My grandfather, a lifelong Republican and World War II Vet
who proudly raises his American flag every day, recently told me he
is disgusted with the current leadership of our country. These are words I never imagined would come out of his mouth. So at this point almost
all institutionalized expressions of the outside world’s hatred of our current
regime are, in my opinion, worth taking seriously. But what if this criticism comes
in the form of a children’s puppet show promoting murder at the hands of a
young boy?
A Hamas-owned children’s television has broadcast a puppet
show in which a Palestinian boy murders President Bush to avenge his parents, who
were killed in the wars in Iraq
and Lebanon.
“I place my trust in Allah,” the boy says before stabbing the president. “I need to kill you.” (Islam permits murder only when one is being
oppressed or directly attacked).
Leaving aside the fact that this slapdash presentation is
unlikely to hold the attention of any child for longer than ten seconds, the
video raises concerns about the use of propaganda to politicize youth. This is
a rather clear-cut example of teaching unhealthy values to children—no matter
how opposed one may be to the war in Iraq or how fervently one hopes
that the next election lands us a president who will not appear as the villain
in any children’s shows, it’s hard to get behind a production that shows children
committing murder. But many subtler forms of propagandizing to kids exist in
every country in the world in the form of movies, TV shows, and history books.
For instance, the maps in Israeli history books fail to mark the boundaries
around the West Bank and Gaza, which some argue
teaches children that the occupied territories belong to Israel.
Do you parents out there have any reports of what you viewed
as propaganda being taught in your children’s schools?
Photo: alarabiya.net
