Disney is going too far!

[CinderellasSister]

Ok, maybe I'm crazy, but sometimes Disney doesn't need to jump on the politically correct bandwagon. Is it me? What do you all think?

"Shamrock Day
Well, whaddya know ... something serendipitous has happened at Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse on this March day: A radiant rainbow has appeared, and below it, clovers of the greenest green have sprouted. What's behind this magical event? Why, it's Shamrock Day, friends, and it's time for the wearin' of the green and some happy-go-lucky party capers with Mickey and his pals!"
http://tv.disney.go.com/playhouse/grown-ups/celebrationcenter/home/shamrockday/index.html

 

[k5thbeatle]

Egads!?

 

[racefanof88]

I don't get what you mean?

 

[TDC Nala]

Some groups or individuals (not sure exactly who) have been advocating changing St. Patrick's Day to Shamrock Day to remove the religious connotation.

What about St. Valentine's Day though?

 

[MJMcBride]

Some groups or individuals (not sure exactly who) have been advocating changing St. Patrick's Day to Shamrock Day to remove the religious connotation.

What about St. Valentine's Day though?

Change it to Getting Lucky Day

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

What about St. Valentine's Day though?

One rarely hears it called St. Valentines Day anymore though, just Valentines Day.

BobK/Orlando

 

[tink1969]

People want to change "St. Patrick's Day" to "Shamrock Day"?
Are you kidding me?

 

[racefanof88]

Some groups or individuals (not sure exactly who) have been advocating changing St. Patrick's Day to Shamrock Day to remove the religious connotation.

What about St. Valentine's Day though?

Thank you for making this clear for me. Now, I must rant as this makes me so mad .

I guess we need to just outlaw all holidays and anything that makes any kind of reference to religion. Oh, well that means we need to change the names of some of our major cities like St. Louis, St. Paul and St. Petersburg just to name a few. Easter now becomes Egg Hunt Day or Bunny Day. Let's not forget Mardi Gras which is the last day before Lent begins. And since we can't celebrate any Christian holidays nor can we celebrate any other Ethnic or cultural days as I find THESE offensive.

Sorry folks, in my opinion all the PC stuff is going too far.

 

[shellybaxter]

I don't know anything about the St Pats to Shamrock Day debate but I can tell you that children of the age who watch Mickey Mouse Club House are far more likely to relate to Shamrock Day than St. Pats Day.

 

[tflood]

Change it to Getting Lucky Day

 

[ZeroToHero]

I would like to point out that it's really only in America that people celebrate St. Patrick's Day. In Ireland people don't even celebrate it that much. They also don't wear green. They wear blue.. it's called "St. Patrick's Blue". Americans just misconstrued the phrase "wearing of the green" (a shamrock) to mean green clothes. Ireland's national color is also blue.

So maybe Disney isn't being PC, they're being historically accurate, with the shamrock? They're training the younger generations.
Or appealing to a wider audience than American youngsters.

One can always hope, I guess.

 

[KYMickey]

I'm getting very tired of people trying to make everything PC! Is one thing to make something PC when its new but it's an entirely different matter to take something historic and change it to make it PC. Enough is enough let a few people get upset about something once in awhile instead of upsetting the majority by changing from something they know.

As far as blue being the official color of Ireland, that may be true but historically green and orange are the colors of the Catholics and Protestants and actually the white in the flag is supposed to symbolize peace between them!

 

[CinderellasSister]

I don't know anything about the St Pats to Shamrock Day debate but I can tell you that children of the age who watch Mickey Mouse Club House are far more likely to relate to Shamrock Day than St. Pats Day.

Why would they relate to Shamrock Day more than St. Patrick's Day? That doesn't make sense. Every sign you see says "Happy St. Patrick's Day" or "Celebrate St. Patrick's Day". What are they relating to?

 

[shellybaxter]

Why would they relate to Shamrock Day more than St. Patrick's Day? That doesn't make sense. Every sign you see says "Happy St. Patrick's Day" or "Celebrate St. Patrick's Day". What are they relating to?

First, let me tell you why I made the statement. It has nothing to do with the debate controversy. I've been working with the under 5 crowd for almost 20 years so I've had a lot of experience with what they understand.

St Pats Day is a hard concept for them. Christmas is easy; either Santa comes or the baby Jesus was born. Both are things they understand from real life - someone comes and brings presents or a baby is born.

Thanksgiving is a little harder but basicly "be nice to friends" is how it gets translated and eat a big dinner.

Easter - Well a bunny comes and hides eggs is not concrete but looking for the eggs is. Religious families sometimes also talk about the death of Jesus. Some children have experienced death and some haven't; those who haven't have a hard time with that part of Easter.

Same for St Patricks Day - Its either about driving the snakes out (no real life reference makes that make a lot of sense for most little ones) or a little man (lepracon) who finds gold at the end of a rainbow. This finding concept is easier than the snakes but its not easily relatable to their life. The concept of a shamrock is concrete; its just a shape. They work with shapes all the time. Shamrock day is really no different than circle day or square day, which we sometimes have as we study shapes. Also the color green is important in a shamrock and emphasising colors is also concrete.

As an early childhood educator I can see why a show geared at preschoolers would choose to focus on the shamrock instead of the St Patrick Day lore.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I suggest we just call it Three-Leaf Clover Day..

 

[KYMickey]

Same for St Patricks Day - Its either about driving the snakes out (no real life reference makes that make a lot of sense for most little ones) or a little man (lepracon) who finds gold at the end of a rainbow. This finding concept is easier than the snakes but its not easily relatable to their life. The concept of a shamrock is concrete; its just a shape. They work with shapes all the time. Shamrock day is really no different than circle day or square day, which we sometimes have as we study shapes. Also the color green is important in a shamrock and emphasising colors is also concrete.

As an early childhood educator I can see why a show geared at preschoolers would choose to focus on the shamrock instead of the St Patrick Day lore.

My wife is also an early childhood educator so I asked her about this subject. She doesn't feel her children have any real problem understanding Saint Patrick's day anymore than any other holiday. The shamrock is a symbol of the holiday just like an Easter egg, a turkey or a heart are of other holidays. It's all in how the holiday is first explained to them. It may be partially a regional thing also, partially based on the dominant religions in an area. She also thinks it would be harder to explain why we have a holiday for Shamrocks but then Midwestern childrens thought processes are more based in reality and less on the abstract.

 

[lxh11]

Dumbing it down for kids it what it is. I would hope all educators would raise the bar and explain things the way they are. If you are going to talk about St. Patricks day, at least respect it enough to get it right.

Oh and please tell me that the word leprechaun is not now being Americanized into "lepracon" to make it simpler for children to spell?

 

[JasonDVC]

What's the big deal with "St. Patrick's Day"? It's not a national holiday or anything where people have a day off of work. It's just a day where the Irish celebrate their Patron Saint and booze it up. It's their holiday, let them celebrate, who is anyone else to decide what the day should be called.

It seems that there are just too many people nowadays who think they are holier than thou and know what's best for everyone else and want to force it on everyone else.

How about this...Mind your own business!!! No one is hurting you!

 

[rebecca06261]

I would like to point out that it's really only in America that people celebrate St. Patrick's Day. In Ireland people don't even celebrate it that much. They also don't wear green. They wear blue.. it's called "St. Patrick's Blue". Americans just misconstrued the phrase "wearing of the green" (a shamrock) to mean green clothes. Ireland's national color is also blue.

Your interpretation is misconstrued and only applies to Northern Ireland. The rest of the country does celebrate St. Patrick's Day, albeit not by dying their rivers green or by drinking green beer... or by throwing beads from pirate ships as done in Tampa's St. Patty's Day nighttime parade. The Irish also celebrate St. Patrick's Day by wearing green- indeed not the colours of Northern Ireland, but certainly the color associated with by the rest of the country. The shamrock has traditionally been used as a method by which to teach children the Holy Trinity.

 

[deej696]

I would like to point out that it's really only in America that people celebrate St. Patrick's Day. In Ireland people don't even celebrate it that much. They also don't wear green. They wear blue.. it's called "St. Patrick's Blue". Americans just misconstrued the phrase "wearing of the green" (a shamrock) to mean green clothes. Ireland's national color is also blue.

Not an attempt to contradict you or anything, but I celebrated St. Patricks day at an Irish pub in London a couple years ago, and it was quite an event! Many of the people I talked to were from Ireland living in London, and they were definitely celebrating quite hard . Probably one of the most fun nights of my life Followed by one of the worst mornings as well...