When it comes to companies changing the names of classic children's toys — such as Hasbro's abortive suggestion to turn Mr. Potato Head into a mere Potato Head — there's more going than the worry that someone might be offended by the old name.  That's not the only reason anyway.  Woke companies, politicians, and educators have realized that they can use subtle indicators to change everything from male-female relationships to the very American idea of ambition.

The most obvious example of late is the way Hasbro's move showed woke corporations' efforts to eliminate the influence classic toys have had on our children when it comes to supporting the traditional male/female roles in our society and, especially, our relationships.  Why target a children's toy if not to influence young minds into a different way of thinking?

Any single toy likely doesn't have a huge impact on how our civilization views biological sex or gender roles in society, but it's the domino effect that the manufacturers are going for: what if one renaming starts a trend, and all the toymakers go genderless in the near future?

That would have a significant impact on the way an entire generation views the male/female roles in society and relationships.  I don't think it would be a positive impact.  It could even be very harmful.

Children form their idea about how to behave as human beings based on watching the people around them (typically their parents and siblings) and how they react with each other.  They also reach conclusions based on their personal experiences.

Toys actually play a pretty big role in all this.  Kids can act out their perception of correct behavior using the toys to make their perceptions more concrete in nature and to help understand larger concepts as well.  The new "enlightened" way of thinking is that sex-specific toys only further sex-based stereotypes.  Some of these "stereotypes," however, I call my way of life, and someone's trying to change it.

In January, even the House of Representatives got into the act, adopting rules that don't allow for the use of sex-specific words when in session.  I thought this was pretty silly at the time and had quite a laugh.

I'm not laughing anymore.  This is real.  Our very way of life is being drastically altered by changing the influences that our children are exposed to, and it's getting worse.  It's happening in public schools as well, if you haven't taken notice.

The people in charge of our children are eliminating not just biological sex in public schools, but ambition as well.  Beginning at a young age, the public school system now teaches our kids to "set goals that can be achieved."  This begins with the "Accelerated Reader Program" that "puts the student in the driver's seat."  It doesn't take long for kids to figure out that reading six books per semester earns the exact same "A" as reading twelve books does.  That sets in motion a way of thinking that the schools never deviate from after that: mediocrity.

Last week, my son told me that, in his family consumer science class, they were taught how to "set realistic goals."  I felt it was necessary to tell him that we had "regular" science class in my day, and "setting realistic goals" was never a lesson taught in any classroom of any school that I ever attended.

I wonder where we would be today if the Wright Brothers kept their goals "realistic" instead of setting a goal to be the first to fly?  The Moon is pretty difficult to reach if we can't even get off the ground.

What's the purpose of changing the way our children think and act?  Surely someone has noticed that the kids learning these lessons, when they leave school and enter the workforce, are nowhere near as capable or competent as older generations were.

If the result they desire is a future generation of sexless drones with no aspiration to go to Mars, and they want only to work in the factories and fields for the items necessary to survive, then I'd have to agree that no Potato Head can ever be allowed to have a sex, and high school boys should be permitted to compete against girls.  I was concerned with the direction our nation was headed ten years ago, but this looks more like Nero playing the fiddle as Rome burns to the ground.

Image: Vintage Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head kit.