Bob McCarty Writes

I find myself especially thankful that all three of my sons are old enough that they no longer require toys with every fast-food meal they order.  Why?  Because fast-food purveyors are now including politically-correct reading material — as a toy substitute — in their kid’s meal offerings.  Case in point: Taco Bell®.

I became aware of the PCKMP (politically-correct kid’s meal “prize”) a few days ago when fellow St. Louis-area blogger, Patch W. Adams at POED Patriot, published a piece about his family’s recent unexpected encounter with the book, “Todd and the Talking Pinata Talk Tolerance” by Professor R.H. Fuller.

Like “Patch”, I’m not as concerned about the content of this book as I am with the fast-food company’s thinly-veiled effort to supplant the role of parents in teaching values to their children.

In an effort to offer both sides of the story about Taco Bell’s foray into the world of parenting their customers’ kids, I located Professor Fuller’s web site and searched for more information about his tolerance tome.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find any mention — other than a downloadable coloring page — of the book first published in 2008, according to Amazon.

My next step, of course, was to contact Professor Fuller and Taco Bell® officials via the only means available — e-mail and online customer feedback forms, respectively.  In addition to several general questions, I asked both the author and restaurant company officials whether they think it’s appropriate for fast-food restaurants to provide the politically-correct books to kids and, if so, to explain why.

As soon as I hear back from either Professor Fuller or Taco Bell®, I’ll post an update.

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Editor’s Note: The image above is a composite of the TacoBell.com Kid’s Meal page and the cover of the book, “Todd and the Talking Pinata Talk Tolerance”.

See Also: A Chair and Two Apples’ post on “Todd and the Talking Pinata Talk Tolerance”

UPDATE 10/14/09 at 11:20 a.m. Central: Professor R.H. Fuller replied to my inquiry today and, believe it or not, appears to be closer to sharing my values than anyone — myself included — might expect from a guy promoting tolerance.  That said, I’ve offered the author — a former Marine and father of six — space on this blog to make his case.  Plus, I’ve offered to review his books and publish that review(s) on this blog.  Stay tuned!

UPDATE 10/21/09 at 9:40 p.m. Central: As promised one week ago, I’ve given space for Professor R.H. Fuller, author of the books in question, to make his case.  I warn you, he’s quite convincing.  Check it out at ‘Talking Pinata’ Author Makes Case for Virtue.