Battle for
Children's Minds Fought on All Fronts
by William
R Alford - Oct. 9, 2003
A
little known youth-media
educational organization’s activities illustrate in microcosm a larger
effort to influence children’s hearts and minds with a certain agenda.
Although parents are mentioned as being among the intended audience,
the
resources are geared mainly for professional educators and youth
organizations.
It merits a closer look:
Describing its mission, Just
Think says it “targets under-resourced populations
from
low-income areas. Our programs are designed for students ages 8 to
18;
educational institutions serving youth; and teachers, community
leaders,
and parents.” It was created
in 1995 as a “concerned response to the ever-increasing deluge of
messages
youth receive television, radio, film, print media, electronic games
and
the Internet.” Further:
Just Think is a non-censorship
organization.
Our programs help students and teachers
[no mention of parents] become aware of the choices they can make in
their own interpretation and evaluation of the media around them. Just
Think promotes media literacy as a key means of countering
media
stereotyping. This approach encourages openness and objectivity and
fosters
tolerance, understanding, and respect.
Just Think produces workshops
to develop “sensitivity”
to youth-affecting issues. Terrorism, war, diversity, racism, body
image
and health are recurring themes. Not only does Just Think discourage
‘censorship,’
it has a list
of recommended artists and publications for its target
under-age
audience. Among these:
- Tupac
Shakur
– Just Think describes Shakur as “a martyr in many
peoples
eyes, responsible for a lot of the sounds in hip hop that we hear
today.”
Shakur was raised by parents who were both Black Panthers. His
stepfather
was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list until being jailed for robbery
and
murder in 1983. In 1994,
Shakur was shot during a robbery attempt outside a New York music
studio.
He survived and was convicted later that year of “sexually abusing” a
woman
he invited to his hotel room, but was acquitted of sodomy and weapons
charges.
Shakur was gunned
down in September 1996 in a still unsolved gang-style murder while
out on bond for his earlier conviction. He was 25.
Selected
lyrics from “Bury me
a G” from Shakur’s 1994 “Thug Life” album
I got nothen' ta loose
so I choose to be a
killer
went from bangin' ta
slangin'
now i'm a dope dealer
all my life payed tha
price to be tha boss
back in school
wrote tha rules on
getten' tossed
poppin' rocks [of
‘crack’ cocaine]
on tha block was a past time
pack a 9 [9mm
firearm] all the time
you wanna test mine ?
don't cry
I die before they play
me
from tha cradle to tha
grave
bury me
[sic] |
- Bust
magazine
– Just Think describes Bust as “A smart,
alternative,
funny and feminist magazine for young women. They're [sic]
website
is just as good.” It does specify that the magazine is for young women,
but makes no attempt to dissuade their [as young as
eight-year-old]
target audience from perusing the linked website. The website
itself
has no warning about ‘adult’ [i.e. sexually explicit]
content. No password or other means to stop children from browsing
the site is offered.
Why
this is important:
In a user-contributed discussion
section there is a ‘let’s
talk about sex’ subsection. As of this writing the current subject
matter ranged from advice about coping with anal sex, masturbation
techniques,
improving fellatio etc. – often using explicit descriptions of sex
acts
and slang terms for body parts. It also sells merchandise in a ‘boobtique’
section which has a ‘sex
toys’ subsection offering an illustrated selection of vibrators,
‘water
dancers,’ ‘purring pussy’ spray and ‘Vulva Vixen Intimate’ massage
oil.
Just Think did not respond to
queries about the
age-appropriateness of its recommendations.
Garnering funding
from such organizations as AOL/Time-Warner, Academy Studios and the
Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, Just Think portrays itself as a
‘non-censorship’
entity. Nevertheless, a certain class of perspectives is not
offered
for children to consider. It offers workshops for young girls to
avoid
obsessing about ‘body
image.’ Youngsters are told to love themselves as they are rather
than
engaging in self-destructive behaviors such as anorexia and bulimia.
There
is no balancing discussion about the dangers of the increasing child
obesity phenomenon, however. Neither is there any mention of
possible
consequences to the sexual abandon explored in some of the favored
links.
Although values such as
‘diversity’ and ‘tolerance’
are taught, there is no encouragement for youth to pursue any
religious
or spiritual guidance. Feminist and multicultural tracts are
recommended
sources of values education, but sources espousing objective truth and
teaching personal responsibility are conspicuously absent.
What is important here is not
that a particular
group seeks to instill its particular value system in children. Just
Think
merely illustrates a much larger problem. For those who are concerned
about
the current state of education, far more formidable adversaries
lie in such entities as the teacher’s unions, local school boards and
the
U.S. Department of Education.
The Internet is an increasingly
important means
to gather and disseminate information for all ages, but especially for
children. It is extensively used in the home, office and classroom. A
recent
study supervised by Grunwald
Associates found that children list the Internet amongst their
top
five information sources. The time minors spend online (2.9 hours
per
day) is now reaching parity with the time spent watching television
(3.1
hours per day.)
The Harpies of the Brave New
World have embraced
the Internet wholeheartedly. One benefit of this is that it is much
easier
for outsiders to browse their materials, monitor their activities,
discern
their objectives, etc. In today’s increasingly ‘wired’ world, it is
necessary
for parents, grandparents and others who care about children to become
Internet savvy as well. We cannot afford to abandon this important
battleground
to the other side.
Our adversaries in the
government, media and
academic elites know that children are the key to the future
and
are marshalling their considerable resources to reach them. They have
had
tremendous success in doing so for more than a generation. We can see
the
results all around us. It is time to say enough is enough
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