Ranty rant rant

[erastes]

well, had a nice lunch - went out to the pub with kerry and had sausages and parsnip mash. yum.

Now I just have to RANT. What the heck is up with the Nanny mentality? I was just wondering at how many literary magazines the Americans have for children and bemoaning that we don't have the same kind of habit over here. (cruising www.duotrope.com btw) and then I come across "Jack & Jill Magazine" and this is the tripe they have in their submission info: Granted it's a "health orientated" magazine - but STILL!!

"Ages 7-10. 500-800 words. Characters in fiction should adhere to good health practices, unless failure to do so is necessary to a story's plot. Remember that characters in realistic stories should be up-to-date. Many of our readers have working mothers and/or come from single-parent homes. We need more stories that reflect these changing times but at the same time communicate good, wholesome values."

Well goodness me.

Ok. Let's re-visit some of our early adventure stories with that in mind shall we?


*James* - a relatively poor boy from a single parent family, lives with his working mother above a public house. It's not the best environment for a poor lad, as he has to suffer passive smoking and he gets little sleep because the naughty sailors who populate the public bar are often singing into the night. He has to work before and after school to cope with the lodgers that his mother brings into make ends meet. There are no bathing facilities and no-one has yet invented toothpaste yet. He looks at the sailors with some dismay and realises that one day he will have no teeth. One day he goes sailing with some older men which is a much healthier environment.

*George *lives in the country with her Dog Timmy. There is no Frontline flea treatment in the 1950's and George is bitten regularly. She is forced to live on a terribly unhealthy diet of pound cake, fish paste sandwichesand lashings of ginger beer. She does however, despite eating very little fibre, gets a lot of exercise with her three friends, Dick Anne and Julian.

*Harry,* an orphan is practically starved by his evil family. In spite of this, he has not developed ringworm or rickets and has good teeth. He goes to school in Scotland and despite the freezing weather and months of snow wears no thermal underwear. However he's an amazingly healthy little chap, and he's never ever had a cold or flu. Jamie Oliver doesn't become famous until 1996, so sadly the school continues to serve the most unhealthy options full of transfats. It would seem that house elves have never heard of sun dried tomatoes or olive oil, and the children are force fed a diet of steak and kidney pie, and their main source of liquid is pumpkin juice, which isn't good for the teeth. Despite this, wizards (unless blown up or eaten) live even longer lives than people in the mediterrnean, so perhaps eating fatty food is better for one than one thinks. Despite participating in an active and dirty sport, Harry has only had one bath in six years.


I could go on, but I'd rather like to hear your versions!!

Comments

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

That obsession with political (or health in this case) correctness just irks me. Maybe because we don't have that obsession here - far from it. I grew up reading books and comics that were anything but politically correct but that didn't affect my ability to judge what's right/wrong or fair/unfair etc. Or eat healthy food for that matter! (Well, as healthy food can be in today's society.) But ever since I started interacting with other people through the Internet I suddenly started to be careful of what I say because I realised people in other countries might be offended by your choice of words. Like, I once used the term 'Third World country', having no idea it might sound offensive. In Greece it's considered something perfectly normal to say, especially since Greeks used to think of their own country as a Third World one until a few decades ago. Okay, I think I digressed a lot and maybe even went off topic but... well.

And that second book you mention? That used to be one of my most favourite novels when I was a little kid!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

ter369 below explains that it's a magazine bought by doctors and dentists and now it makes sense. It's a safe market for the publisher and the more of that sort of story and article are in the mag, the more likely the practionisher is going to buy it. Nod.

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. Yes, in this case it does make sense.