Automatonophobic mother fears daughter might buy a Muppet toy

[Bliffenstimmers]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-mother-37-struggling-buy-toys-daughter.html
I'm not sure if this is really worth posting, but here it is anyway...

• Lindsay Broom, from Swansea, has suffered from automatonophobia - a phobia of puppets - since she was five years old
• She has a crippling fear of characters from The Muppets, Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock
• The mother of two says: 'I'm terrified my daughter will choose a Kermit the Frog doll - I won't be able to live with it'

The link, of course, has some other details.

 

[minor muppetz]

Well, for the last several years it hasn't been that easy to find a Kermit toy in stores, though it was a bit more common when The Muppets came out (and hopefully for us there'll be more when Muppets Most Wanted comes out - or maybe she'll get her wish and there once again won't be much tie-in merchandise). Since 2004 it seems most Muppet toys have been available online or as exclusives at places like The Disney Store. She can just avoid those and stores that sell used toys. And it seems there's not many Fraggle Rock toys these days (even though there had been quite a few in the past decade). So she really only has to worry about Sesame Street toys.

 

[Bliffenstimmers]

I've seen a few halloween Kermits and Fozzies in Target, if that counts... but yes, the Sesame Street toys are more common. That's besides the point, though. Either way, this mother's scared of puppets, and somehow it's in the news.

 

[cjd874]

So let me get this straight...this lady's not afraid of ALL puppets. She's only afraid of the Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock. Well, if only she knew about the SNL Gorch puppets, the Dark Crystal characters, or the Muppet Treasure Island pirates, all of whom are a great deal more scary-looking. Imagine what would happen to her THEN!
I wonder if she is able to listen to Muppet music/records, since there are no visuals involved with that? I also wonder if there is a cure for this phobia, even though it traces a long way back into this woman's life. Perhaps repeated exposure might work... (whips out Seasons 1-3 of the Muppet Show and the SS Old School DVDs)

 

[Muppet fan 123]

This person should probably refrain from entering my room.

 

[JimAndFrank]

This person should probably refrain from entering my room.

Well, if she ever visits your house, have a camera ready. I feel sorry for the poor woman, but seeing an adult screaming at a puppet would have me in hysterics!

Seriously though, I do feel sorry for her. That must suck!

 

[Slackbot]

Heaven help her if she walks through my front door to see this:

 

[Drtooth]

Is it alright to be offended by this?

Fears are often irrational and if they aren't, it's some big deep seated trauma. I'm afraid of weird things. But this really gets under my skin. No, this isn't some creepy looking ventriloquist doll, it's not Chuckie, it's not some weird overly European looking Punch and Judy crap... it's the freaking Muppets. The Muppets! Where even the crazy, bomb and explosion obsessed creepy looking guy is outright adorable and hilarious. If they came to life, the furthest thing from their mind would be to kill you. Entertain you and force you to have a good time, yes. Jim and co created these guys to spread happiness and love. To be afraid of that is offensive to me. it's worse than the "I grew out of them before I was born" stuff. If the daughter wants to buy a freaking Kermit, get the heck over it. It's not a rubber spider, it's not a Skeletor figure (classic of 4 Horseman edition)... it's not even one of those nihilistic MacFarline statues from a decade ago. It's a smiling puppet frog.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

Heaven help her if she walks through my front door to see this:

AAH! The horror!

 

[D'Snowth]

Is it alright to be offended by this?

Why not? I'm pretending to be offended by McDonald's and pretending to boycott them for that Mighty Wings commercial of theirs where one of the players blurts out, "I HATE PUPPETS!" to show how overly sensitive people are today where ONE insignificant little joke "offends" them, and suddenly, the entire corporation behind it is "un-P.C." and needs to be boycotted.

But I digress... in some small way, I can KIND of understand the fear this kid has... now granted, puppets don't scare me, obviously, HOWEVER, as a kid, there was something about generic, store-bought, stock pupppets (like those usually used for youth ministries, or school assemblies and such) that kind of unnerved me.

I mean, just LOOK at these things: