Preparing Children to Take Their Place in the Great Wide World
All right, quick now, guess what might conceivably be the best way of reaching the most children all at one fell swoop with a societal message discharged to ensure they take their place honourably and with full knowledge of the lessons of history and tradition, imparting society's values, entrusting them to the newer generation through a fail-safe medium. Yes, there's the school curriculum that can reflect all of that. Surely also visits by highly respected members of society to the classroom to lecture as befitting young children, then invite questions for meaningful response.That's all been done. Come on, you can do better. How do you ensure you reach as many impressionable young minds as possible? Right! A television programme whose content and message has been especially created by child-centred educators to attract, entertain and educate children, that's how. There are those in Western societies, spoil-sports all, who felt it necessary to point out that the early cartoons aimed at children in the 1940s and 1950s had too many animated characters whose actions relied on a type of bumptious violence to enhance their entertainment value for action-loving children.
Children knew better, and they loved the little canary that always foiled the bird-hungry cat, especially when the canary managed to trip up the cat so it fell flat on its feline face. All those other characters who did their utmost to comically outdo one another in outrageous one-upsmanship had us howling with laughter and expressing our loud appreciation of their wiliness, like, for example, Wily Coyote, the Roadrunner, and others of their ilk. Tsk, tsk, Walt Disney chose to offer up more child-friendly, it was assumed, fare with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
Little did he dream that one day Mickey would assume another mantle entirely and become Mahmoud Mouse - oh, make that Farfur the mouse. Farfur's originators are taking their responsibilities very seriously indeed, quite intent on teaching those information-absorbing little minds about the world they inhabit and their place in it. Jihadism, you know, is all the rage in some parts of the Middle East. So Farfur, through the medium of Tomorrow's Pioneers
(oh, don't you just love the implicatory word-play!) is instructing Palestinian children in the ways of challenging 'oppression'. Farfur, you see, calls for Israel to be vanquished and Islam to "lead the world".
Exciting stuff for little minds, don't you agree? Hard not to, if you're a fundamentalist Muslim sworn through a proud self-mandate of revenge to destroy the State of Israel, and kill as many Jews in the process as possible. Wouldn't that make Road Runner blush with envy? Farfur and his co-host, a sweet little Palestinian girl, instruct their legion of child viewers on militant piety, Hamas-style. "We will restore to this nation its glory, and we will liberate Al- Aqsa (mosque), with Allah's will, and we will liberate the Muslim countries invaded by murderers", Farfur assures his faithful audience.
Just think of all those wonderful life-lessons to be imparted. Let's see: how to make friends worldwide by spreading hatred of Jews and conspiring to bomb them into oblivion. Expand your social life by reaching out to other like-minded Jew haters; more than enough to go twice around the world. Art and architecture can be taught; the demolition of banquet halls containing celebrating Jews, as well as ancient sacred statues belonging to other religions. There are lessons in economics as well; challenging the world to support your lifestyle as a charitable act while you go about your jihadist business. Oh yes, there's also the expedient of kidnap-and-exchange.
The issues and opportunities are endless! Uh oh, what's this? A Hamas official has announced, as a result of foreign public approbation (who asked them, anyway?) that their Al-Aqsa television station was considering a possible change to the show's format. Because, according to the PA information minister, he has ordered the show's content to be reviewed "because it was wrong to use a program directed at children to convey political messages".
Oh, just 'political messages'?
Not murder and mayhem?
Labels: Middle East, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Friday, May 11, 2007
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