The upcoming premiere of an animated series that promotes Bitcoin, questions universities and criticises the role of the state in everyday life is sparking controversy in Argentina.
The arrival of the Tuttle Twins cartoon series, set to air this July on state-run children’s channel Paka Paka, has been welcomed by supporters of the President Javier Milei’s government but criticised by opponents who accuse the show of indoctrination.
“When money is controlled, it becomes corrupt,” declares a talking Bitcoin in one episode, explaining a theory that cryptocurrency is the best way to prevent governments from printing money and causing inflation.
The US-produced series follows the adventures of the Tuttle Twins and their grandmother as they travel through time to learn about liberalism and economics, guided by figures such as liberal economists Milton Friedman and Ludwig Von Mises – both key intellectual influences on Milei.
“It’s the only liberal cartoon in the world … it reflects the values we stand for,” said Paka Paka director Walter Gómez in a recent interview with the pro-government streaming channel Carajo.
He declined to comment further when reached.
Libertarian influencer Pablo Pazos, known as ‘el Gordo Pablo,’ praised the move. “Very good, thank you – no more Communist children,” he said on another Carajo streaming show.
When announcing its new programming lineup in May, Paka Paka claimed the content would be free of “ideological messaging.”
Critics argue otherwise, pointing directly to Milei, who frequently cites economists featured in the series. In fact, the president’s dogs are named after them.
For Valeria Dotro, former head of content at Paka Paka, Tuttle Twins “seems like a provocation.”
“It’s clumsy, with no engaging storyline or coherent logic … I think it’s poor as a product,” she said. “There’s a clear intent to impose a political message.”
Tuttle Twins
In Tuttle Twins, liberal economists explain concepts such as inflation, government subsidies, and central economic planning through an ideological lens. Characters include billionaire Elon Musk and Karl Marx, the author of The Communist Manifesto, who is ridiculed and constantly shown asking for money.
“Everyone needs food, water, and shelter to survive, but needing something doesn’t give you a right to it. That’s because you don’t have a right to someone else’s labour,” declares an animated version of English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704), considered one of the founding fathers of liberalism, in another scene.
Other parts of the series question the value of university education. “There are great programmers at Google, Apple, and Microsoft who were hired after just a three-month course,” sings one character.
Tuttle Twins is based on the series of books by Connor Boyack, who is also the TV show’s executive producer and a public admirer of Milei. Argentina’s president was even included as a young anti-socialist character in Boyack’s recent comic The Medals of Merit.
The books and series are creations of the Libertas Institute, a Christian foundation based in Utah, United States.
According to the Tuttle Twins account on the X social network, Argentina's government is “replacing literally Marxist cartoons with fun education about liberty, economics, and individual rights.”
But Cecilia Veleda, a doctor in the sociology of education, disagrees.
“Children shouldn’t be held hostage in the ideological battles of adults. These are the president’s personal obsessions, turned into misleading, discriminatory, and aggressive content,” she told the La Nación newspaper in an interview.
The opposition Peronism movement was in power when Paka Paka was created in 2010 during the two-term presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007–2015).
According to Milei’s government, the channel’s content was previously highly ideological – but isn’t so much now.
“We all have an ideological lens, as do all institutions. Paka Paka’s was about the protagonism of children, rights-based perspectives, federalism, education, diversity, etc.,” counters Dotro.
by Martín Raschinsky, AFP
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