Female Dr Who robs boys of role models, claims MP

[TheFamilyCat]

Who elects these fools?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59421259

[randomclaret2]

Aah, more arguing incoming...oh joy.

[claret2018]

It’s almost as if they make stupid comments to distract from what they’re doing

[fidelcastro]

It's true though. My main goal in life when growing up was to be a timelord!

All this PC gone mad rubbish, I mean, they'll have Jesus being played by a white man next... oh hang on.

[Billy Balfour]

Who elects these fools?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59421259

They must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel when his local party selected him.

[Rowls]

A silly thing to say, but of course only as silly for any X demographic to apparently need "positive role models" plastered everywhere in media and culture.

Boys DO indeed need good role models in life. Except in rare tragic circumstances this should be their father.

If we can successfully get every father in the land to raise their children properly, with the child's mother (and ideally in a married household), then a lot of societal problems will disappear in a puff of smoke.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

It's a bizarre point he's trying to make when boys should really be looking to their fathers or other male family members for role models.

The problem there though is the large number of absent father's in this country.

My 2 boys are 19 & 17.

So far, zero arrests/trips in a police car, non-smokers, no recreational drugs and done/doing reasonably well at school and both have jobs.

Every single older adult male in their family works, that's their role models.

[Rowls]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-56802667

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6938012.stm

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-38981713

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ ... 3053a6cc2a

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2009 ... odels.html

[Billy Balfour]

You have to be careful with children's TV programmes and the influence they hold. We had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on TV when I was growing up. I now live in a sewer.

[TheFamilyCat]

A silly thing to say, but of course only as silly for any X demographic to apparently need "positive role models" plastered everywhere in media and culture.

Boys DO indeed need good role models in life. Except in rare tragic circumstances this should be their father.

If we can successfully get every father in the land to raise their children properly, with the child's mother (and ideally in a married household), then a lot of societal problems will disappear in a puff of smoke.

What you say is true. Do you think that Dr Who is the next best thing after a dad?

[basil6345789]

It's true though. My main goal in life when growing up was to be a timelord!

All this PC gone mad rubbish, I mean, they'll have Jesus being played by a white man next... oh hang on.

I've only ever seen Arab-like (called brown, nowadays), Jesuses, never white.

[Billy Balfour]

But what happens if the timelord turns out to be a gaylord. He clearly hasn't thought this one through.

[fidelcastro]

I've only ever seen Arab-like (called brown, nowadays), Jesuses, never white.

You obviously missed Robert Powell, William Defoe and countless others

[Rowls]

What you say is true. Do you think that Dr Who is the next best thing after a dad?

In a word, No.

Like I said, it's a silly idea.

I happen to think it's a nice idea for people of all creeds, colours etc to be represented on TV but it's a silly idea to say that X demographic misses out if they don't have somebody similar to themself on TV.

What children need is to have a loving Mother and Father who live together (ideally are married) who spend pretty much all of their waking effort into raising, caring for, loving, providing for, disciplining, inculcating and nurturing every aspect of their children's development and education. If a child has that it wouldn't matter if Dr Who regenerated into a Sontaran, an Ice Warrior or a dubious special effect*.

I really don't think the idea that "role models are necessary for every demographic under the sun" is much different from the idea that if we allow gay people to be on TV it will turn children gay. As I say, it's silly.

Sadly it often takes a Tory politician to be caught spouting this silliness for many people to realise how absurd it is.

* eg. a Rutan.

[Lancasterclaret]

Its just sadly another example that we have some very poor MPs representing us

I have never got why people don't appear to care who they send to represent them, especially when we really do need the best of the best at the moment

[Rowls]

What you say is true. Do you think that Dr Who is the next best thing after a dad?

Dr Who is fantastic and all but it's escapism. No replacement whatsoever for a Dad.

[fidelcastro]

What about two men or two women as parents, Rowls?

[TheFamilyCat]

I've only ever seen Arab-like (called brown, nowadays), Jesuses, never white.

And they would be pretty accurate representations of a man born in that region at that time.

[Rowls]

Its just sadly another example that we have some very poor MPs representing us

I have never got why people don't appear to care who they send to represent them, especially when we really do need the best of the best at the moment

It's a silly idea for sure but it's a commonplace and widespread belief - just more often applied to different demographics than 'boys'.

Often not spotted until a Tory is suddenly silly enough to espouse the idea. See the numerous other links to examples of the same thinking that I've posted.

[fidelcastro]

Its just sadly another example that we have some very poor MPs representing us

I have never got why people don't appear to care who they send to represent them, especially when we really do need the best of the best at the moment

What hope is there when more people voted tory at the last election, knowing that Boris Johnson would still be PM?

[Rowls]

What about two men or two women as parents, Rowls?

Hello fidel!

What do you think the lower earnings threshold should be on income tax?

[Rowls]

4 Articles spouting the same thinking but in reverse (that the casting of Jodie Whittaker is a good thing because it provides girls with a role model):

https://uproxx.com/hitfix/doctor-who-jodie-whittaker/

https://www.newdelhitimes.com/first-wom ... -to-all-2/

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/sophie ... 40538.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-40626224

This same thinking, being praised.

[fidelcastro]

Hello fidel!

What do you think the lower earnings threshold should be on income tax?

Irrelevant. I was wondering if you thought two men or two women in a loving relationship was just as effective in ensuring a child was brought up well, just as you seem to do with a married man and woman.

[TheFamilyCat]

It's a silly idea for sure but it's a commonplace and widespread belief - just more often applied to different demographics than 'boys'.

Often not spotted until a Tory is suddenly silly enough to espouse the idea. See the numerous other links to examples of the same thinking that I've posted.

I have only skim-read your links but as far as I can see none of them are calling for the role models to be fictional characters. Not just a fictional character, but a fictional being. That, I think is the key point here.

[Rowls]

Irrelevant. I was wondering if you thought two men or two women in a loving relationship was just as effective in ensuring a child was brought up well, just as you seem to do with a married man and woman.

What about two men or two women as parents, Rowls?

Irrelevant. I was posting on topic about how silly it is that role models on TV are a constant requirement in order to raise well adjusted children.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Irrelevant. I was wondering if you thought two men or two women in a loving relationship was just as effective in ensuring a child was brought up well, just as you seem to do with a married man and woman.

Same sex couples are perfectly capable of raising well rounded children, however those children generally have role models of both genders available via other family members.

[boatshed bill]

It's true though. My main goal in life when growing up was to be a timelord!

Great post When did you give up on it?

[fidelcastro]

Same sex couples are perfectly capable of raising well rounded children, however those children generally have role models of both genders available via other family members.

Thanks Sid. I'm glad someone is capable of answering the question.

[fidelcastro]

Great post When did you give up on it?

I got to 40 and realised that Dr Who didn't really exist.

[Rowls]

I have only skim-read your links but as far as I can see none of them are calling for the role models to be fictional characters. Not just a fictional character, but a fictional being. That, I think is the key point here.

My point being that the best role models you could ever hope for are your Mum & Dad. Everything else is so inconsequential as to be statistically insignificant.

There's a lot of talk about X privilege these days. The only true thing that privileges one in this life is to have been raised well.

[boatshed bill]

I got to 40 and realised that Dr Who didn't really exist.

How do you know that?
He could be hanging around in a different space/time dimension
Or he could be a woman

[fidelcastro]

How do you know that?
He could be hanging around in a different space/time dimension
Or he could be a woman

Or black, or gay... oh God!

[Devils_Advocate]

Isn't this idiot the MP who kept using the same selfie pic to pretend he had visited his local constituency and used a pic from Xmas with trees and lights in the background.

No wonder we're is such a mess when we've voted prats like him into parliament to represent us

[aggi]

It's a silly idea for sure but it's a commonplace and widespread belief - just more often applied to different demographics than 'boys'.

Often not spotted until a Tory is suddenly silly enough to espouse the idea. See the numerous other links to examples of the same thinking that I've posted.

Obviously part of the reason for the ridicule is that there are still a huge number of these male role models left. A handful of roles becoming female will barely dent the number of male characters out there.

The other links are where there are limited numbers of those role models.

[dsr]

To be fair, further down the article there's an SNP MP saying that men in general should take responsibility for mysogynistic comments and violence to women. Which is also a pretty stupid comment, as if he thinks "men" are a homogenous block of identical creatures and not a group of individuals. The idea that if Mr Smith beats his wife, that it is only partly his own responsibility and partly the responsibility of Gavin Newlands MP? Worse than the fatuous comment about Dr Who, IMO.

[RicardoMontalban]

To be fair, further down the article there's an SNP MP saying that men in general should take responsibility for mysogynistic comments and violence to women. Which is also a pretty stupid comment, as if he thinks "men" are a homogenous block of identical creatures and not a group of individuals. The idea that if Mr Smith beats his wife, that it is only partly his own responsibility and partly the responsibility of Gavin Newlands MP? Worse than the fatuous comment about Dr Who, IMO.

I think you may be taking his comments a little too literally there. In much the same way that racism isn’t solely the responsibility of the minority groups prejudiced against to solve, misogyny and sexism isn’t solely the domain of women to stand up to. It is sometimes not enough to merely not do something, sometimes you have to make a point of being against something.

That doesn’t mean Mr Smith isn’t wholly responsible for his own actions.

[Hipper]

It could explain why I wear stupidly long scarves:

th.jpg (111.52 KiB) Viewed 1878 times

[claptrappers_union]

The thing with movies and tv shows with female leads replacing men, is that they seem to be poorly written for some reason. This is not the fault of the cast it’s the fault of the people who just want to cash in on a concept with the illusion that it’s groundbreaking decision.

But when the product is under-delivered it’s painted that the fan boys hate women. Just make something good!

Take Ghostbusters 2016 for example. Ghostbusters III has been in development hell since 1992 with lots of different scripts and writers - at no point was it ever going to be an entire male cast again. Every version was going to have representation in the lead roles. But that female-led movie sucks - it’s awful, this is because there was no script with the cast encouraged to ad-lib everything, do stupid dances and shout all the dialogue in silly voices.

I saw the director of a new Charlie’s Angels movie, she claimed her movie flopped because women are not given a chance - Did she know it’s based on a highly popular TV Show and that Drew Barrymore produced TWO successful movies based on that every show in the early 2000’s - what you talking about?! It’s because your film is dogshit, possibly?

All that said…. and I’ve done the same above, As for this MP - this is anther distraction from the migrant crisis, HS2, sleaze, corruption, Brexit failures the handling of the pandemic- instead, we are talking about Doctor Who and Peppa Pig World. These people are the cleverest people in the room. They know exactly what they are doing.

[Billy Balfour]

This isn't the first time this MP has had national coverage for looking like an idiot.

Tory MP Nick Fletcher is caught out posting year-old selfie for the THIRD time to publicise constituency visitMP for Don Valley in South Yorkshire posted a picture taken in Thorne, Doncaster

Constituents soon noticed Christmas trees and festive lights in the background
Voters then realised same selfie was posted in December 2020 and September
The MP apologised for the error claiming he 'forgot' to take photo during visit

https://tinyurl.com/2p847ybn

[martin_p]

Isn't this idiot the MP who kept using the same selfie pic to pretend he had visited his local constituency and used a pic from Xmas with trees and lights in the background.

No wonder we're is such a mess when we've voted prats like him into parliament to represent us

I think the problem is that when he was growing up Doctor Who was always male.

[Billy Balfour]

BTW: People like him are always thrown up when a party wins a landslide, or there's an unexpected result in a given constituency. Their constituency parties only go through the motions in the selection meeting because in most they are only choosing a 'paper candidate'.

Anyhow, blame Labour for not sticking with its 2017 GE position on Brexit, and you can also blame them for not getting rid of their leader. The Tories are successful because they always ditch their leaders when they reach their sell by date. The same fate awaits Johnson, and even more so, because it's part of the Faustian bargain the party made with him.

The next election should be interesting. Both 2017 and 2019 were anomalies. The Tories had a useless leader in 2017 and 2019 was a Brexit election.

[boatshed bill]

I'm of the opinion that kids would be better off having real people as role models rather than fictitious characters.

[Bosscat]

I think the problem is that when he was growing up Doctor Who was always male.

Errr didn't everyone grew up with Doctor Who as a male .... Jodie Whittaker didn't take over till 2017 ...

[martin_p]

Errr didn't everyone grew up with Doctor Who as a male .... Jodie Whittaker didn't take over till 2017 ...

Well yes, that’s the point I’m trying to make. He had a male Doctor Who to act as a role model and he’s still turned into a right prat.

[Bosscat]

Well yes, that’s the point I’m trying to make. He had a male Doctor Who to act as a role model and he’s still turned into a right prat.

God help us all when James Bond becomes Jamelia Bond then

[Peter Loo]

It’s almost as if they make stupid comments to distract from what they’re doing

Oh surely not

[martin_p]

God help us all when James Bond becomes Jamelia Bond then

Now I’m a fully paid up sander wearing Guardian reader, but even I think making James Bond female would be mad. Doctor Who has it within its ‘make up’ to change and there’s been nothing in the history of the show that precludes the Doctor being female. However James Bond was created by Ian Fleming as a man and therefore should be played by a man. By all means create a female spy, but let’s not pretend it has anything to do with James Bond.

[dsr]

Now I’m a fully paid up sander wearing Guardian reader, but even I think making James Bond female would be mad. Doctor Who has it within its ‘make up’ to change and there’s been nothing in the history of the show that precludes the Doctor being female. However James Bond was created by Ian Fleming as a man and therefore should be played by a man. By all means create a female spy, but let’s not pretend it has anything to do with James Bond.

I don't see any reason why a spin-off with Jemima Bond, illegitimate daughter of James, shouldn't play a lead role. James could be a veteran figure in the background.

It's not really a plot stretch to say that James might have fathered a child!

[Darthlaw]

Now I’m a fully paid up sander wearing Guardian reader, but even I think making James Bond female would be mad. Doctor Who has it within its ‘make up’ to change and there’s been nothing in the history of the show that precludes the Doctor being female. However James Bond was created by Ian Fleming as a man and therefore should be played by a man. By all means create a female spy, but let’s not pretend it has anything to do with James Bond.

They've created an excellent character in Paloma, in the most recent bond, who would be great for a spin off. Then again, they used her character for all of around 15-20 minutes so it's unlikely.

I think a female bond would be received cynically from the get go, just as the Oceans remake and the ghostbusters female debacle. In fairness, certainly the later was just a shite film regardless of the cast.

[Rowls]

Good little article here:

https://unherd.com/thepost/dr-who-doesn ... mit-crime/