Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Zen fascists will control you

People need to stop indoctrinating their children. Or stop making books about it at least. Here is the latest, How to Raise an American. I am all for patriotism, but the book is clearly aimed at raising American Republicans. I have a horrible vision of being lectured by Wilford Brimley-Rush Limbaugh hell-spawn when I think of what reading this book must be like.

Since that one is aimed at parental readers, albeit ones hell bent on alienating their children, I find it a bit less irritating that Why Mommy is A Democrat, which is meant as a bed time tale. Of course it promotes the Us vs. Them mentality of the book above, but it does so in a scary paternalistic way. Have a look at these sample pages, "Democrats make sure we are always safe, just like Mommy does." So the Democratic party=your parents? This book may as well say "Democrats will think for you, just like Mommy does." If you want your children to get beat up, be sure to purchase a "My Mommy is a Democrat, Ask Me Why!" T-Shirt.

As manically ideological as these people (on both sides) are, they should start churning out propaganda posters like those found in Maoist China. I rather like this one which shows a gleeful peasant (in the middle of the Great Leap Forward, mind) saying "We sell dry, clean, neat and selected cotton to the state!"

2 comments:

Brack said...

Howzabout a poster from Guangxi Fest 1966? Mmmm, mmmm . . . barbecued Enemy of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

Tripp said...

Someone's been studying their cultural revolution I see.

There was a glut of Cul Rev books in the early 90s, but man that was a crazy time. Wild Swans is still my fave on the subject