By now, most people have probably heard about Farfur, the fundamentalist Islamic Mickey Mouse-like character who promotes violence and hatred on the Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa TV network. But have you seen him? In any case, this is both a complicated story and a simple one. It's simple because it's wrong. Indoctrinating children is hard to justify, particularly when that indoctrination involves, say, violence and hatred. But it's a complicated story, partly because Farfur was pulled off the air for review, and partly because he's just part of a long tradition of this kind of thing. There are also, just for the purposes of argument, plenty of examples of pro-American propaganda through the years that use children's entertainment as a vehicle. There are racist Bugs Bunny cartoons that reinforced negative stereotypes about African-Americans, Japanese, and Germans, and there's even a famous Disney propaganda cartoon in which Donald Duck plays a Nazi munitions worker (and says "Heil Hitler" all over the place). Is it always reprehensible? Is it effective? Might this kind of thing backfire? Are there any gray areas when it comes to teaching children to hate--or, at least, hatefully express their national/religious identity?
[Ben Greenman's acclaimed new book of fiction, A Circle is a Balloon And Compass Both: Stories About Human Love, is now available at bookstores.]
Reader Comments ( Page 14 of 14)
196. ' "Without religon, there would be no good or evil, no right or wrong, only the primal struggle between the weak and the strong." '
I don't think "religion" is the right word for it, but without superstition in general, there would be no "good" "evil" "right" and "wrong". After all, "good", "evil", "right", and "wrong" are all concepts human beings have manifested and designed.
We define things as being right and wrong. That's healthy and natural, but when you start to believe that there are arbitrary forces like "good" and "evil" behind things then that can mislead you into doing very stupid and illogical things.
I personally don't believe in good or evil. I believe in good will and ill will. And I believe any time anyone is feeling ill will towards someone it is because they are being mislead. For, logically, it makes no sense. And human beings, as a whole, are much too smart to continue solving problems through force.
I believe alot of people can be convinced into believing and doing things because of the conditioning around them.
People only believe in God because they are encouraged to by others. I was raised Catholic, until I reached an age of reason, and thought about it, and realized that not one thing that I've been taught made any sense at all, and that the only reason I believed it was because I was taught to.
You all brush off Greek Mythology as if it's completely retarded and asinine. "A HUMAN WITH AN ANIMAL'S HEAD?! THAT'S JUST PLAIN SILLY! LOOK AT HOW STUPID THOSE PEOPLE WERE FOR BELIEVING IN THAT KIND OF STUPID CRAP!" Take a look at what you're encouraged to believe. It's not much different.
The damage religion can inflict on society is terrifying. When many people believe in something as fundamental as religion, it effects their overall decision making. Religion doesn't encourage violence, but it sure can make people feel pretty damn complacent about it. Religion can serve as a tool to get others to rationalize otherwise illogical courses of action, and gain support for it. Islam is not making kids do or believe in violent things, but the excuse of it is allowing them to. And it's not just Islam. It is all religions. Every single one. Religion is used to help justify it, and religion is always a powerful swayer of opinion. That is terrifying.
And don't dismiss people who do terrible things as being "monsters". That completely ignores the problem. Hitler was a human being. It wasn't some mythic monster making those orders, it was a human being like you and me. When bad things happen it's us who are doing them. To dismiss it as being monsterous avoids the problem altogether.
Personally, I am an athiest. I'm fairly agnostic in nature, for I believe there is a point to which I know nobody can really be able to speak for. But I'm positive there is no moral God, as written in any scriptures. I'm concrened with the world around me. I think everyone should be. If one person can be convinced that violence is an emotional, messy and unprecice conclusion to a problem, than you must assume others can.
If anyone here believes that military force and invasion will solve these problems they are severely, severely mistaken. Radicalists, especially in religion, don't back down. They are not afraid of death, and they will continue to fester and boil long after a military operation has concluded. And why is this? Because people are convinced that something is right through force. You can punch someone in the face as much as you want, but they will not believe that 2+2=5, nomatter what Orwell says. You have to convince them through reason. Through logic.
It's always a difficult tasking in convincing religiously devout people anything they don't want to believe, for they can always fall back on the "God says so" excuse. But nobody ever achieves anything without being optimistic.
Optimism is not naive. Pessimism is.
Pessimists never try, and then they die.
miggelz at 5:55PM on May 10th 2007
197. Wanna see what the Government is up to? This is a crazy, but true, event that is happening RIGHT NOW! Go to http://timmybrooksisout.blogspot.com/ Barack is no different than the rest of the gangsters in office!
Mr.Timmy Brooks at 9:46PM on May 10th 2007
198. Hmmm, I wonder if that is truly what is being said or if this is another ploy by the hate mongers to spread more lies? I do not speak Arabic so I take eveything with a grain of salt and everyone else should too. Is it a true translation? A christian who believes in peace.
Chico at 4:11AM on May 12th 2007
199. Chris, lying about Palestine and the Palestinians doesn't strenghthen their position or yours. There was never, ever a country called Palestine. The complex events that occured during partition in 1947-48 happened because the Arabs refused to go along with the UN decision and chose violence instead. If the Arabs had abided by international law there would have been the very first Palestine in 1947. The refugees owe their hardships to a string of bankrupt leaders who promised the destruction of Israel and used the Palestinians as political pawns keeping them impoverished and politically isolated in accordance with their own political agendas. Remaking history is not only not constructive but a sure way to repeat past mistakes.
eric at 1:39PM on May 17th 2007