McIntosh is a nut, a borderline fanatic. That is just the tip of the iceberg.



Anyway, yes they are glorified toys - but so are movies, novels, etc. "Art" as we call it. Even the big fancy ones that win awards and shit for being "important". Maybe toys isn't the right word, but it's functionally the same thing. Adults love toys; the concept of toys is only "childish" for a person who prioritizes work above play (which is to say, a slave, someone who is dominated by their/society's work ethic - no doubt to the benefit of the upper class and their toys). For what it matters, nothing stops even mundane Toy R Us toys being used as tools of propaganda or instruction (for, say, humanism or gender roles). The presence of such messaging, beyond their value as tools to affect ideological change, even work as another facet of them being toys: to give the pleasurable feeling that you are doing something important by making yourself "more informed", even if it is in the most shallow and obtuse manner possible (dramatic/spectacular fiction).