katie-dub:thesschesthair:saxgoddess25:kelssiel:drst:mhalachai:rainnecassidy:This is such a good arti
katie-dub:thesschesthair:saxgoddess25:kelssiel:drst:mhalachai:rainnecassidy:This is such a good article thoughThe argument Pinto makes is that the story and the doll normalize 24-hour surveillance in the mind of a child, which makes them susceptible to more passively accept police-state surveillance as adults.“I don’t think the elf is a conspiracy and I realize we’re talking about a toy,” Pinto told The Post. “It sounds humorous, but we argue that if a kid is okay with this bureaucratic elf spying on them in their home, it normalizes the idea of surveillance and in the future restrictions on our privacy might be more easily accepted.”It’s based in a theory that was developed by Jeremy Bentham and popularized by Michel Foucault in which students, prisoners, factory workers and others were thought to function better (for whatever value of better) in a system called a panopticon, in which an individual is potentially under surveillance 24-hours a day, but never actually KNOWS whether or not he or she is being surveilled. Pinto said she’s not the first person to be troubled by Elf on the Shelf’s surveilling. She’s said parents routinely contact her to say they changed the rules of the game after it made their families uneasy. And many kids, she said, often intuitively feel like spying and being a tattletale is wrong.“A mom e-mailed me and told me that the first day they read the elf book and put the elf out, her daughter woke up crying because she was being watched by the elf,” Pinto recounted. “They changed the game so it wouldn’t scare the child.”In addition to the problem of normalizing surveillance in the mind of a child, this also forces the child into a situation where they never feel like they are free to simply be themselves; they are forced to be “on their best behavior” at all times, unable to relax and make mistakes and do the job of growing up and being a child, because they never know if the elf is spying on them, ready and waiting to report back to Santa Claus that they’ve been bad.Here is a link to the paper that the article is talking aboutMy co-worker got Elf on the Shelf for her four-year-old daughter last year, and was so freaked out by her daughter’s sudden and complete change in behaviour (uncharacteristically worried and anxious, while trying to be on her ‘best’ behaviour that she never kept up for family or at school) that she stuffed Elf in the garbage after a week, telling the daughter that the Elf had to go back to the North Pole to help Santa with Christmas. Also read the paper linked above, it’s a good one.I hate this entire concept so much. the creators of this monstrosity are exactly what you would expect(source)Elf on the shelf is fucking creepy and there’s no way I’d allow one in my house if I had kids.I thought for ages it was just a ‘fun & new’ Christmas toy/decoration and didn’t find out until last year that it came with a 'game’.Why on earth anyone would want to put that kind of unnecessary pressure, stress and anxiety onto a kid is beyond me. Talk about creating extreme paranoia…Listen, there are so many issues with that bloody elf. It creates extra pressure for parents at Christmas because every day the elf needs to do something new and entertaining. It re-enforces a worldview that says poverty is naughty and shameful, because if only bad children don’t get gifts then obviously those whose parents can’t afford gifts are bad. (I realise that kids in this position won’t have the elf, but shouldn’t those in a position to buy this be teaching their kids compassion for all? To help their fellow man? We specifically do not tell our kids that Santa only brings presents for good children because… Well I don’t want them to only be good for profit.) And of course, All Of The Above. We’re already working hard to teach our kids that mistakes mean they’re growing and learning and trying their best, and we don’t need a fucking toy to come and take that from them. -- source link
#the fuck