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I travel a lot for work.
This spring, I'm going to be on a road trip through the Midwest and the South with my friend Lee Camp's show, No Small Endeavor.
We're gonna be traveling on a tour bus.
I'm pretty excited.
We all have times when we're away from home, whether it's for a work trip or vacation.
And while you're on the road, you could be hosting your home or your spare bedroom on Airbnb.
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Your home might be worth more than you think.
Find out how much at Airbnb .com slash host. Hello, hello everyone.
You're in for a treat today.
I'm going to do battle on behalf of my three year old against some of the leading intellectuals of our day.
My producer says this is her favorite revisionist history episode ever, as they say on the internet, big if true.
If you missed it, we opened this mini season with two episodes about the death of George Floyd, which I hope you listen to if you haven't already.
And coming up soon, my colleague Ben Nadav -Haffrey gives us the real story about...
Well, not going to tell you.
All I'll say is when I listen to it, every single fact Ben relates in that with something I'd never heard of before.
Oh, and one last thing.
I mentioned it last week, I'm doing my tour with No Small Endeavor and Drew Holcombe, April 9th in Louisville, April 10th in Indianapolis, and April 11th in Grand Rapids.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
If you live anywhere near those cities, you got to go.
Check it out at nosmallendeavor .com.
Okay, off we go. Enjoy everyone.
Every night, after bath and just before bedtime, my three year old and I settle down in front of the television.
If you're not a parent of a young child, it's entirely possible you have no idea what PAW patrol is.
That's fine. Before I had children, I had never heard of it either.
So let me explain. it's a multi -billion dollar franchise centered around a band of puppies who are called upon in each episode to rescue someone in peril.
There's a police dog named Chase, a fire dog named Marshall, a helicopter pilot named Skye, a road works puppy named Rubble.
They stop runaway trains.
They fight fires. They repair the damaged flying saucers of adorable stranded aliens with enormous You get the picture.
Among toddlers, Paw Patrol is bigger than Elmo it's bigger And yet for some reason, every parent I know, every student of children's television, every adult who has more than a passing interest in the intellectual and moral development of our young hates Paw Patrol.
Like the Reddit thread, Paw Patrol has ruined my child's brain.
Quote, everything about Paw Patrol is awful.
The yelling and constant panic, the stereotypes, the terrible design, the tropes, I wish it would disappear from the face of the earth and take all of its merch with it unquote Go to tik tok.
They hate the puppies.
There's some things that really pissed me off when it comes to Paw Patrol It's pretty simple.
It sucks. My son watches Paw Patrol.
I hate it Everyone hates it Except for me and this episode is my attempt to convince you that I'm right and everyone else is wrong My name is Malcolm Gladwell.
You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast where I like to argue on behalf of things that all common sense suggests are not true.
The following defense of PAW Patrol is squarely in that tradition.
It is a search and rescue mission for a show about search and rescue missions.
In all my long years of doing Revisionist history, I have never tackled a more forbidding task.
I started by calling people, anyone who I thought could help, asking the same questions over and over again.
First to a parent who had lived through what I'm living through right now.
But we are here to discuss Paw Patrol, which looms large in my life at the moment.
Yeah, I'm sure. Then again, to an intellectual, someone I admired.
I don't understand the amount of hatred the show gets.
And again, this time to a sociologist. Someone who has published in academic journals on the Paw Patrol phenomenon.
I am calling you because I spend every night watching Paw Patrol.
And I'm sorry. I'm sorry to hear that.
I spent so much time googling PAW Patrol, Google started feeding me PAW Patrol content.
Like the actress Keira Knightley on The Tonight Show explaining what it's like to be the mother of a three year old.
Wait for it. Baby's a toddler.
Baby's not a baby. Baby's not a baby anymore.
Yeah, she's huge. Three and a half.
Three and a half. Are you into PAW Patrol?
Oh. I'm sorry. Yeah.
Yeah. I'm sorry. Everyone is sorry.
Well, I'm into PAW Patrol, and I'm not sorry.
PAW Patrol takes place in two imaginary towns, Adventure Bay and Foggy Bottom.
The group has as its headquarters what looks like a giant postmodern air traffic control center, complete with a really cool fire station pole that moves the members of the PAW Patrol from the briefing room to their waiting vehicles.
Vehicles, which are all by the way, available separately for purchase.
In a typical PAW Patrol episode, and I say typical when I really mean every single PAW Patrol episode ever, someone in the greater Adventure Bay Foggy Bottom Metropolitan Area has a problem.
They call Ryder, who is the little boy in charge of the PAW Patrol operation.
He summons the pups from whatever adorably cute leisure activity they are engaged in, they come running.
Mighty Pups to the lookout!
Ryder needs us! And without fail, the problem is solved.
No job is too big. No pup is too small.
For example, in season seven, episode 13, PAW Patrol Pups save Election Day, a particular favorite in the Gladwell household, Mayor Humdinger of Foggy Bottom has decided unexpectedly to run for mayor of Adventure City, precipitating a crisis.
Humdinger is wreaking havoc on the campaign trail causing all kinds of chaos downtown This leads Alex an adorable little boy who happens to find himself in the midst of the mayhem to call for help It all happened because mayor humdinger's kiddies.
Are launching election stuff everywhere We'll be right there alex. There's a short briefing in the situation room rider gives out instructions So for this mission i'll need chase I need you to use your net to stop Mr. Porter's out -of -control skateboard ride.
Chase is on the case!
And Marsa! I'll need you to use your ladder to help get Danny down from that big billboard. I'm ready for a ruff -ruff rescue!
And off the pups go.
Hey, guys. Hey, Malcolm.
How you doing? How's it going?
I called up Cal Brunker and Bob Barlin, the writers behind the Paw Patrol movies.
I asked them why they thought kids loved the show so much. The structures are so clear and consistent from episode to episode that it really it pulls them in and they're able to feel comfortable and confident in that world of storytelling oh I forgot to mention that in addition to 11 seasons of Paw Patrol television shows there have been two Paw Patrol movies which together grossed 350 million dollars the structure of the show is is really quite smart in how they go about every, every rescue that takes place.
Ryder tells the pups what they're gonna do and then they show up and they do the same thing that he's just told the audience.
So I think the participation level from a child is able to be so much more cause it's less surprising.
I did not grow up with the television, so this experience is all new to me.
Maybe that's why I like Paw Patrol so much. Everyone else groans in silent agony over the thought of watching, say, Paw Patrol, the movie, for the fourth time.
Me, I'm like, what new fresh insights can I glean this time around about Chase, the police dog, a German Shepherd who struggles with feelings of inadequacy?
Chase has got a back story, and I mean, at its highest level, Chase believes that being scared means he's not a hero, and so he shouldn't be a part of it.
And he learns that heroes get scared too, but keep going, that's what makes them heroes.
Ryder has that scene with him where they relive when he found Chase for the first time.
Yes, I love to hear you saying this.
This brings me great joy.
On what is clearly University Avenue.
That's absolutely, it's University Avenue.
It feels like it, doesn't it?
Yeah, with the boulevard. The dividers, exactly, yeah.
By the way, remember that reference, University Avenue.
What am I referring to?
a small clue to my grand unified theory of pop patrol, a clue, which I'm guessing all the other parents missed because they were on their phones, checking Instagram.
Now that, so, because there is, what's really interesting is that there, when my daughter was watching that, we've seen it more than once, that movie.
And the first time she saw it, I think she was genuinely affected by it.
I mean, it was clear, was a different kind of emotional experience than she'd been getting from the TV shows.
And the second and third time, gripping my hand tightly.
This is exactly what the corporate benefactors of the PAW Patrol franchise desire.
A bonding moment between a dad and his daughter over a disconsolate puppy.
Was my daughter wearing PAW Patrol pajamas as this was happening?
Yes, she was. And yet, there are people, lots of people, who look on that picture of family togetherness and cry foul.
Can you explain this?
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It's that time of year again the time I like to ask how's that new year's resolution working out?
Are you drinking less, exercising more, eating better?
If you're like most people, the answers are no, no, and no. Because research shows that 90 % of Americans break their resolutions, usually within two weeks.
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I'm heading on an extended road trip of sorts with my friend Lee Kamp.
Lee hosts a live show called, No Small Endeavor.
It's a theological variety show and features conversations with brilliant minds in the arts, theology, academia, and more.
and there's always a live music element which I love.
We're going to Grand Rapids, Louisville, Birmingham, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and a few more stops, and we'll be traveling in a tour bus.
It's going to be epic.
And while we're on the road, I'll be looking forward to staying in a few Airbnb's on the tour route.
I love staying in an Airbnb and experiencing a place through the lens of a local home.
It's a great way to get to know a city or town, and Airbnb hosts have great recommendations and insights on their neighborhoods.
While I'm on trips like this staying in Airbnbs, I often think how smart it is to become a host on Airbnbs.
Think of the possibilities.
While your home is sitting empty, you could be making some extra money to put towards your next trip.
Or while your kid is away at college, you could wisely host guests in your spare bedroom while it would otherwise be underutilized.
Your home might be worth more than you think.
Find out how much at Airbnb .com slash host. On several occasions in the course of almost a decade now, of revisionist history, I have called on Angus Fletcher, neuroscientist turned narrative theorist, genius in residence at Ohio State University.
If you remember, for example, back to our three -part revision of the ending of Disney's The Little Mermaid, arguably the intellectual high watermark of the entire revisionist history corpus, Angus provided the intellectual firepower.
And remember when we did a whole series on the greatest movie scripts that never got made?
Angus had one. Of course he did.
Angus is much much smarter than I am.
More important Angus is not hopelessly sentimental like I am.
He would not be derailed by the gentle pressure of a three -year -old's stubby fingers.
And when I remembered that Angus also has kids, I called him up.
Now, a small thing before we go on.
Normally when we interview people, we edit the tape.
I interject with commentary.
The whole thing is compressed and annotated.
We give you snippets.
but snippets do not do justice to professor Angus Fletcher.
So you're gonna get Angus Unbound.
I want to start. You two went to a PAW Patrol period with your children.
Is this correct? I did, yeah.
So my son likes PAW Patrol and I had an immediate horrifying flashback when you brought the subject up because I went back and tried to watch a couple of episodes just to remind myself and I immediately had to shut them off actually for self -preservation.
But... There are many things to unpack here.
First of all, how long did your son still actively watch Paw Patrol?
No, no, absolutely.
He's still alive. So, we managed to save him in time.
So your, and why you were watching it with your son, why did this show not appeal to you?
What is it about it that's like hitting you the wrong way?
It's designed to anesthetize your brain.
I mean, I feel like I'm mainlining horse tranquilizer.
It's a show that is studiously designed to interrupt active thought.
I mean, that's like the purpose of the show and it's engineered brilliantly to do that.
It's like the kind of like diabolical apotheosis of hundreds of years of figuring out how to make audiences more and more passive.
What do you mean? Okay, break that down.
Tell me exactly what you mean by that.
So, the quintessence of this thing that we call narrative.
we have a term for this in narrative theory.
It's called vacuous ag -on.
Vacuous ag -on. And basically what that needs is like when there's a conflict, but there's no stress, there's no anxiety in the viewer because you know that it's going to work out.
And this is, I have to give credit to who coined this term.
It's a brilliant member of my lab, his name is Mike Benvenisti.
He coined the term after watching Phineas and Fer, which is a Disney show of his three children.
And the point of vacuous ag -on is that you're constantly being presented with problems that are solved immediately at the moment that you're presented with the problem.
And I think it's probably obvious for you having, I'm sure, watched several episodes of this show, how mechanically what the show does is it gives you a problem and then immediately Ryder shows up like a helicopter parent, like the ultimate helicopter parent, and tells everybody exactly what to do so the problem will go away and then we just kind of watch as the problem goes away.
Yeah, that's exactly right.
So, and you think that's problematic because It's not that I think it is problematic Malcolm, it's that I know it's problematic.
So I don't know if you're aware of this, but for the last 30 years, there's been this crisis in American schools.
American kids have been getting less creative.
And because they've been getting less creative, they've been less able to solve their own problems, and because they're less able to solve their own problems, they have these rises in anxiety and anger, you know, losses of self -advocacy, resilience, all these kinds of things.
And, you know, the major reason for this is that we are either solving their problems for them.
Yeah. We're coming in and solving their problems for them.
Or we're essentially suspending them in this state of giving them artificial problems. So an artificial problem is like a math problem or a standardized test or something that doesn't exist in the real world and you know and you learn the formula and once you learn the formula, you know how to solve it.
And so kids are developing this ability to get better and better and better and better at school and then they just keep failing at life.
And this TV show is a paradigmatic example of that entire process.
I mean, it solves all the problems before you.
There's no ability you have to exercise any curiosity.
There's the moment a problem happens.
Literally, you're told these two dogs are gonna go solve it in exactly this way.
There's no opportunity for the brain to engage what we call counterfactual, causal thinking.
These processes that occur when we encounter a problem, the whole reason for imaginative literature, the reason that things like Curious George and Winnie the Pooh were created are to stimulate these processes in young children because at the age of four is actually when they developed the capacity for irony, for narrative irony.
And all those books and reading with your children, for reasons we can discuss if you're interested, stimulates all those processes.
And when you watch this show, it nukes them.
So it's not bad in the sense that, giving your children ice cream isn't bad, right?
They can have ice cream.
But if all you give them is ice cream, what happens to them, right?
They become diabetic.
And it's the same thing with this show in your brain.
Yeah. God, I feel bad now.
You filled me with a kind of degree of self -loathing and guilt over the damage I'm doing to my daughter's imagination, her ability to problem -solve.
This is what you do.
I should point out how strange this is.
A generation ago, people loved children's television.
The invention of children's television was one of America's signature cultural triumphs.
Intellectuals wrote love songs to children's television.
I remember once in the late 1990s when I discovered Sesame Street for the first time.
I was so entranced that I went to the Sesame Street studios and just hung out there for what seemed like days.
I was there during the great Slimy episode.
Maybe you remember this, Slimy.
The adorable Sesame Street worm becomes an astronaut.
And so the Sesame Street staff brought in Tony Bennett, whose signature song of course was, fly me to the moon to sing I was there for that standing this close to the legend himself who acted like this was the greatest moment of his entire career My point is, back in the day, the leading cultural figures of our time would happily make the pilgrimage to a random TV studio in Queens to make light of their own work on behalf of toddlers everywhere.
But now, the cultural luminaries and the intellectuals have abandoned ship.
By 11 minutes into his denunciation of Paw Patrol, Angus had mentioned Dickens, the A -Team, Plautus, and Aristophanes.
Now, he'd moved on to explaining the phenomenon of new comedy and contrasting it with something he called old comedy.
And what happens in old comedy is you're presented with real problems. So an example of a real problem would be war or the breakdown of democracy and then the comedy goes on and the problem gets worse and it gets worse and it gets worse and it gets worse and then eventually the comedy falls apart it just ends and basically the comedy is saying that's a big problem you guys in the audience better figure out how to solve that so it forced people to think about hard things in a public place where they can kind of wrestle with it and solve their own problems then what happened was the emergence of new
comedy which is essentially light entertainment and what happens in the light entertainment is a fake problem is posed, a fake problem is posed, and then, just if you might be getting stressed about this fake problem, the comedy answers it before you buy the end so you can relax.
So what's diabolical about Paw Patrol is it takes real problems and turns them into imaginary problems. It's like the end, it's like the nadir of comedy.
Because, I mean, there are real problems that it seems to embrace, you know, people seem to get in trouble and stuff like that, you know, but then it just reveals that they're all, you know, not a problem.
You don't have to worry about them because, you know, Ryder will just show up or there'll be some like weird gizmo gadget thing that will solve the problem for you.
So, you know, just relax preschooler don't worry about this, big, bad world you're entering in because it's just fine, don't even use your brain.
Why you, why were you even given a brain?
What's the point of a brain, right?
You need to solve problems, everything's already solved.
Look how perfect. I know I promised you that I was going to play Angus at full length, Angus Unbound, and if this were the Joe Rogan experience, and I bring up Joe Rogan, for a reason, by the way, because revisionist history is coming back to Joe Rogan big time in the coming weeks.
If this were the Joe Rogan experience, I'd have just run it all.
Eff it! Who among us does not have a spare three -and -a -half hours to listen to a perfect stranger speak about their weightlifting routines?
But my assumption is that you, unlike the many millions of Roganites, have jobs.
So, from here on out, I'm just giving you the good parts.
So But what would happen if you showed an old comedy show to a child?
What happens if in PAW Patrol, they don't solve the problem?
What does my daughter do?
Yeah, so this is great.
So your child will become concerned.
Your child will become concerned.
And then your child will probably turn to you as the authority figure in her life and be like, I'm kind of concerned.
What's going to happen to that truck that's suspended over that cast and whatever other PAW Patrolian problem there is, right?
Yeah. And then you're going to look very seriously at them and say, I don't know.
What do you think is going to happen?
And then they would have to pause and then they would think, and then they would have to imagine themselves solving the problem.
And that's the value.
I am a new parent, just over three years into the experience.
And I have all the insecurities that come with being a rookie.
I don't know what I'm doing.
I put my daughters in bed at night and pray they fall asleep.
I make them oatmeal in the morning and pray they eat it.
I helped build castles made of magnetiles and pray they don't destroy them.
And all the while, I asked myself, who are these mysterious creatures over whom I have recklessly been given dominion?
And now Angus, who I admire like few others, was telling me I was doing it all wrong.
You're deleting their capacity to develop an awareness of other answers to problems. You're removing that source of natural creativity, you're also removing the pressure on them to try and find that perspective to solve those other problems. And so this entire part of their brain is just atrophying at the exact critical moment when, as human beings, we're supposed to have it and it's supposed to come online.
This is devastated.
This has been a devastating conversation.
Um, yeah I'm sure. When we come back, my grand unified theory of PAW Patrol.
Well… Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees.
Just ask the Capital One Bank guy it's pretty much all he talks about, in a good way.
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Ah really… thanks Capital One Bank guy.
What's in your wallet?
Terms apply. See CapitalOne .com slash bank, capital one n -a member f -d -i -c.
I'm headed on an extended road trip of sorts with my friend Lee Camp.
Lee hosts a live show called No Small Endeavor.
It's a theological variety show and features conversations with brilliant minds in the arts, theology, academia, and more.
And there's always a live music element, which I love.
We're going to Grand Rapids, Louisville, Birmingham, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and a few more stops, and we'll be traveling in a tour bus.
It's going to be epic.
And while we're on the road, I'll be looking forward to staying in a few Airbnbs on the tour route.
I love staying in an Airbnb and experiencing a place through the lens of a local home.
It's a great way to get to know a city or town, and Airbnb hosts have great recommendations and insights on their neighbourhoods.
While I'm on trips like this staying in Airbnbs, I often think how smart it is to become a host on Airbnb.
Think of the possibilities.
While your home is sitting empty, you could be making some extra money to put towards your next trip.
Or while your kid is away at college, you could wisely host guests in your spare bedroom while it would otherwise be underutilized.
Your home might be worth more than you think.
Find out how much at Airbnb .com slash host. This episode is brought to you by Lily Direct, using innovation to help simplify managing your chronic conditions.
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Now, back to the program.
I said, way back in the beginning that there was an important clue in my conversation with the creators of the Paw Patrol movies.
Something crucial to understanding my stubborn affection for the PAW Patrol franchise, something about University Avenue.
Remember that? You might have wondered what University Avenue I was referring to.
Well, it's the one in Toronto.
University Avenue is one of the central boulevards that runs through downtown Toronto.
It is the Broadway of Toronto.
In the PAW Patrol movie it It appears as a little visual clue that tells you something crucially important about Ryder and his band of Mary Pops, something I realized as I prepared to respond to Angus's attacks that even the mighty Angus had missed.
Now, but wait. Now I feel — Angus, your arguments are so compelling and overwhelming — I feel foolish in offering my defense of PAW Patrol.
But I should, I think, I feel I should do it anyway.
The key to understanding PAW Patrol, so this is, this is the alternate PAW Patrol theory, and the key to the alternate PAW Patrol theory is understanding that it is a Canadian show.
PAW Patrol is conceived, made, and distributed from my home country of Canada.
It is as Canadian as maple syrup, as Canadian as a flock of geese streaking across the sky.
And what Paw Patrol is doing is enacting a fantasy of municipal competence which is absolutely essential to understanding what, understanding Canada.
That's what Canada is, right?
Is a country which has, which has formed, what is the you know the essential credo of the United States is life liberty in the pursuit of An individualist credo.
What is the parallel credo of Canada?
That was embedded in the Canadian Articles of Confederation.
It is peace, order, and good government.
Right? What is PAW Patrol?
PAW Patrol is an homage.
It is the elaboration of the notion of peace, order, and good government.
And the key thing in the PAW Patrol song at the very beginning, they go, PAW Patrol, PAW Patrol, whenever you're in trouble, Paw Patrol, Paw Patrol will be there on the double.
That's crucial. It is that not only is every problem assessed, but every problem is addressed in a timely manner, in a efficient, competent manner.
So that what Paw Patrol is all about is that this is, in Canadian terms, what we want our state to do, right?
It is to, and what is PAW Patrol itself?
It's an example of inter -agency cooperation, right?
Chase the police dog.
Marshall the firefighter.
Skye the pilot. Rubble the contractor, all working together.
Very Canadian notion, that if only we join hands and cooperate across disciplines, we can more effectively address the social ills that plague us, right?
It's just Canada. And all...
So what my daughter is getting is essentially Canada.
Yeah. Well, I mean, I've seen on the news how perfectly things are in Canada, Malcolm.
So you don't have to convince me.
It's a utopian land where everything works out.
There's no problems with settlements or anything.
It's a comparative judgement.
This point, about the centrality of public sector competence to the Canadian identity, is worth a bit of a digression.
It concerns the 1991 hit single from the band Crash Test Dummies.
Perhaps you remember it.
It was called Superman Song, and it turns on a sociological comparison of Tarzan and Superman.
Superman, the song argues, is Tarzan's antithesis.
He's not some rapacious profiteer.
I don't need any money for saving the world from Solomon Grundy.
Sometimes I'd dispel the world, we'll never see another man like him.
This is how the lead singer for The Crash Test Dummies, Brad Roberts, explained his thinking to a college newspaper.
quote Superman as cast in Superman's song is obviously a left -wing political figure his activity in the community is intrinsic to his being Superman is being juxtaposed against Tarzan who is kind of a laissez -faire capitalist type who retreats to the forest and rejects the idea of the community he wants to live in a so -called animal state and he doesn't want to be bothered with any kind of political realities." Unquote.
First of all, how great is it that rock stars once talked like this?
Second, on the basis of this argument, where do you think the crash test dummies are from?
It's obvious. Canada, of course.
This is a song that could only have been written by a Canadian.
Only a Canadian would find something utterly reprehensible in Tarzan's naked displays of strength and brute force.
And only a Canadian would look long and hard at Superman and conclude he's one of us.
Hey, Bob, in the soup hat a strange job.
Even though he could have smashed any bank in the United States.
He had the strength but he would not.
Any bank in the United States, meaning Superman, is at a place below the border where the expectation is he will use his gifts for his own selfish ends.
The superhero who puts his community first stands for peace, order, and good government.
Join Todd's hill in the forest The forest – clearly referring to anything below the 49th parallel.
But he stayed in the city And kept on changing clothes In dirty old form Booze till his work was through Had nothing to do but go home He stayed in the city working out of decrepit phone booths, because he believed super strength and superpowers ought to be deployed on behalf of the public good.
When I see Superman, I think he's a Paw Patrol character.
Before we got hooked on Paw Patrol my daughter and I watched Mini's Bo -Tunes equally absurdly popular short cartoons about a small business run by a Minnie Mouse and her best friend and maybe lover I'm unclear on that Daisy Duck devoted to selling bows a Bow -Tique and yes the theme song is as good as you might imagine Come on and flash and I'll watch you see, you're always welcome at Minnie's Bowtunes!
Every episode of Bowtunes also begins with a problem, which the episode resolves through Minnie's ingenuity and persistence.
That gives me an idea!
But who's the beneficiary of Minnie's ingenuity?
Minnie is. Minnie and her considerable business interests.
there is no community in Minnie Mouse's bowtunes.
No civic obligations There was only the profit that ensues to Minnie and her shareholders All of this made me think of the first lines of Saul Bellow's novel The Adventures of Augie March may be the most famous opening sentence in all of American literature Quote I am an American Chicago born, Chicago that somber city, and go at things as I have taught myself free style, and will make the record in my own way, first to knock, first admitted, sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not -so -innocent," unquote.
That's Minnie Mouse in a nutshell.
Minnie is American, Disney born.
Minnie is for Minnie.
Minnie is about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
But do you know the dirty little secret, about Saul Bellow?
He was a Canadian. And I wouldn't be surprised if, in an earlier version of Augie March, Saul Bellow admitted to the truth of his birthright.
I am a Canadian, Toronto -born, Toronto, that clean and tidy city.
And we go at things as I have been taught by the civic institutions of my municipality, through cooperation and interagency task forces, first to respond, first to apologize.
was always an innocent knock.
Angus Fletcher, genius in residence, made lots of very good points, but did he deal with the elephants in the room?
Tarzan, Minnie Mouse, Saul Bellow?
He did not. I'm simply saying that I'm understanding where this notion, the notion of the new comedy is so implicit in the Canadian national narrative.
That's what it is. There are no real problems in Canada.
Canada is this oasis, we're surrounded by countries with real problems. Not Canada, we don't pick fights with people, we don't have racism, we welcome immigrants, we have national health care, Canada is the embodiment of the promise of the new comedy.
Every problem can be simply addressed through some interagency task force.
Right? So my daughter's just getting a, she's just getting a little bit of Canadian propaganda.
That's how I would read it.
Angus said the Paw Patrol's problem was that it was vacuous Agon.
Paw Patrol's weakness was that it constantly presented its little viewers with a problem solved at the moment of its presentation.
But when I look around me at the world, all I can say is, I don't know I could use a little more vacuous Agon in my life right now.
A world where there is a puppy optimized for every kind of peril, where help arrives at the very moment it is summoned, where the heroes work not to benefit themselves, but the community in which they live.
Where the definition of a Superman is someone who turns down the opportunity to rob every bank, and instead toils on behalf of his countryman.
As a fantasy, an aspiration, to plant in my daughter's head, here and now, That doesn't sound too bad.
PAW Patrol! We're on double whatever the problem is, Round Adventure Day.
GPS Team Time Marlboro, model, chase, rocky, z Douglas.
Shake, everyone, Mixing and Mastering by Echo Mountain.
Production support from Luc Limon. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith.
Special thanks to Sarah Nix and El Jefe.
Greta Kohn. I'm Malcolm Gladwell.
My daughter made this whole episode possible.
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