Keeps on Giving, Living Doll

As Britain recovers from another BBC scandal (5CC) (this time receiving stick from the Daily Mail for taking action because one of its own is involved, whereas it demanded the head of Jonathon Ross*) we see that another doll scandal is being reignited across the Pond.

Following on from the original Mattel doll that indoctrinated little Biff and Hap, comes startling news that the Japanese are in on it too. As the Owasso Reporter.....er.......reports,

• Apparently, the sound byte that had shoppers requesting local stores to pull the Little Mommy Cuddle and Coo doll off shelves has made its way into the Nintendo DS "Baby Pals" game. Many customers who had purchased the doll insisted the doll uttered the phrase "Islam is the Light." Now, the same baby voice utters the same phrase on the game, seeming even clearer than the phrase coming from the doll.

Of course, our friends at MAMA (Mothers Ask Mattel for Accountability) - not to be confused with BNP half man, half crackers Richard Barnbrook's Mothers Against Knives) have already got with the program.

• “Islam is the light” appears to be the new chic addition to the most popular toys in America.

They provide a link to a Youtube video. Now, I don't hear it but maybe some people do; and maybe some people hear what they want to. The power of suggestion is often a factor. One thing that interests me is that for an organisation demanding accountability, they are not that transparent themselves. Nor do they invite opposing comments on their site. They do know that they have attracted criticism though!

• Many people who like to argue on blogs dismiss those of us who hear the phrase quite clearly. Is this because it doesn’t exist or because if those same people admitted it did they would have to take a stand, one way or the other, and actually do something about it? They would have to look at the evidence that Shariah law is not good for people or other living things and that it is especially horrible for the most vulnerable in our society, our little girls.

  We challenge you to educate yourselves on what Shariah law is really all about and what it has in store for little girls who are forced to live under it’s (sic) unbearable oppression.

The interesting bit about the last paragraph is the reference to 'little girls'. The MAMA lot talk about the subjugation of women under Islam quite a lot on their site with remarkable similarity to our very own British National Party.

As MAMA say,

• First we heard it in the Mattel Little Mommy Cuddle n’ Coo doll. Now it makes it’s appearance at bath time in the Nintendo Baby Pals video game. Both toys are geared towards little girls.

Point taken on the doll, but there is nothing I'm aware of from Nintendo's ads for the game that refer to girls rather than 'baby'. I've not got the game but there does not appear to be evidence to support any gender exclusivity in the game.

The challenge to MAMA is to come clean over its real role and answer the following questions:

• Who are the members of MAMA?
• Where does it obtain its funding?
• Why does it not allow comment?
• Does it have any links to any other groups?
• Who profits from T- shirt sales?

I know that the webmaster will visit here. They use sitemeter which tracks the referring websites, so it's over to you.

I've not looked to see if this lunacy has ended up in our great tabloid press (as id did with The Sun over the doll) but no doubt there'll be some coverage on a slow day. The game is available here for about £7.99 so maybe some rentaquote mum from Cirencester will confirm her outrage or Richard Littlejohn will just cut and paste as he usually does.

I'm surprised the voice has been found on the Nintendo DS console. I'd have thought that the Wii would be far more apt given the MAMA cot-bawlers to take the piss.


*Note how it was considered perfectly acceptable to mock Ross's speech impediment (Wossy) but the same treatment was not afforded to the similarly afflicted Carol Thatcher)

Gathering Nuts in December

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the toy store, the sane and rational people behind the MAMA campaign (Moms Ask Mattel for Accountability) have taken the fight against Islam to new heights.

Remember the doll that didn't say 'Islam is the light'? The one that caused The Sun to have a stroke?The one that caused yours truly to write a column in the Owasso Reporter in Oklahoma? Of course you do. But, - a reader shouts - surely we've all moved on from this silly season story? Oh no. Take a bow MAMA.

As they say on the terraces, who are you?

• Moms Ask Mattel for Accountability - MAMA -is a public education effort by concerned families to protect children from being invited to join Islam, without their parents’ knowledge or permission

Pleased to meet you, MAMA. So, you've heard about the doll then?

• Mattel, the largest toy maker in the world, is still selling a toy that says “Islam is the Light”

So, what's your solution to this crime against humanity?

• Truth-in-advertising for this toy is of material importance to the post-9/11 consumer, especially to the post 9/11 parent who purchases a toy in absence of any warning that the toy advocates Islam to young children.

I see. So, if granny buys this devil doll for little Britney she'll grow up wanting to blow up people? Or maybe she'll just join the US army where you get to learn to land planes as well.

Disturbingly, Mattel are apparently in on the indoctrination.

• “Chris Schaden, senior vice president of sales at Mattel, said last month the company did a thorough investigation and found that, ‘if told to listen for a particular phrase, you may hear something similar due to the power of suggestion.’”

Ah, Harry Hill's POS strikes again. What are the chances? (anyone outside the UK won't get this).

Even worse, Mattel, it is claimed, posted a different sound file on its website.

MAMA were not to be fobbed off. They used computer and audio experts to slow down the audio so that a definitive, remixed version could be produced. Whether this will be released on itunes is another matter.

Here, Randall Rathbun, the aliteratively named hero of the movement, picks up the gauntlet like a knight on his way to the crusades:

• I slowed the whole recording down to the following 3 ranges: a man’s voice, a woman’s voice and a child’s voice.

  I then listened carefully, playing each several times for subtle
  nuances. The child’s voice wasn’t quite right, there was too much
  articulation for a normal child to master. The man’s voice didn’t
  sound right, the timbre quality or resonances did not fit or sound
  right, but when I played the woman’s voice the first time, it was an
  uncanny match.

• I used the Windows version of Audacity Sound Editor to slow the speed from 44.1K to 31K and convert the file from mp3 to a wav file….

Slow down, Randy, you mean it won't work on a Mac?

Now, I'm losing the will to live so I can't be bothered to give these zealots any more space. I'm no apologist for any fundamentalist extremism whether it be Jihadists or the MAMAs from Hell.