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frink
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18 Jan 2019, 8:26 am

So I just opened an article about the US government shutdown, and the first line reads:

"The longest government shutdown in history just reached the throwing-the-toys-out-of-the-stroller stage."

... I'm a parent and aspie, and have kids who sometimes carry a toy in the stroller, and cannot figure out what this expression means in the context of the government shutdown.

I'm assuming this is some deficiency in my theory of mind skills. So let me force myself to think from the context of the child. A child throws toys out of a stroller when they really want something and are mad at you for not accommodating, and have no better way to communicate than to throw the toy out to show you how upset they are. Or they really don't want the toy. Or is the author saying there are a bunch of toys in the stroller and the parents needs to throw them off the stroller to make room for the toddler?

My best guess [understood only after typing out the above and wasting 8 minutes thinking about it] is that the author is saying that we need to be more visibly upset? But I don't think the author intended to imply that we should communicate in very indirect ways, like a child. For example, perhaps because there is a government shutdown, we should go to Burger King and start screaming at the top of our lungs rather than directly complain to the government or media using words that we are upset?

What on earth was the author thinking by choosing this expression? Is it even a real expression that people use? Am I missing something?

There are some expressions I find immensely amusing, like food "going down the wrong pipe", but almost all the time they don't make any sense, at least to me.



naturalplastic
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18 Jan 2019, 6:54 pm

It wasn't obvious to me what it meant either.

But upon reflection I think that its referring to the politicians. The politicians are acting like babies who are throwing a fit and "throwing their toys out of the stroller" just make a scene. And now it's getting serious in its effects. More serious than just making a scene.



Darmok
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18 Jan 2019, 7:16 pm

frink wrote:
What on earth was the author thinking by choosing this expression? Is it even a real expression that people use? Am I missing something?

The political context may be what you're missing. The anti-Trump media routinely portrays Trump as a baby, child, toddler, cry-baby, and on and on, and they're always describing him as throwing temper tantrums like a baby, etc. It's just raw political propaganda that has nothing to do with news. This author shows he's part of that. The headline means, "Cry-baby Trump is throwing another temper tantrum, flinging his toys around the room like a little baby because he can't get his way."


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Last edited by Darmok on 18 Jan 2019, 8:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

EzraS
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18 Jan 2019, 8:25 pm

Sensationalism and hyperbole.