For what it's worth, I think you're amazing

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The argument Pinto makes is that the story and the doll normalize 24-hour surveillance in the mind of a child, which makes them susceptible to more passively accept police-state surveillance as adults.

“I don’t think the elf is a conspiracy and I realize we’re talking about a toy,” Pinto told The Post. “It sounds humorous, but we argue that if a kid is okay with this bureaucratic elf spying on them in their home, it normalizes the idea of surveillance and in the future restrictions on our privacy might be more easily accepted.”

It’s based in a theory that was developed by Jeremy Bentham and popularized by Michel Foucault in which students, prisoners, factory workers and others were thought to function better (for whatever value of better) in a system called a panopticon, in which an individual is potentially under surveillance 24-hours a day, but never actually KNOWS whether or not he or she is being surveilled. 

Pinto said she’s not the first person to be troubled by Elf on the Shelf’s surveilling. She’s said parents routinely contact her to say they changed the rules of the game after it made their families uneasy. And many kids, she said, often intuitively feel like spying and being a tattletale is wrong.

“A mom e-mailed me and told me that the first day they read the elf book and put the elf out, her daughter woke up crying because she was being watched by the elf,” Pinto recounted. “They changed the game so it wouldn’t scare the child.”

In addition to the problem of normalizing surveillance in the mind of a child, this also forces the child into a situation where they never feel like they are free to simply be themselves; they are forced to be “on their best behavior” at all times, unable to relax and make mistakes and do the job of growing up and being a child, because they never know if the elf is spying on them, ready and waiting to report back to Santa Claus that they’ve been bad.

the creators of this monstrosity are exactly what you would expect

some but not all cool things nobody ever thinks of:

put hand sanitizer or a sink in the accessible bathroom stall, or alcohol wipes outside of it. people who cannot use their legs have to use unwashed hands to roll to the sink, and people who can use their legs are afraid to walk out of stalls because they get harassed and even assaulted.

enough space for wheelchair in doorway…AND ARMS. HOW DO YOU THINK THE WHEELCHAIR MOVES! if I cannot roll through it without scraping my arms it is not accessible

brick paths suck the end

gravel paths suck. make it smooth

a ramp is not accessible if it is too steep. not every wheelchair user is ripped enough or capable of using muscles enough to propel themselves up a steep angle safely. some wheelchair users have heart issues. you want heart attacks? this is how you get them

perfect 90 degree turns suck and are often impossible to turn through

some wheelchairs have foot rests. account for them

wheelchair accessible means wheelchair accessible while alone. if you expect someone to have to be helped out to use your facility, that is not acceptable or accessible

Amandla Stenberg: non-binary actress and singer (The Hate U Give, The Hunger Games) [she/her; they/them]

Ezra Miller: genderqueer actor (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Justice League) [prefers he/him but is comfortable with all pronouns]

Chella Man: genderqueer YouTuber, actor & model (Titans) [he/him]

Brigette Lundy-Paine: non-binary actor (Atypical, The Glass Castle) [they/them]

Angel Haze: agender rapper & singer (Battle Cry, Cleaning out my Closet) [she/her; he/him]

Indya Moore: non-binary actor & model (Pose, Queen & Slim) [they/them]

Ruby Rose: genderfluid actress, model, talk show host, DJane (Batwoman, OitnB) [she/her]

Asia Kate Dillon: non-binary actor (Billions, OitnB) [they/them]

Quintessa Swindell: non-binary actor (Trinkets, Euphoria) [they, them]

Jonathan Van Ness: non-binary television personality, podcaster & hairdresser (Queer Eye) [prefers he/him but is also okay with they/them & she/her]

Liv Hewson: Nonbinary actor (Santa Clarita Diet, Let It Snow) [they/them]

Bex Taylor-Klaus: Nonbinary actor and voice actor [Voltron, Scream]

gerard way (he/they) - member of mcr

dorian electra (they/them) - singer

sonicfox (they/them) - esports player