Times have changed
When I was out buying a magazine at Borders (book store, if you're not familiar) last week, I was coerced into joining the "Borders Rewards" club. I don't know if you've been in a Borders store recently, but their rewards club is being advertised rather heavily. More accurately, you can't look more than 4-5 feet in any direction (including up) without seeing some sort of promotional material about the rewards club.
Since joining, I get coupons sent to me via email once per week. Some of them really aren't bad, offering 25-30% off in many cases. One of the coupons was for 30% off a children's book, so I decided to go grab a new book for the boy. As a result of the recent Curious George movie, a lot of the old books have resurfaced. I read them as a youth, but I really don't remember them too well. After thumbing through a few, I decided on "Curious George visits the zoo." I picked that one because it wasn't overly wordy, and the boy's into animals these days.
Not that I'm trying to ruin it or anything, but the story involves a monkey named George who visits the zoo, and his inherent curiosity leads to him getting involved in some crazy capers. Ultimately, he ends up doing the right thing and eating bananas with a man -- no, THE man -- in the yellow hat.
However, the most notable parts of the book were not in the story, they were in the pictures. I don't know exactly when the book was written, but it was published in the early 80's. I guess back then, the following image was acceptable (click on it for a larger view):
In case you can't tell, the fellow having a nice picnic with his family is smoking a cigarette. Right next to that little child, he's dangling his cancer stick around. Hardly children's book material, at least not in this day and age! But it didn't stop there:
This other fellow is puffing on a pipe while ogling the monkeys. Again, he's around kids. Nice. The final straw, however, was this:
I'm no expert, but if I'm not mistaken, that's a bong in that guy's hand. That may have been OK in the 80's, but it's not OK right now, certainly not in front of my toddler son. I WILL be writing a letter to someone about this. And before I ever buy another Curious George book, I'll be sure to pay a little more attention to the content.
Comments
Becky
said:
maybe the fathers tried to quit before going to the zoo with their children, but were faced with highly stressful periods where the choice between smoking and not was less of a priority than the choice between whether or not they should bludgeon all of their coworkers with hammers, just because they are so stupid.
maybe i'm internalizing your post a bit too much...
Jym Ferrier
said:
Whoa. Just Whoa. That is messed up. I'm sure it's still ok to do that in VA though.
Secondly, you bought the wrong book. You should have purchased "Game Day" by Tiki and Rodne Barber. I think I may pick up a copy just because that's a neat thing to have.
cadiz12 said:
good lord, who knew we were so badly influenced by literature back in the day?! maybe that says something about me; curious george was one of my favorites. i wonder what'll turn up in 'harry the dirty dog' or the 'frog and toad' series.
Syar said:
omigosh! we have a full face shot of you! pulling a dooce on us are we? anyways, I think its a nice addition. more!
I've learnt that most things involving monkeys are evil. and probably drug induced.
wendela said:
A fine looking pic of yourself! Nice surprise!
As for the man in the hat with the bong, I think it may be an old 80's drawing of Hobo Bob. Just a warning what can happen after 20 years of too many bong hits....
Katie said:
Yeah! Whoa! Double whammy, a new post and a photo. I don't know if I can handle all the "new."
And you have devastated my entire reason for existence. I have to rethink everything that I knew. Why, Curious George?! Why?!
Glo said:
I can't see the photo! Have I been blacklisted?!
Curious George has bothered me since the first book when the guy kidnaps the monkey and then gives HIM a pipe. I tell ya - little George is a pawn of tobacco, justlike us all.
elasticwaistbandlady said:
Omar, you forgot to look at the fine print at the bottom of the first page.
This special published and illustrated edition made possible by sizable grants from: Phillip-Morris, Skoal, and LegalizeWeed.com.
elasticwaistbandlady said:
By the way, did they actually use you to model for the ptototype Little People figurine? Are you a mega star down at Fisher Price?
Either way I always like to put a face with a name. Thanks.
Onj said:
Personally, I say, “whatever.” These Curious George books aren’t doing anything D.A.R.E. (that’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education) didn’t do anyways. I remember back in 5th grade… none of us knew what drugs were until then. But then we learned all about the different kinds, their different effects, where to get them, how to use them, good places to hide them, what the fair market value for each kind of drug was, and so on and so forth. All CG is doing is putting little kids ahead of the curve. I applaud their forward thinking. I cannot, however, condone the messages sent by Goodnight Moon.
Book
said:
Whoa, whoa, whoa. The ever elusive Omar Phillips now has a photo of himself on his website? I don't think many people who know you in real life know what you look like.
Yes, I read your site religiously. All those referral links you see from goatse or the midget porn sites are from my machine (or Jym's).
Shannica said:
Tobacoo is the number one drug used in The USA, but it is legal. Weed, Budah, Mary J has harmed noone but it is a jail sentence or probation. I feel like weed should be legal and tobacoo band Iam hooked on tobacoo, and i smoke weed, but it does not bother me if I don't have some weed in a couple of days but let me not have a cirgatter in a few minutes and you don't want to be arround me. The USA makes to much money off of the tobacoo products thats why they well never ilegalize the killer.