Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

SIGN OF THE TIMES...
ICONOCLAST ^ | May 16, 2003 | Murray Soupcoff (The Iconcolast)

Posted on 05/16/2003 8:00:40 AM PDT by Apolitical

DAILY NOTEBOOK....


Sign of The Times...



May 16 2003: Today's recommended reading is a commentary by the ever insightful Thomas Sowell, on the TownHall.com web site. It's called, A SIGN OF THE TIMES, and is well worth a quick read.

Here's an introductory excerpt, to get you started:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. That was certainly true of a recent photo of a little 7-year-old boy holding a sign demanding more money for the schools and holding his fist in the air.

He was part of a demonstration organized by his teachers, and including parents and other students, all of whom were transported to California's state capital in Sacramento to protest budget constraints brought on by the state's huge deficit.

There was a time when taking children out of classes to fight the political battles of adults would have been considered a shameless neglect of duty. But that was long ago.

The little boy with the sign and his fist raised in the air is just one of the millions of victims of a shameless education establishment. It is not just that he is not in class learning the things he will need for his own mental development. He is out in the streets learning dangerous lessons for the future.

Of course, what Thomas Sowell doesn't mention is the overall trend, lately, of left-liberal interest groups manipulatively using the supposed well-being of "the children of (fill in the blank)" to score all kinds of political points. For example, one of the most emotionally-laden objections to the overthrow of Saddam and his repressive regime centered around all the Iraqi children who would be killed by American bombs. And of course, the staple of CNN and BBC war coverage was video footage of the few injured and crying kids in Baghdad hospitals whom Saddam's PR flacks could round up for pathos-starved Western TV reporters.

Think too about the latest media reports on poverty in America. Lately, they always seem to center around the hapless children living under substandard economic conditions, or the number of children going hungry, etc., etc. -- all of whom are depicted as victims of a heartless society (or Republican administration) and not victims of parents who perhaps thoughtlessly brought them into the world or abdicated their responsibility for them.

Think about the typical Democratic social-policy mantra, and it's always about "doing this for our kids," or saving "the children of America from (fill in the blank)."

Image-wise, children simply make the best leftist propaganda tools....

(Excerpt) Read more at iconoclast.ca ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: agitprop; caring; kids; politicalfodder; thomassowell
Kids -- the latest political fodder for exploitive leftists.
1 posted on 05/16/2003 8:00:41 AM PDT by Apolitical
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Apolitical
They have been the fodder for many years now. Perhaps you are just now opening your eyes to that fact.
2 posted on 05/16/2003 8:13:46 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Apolitical
It's for the children.
3 posted on 05/16/2003 8:18:39 AM PDT by Conspiracy Guy (Will Rogers never met me.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Apolitical
or the number of children going hungry,

DEMONCRATS claim 20% of Americas children go to bed hungry at night. does anyone think if the MEDIA could find these starving people in America that it wouldn't be front page news. I'm still waiting for the media expose on these stareving kids. Of course since they DON"T EXIST, it would be difficult. Beside they only go hungry when there's a Republican in the White House.

4 posted on 05/16/2003 8:19:35 AM PDT by Mister Baredog ((They wanted to kill 50,000 of us on 9/11, we will never forget!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mister Baredog
Maybe we could have a bake sale to help all those starving Democrat children, or maybe the Dems could suggest sending out a B-52 to drop millions of those yellow ration packs. I would what the Dems would say if they found out all those children were Republicans.
5 posted on 05/16/2003 8:30:59 AM PDT by GigaDittos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Mister Baredog
20% of Americas children go to bed hungry.


The poor in this country get food stamps, low income breakfasts and lunches. If these kids are going to bed hungry they must me living under a rock.

I followed a woman with a food stamp card in the grocery store. While I bought ground meat, hot dogs and tuna, she was buying Chicken Voila with the precut chicken. Food stamp people eat much better than I do.
On a side note, I got into a tiff with my lesbian/flaming liberal sister who, while she was changing her sexual orientation, ran into some hard times. She told me the hardest thing she ever heard was her youngest child telling her she was hungry.
I asked her how many cartons of cigarettes she bought a month. Shame on her.
6 posted on 05/16/2003 8:54:08 AM PDT by netmilsmom (Bush/Rice 2004- pray for our troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Apolitical
Democrats support abortion, who are they to talk about children?

If I had kids I'd keep them the hell away from so-called Liberals.

7 posted on 05/16/2003 9:29:21 AM PDT by Darheel (Visit the strange and wonderful.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson