Mickey Mouse and the Politics of Appeasement

Can you imagine Popeye, when confronted by Bluto over Olive Oil, looking at his arch nemesis and saying, “Take the girl. And here’s a sawbuck. Let me buy you two dinner. Anything, as long as you don’t hit me!” Heck, no! The cartoon community’s manliest man pops open a can of spinach with his biceps, eats the contents, kicks the ^&$# out of Bluto, and leaves with the girl. That’s as it should be. Bullies only understand one thing: greater force.

So, what message is Disney sending to children when Mickey Mouse is repeatedly shaken-down by Pete the Cat? Mickey needs to go somewhere but his path is blocked by Pete. Pete wants money before he will allow Mickey to pass. It’s a classic shakedown. Pete’s appearances are random, as are the amounts of money that he demands, but not unexpected.  Bullies always return to their favorite marks.  Each time this happens, Mickey happily pays whatever fee Pete demands in order to be allowed to continue his journey. Disney is sending a message of non-violent conflict resolution. It is the politics of appeasement. Give your enemy whatever he wants. If anyone is wondering about the effectiveness of appeasement, they should talk to Neville Chamberlin and the Czechoslovakians.

Here at the Arby household we have a different answer for these situations. We have a karate red belt, two purple belts, and the newest addition to our martial arts family...

...the white belt.

Yes, Captain Chaos successfully completed her first class as a white belt. That means that I successfully completed my first class as a white belt. I had fun. The girl had fun. My seven year old loves the fact that he holds a higher ranked belt than I do. And if Pete ever tries to steal her lunch money, he'll get what he deserves!

(Yes, the time stamp on the picture is off by 3 1/2 years.  Our first class was last Monday night.)