Before my 11-month-old son began watching television a few months ago, I had no clue about Paw Patrol or any other shows on Nickelodeon. Like most new parents, I quickly learned about the heroic pups. There’s Chase, a German shepherd police dog; Marshall, a Dalmatian firedog; and Rubble, a construction worker bulldog.
Other than Sesame Street, this is our favorite show to watch together.
Therefore, I have taken a closer interest in the growing social media backlash against the cartoon because it portrays the pups as good cops patrolling Adventure Bay.
Some of the common refrains of Chase are “Chase is on the case!” and “All in a police pup’s day.” For the sin of being portrayed as a good cop, tweets against the show have included, “Euthanize the police dog;” ‘Defund the paw patrol;” and “All dogs go to heaven, except the traitors on the Paw Patrol.”
It seems ridiculous that efforts to cancel a kids’ show could be successful, but LEGO has just stopped marketing its “LEGO Police Station” and “Police Highway Arrest” toys. And, after 32 seasons, the show “Cops” has been canceled.
My friend and AM 970 radio personality Frank Morano summed it up perfectly when he tweeted, “I’ve never seen (or heard of) Paw Patrol prior to a few days ago, but I’m now watching it in case it gets banned this week.”
How sad is this new reality?
This is just one more example of the left taking it too far, just like their push to defund and eliminate police departments. Two weeks ago in Minneapolis, a veto-proof majority of the City Council agreed to eliminate their police force. Social workers will respond to incidents that were usually handled by the cops. Here in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he is now going along with the council’s efforts to slash the NYPD budget.
In Seattle, “protesters” carrying guns have taken over six blocks and fenced it off saying it is a police-free zone and autonomous. The Democratic mayor and governor are seeking to ‘de-escalate” and “negotiate” with these people. Democrats across the country are virtually ignoring this situation because they are afraid to criticize the takeover of part of an American city by domestic terrorists for fear of angering their radical far-left base.
President Trump is fully justified in utilizing the Insurrection Act of 1807 to end this madness. This empowers the president to deploy the military and federalize National Guard troops within the United States to suppress civil disorder and insurrection. Most common sense Americans would agree that this is exactly what is occurring in Seattle.
The election of 2020 is shaping up as a stark choice between eliminating the police or not, whether or not we allow gun toting protesters to take over sections of our cities, and canceling shows like the Paw Patrol because they have the audacity of portraying cops in a positive light.
Bob Capano has worked for Brooklyn Republican and Democrat elected officials, and has been an adjunct political science professor for over 15 years. Follow him on twitter @bobcapano.
