Aye Carumba! On Jan. 16th we reported that Iran's morality police were sweeping the toy shops hunting for Barbie dolls and now Bart Simpson and other toys from The Simpsons TV series have been added to the dragnet. Their crime? Corrupting the morals of Iranian children.
It's part of the fight against what one government agency calls "Western Intoxication." Fully one quarter of Iran's 75 million people are under the age of 15 and, at a time when tensions with the West are rising over its nuclear program, the Islamic Republic is worried about thousands of plastic, tow-headed 5th columnists teaching their children to say, "eat my shorts!"
According to a Feb. 6 report by Reuters, Mohammad Hossein Farjoo, an official who holds the eye-popping title of Secretary for Policy-making at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in Tehran, it's all about moral values.
"The Simpsons dolls are merchandise from an animated series, of which some episodes are even banned in Europe and America," said Farjoo. "We do not want to promote this cartoon by importing the toys."
Since The Simpsons isn't broadcast on local television, you'd think this wouldn't be a problem; but Iranians with access to foreign satellite channels are able to watch the series.
From the Al Arabiye news service:
He (Farjoo) did not elaborate on what was wrong with the Simpsons specifically. But he noted that any doll on which genitals are distinguishable, as well as dolls of adults, are banned. So were toys with speakers that blare out the voices of Western singers, or toy kitchen sets that include glasses for drinking alcoholic beverages.
Barbie offended the Islamic government with her full figure and sometimes scanty costumes. "Imports of all kinds of dolls that display full adult figures are banned because they promote Western culture," said Farjoo. This is an especially sore point in a country that insists that clothing cover women fully and do not reveal the female form. In 2010, for instance, we reported on a story about angry Iranian mullahs hacking off the breasts of store mannequins because they thought their figures might inspire lascivious thoughts.
On the other hand, not all Western dolls are anathema to the Islamic government. Superman and Spiderman action figures are still welcome in Iran because, as Farjoo says, they do battle for "the oppressed."
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