8 ms·

"This is an article about Fred Rogers." (inserts random paragraph about incels, misogyny and the fear of being shot at for being a woman) Talk about a big-lip

"This is an article about Fred Rogers." (inserts random paragraph about incels, misogyny and the fear of being shot at for being a woman) Talk about a big-lipped alligator moment.

klenwell 8y ago
Not sure what a "big-lipped alligator moment" is, but I thought the writer tied it all together pretty lucidly in the discussion about competing models of masculinity. Also this: > Visiting the archives of Canada’s public broadcaster this past May was more complex than usual due to increased security in the building. Five days after Alek Minassian had killed ten people and injured multiple others by driving a white van through a crowd, Canadaland reported that a post had appeared on the Incels.me message board with the subject, “[Serious] our next task: shooting up CBC headquarters.” Rogers (I learned from this article) got his start on the CBC.
- sotojuan 8y ago
  "A very bizarre scene in an otherwise normal story that veers off into the surreal or strange. Upon exiting that scene, the plot continues on like it never happened."
- stormbrew 8y ago
  I don't really know how the GP thinks it applies, but a big lipped alligator moment is a term that originated from a review of the movie All Dogs Go To Heaven about a scene that is basically irrelevant to the plot or emotional development of the characters and is literally just a musical number starring a big lipped alligator.
  - akhilcacharya 8y ago
    Originally coined by a Nostalgia Critic episode. Surprised to see it referenced on HN.
- stan_rogers 8y ago
  ...and brought Ernie Coombs with him. If you're Canadian, you might remember Mr. Coombs as Mr. Dressup. Bob Homme (The Friendly Giant) came up for much the same reason at much the same time.
spwmoni 8y ago
"random paragraph"? The relevance was pretty clear, especially if you read the entire column.
sudouser 8y ago
yes, for amoment thought i was reading wrong article
- pwinnski 8y ago
  I feel like this apparently general inability to string together cogent thoughts, or identify incredibly-clear connections even when laid out pretty clearly, goes a long way toward explaining the context for the very issues discussed in the article. Mr. Rogers is a hero who directly addressed exactly the issues facing us today, and people are figuratively sticking their fingers in their ears and refusing to listen.
throwawayjava 8y ago
Perhaps you missed the subtitle: With his unconventional take on children’s television, Mr. Rogers helped redefine the male role model. The point of the piece: Mr. Rogers provides a model of maleness and masculinity that works especially well for boys and men who feel scared, alienated, or attacked by society. This model, rooted in love, contrasts with other models for that subpopulation that ground out in anger or hate. In other words, the very thesis of the piece is that there is a salient relationship between incels/mysogyny and Mr. Rogers: the latter provides an alternative to the former.
- ManFromUranus 8y ago
  Mr Rogers came about in a homogeneous high-trust society. IMO that's not what todays society is. Today I would say we we have a multicultural polarized low-trust society, so Mr Rodgers model for masculinity does not apply today.
  - throwawayjava 8y ago
    Mr. Rogers started broadcasting in 1968, the same year MLK was assassinated. Mister Rogers Neighborhood was airing during the LA riots, during the Attica riots, during the height of Vietnam, during 9/11, during Watergate, etc. Issues of racial resentment and hatred were dealt with, head on, by Mr. Rogers in Mister Rogers Neighborhood. The television series continued until 2001, a year when the cultural and racial makeup of the USA was very similar to what it is today. The core message remained the same.
    - ManFromUranus 8y ago
      Well none of those issues were resolved sadly, IMO it's as bad as it ever was.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > Mr Rogers came about in a homogeneous high-trust society. No, he didn't. The United States was neither homogeneous nor high-trust in 1968. In fact, it was about as far from that as it ever has been in the post-WWII period, present situation not excluded.
allemagne 8y ago
The Toronto attack, targeting women and fueled by an "incel" mindset, is pointed to several times in the article as an example of how Fred Rogers' message to boys and his approach to mental health could be helpful. Honestly this was clearly the intention just from reading the paragraph in question.
ManFromUranus 8y ago
"big-lipped alligator moment" The generic term being non-sequitur I would say.
pandasun 8y ago
Yeah it's like writing an article about puppies and then changing the subject to the horrors of World War 2.
- Apocryphon 8y ago
  Maybe as humans we could learn from puppies how not to be inhumane to one another?
  - castlecrasher2 8y ago
    Maybe we shouldn't look to the animal kingdom on how to conduct ourselves as a society

"This is an article about Fred Rogers." (inserts random paragraph about incels, misogyny and the fear of being shot at for being a woman) Talk about a big-lipped alligator moment.

klenwell 8y ago

Not sure what a "big-lipped alligator moment" is, but I thought the writer tied it all together pretty lucidly in the discussion about competing models of masculinity. Also this: > Visiting the archives of Canada’s public broadcaster this past May was more complex than usual due to increased security in the building. Five days after Alek Minassian had killed ten people and injured multiple others by driving a white van through a crowd, Canadaland reported that a post had appeared on the Incels.me message board with the subject, “[Serious] our next task: shooting up CBC headquarters.” Rogers (I learned from this article) got his start on the CBC.

sotojuan 8y ago
"A very bizarre scene in an otherwise normal story that veers off into the surreal or strange. Upon exiting that scene, the plot continues on like it never happened."
stormbrew 8y ago
I don't really know how the GP thinks it applies, but a big lipped alligator moment is a term that originated from a review of the movie All Dogs Go To Heaven about a scene that is basically irrelevant to the plot or emotional development of the characters and is literally just a musical number starring a big lipped alligator.
- akhilcacharya 8y ago
  Originally coined by a Nostalgia Critic episode. Surprised to see it referenced on HN.
stan_rogers 8y ago
...and brought Ernie Coombs with him. If you're Canadian, you might remember Mr. Coombs as Mr. Dressup. Bob Homme (The Friendly Giant) came up for much the same reason at much the same time.

spwmoni 8y ago

"random paragraph"? The relevance was pretty clear, especially if you read the entire column.

sudouser 8y ago

yes, for amoment thought i was reading wrong article

pwinnski 8y ago
I feel like this apparently general inability to string together cogent thoughts, or identify incredibly-clear connections even when laid out pretty clearly, goes a long way toward explaining the context for the very issues discussed in the article. Mr. Rogers is a hero who directly addressed exactly the issues facing us today, and people are figuratively sticking their fingers in their ears and refusing to listen.

throwawayjava 8y ago

Perhaps you missed the subtitle: With his unconventional take on children’s television, Mr. Rogers helped redefine the male role model. The point of the piece: Mr. Rogers provides a model of maleness and masculinity that works especially well for boys and men who feel scared, alienated, or attacked by society. This model, rooted in love, contrasts with other models for that subpopulation that ground out in anger or hate. In other words, the very thesis of the piece is that there is a salient relationship between incels/mysogyny and Mr. Rogers: the latter provides an alternative to the former.

ManFromUranus 8y ago
Mr Rogers came about in a homogeneous high-trust society. IMO that's not what todays society is. Today I would say we we have a multicultural polarized low-trust society, so Mr Rodgers model for masculinity does not apply today.
- throwawayjava 8y ago
  Mr. Rogers started broadcasting in 1968, the same year MLK was assassinated. Mister Rogers Neighborhood was airing during the LA riots, during the Attica riots, during the height of Vietnam, during 9/11, during Watergate, etc. Issues of racial resentment and hatred were dealt with, head on, by Mr. Rogers in Mister Rogers Neighborhood. The television series continued until 2001, a year when the cultural and racial makeup of the USA was very similar to what it is today. The core message remained the same.
  - ManFromUranus 8y ago
    Well none of those issues were resolved sadly, IMO it's as bad as it ever was.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Mr Rogers came about in a homogeneous high-trust society. No, he didn't. The United States was neither homogeneous nor high-trust in 1968. In fact, it was about as far from that as it ever has been in the post-WWII period, present situation not excluded.

allemagne 8y ago

The Toronto attack, targeting women and fueled by an "incel" mindset, is pointed to several times in the article as an example of how Fred Rogers' message to boys and his approach to mental health could be helpful. Honestly this was clearly the intention just from reading the paragraph in question.

ManFromUranus 8y ago

"big-lipped alligator moment" The generic term being non-sequitur I would say.

pandasun 8y ago

Yeah it's like writing an article about puppies and then changing the subject to the horrors of World War 2.

Apocryphon 8y ago
Maybe as humans we could learn from puppies how not to be inhumane to one another?
- castlecrasher2 8y ago
  Maybe we shouldn't look to the animal kingdom on how to conduct ourselves as a society