Bartholomew's Notes

October’s hysteria over a doll’s babblings continues unabated. From the Beaufort Gazette:

A local woman went to the Walmart on Robert Smalls Parkway to buy a doll for her daughters this Christmas.

What she ended up with was a Mattel Fisher-Price Toys baby doll that says “Islam is the light.”

Any chance of an “allegedly” in there?

…Some reports say the dolls also say, “Satan is king.”

Moms Ask Mattel for Accountability, an educational effort geared toward preventing children from being invited to join Islam unknowingly, launched a campaign to remove the dolls from store shelves, according to MAMA’s Web site.

“It’s like a subliminal message…It’s not really something you want to hear coming from a doll. I had to tell my kids they wouldn’t get a baby doll for Christmas because it said bad things.”

An account by “Moms Ask Mattel for Accountability” is also carried uncritically on the website Radical Islam; this site is run by the Clarion Fund, which received considerable attention a few months ago over the mass distribution of an anti-Islam DVD called Obsession:

Washington, DC: Wal-Mart managers are removing the Mattel doll that says “Islam is the Light” from store shelves, according to reports from parents and the media across the U.S. and Canada, as well as Wal-Mart employees. Many Wal-Mart managers have removed the controversial doll in the last two weeks, and others are removing it as soon as parents ask…MAMA has advised parents in the U.S. and Canada to ask retailers either to remove the doll from the shelves or to attach a label stating “NOTICE: This doll says “Islam is the light,” an invitation to your child to join Islam.” MAMA is concerned that an invitation to Islam is a material risk to young girls, because of the discriminatory Islamic law known as Shariah, and wants parents informed about the doll’s statement before they purchase the doll.

Snopes notes that this is not the first time a doll’s babbling has been given a sinister interpretation, and it quotes a newspaper report:

“The Gastonia Gazette bought one of the disputed dolls for $19.99 at the Gastonia Target. Four people were slected at random and asked to describe the noises it made, and while two distinctly heard the word “light” or “life,” no one picked out the supposed Muslim message.

Mattel has also denied the story. The website of MAMA – http://www.labelthatdoll.com/ – appears to be either down or defunct.

[UPDATE: Jesus’ General notes that there is a social network website devoted to MAMA here. The General also notes that the site  is run by Christine Brim, “a key leader of organizations like the Center for Security Policy, the Center for Vigilant Freedom, the Coalition to Stop Shariah, and MAMA”.]

Doubtless the dimwitted will suggest that by daring to note that this makes the Clarion Fund look stupid I must be in favour of Islam-promoting dolls.

Meanwhile, here’s Pastor David Grice of the Lighthouse Baptist Church, Texas:

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