News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”. Parent comment

Re:The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank En... by Godel_unicode on Friday September 29, 2017 @02:09AM (#15363119)
You don't think people should strive to be useful? What virtue/goal would you replace usefulness with?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank En... by ux-app on Friday September 29, 2017 @02:54AM (#15363313)
I find the whole Thomas package distasteful. The subtext always seems to be that Thomas would be fine if he just did what he was told to do by his betters. In that context, Thomas' servile desire to be useful carries sinister undertones.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank En... by bildung on Friday September 29, 2017 @04:28AM (#15363650)
That's a difference! Striving to be useful is not the same as being categorized by the ruler as being useful or not.
[ Parent | on HN ]