WEBVTT - In Defense of PAW Patrol 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:20.716 Pushkin. Hello, Hello, everyone, You're in for a treat today. 0:00:21.196 --> 0:00:23.436 I'm going to do battle on behalf of my three 0:00:23.516 --> 0:00:26.716 year old against some of the leading intellectuals of our day. 0:00:27.276 --> 0:00:31.396 My producer says this is her favorite revisionist history episode ever. 0:00:32.156 --> 0:00:35.756 As they say on the internet, big if true. If 0:00:35.756 --> 0:00:37.916 you missed it. We opened this many season with two 0:00:37.956 --> 0:00:40.396 episodes about the death of George Floyd, which I hope 0:00:40.396 --> 0:00:43.236 you listen to if you haven't already, and coming up soon. 0:00:43.596 --> 0:00:47.236 My colleague Benda daph Haffrey gives us the real story 0:00:47.676 --> 0:00:51.076 about well, I'm not going to tell you. All I'll 0:00:51.076 --> 0:00:54.476 say is when I listen to it, every single fact 0:00:54.956 --> 0:00:58.236 Ben relates in that episode was something I'd never heard 0:00:58.276 --> 0:01:00.996 of before. Oh and one last thing. I mentioned it 0:01:01.076 --> 0:01:03.716 last week. I'm doing my tour with No Small Endeavor 0:01:03.796 --> 0:01:08.516 and Drew Holcombe April ninth in Louisville, April tenth in Indianapolis, 0:01:08.756 --> 0:01:11.836 and April eleventh in Grand Rapids. It's going to be 0:01:11.836 --> 0:01:14.276 a lot of fun. If you live anywhere near those cities, 0:01:14.876 --> 0:01:17.636 you gotta go check it out at No Small Endeavor 0:01:17.916 --> 0:01:24.396 dot com. Okay, off we go. Enjoy everyone. Every night, 0:01:24.676 --> 0:01:28.196 after bath and just before bedtime. My three year old 0:01:28.196 --> 0:01:31.076 and I settled down in front of the television. 0:01:31.396 --> 0:01:31.996 Pomcho. 0:01:32.516 --> 0:01:37.596 Pomcho will be there on the double never there's a problem, 0:01:38.036 --> 0:01:39.276 rounded bench base. 0:01:40.156 --> 0:01:42.156 If you're not a parent of a young child, it's 0:01:42.316 --> 0:01:45.196 entirely possible you have no idea what pap Patrol is. 0:01:45.396 --> 0:01:48.756 That's fine. Before I had children, I had never heard 0:01:48.756 --> 0:01:52.196 of it either, So let me explain. It's a multi 0:01:52.196 --> 0:01:56.756 billion dollar franchise centered around a band of puppies who 0:01:56.756 --> 0:02:00.116 are called upon in each episode to rescue someone in peril. 0:02:00.436 --> 0:02:03.716 There's a police dog named Chase, a fire dog named Marshall, 0:02:03.996 --> 0:02:07.916 a helicopter pilot named Sky, a roadworks puppy named Rubble. 0:02:08.556 --> 0:02:12.196 They stop when we trains, They fight fires, They repair 0:02:12.276 --> 0:02:17.396 the damaged flying saucers of adorable stranded aliens with enormous eyes. 0:02:18.636 --> 0:02:22.556 You get the picture. Among toddlers, pow Patrol is bigger 0:02:22.596 --> 0:02:25.716 than Elmo. It's bigger than Mickey Mouse. Just ask my 0:02:25.796 --> 0:02:27.436 daughter Pa Patrol. 0:02:27.916 --> 0:02:33.636 We're on the double wherever it is. Alb Don invent today, 0:02:34.836 --> 0:02:39.876 rather is the female popule Gold and Fee Today. Marshall, Wobble, 0:02:40.036 --> 0:02:45.836 Jay's Lucky new a guy I like Luck, Foculous. 0:02:46.996 --> 0:02:50.836 And yet for some reason, every parent I know, every 0:02:50.916 --> 0:02:54.676 student of children's television, every adult who has more than 0:02:54.676 --> 0:02:57.956 a passing interest in the intellectual and moral development of 0:02:57.996 --> 0:03:03.596 our young hates pop Patrol. Like the Reddit thread, Paw 0:03:03.676 --> 0:03:08.636 Patrol has ruined by child's brain quote. Everything about Paw 0:03:08.716 --> 0:03:14.036 Patrol is awful. The yelling and constant panic, the stereotypes, 0:03:14.036 --> 0:03:17.116 the terrible design, the tropes. I wish it would disappear 0:03:17.116 --> 0:03:18.516 from the face of the earth and take all of 0:03:18.556 --> 0:03:23.716 its merch with it. Go to TikTok. They hate the puppies. 0:03:23.956 --> 0:03:26.756 There's some things that really piss me off when it 0:03:26.756 --> 0:03:30.596 comes to Popatrol. It's pretty simple. It sucks. My sun 0:03:30.636 --> 0:03:32.156 watches Paw Patrol. I hate it. 0:03:32.876 --> 0:03:37.356 Everyone hates it except for me. And this episode is 0:03:37.396 --> 0:03:41.196 my attempt to convince you that I'm right and everyone 0:03:41.196 --> 0:03:46.916 else is wrong. My name is Malcolm Gladwell. You're listening 0:03:46.916 --> 0:03:49.796 to Revisionist History, my podcast where I like to argue 0:03:49.796 --> 0:03:52.756 on behalf of things that all common sense suggests are 0:03:52.756 --> 0:03:58.996 not true. The following defense of Power Patrol is squarely 0:03:59.036 --> 0:04:02.196 in that tradition. It is a search and rescue mission 0:04:02.476 --> 0:04:06.396 for a show about search and rescue missions in all 0:04:06.396 --> 0:04:10.756 my long years of doing revisionist history, I have never 0:04:11.516 --> 0:04:20.236 tackled a more forbidding task. I started by calling people, 0:04:20.876 --> 0:04:25.316 anyone who I thought could help, asking the same questions 0:04:25.356 --> 0:04:28.636 over and over again. First to a parent who had 0:04:28.636 --> 0:04:31.636 lived through what I'm living through right now, we are 0:04:31.716 --> 0:04:37.556 here to discuss poor Patrol, which looms large in my 0:04:37.596 --> 0:04:38.316 life at the moment. 0:04:38.716 --> 0:04:39.316 Yeah, I'm sure. 0:04:40.756 --> 0:04:45.356 Then again to an intellectual someone I admired. I don't 0:04:45.436 --> 0:04:48.316 understand that the amount of hatred the show gets. And again, 0:04:48.476 --> 0:04:51.716 this time to a sociologist, someone who has published in 0:04:51.796 --> 0:04:55.556 academic journals on the Pow Patrol phenomenon. I am calling 0:04:55.596 --> 0:04:58.796 you because I spend every night watching Paw Patrol. 0:05:00.036 --> 0:05:02.036 And I'm sorry, sorry to hear that. 0:05:02.316 --> 0:05:05.596 I spent so much time googling Pow Patrol. Google started 0:05:05.636 --> 0:05:08.916 feeding me Paw Patrol content, like the actress Kia Knightley 0:05:09.156 --> 0:05:11.716 on The Tonight Show explaining what it's like to be 0:05:11.796 --> 0:05:14.636 the mother of a three year old. Wait for it, 0:05:15.076 --> 0:05:17.356 baby's a toddler. Baby's not a baby. 0:05:16.716 --> 0:05:17.716 It's not anymore. 0:05:17.836 --> 0:05:20.196 Yeah, she's huge, three and a half, three and a half. 0:05:20.236 --> 0:05:22.396 Are you into uh? Are you into Paw Patrol? 0:05:22.516 --> 0:05:23.596 Oh? 0:05:23.836 --> 0:05:28.556 I'm sorry, Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. Everyone is sorry. Well, 0:05:29.116 --> 0:05:34.476 I'm into Paw Patrol and I'm not sorry. Paw Patrol 0:05:34.596 --> 0:05:40.036 takes place in two imaginary towns, Adventure Bay and Foggy Bottom. 0:05:40.156 --> 0:05:42.956 The group has as its headquarters what looks like a 0:05:42.996 --> 0:05:47.316 giant postmodern air traffic control center, complete with a really 0:05:47.356 --> 0:05:50.276 cool fire station poll that moves the members of the 0:05:50.276 --> 0:05:53.676 Paw Patrol from the briefing room to their waiting vehicles, 0:05:54.796 --> 0:05:58.076 vehicles which are all, by the way, available separately for purchase. 0:06:02.116 --> 0:06:05.556 In a typical Paw Patrol episode, and I say typical 0:06:05.556 --> 0:06:08.956 when I really mean every single Paw Patrol episode ever, 0:06:09.596 --> 0:06:13.516 someone in the greater Adventure Bay Foggy Bottom metropolitan area 0:06:13.716 --> 0:06:16.916 has a problem. They call Rider, who is a little 0:06:16.956 --> 0:06:19.876 boy in charge of the Paw Patrol operation. He summons 0:06:19.916 --> 0:06:23.076 the pups from whatever adorably cute leisure activity they are 0:06:23.076 --> 0:06:23.676 engaged in. 0:06:24.316 --> 0:06:31.436 They come running, mighty pups too long, lookout, Rider needs us. 0:06:30.516 --> 0:06:32.956 And without fail, the problem is solved. 0:06:33.156 --> 0:06:36.076 No job is too big, no pump is too small. 0:06:36.196 --> 0:06:40.356 For example, in season seven, episode thirteen, Pop Patrol pops 0:06:40.356 --> 0:06:43.596 save Election Day, a particular favorite in the Glabal household, 0:06:43.956 --> 0:06:48.556 Mayor Humdinger of Foggy Bottom has decided unexpectedly to run 0:06:48.556 --> 0:06:52.876 for are of Adventure City, precipitating a crisis. Humdinger is 0:06:52.916 --> 0:06:55.956 wreaking havoc on the campaign trail, causing all kinds of 0:06:56.036 --> 0:07:00.236 chaos downtown. This leads Alex, an adorable little boy who 0:07:00.276 --> 0:07:02.796 happens to find himself in the midst of the mayhem, 0:07:02.836 --> 0:07:03.596 to call for help. 0:07:03.916 --> 0:07:06.716 It all happened because Mayor Hundinger's kidneys are launching the 0:07:06.756 --> 0:07:09.316 election stuff everywhere. 0:07:09.476 --> 0:07:12.236 We'll be right there, Alex. There's a short briefing in 0:07:12.276 --> 0:07:15.316 the situation room. Writer gives that instructions. 0:07:15.396 --> 0:07:17.756 So for this mission, I'll need Chase. 0:07:18.596 --> 0:07:20.156 I need you to use your net to. 0:07:20.116 --> 0:07:23.516 Stop mister porters out of control skateboard ride. Chase is 0:07:23.596 --> 0:07:27.156 on the case, and Marsha, I'll need you to use 0:07:27.196 --> 0:07:30.156 your lender to help get Danny Dun from that big billboard. 0:07:30.276 --> 0:07:33.036 I'm ready for a rough, rough rescue. 0:07:32.876 --> 0:07:37.476 And off the pops go. Hey guys, Hey, malcolme, how 0:07:37.516 --> 0:07:37.716 you doing. 0:07:37.796 --> 0:07:38.396 How's it go ahead? 0:07:38.676 --> 0:07:41.276 I called up Cal Brunker and Bob Barlin, the writers 0:07:41.316 --> 0:07:44.116 behind the Paw Patrol movies. I asked them why they 0:07:44.156 --> 0:07:45.876 thought kids loved the show so much. 0:07:46.236 --> 0:07:49.236 The structures are so clear and consistent from episode to 0:07:49.276 --> 0:07:52.476 episode that it really it pulls them in and they're 0:07:52.516 --> 0:07:57.116 able to feel comfortable and confident in that world of storytelling. 0:07:57.956 --> 0:08:01.156 Oh I forgot to mention that in addition to eleven 0:08:01.196 --> 0:08:04.316 seasons of Paw Patrol television shows, there have been two 0:08:04.756 --> 0:08:08.636 Paw Patrol movies, which to get a grossed three hundred 0:08:08.636 --> 0:08:09.676 and fifty million dollars. 0:08:10.156 --> 0:08:15.356 The structure of the show is really quite smart in 0:08:15.436 --> 0:08:20.116 how they go about every every rescue that takes place. 0:08:20.516 --> 0:08:24.756 Writer tells the pops what they're gonna do, and then 0:08:24.796 --> 0:08:27.436 they show up and they do the same thing that. 0:08:27.356 --> 0:08:28.996 He's just told the audience. 0:08:29.036 --> 0:08:33.236 So I think the participation level from a child is 0:08:33.276 --> 0:08:36.516 able to be so much more because it's less surprising. 0:08:37.036 --> 0:08:39.276 I did not grow up with the television, so this 0:08:39.356 --> 0:08:42.236 experience is all new to me. Maybe that's why I 0:08:42.316 --> 0:08:45.556 like Pop Patrol so much. Everyone else groans in silent 0:08:45.636 --> 0:08:49.156 agony over the thought of watching, say, Pop Patrol the 0:08:49.236 --> 0:08:52.916 movie for the fourth time. Me I'm like, what new 0:08:52.956 --> 0:08:55.596 fresh insights can I glean this time around about Chase 0:08:55.636 --> 0:08:58.516 the police dog, a German shepherd who struggles with feelings 0:08:58.556 --> 0:08:59.316 of inadequacy. 0:08:59.636 --> 0:09:02.676 Chase has got a backstory, and I mean that at 0:09:02.756 --> 0:09:07.556 its highest level. Chase believes that being scared means he's 0:09:07.556 --> 0:09:09.796 not a hero, and so he should be part of it. 0:09:09.916 --> 0:09:13.876 And he learns that heroes get scared too, but keep going. 0:09:13.916 --> 0:09:14.956 That's what makes them hero. 0:09:15.076 --> 0:09:18.396 Writer has that scene with him where they relive when 0:09:18.396 --> 0:09:21.676 he found Chase for the first time. Yes, I love 0:09:21.876 --> 0:09:25.036 I love to hear you saying that brings y on 0:09:25.156 --> 0:09:34.956 what is clearly University avenue. That's, by the way, remember 0:09:34.956 --> 0:09:39.236 that reference University avenue. What am I referring to? A 0:09:39.316 --> 0:09:42.036 small clue to my grand unified theory of power patrol, 0:09:42.436 --> 0:09:45.236 A clue which I'm guessing all the other parents missed 0:09:45.516 --> 0:09:50.556 because they run their phones checking Instagram. Now that so, 0:09:51.116 --> 0:09:54.636 because there is what's really interesting is it there? When 0:09:55.156 --> 0:10:00.196 my daughter was watching that, she the first we've seen 0:10:00.236 --> 0:10:02.716 it more than once, that movie, and the first time 0:10:02.796 --> 0:10:06.796 she saw it, I think she was genuinely affected by it. 0:10:06.796 --> 0:10:08.196 I mean it was clear it was a different kind 0:10:08.236 --> 0:10:11.636 of emotional experience and she'd been getting from the TV shows. 0:10:13.196 --> 0:10:16.956 In the second and third time. Gripping my hand tightly, 0:10:17.636 --> 0:10:20.516 this is exactly what the corporate benefactors of the Paw 0:10:20.516 --> 0:10:25.356 Patrol franchise desire a bonding moment between a dad and 0:10:25.436 --> 0:10:29.796 his daughter over a disconsolate puppy. Was my daughter wearing 0:10:29.796 --> 0:10:33.676 Paw Patrol pajamas as this was happening, Yes she was. 0:10:34.596 --> 0:10:38.396 And yet there are people, lots of people who look 0:10:38.476 --> 0:10:43.716 on that picture of family togetherness and cry foul? Can 0:10:43.756 --> 0:10:56.796 you explain this? On several occasions, in the course of 0:10:56.836 --> 0:11:00.036 almost a decade now of revisionist history, I have called 0:11:00.076 --> 0:11:06.196 on Angus Fletcher, neuroscientist turned narrative theorist genius in residence 0:11:06.596 --> 0:11:11.156 at Ohio State University. Remember, for example, back to our 0:11:11.196 --> 0:11:15.076 three part revision of the ending of Disney's The Little Mermaid, 0:11:15.596 --> 0:11:19.476 arguably the intellectual high watermark of the entire revision's history. 0:11:19.476 --> 0:11:24.836 Corpus Angus provided the intellectual firepower. And remember when we 0:11:24.876 --> 0:11:27.556 did a whole series on the greatest movie scripts that 0:11:27.676 --> 0:11:31.196 never got made? Angus had one, of course he did. 0:11:31.876 --> 0:11:35.316 Angus is much much smarter than I am. More important, 0:11:35.676 --> 0:11:39.436 Angus is not hopelessly sentimental like I am. He would 0:11:39.436 --> 0:11:42.196 not be derailed by the gentle pressure of a three 0:11:42.276 --> 0:11:45.556 year old stubby fingers. And when I remember that Angus 0:11:45.556 --> 0:11:52.796 also has kids. I called him up now a small 0:11:52.836 --> 0:11:56.076 thing before we go on. Normally, when we interview people, 0:11:56.436 --> 0:12:00.236 we edit the tape. I interject with commentary. The whole 0:12:00.236 --> 0:12:04.436 thing is compressed and annotated. We give you snippets, but 0:12:04.556 --> 0:12:08.356 snippets do not do justice to Professor Angus Fletcher. So 0:12:08.356 --> 0:12:13.076 you're going to get Angus unbound. I want to start you. 0:12:13.076 --> 0:12:15.556 You too went to a Paw Patrol period with your children? 0:12:15.636 --> 0:12:16.196 Is this correct? 0:12:16.876 --> 0:12:17.276 I did? 0:12:17.396 --> 0:12:20.356 Yeah, so my son likes Paw Patrol and I had 0:12:20.396 --> 0:12:24.436 an immediate horrifying flashback when you brought the subject up, 0:12:24.436 --> 0:12:26.196 because I went back and tried to watch a couple 0:12:26.316 --> 0:12:29.196 episodes just to remind myself and immediately had to shut 0:12:29.196 --> 0:12:31.556 them off, actually for for self preservation. 0:12:31.796 --> 0:12:34.356 But there are many things to unpack here. First of all, 0:12:34.956 --> 0:12:37.516 how long did your son still actively watch Pow Patrol? 0:12:38.796 --> 0:12:40.156 No? No, absolutely still alive. 0:12:40.436 --> 0:12:43.396 So so we managed to we managed to save him 0:12:43.436 --> 0:12:43.756 in time. 0:12:43.916 --> 0:12:47.076 You're so, you're and why you were watching it with 0:12:47.116 --> 0:12:48.716 your son? Why? 0:12:48.756 --> 0:12:49.196 Why? 0:12:49.236 --> 0:12:51.316 Why did this show not appeal to you? What is 0:12:51.316 --> 0:12:54.076 it about it that's like hitting you the wrong way? 0:12:54.116 --> 0:12:57.036 It's designed to anesthetize your brain. I mean, I feel 0:12:57.076 --> 0:13:01.316 like I am mainlining Horse trenqu Wiser. It's a show 0:13:01.316 --> 0:13:05.076 that is studiously designed to interrupt active thought. I mean, 0:13:05.076 --> 0:13:09.636 that's like the purpose of the show, and it's it's engineered. 0:13:09.196 --> 0:13:10.116 Brilliantly to do that. 0:13:10.196 --> 0:13:13.276 It's like it's like the kind of like diabolical apotheosis 0:13:13.476 --> 0:13:15.796 of hundreds of years of figuring out how to how 0:13:15.836 --> 0:13:17.556 to make audiences more and more. 0:13:17.436 --> 0:13:19.476 Pass What do you what do you mean? Okay, break 0:13:19.556 --> 0:13:22.916 that down, tell me exactly what you mean by that. 0:13:24.356 --> 0:13:28.556 So it's the quintessence of this thing that we call narrative. 0:13:28.596 --> 0:13:29.876 We have a term for this in narrative theory. 0:13:29.876 --> 0:13:32.276 It's called vacuous agon. 0:13:33.116 --> 0:13:35.436 Vacuous agon, and basically what that needs is like when 0:13:35.476 --> 0:13:39.036 there's a conflict, but there's no stress, there's no anxiety 0:13:39.076 --> 0:13:40.876 in the viewer because you know that it's going to 0:13:40.916 --> 0:13:43.476 work out. And this is a I have to give 0:13:43.476 --> 0:13:45.716 credit to who coined this term. It's it's a brilliant 0:13:45.716 --> 0:13:47.836 member of my lab. His name is Mike Bevinissi. He 0:13:48.156 --> 0:13:50.276 coined the term after watching Phoeneas and Ferr, which is 0:13:50.396 --> 0:13:53.396 a Disney show, with his three children. And the point 0:13:53.396 --> 0:13:56.916 of vacuous agon is that you're constantly being presented with 0:13:56.996 --> 0:13:59.916 problems that are solved immediately. 0:13:59.356 --> 0:14:01.756 At the moment that you are presented with the problem. 0:14:02.156 --> 0:14:04.276 And I think it's probably obviously few having I'm sure 0:14:04.316 --> 0:14:07.116 watched several episodes of the show. How mechanically what the 0:14:07.116 --> 0:14:09.716 show does is it gives you a problem, and then 0:14:09.756 --> 0:14:12.876 immediately Rider shows up like a helicopter parent, like the 0:14:12.956 --> 0:14:15.836 ultimate helicopter parent, and tells everybody exactly what to do 0:14:15.876 --> 0:14:17.116 so the problem will go away, and then we just 0:14:17.196 --> 0:14:18.716 kind of watch as a problem goes away. 0:14:18.956 --> 0:14:24.796 Yeah, that's exactly right. So and you think that's problematic, because. 0:14:27.436 --> 0:14:29.436 It's not that I think it's problematic now, and it's 0:14:29.476 --> 0:14:30.516 that I know it's problematic. 0:14:30.676 --> 0:14:32.236 So I don't know if you're aware of this, but 0:14:32.516 --> 0:14:34.436 there for the last thirty years, it's been. 0:14:34.356 --> 0:14:35.796 This crisis in American schools. 0:14:35.836 --> 0:14:38.716 American kids have been getting less creative, and because they've 0:14:38.716 --> 0:14:40.556 been getting less creative, they've been less able to solve 0:14:40.596 --> 0:14:42.396 their own problems. And because theyre less able to solve 0:14:42.436 --> 0:14:44.996 their own problems, they have these rises and anxiety and anger, 0:14:45.276 --> 0:14:46.956 you know, losses of stuff, and I'm gonna see resilience 0:14:46.956 --> 0:14:48.996 all these kinds of things and you know the major 0:14:49.036 --> 0:14:51.636 reason for this is that we are either. 0:14:51.436 --> 0:14:52.796 Solving their problems for them. 0:14:53.036 --> 0:14:55.356 Yeah, that we're coming in and solving their problems for them, 0:14:55.956 --> 0:15:00.196 or we're essentially suspending them in this state of giving 0:15:00.196 --> 0:15:02.796 them artificial problems. So an artificial problem is like a 0:15:02.836 --> 0:15:04.916 math problem or standardized test or something that doesn't exist 0:15:04.956 --> 0:15:06.516 in the real world, and you know, and you learn 0:15:06.556 --> 0:15:08.116 the formula, and which you learn the formula, you know 0:15:08.156 --> 0:15:10.916 how to solve it. And so kids are developing this 0:15:11.356 --> 0:15:13.196 ability to get better and better and better and better at. 0:15:13.116 --> 0:15:14.716 School, and then they just keep failing at life. 0:15:14.756 --> 0:15:18.716 And this TV show is a paradigmatic example of that 0:15:18.956 --> 0:15:19.876 entire process. 0:15:19.916 --> 0:15:22.236 I mean, I mean it solves all the problems before you. 0:15:22.276 --> 0:15:25.676 There's no ability you have to exercise any curiosity because 0:15:25.716 --> 0:15:28.556 the moment a problem happens, like literally, you're told these 0:15:28.556 --> 0:15:30.356 two dogs are going to go solve it in exactly 0:15:30.396 --> 0:15:33.116 this way, there's no opportunity for the brain to engage 0:15:33.156 --> 0:15:33.356 what we. 0:15:33.356 --> 0:15:35.916 Call on counterfactual cause while thinking these processes that are 0:15:35.956 --> 0:15:38.916 currently encounter a problem. The whole reason for imaginative literature, 0:15:38.916 --> 0:15:40.796 the reason that things like Curious George and Winnie the 0:15:40.836 --> 0:15:43.716 Pooh were created or to stimulate these processes in young shoulder, 0:15:43.796 --> 0:15:45.956 because at the age of four is actually when they 0:15:46.036 --> 0:15:48.476 develop the capacity for irony, for. 0:15:48.516 --> 0:15:51.036 Narrative irony, and all those. 0:15:50.836 --> 0:15:53.396 Books and reading with your children for reasons we can 0:15:53.396 --> 0:15:56.436 discuss if you're interested, stimulates all those processes. 0:15:56.476 --> 0:15:59.236 And when you watch this show, it nukes them. 0:15:59.316 --> 0:16:01.836 So it's not bad in the sense that like giving 0:16:01.836 --> 0:16:03.076 your children ice cream isn't bad. 0:16:03.116 --> 0:16:04.316 Right, they can have ice cream. But if all you 0:16:04.356 --> 0:16:06.156 give them is ice cream, what happens to them? Right? 0:16:06.196 --> 0:16:08.796 They become diabetic. And it's the same thing with this show. 0:16:08.796 --> 0:16:14.196 And yeah, God, I feel bad now. You filled me 0:16:14.276 --> 0:16:17.436 with a kind of degree of self loathing and guilt 0:16:17.676 --> 0:16:21.276 over the damage I'm doing to my daughter's imagination, her 0:16:21.316 --> 0:16:25.276 ability to problem solve. This is what you do. I 0:16:25.316 --> 0:16:28.916 should point out how strange this is. A generation ago 0:16:28.996 --> 0:16:33.756 people love children's television. The invention of children's television was 0:16:33.756 --> 0:16:38.636 one of America's signature cultural Triumphs. Intellectuals wrote love songs 0:16:38.636 --> 0:16:42.076 to children's television. I remember once in the late nineteen 0:16:42.156 --> 0:16:45.116 nineties when I discovered Sesame Street for the first time. 0:16:45.396 --> 0:16:48.356 I was so entranced that I went to the Sesame 0:16:48.396 --> 0:16:51.996 Street studios and just hung out there for what seemed 0:16:52.036 --> 0:16:55.516 like days. I was there during the great Slimy episode. 0:16:55.916 --> 0:17:00.276 Maybe you remember this Slimy, the adorable Sesame Street worm 0:17:00.476 --> 0:17:04.316 becomes an astronaut, and so the Sesame Street staff brought 0:17:04.316 --> 0:17:08.076 in Tony Bennett, whose signature, son of course, was fly 0:17:08.236 --> 0:17:10.196 me to the Moon to sing. 0:17:10.156 --> 0:17:12.236 Slimy to the moon. 0:17:14.236 --> 0:17:18.396 And when this worm arrives, you'll find. 0:17:19.916 --> 0:17:25.396 He'll take a leap that small for him but huge 0:17:25.596 --> 0:17:27.076 for all worm God. 0:17:27.956 --> 0:17:31.236 I was there for that, standing this close to the 0:17:31.316 --> 0:17:34.276 legend himself, who acted like this was the greatest moment 0:17:34.316 --> 0:17:37.556 of his entire career. My point is, back in the day, 0:17:37.916 --> 0:17:41.196 the leading cultural figures of our time would happily make 0:17:41.236 --> 0:17:45.036 the pilgrimage to a random TV studio in Queen's to 0:17:45.076 --> 0:17:48.036 make light of their own work on behalf of Toddler's Everywhere. 0:17:48.836 --> 0:17:54.916 But now the cultural luminaries and the intellectuals have abandoned ship. 0:17:56.556 --> 0:18:00.516 By eleven minutes into his denunciation of Bob Patrol, Angus 0:18:00.516 --> 0:18:06.196 had mentioned Dickens, the A team, Plautus and Aristophanes. Now 0:18:06.836 --> 0:18:10.316 he'd moved on to explaining the phenomenon of new comedy 0:18:11.076 --> 0:18:14.196 and contrasting it with something he called old comedy. 0:18:17.076 --> 0:18:19.196 And what happens in old comedy is you're presented with 0:18:19.316 --> 0:18:22.316 real problems. So an example of a real problem would 0:18:22.316 --> 0:18:26.916 be war or the breakdown of democracy. And then the 0:18:26.956 --> 0:18:28.996 comedy goes on and the problem gets worse, and it 0:18:28.996 --> 0:18:31.356 gets worse, and it gets worse and it gets worse. 0:18:31.356 --> 0:18:34.076 And then eventually the comedy falls apart. It just ends. 0:18:34.716 --> 0:18:37.196 And basically the comedy is saying, that's a big problem. 0:18:37.236 --> 0:18:38.676 You guys in the audience, better figure out how to 0:18:38.676 --> 0:18:39.036 solve that. 0:18:39.556 --> 0:18:43.196 So it forced people to think about hard things in 0:18:43.236 --> 0:18:45.236 a public place where they get kind of oppress, up 0:18:45.276 --> 0:18:48.396 with it and solve their own problems. Then what happened 0:18:48.716 --> 0:18:51.236 was the emergence of new comedy, which is essentially light entertainment. 0:18:51.236 --> 0:18:54.516 And what happens in light entertainment is a fake problem 0:18:54.556 --> 0:18:58.476 is posed, a fake problem is posed, and then just 0:18:58.516 --> 0:19:00.636 if you might be getting stressed about this fake problem, 0:19:02.116 --> 0:19:03.996 the comedy answers it for you by the end, so 0:19:04.036 --> 0:19:07.796 you can relax. So what's diabolical about paw Patrol is 0:19:07.836 --> 0:19:10.756 it takes real problems in terms something to imaginary problems. 0:19:10.956 --> 0:19:14.116 It's like it's like the end it's like the year 0:19:14.276 --> 0:19:16.956 of comedy, because I mean, there are real problems that 0:19:16.996 --> 0:19:18.756 it seems to embrace, you know, it don't seem to 0:19:18.796 --> 0:19:20.756 get in trouble and stuff like that, you know, but 0:19:20.796 --> 0:19:22.596 then it just reveals that they're all, you know, not 0:19:22.676 --> 0:19:24.116 a problem and you don't have to worry about them 0:19:24.116 --> 0:19:25.996 because you know, writer will just show up or there'll 0:19:25.996 --> 0:19:28.476 be some like weird gizmo gadget thing that will solve 0:19:28.476 --> 0:19:31.196 the problem for you. So, you know, just relaxed, preschooler, 0:19:31.956 --> 0:19:34.076 don't worry about this big bag world you're entering in 0:19:34.116 --> 0:19:34.876 because it's just fine. 0:19:34.876 --> 0:19:36.796 Don't even use your brain. Why why were you even 0:19:36.796 --> 0:19:38.316 giving a brain? What's the point of a brain? 0:19:38.556 --> 0:19:38.756 Right? 0:19:39.116 --> 0:19:41.116 You need to solve problems. Everything's already solved like a 0:19:41.196 --> 0:19:41.716 perfect I. 0:19:41.716 --> 0:19:43.316 Know, I promised you that I was going to play 0:19:43.316 --> 0:19:46.916 Angus at full length, Angus unbound. And if this was 0:19:47.036 --> 0:19:49.756 a Joe Rogan experience, and I bring up Joe Rogan 0:19:49.796 --> 0:19:52.676 for a reason, by the way, because revisionist history is 0:19:52.756 --> 0:19:55.636 coming back to Joe Rogan big time in the coming weeks. 0:19:56.076 --> 0:19:58.876 If this was a Joe Rogan experience, I'd have just 0:19:58.956 --> 0:20:02.076 run it all efit. Who among us does not have 0:20:02.116 --> 0:20:04.516 a spare three and a half hours to listen to 0:20:04.516 --> 0:20:08.956 a perfect stranger speak about the weightlifting routines. My assumption 0:20:09.476 --> 0:20:13.956 is that you, unlike the many millions of Roganites, have jobs. 0:20:14.476 --> 0:20:16.876 So from here on out, I'm just giving you the 0:20:16.876 --> 0:20:20.076 good parts. So what would happen if you showed an 0:20:20.116 --> 0:20:23.316 old comedy show to a child? What happens if in 0:20:23.396 --> 0:20:26.676 paw patrol they don't solve the problem? What does my 0:20:26.756 --> 0:20:27.156 daughter do? 0:20:27.636 --> 0:20:30.716 Yeah? So this is great, So your child will become concerned. 0:20:32.036 --> 0:20:34.156 Your child will become concerned, and then your child will 0:20:34.196 --> 0:20:37.076 probably turn to you as the authority figure in her 0:20:37.116 --> 0:20:39.156 life and be like, I'm kind of concerned. What's going 0:20:39.196 --> 0:20:42.676 to happen to that truck that's suspended over that cast 0:20:42.716 --> 0:20:45.516 and or whatever other paw patrol the problem there is, right? Yeah, 0:20:45.556 --> 0:20:47.996 And then you're gonna look very seriously at them and say, 0:20:48.076 --> 0:20:50.676 I don't know, what do you think is going to happen? 0:20:50.836 --> 0:20:52.236 And then they would have to pause, and then they 0:20:52.276 --> 0:20:54.796 would think, and then they would have to imagine themselves 0:20:54.956 --> 0:20:55.876 solving the problem. 0:20:57.116 --> 0:20:58.996 And that's the value. 0:21:01.316 --> 0:21:04.476 I'm a new parent, just over three years into the experience, 0:21:04.916 --> 0:21:06.996 and I have all the insecurities that come with being 0:21:07.036 --> 0:21:10.916 a rookie. I don't know what I'm doing. I put 0:21:10.916 --> 0:21:13.676 my daughters in bed at night and pray they fall asleep. 0:21:13.876 --> 0:21:16.076 I make them oatmeal in the morning and pray they 0:21:16.076 --> 0:21:19.796 eat it. I help build castles made of magnetiles and 0:21:19.876 --> 0:21:23.116 pray they don't destroy them. And all the while I 0:21:23.196 --> 0:21:27.716 ask myself, who are these mysterious creatures over whom I 0:21:27.796 --> 0:21:34.836 have recklessly been given dominion? And now Angus, who I 0:21:34.876 --> 0:21:38.396 admire like few others, was telling me I was doing 0:21:38.436 --> 0:21:38.956 it all wrong. 0:21:39.996 --> 0:21:43.196 You're deleting their capacity to develop an awareness of other 0:21:43.276 --> 0:21:48.076 answers to problems. You're removing that source of natural creativity. 0:21:48.396 --> 0:21:51.076 You're also removing the pressure on them to try and 0:21:51.196 --> 0:21:54.756 find that perspective to solve those other problems. And so 0:21:54.796 --> 0:21:57.036 this entire part of their brain is just atrophying at 0:21:57.036 --> 0:22:00.196 the exact critical moment when as human beings were supposed 0:22:00.196 --> 0:22:01.836 to have it and it's supposed to come online. 0:22:01.916 --> 0:22:05.036 This is devastated. This has been a devastating conversation. 0:22:05.396 --> 0:22:06.396 Yeah, I'm sure. 0:22:08.516 --> 0:22:12.516