-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: john cochrane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: how to create morons? DOD handbook CECTV Show
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 14:19:17 -0700
Military Recruitment for the Toddler in your Family
Cec
Via Truthout, a piece written by Victoria Harper, about the Department
of Defense's latest efforts to prepare the 2-10 year old near you for
future adventures in military recruitment:
The toddlers were at the pizza parlor to celebrate Kristina's
3rd birthday. A dozen youngsters jumped and clapped their hands
as a giant rat, Chuck E. Cheese, came out to greet them. The
Iraq War was far from my mind.
If you have never been to Chuck E. Cheese, it is a mix of
carnival and play park, with so-so pizza, lots of video games,
coin operated kiddie rides, and arcade games like ski ball. The
place is designed for 2- to 10-year-olds, with occasional adults
playing the games. There is even a designated play area for
babies. I was escorting 4 little boys for the evening, to free
their parents for a night out without the children.
A birthday party in progress caught my attention, and I
watched the children clapping and singing. The stage above the
little party was equipped with a number of seven-foot-tall
animated puppets. From time to time, they would move around to
music, shifting their eyes from side to side and batting their
eyelashes. They all sang "Happy Birthday to You" and clapped
their hands. The ringing of the bells and sounds of children
playing the arcade games provided the background to the animated
show, which ran for about 15 minutes, ending with Chuck E.
Cheese walking about the room to greet the tiny children, who
were thrilled to meet him.
When the birthday party settled into eating pizza and
birthday cake, a second feature began. A series of large screen
TVs came to life to show Chuck E. Cheese TV. The program was, at
first, MTV-like. Performers in large animal garb sang and danced
through an idyllic scene with herons and alligators. A man clad
in a blazing yellow shirt and red vest skipped across the
screen, singing and snapping his fingers to the lively music.
The scene shifted to a person dressed in a dog costume fishing
in the lake with 3- and 4-year-old children and then shifted
again from pictures of the children to mothers holding small
babies. Although it was disjointed and a bit crazed, it was what
one might expect at Chuck E Cheese.
Then my jaw dropped: the MTV segment shifted to a
promotional piece compiled by the Department of Defense! The
promo showed happy, smiling soldiers in Iraq handing out toys
and candies to delighted children. This was followed by a series
of scenes showing war planes, tanks and more happy soldiers.
This production lasted for 5 minutes of the 15-minute CEC TV
show. Throughout the segment, the large animated puppets' eyes
shifted toward the TV as they nodded in approval and clapped.
Then their eyes shifted back to the children, who were
spellbound by the movie.
Several telephone calls I made to Chuck E. Cheese
headquarters were not answered. Finally reaching someone at the
local outlet, one of over 500 company owned and operated
locations, I learned that the CEC TV show was a regular part of
the offerings at all CEC sites and that it was run a number of
times during each day.
Pizza, soda, animated puppets, and military propaganda. Get those
preschoolers ready for their All American future -- you can never start
too soon.
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