible about keeping my son drugged up on such a reoccurring basis.

Ultimately, I feel like a hypocrite because I’m so adamant on not feeding him foods in which I don’t know what the ingredients are, yet I don’t truly know the long-term effects all these drugs have on my toddler son.

In the ideal world, which is evidently America in the 1950′s, my wife could just stay home with our son all the time and I’d actually make enough money to support the three of us.

That way, we wouldn’t have to put our son in a position to be exposed to so many germs or have to be given fever reducer to avoid being sent home, causing either my wife or me to miss work.

But in reality, my wife actually makes more money than I do and has the more stable job. We both have to work and our son has to go to daycare.

Yet again, what option do I have to allow him to live a more natural, yet healthy, life? How can I possibly avoid this path for him, as his parent?

Should I just assume that going through two bottles of Children’s Advil per month is normal and justified?

Several times now I have written about my distrust of the FDA; how they approvered food dye made from crushed bugs and petroleum, which has shown side effects in children, such as myself in the Eighties.

And how I hate the fact that not even Snopes.com can confirm or deny that “natural” vanilla flavoring in ice cream and cookies is made from the anal glands of beavers.

With all that the FDA says is okay for us to eat, how can I know that these over-the-counter and prescription medicines are truly safe for my son?

I wish we could just say no to drugs, even over-the-counter ones.

Image Credit: Signe Wilkinson, Drug-Free America.

18 Comments Posted on Nostalgia, People, Recaps, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Why Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” is the Most Anti-Patriotic Song to Ever Be Loved by America as a Nationalistic Anthem

Like many Americans in my generation, I’m confused by what it means to be “patriotic.”

It’s interesting to sit back and watch while half of America cheers after hearing about the execution of Osama bin Laden then the rest of America chastises them for cheering the death of an enemy, as they misquote Martin Luther King, Jr.  The concept of being a patriotic American is surely much different than it was my for grandparents and their parents.  Being completely honest, I think a lot of us are actually confused about what it actually means to be “patriotic.”  Is it possible to be a proud American and to be proud of our military, yet to be ashamed of some of our nation’s foreign policies?

In May of 1984, country artist Lee Greenwood released “God Bless the USA”, the song many of us think is titled “Proud to Be an American.” The song truly embodied traditional patriotism; no doubt about it. Then just five months later on the day before Halloween, Bruce Springsteen released the song “Born the USA.” Maybe it was because radio listeners were still in a truly patriotic mood thanks to Mr. Greenwood, or maybe they were just blinded by the catchy, rockin’ beat of Mr. Springsteen’s song.  Either way, “Born in the USA” became a legendary hit;  though largely for the wrong reasons.

President Ronald Reagan even referred to Springsteen’s song in one of his speeches, believing “Born in the USA” embodied the message of the American theme of making dreams come true. However, Bruce Springsteen’s song was actually about the effects of the Vietnam War;  including the fact that often the American soldiers who came back from the war were not welcomed when they returned, not being seen as heroes like the war veterans from decades before.  In fact, I can’t help but wonder if some of the song’s lyrics would disqualify it from being played on the radio today, being that they are too “politically incorrect.”

I believe that 27 years later, “Born in the USA” perfectly captures the confusion of people like me, who want to be patriotic in the same way as my grandparents were, yet are so sick of the politics of politics.  I don’t want to be left to choose between traditional Republican or Democratic agendas.  I want another choice- one with a different policy on our economy, our constitutional rights, and how we handle international war as well as “the war on drugs”.

Like this Springsteen shirt below? Clear here to find the price for it on Amazon!