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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 8/1/97 -- Vol. 16, No. 5
MT Chair/Librarian:
Mark Leeper MT 3E-433 732-957-5619 mleeper@lucent.com
HO Chair: John Jetzt MT 2E-530 732-957-5087 jetzt@lucent.com
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 732-949-7076 njs@lucent.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist:
Rob Mitchell MT 2D-536 732-957-6330 rlmitchell1@lucent.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 3E-433 732-957-2070 eleeper@lucent.com
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the
second Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call
201-933-2724 for details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society
meets on the third Saturday of every month in Belleville; call
201-432-5965 for details. The Denver Area Science Fiction
Association meets 7:30 PM on the third Saturday of every month at
Southwest State Bank, 1380 S. Federal Blvd.
1. URL of the week:
http://members.tripod.com/~R_A_L/. Fan page devoted to R. A.
Lafferty. [-ecl]
===================================================================
2. Calvera said it in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. "Sooner or later you
have to pay for every good deed." Those fun folks at Mattel Toys
are having their problems with the Barbie series again because they
tried to do the right thing. The classic doll becomes more and
more an educational toy as time and society progress. But the
education seems to be one for Mattel. Having doll that is a sort
of National icon the Mattel people try to do the right thing and to
instill values in children. This is a dangerous road to travel and
is a thankless task. With GI Joe dolls there is no concern about
doing the "right thing" and instilling values. GI Joe is a
sociopath and killing machine who is useful to a government that
occasionally has need for sociopathic killing machines. GI Joe's
values are to follow orders and to be careful not to put out his
cigar stub in anybody's eye. Barbie is held to a higher standard
Recently Mattel introduced Becky, Barbie's wheelchair-bound friend.
Like anything they do in Barbieland line this provoked controversy.
The people involved with the GI Joe dolls not have to worry about
this sort of problem. GI Joe has no wheelchair-bound friends. And
considering his occupation you would think he might.
But Mattel tried to be good and a result found themselves immersed
in argument. First of all, they gave Becky shapely, Barbie-like
legs. People complained that somebody bound in a wheelchair would
not have legs that looked that alluring. What kind of a statement
was Mattel making by giving her such good-looking legs. Well,
Mattel knew that the real statement was that they did not want to
have to invest in new injection molds. They just wanted the same
interchangeable molds they use with the Barbie dolls themselves.
Probably if you compare, Becky's legs are geometrically congruent
to Barbie's legs. But Mattel could not say that. Even if you are
putting dolls in wheelchairs, it is important to maintain some of
the fantasy. What they said was that it was true that few people
in wheelchairs had legs like Becky's, but how many women walking
around without benefit of wheelchairs have legs like Barbie's. I
suppose that logic worked for a little while. It silenced the
complainers and silence is a rare and wonderful thing like the
trans-uranium elements. Except that silence has a shorter half-
life.
What happened next Mattel should have seen coming but didn't.
Little girls started having Becky visit Barbie at Barbie's Dream
House. And what did they find but that Becky could not just roll
right into Barbie's Dream House. It seems that Barbie's Dream
House was not wheelchair accessible. This was yet another
embarrassment for the Mattel people. They had to bring in experts
on Federal standards for access for the handicapped. GI Joe never
has to bring in such experts. Luckily for Mattel there were a
bunch of these people who could be hired because major corporations
had decided to downsize their Affirmative Action departments, so
Mattel's problem at least happened at a convenient time. They had
to get themselves a bunch of new injection molders after all. And
in a few months you will find on the market that Barbie's New Dream
House will go onto the market and it will follow all the Federal
accessibility standards just like Barbie always dreamed it would.
It was either that or to get accessibility by having GI Joe come to
visit Barbie's Dream House and blow a hole in the wall. [-mrl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3E-433 732-957-5619
mleeper@lucent.com
Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it
isn't the work he's supposed to be doing at
that moment.
-- Robert Benchley