My ‘G.I. Joe’ Was Just A Ken Doll In Camouflage!

TheDiscipleMD

Several years ago I read an article from Time called “The 100 Greatest Toys of All-Time”. On that list were many toys I enjoyed as a kid such as the Yo Yo, plastic Army Men, View-Master, Slinky, Magic Eight Ball, Silly Putty, Mr. Potato Head, the Wiffle Ball, Superball, Play Doh, Troll Dolls, and the list went on like a “Who’s Who” of toys. Most of the toys were from the fifties, sixties and seventies. Among the toys listed, one jumped out at me, not necessarily because it was my favorite toy of all-time, but because it is one toy that I am embarrassed to admit having played with as a boy. It was marketed by Hasbro, beginning in 1964 as an action “doll” called…”G.I. Joe”.

Most boys, like me, would never have considered playing with a “doll.” My friends and I despised “Ken,” the boy doll that went along with Barbie (Another of the top 100 Toys). But the G.I. Joe doll was just about the same size as a “Ken” doll. In fact the only difference from Ken and the five or so G.I. Joe’s I had were that some of the G.I. Joe’s had a little scar on their cheek. Oh, one other thing. They were dressed in camouflage gear! In other words, dress him like a military man,  give him a gun and “Ken” became “acceptable” to boys. The G.I. Joe doll was so popular that “Hasbro fostered a series of comics, a television series, video games and even a feature-length film”.

Like slick marketers, the world has a way of presenting things that we normally would never touch. But when “camouflaged”, we find ourselves embracing ideals and concepts that are really against our principles. Perhaps you have heard the old saying that if you put lipstick on a pig, and kiss it, your still kissing a swine. It’s just been “prettied” up. The world has a way of putting “lipstick” on things to pretty it up. They “camouflage” it, and we get fooled into buying in to it. For instance back in the seventies, those who favored abortion on demand were called out by their opponets as favoring the “killing of innocent life”. In order to “camouflage” what is really just the wanton killing of the unborn, they tagged their movement as “pro-choice”. Thus they put on their brightest lipstick, and their fatigues, gave it a nice name, which is deceiving in nature. So now, if asked, a person is either “Pro-choice” on this issue, or “Pro-life”. Both names seem good to me. After all, this life is about agency. Abortion is a complex issue, no question. But it is made all the harder when people are not willing to call “G.I. Joe a “Ken doll” who is just wearing different clothes. Politician are particularly good at “camouflaging” their agendas.

The list is endless regarding the “camouflaging” of ideals and concepts. It is sometimes even hard to tell between good and evil. Christ foretold of the confusion that would exist in our days. He said:

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible. they shall deceive the very elect.” (Matt. 24:24).

Endless are the ways in which we can be fooled into thinking that a pig with lipstick on is acceptable to kiss. But let us beware, and study out in our minds and hearts the concepts and causes we embrace. Many of them are of the world, not of God. If we are not careful, we may end up buying into the hype of a scar marked, camouflaged G.I. Joe, only to discover down the road, that he was just “Ken” in disguise.

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