[VashTS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBlueMarvel

I hear you, but as my post alluded to (I detailed a list of personal druthers I have with the ML series), you are preaching to the choir when complaining here...or at the very least, when complaining to me.

Like you, I also have a background in child education and guidance. I have taught, managed after-school programs, directed community centers, and worked as a child & family intensive in home therapist for kids involved the NYC family court system (kids in and out of juvenile remand - aka juvenile detention/jail)....so I can appreciate both advocacy and dissent as it pertains to systems of power and "faceless" bureaucracies. What I have expressed to kids (and adults) in the past is that American history provides many object lessons demonstrating the power of boycotts. In this modern world of consumer driven hyper-materialism, the only recourse available to us...the only tool in the shed that makes the powerful pay attention...is keeping your dollars in your pocket. Whether we are talking about the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 (protesting segregation and "Jim crow" south), or the more recent divestiture movements on college campuses nationwide (aimed at encouraging universities to refrain from investing in the fossil-fuel industry)...stopping the flow of money is quite effective in humbling the powerful. If you are truly that upset about where the ML brand is going, my suggestion to you is not to buy any of them. Speak with your wallet, because that's the only thing to which corporations will respond.

I suspect, based on some of your posts, that there are a few new ML's that you buy in spite of your lamentations. If that's the case, then you might be undermining your own hopes that Hasbro will take corrective measures. If you do still buy MLs, then you may want to focus on what they are doing right so that they continue to do (at least) those things correctly. As we both know from our shared experience of working with young people, you get better results using positive reinforcement than you do employing its negative counterpart (with respect to complaining - boycotting is a different matter entirely and more political in nature) . As I have often shared with clients/students/peers/colleagues/friends....you comin' up with all lemons? Make some lemonade baby! Tell them what they are doing well, and they (Hasbro) just might be more receptive to constructive critique.

Keep in mind that I do not disagree with you, it's just that I have read your complaints about this very issue on multiple occasions and you seem pretty vexed about the matter. Why frustrate yourself so? Either boycott or find something redeemable about the toys you are spending hard earned cash on...otherwise, you might be spitting into the wind.

Enjoyable post. I like the educated response. Very calming and soothing. Believe me I am not an angry person...but you are right about vexed. I always believe that it's better to be honest than to sugar coat things. We may have slightly different philosophies. Not a bad thing imo. Sometimes when we tip toe around issues, we end up lying to others and ultimately ourselves, believing rather than doing.

I choose to say things because I believe when I say it it can open peoples eyes and to see what I see. I would like to think i am NOT nit picking. I believe in betterment of the self, of society. We should always strive for self improvement. But I extend it towards other things, others around me and even the companies who products I buy.

But because of our different philosophies, we differ of how we perceive and handle things. I understand lemons make lemonade. I choose to think I can turn a lemon into something more tasty like hard lemonade...lol