What the What?

Courtesy of John Miller at NRO, did you know that your kids need to know that business and creativity are evil?  And that it comes from one of the most creativity-producing toy companies from my childhood?

Bwahahahaha! Welcome to Lord Business’ Evil Lair! Record his broadcasts in the TV studio and plot how to control the world from the office. Lever open the large door and unleash the Kragle. Trap the Master Builders in the think tank to extract their creativity. Dodge the trapdoor to avoid being sent spiraling into infinity then pull the plug on the battery and shut down the think tank before Lord Business carries out his evil plan!

You’d have to go over to the picture to get a look at Lord Business, or at least what I’m presuming to be him/it…

I’ve been down on Legos in the last few years because they’ve become models as opposed to building blocks.  Most of the kits (which have always been expensive, but heck, they’re waaaay expensive now) are so molded and sculpted that kids just make the model one time and then hardly touch it after.  Heck, I’d make the model they suggested, and then the next day I’d have them all tossed into a bin and I’d add to whatever I already had.  The ability to make working machines and then rebuild them to be better was a driving force in me becoming an engineer. (Let’s not talk about the motorized fishing rig I used to make from the Erector Sets so that I could fish for Tinker-toy fish down the stairs.  I’m really a geek.)

So what’s the message Lego is trying to get to the kids?  That creativity is fine, provided it’s not used to help business be successful?  That business is just inherently evil?  That Lego doesn’t understand stuff about biting hands that feed it?

Or it could just be someone’s idea of a cute plan.  Focus on how people can suck you dry of your creativity if you let them.  Well, maybe they’ll win, and kids will grab paper bags from the grocery store and draw on the back of them.  Oh, wait, we banned grocery bags, too.

I grew up thinking that I wanted to become an engineer and contribute to a company as I rose through the ranks.  I’ve had a great career, and the company I’ve worked for all my life never had to remind me to not be evil, or the like.  I wonder how much of what kids get these days is sinking in, and what that’s going to do to business in the future?