I don't know how I missed this when I was blogging about Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed, but here's another kid's book from the greener side of the political spectrum. I am a little concerned, however, that kids might lose interest in Hey Kidz! Buy This Book A Radical Primer on Corporate and Governmental Propaganda and Artistic Activism for Short People before finishing the title. The description of the book sounds like the authors are making an effort to reach older kids by combining media literacy and communications strategy with real-world advice like "easy-to-follow directions for performing basic activist functions, such as holding meetings, making salsa, designing flyers and posters, hooking up a PA, and working effectively with others." I suspect that media literacy programs in Texas won't be adopting this text any time soon, but this seems like a book I would have loved as a young geek. I remember reading about the green futures presented in The Kids Whole Future Catalog and dreamed of growing vegetables in windows and riding public transportation.
For propaganda, this is a good deal better than *The Black Panther Coloring Book*. Oh...wait...that one was published by COINTELPRO...
I love the fact that you read *The Kids Whole Future Catalog*. I adored that book (enough so that it still sits on one of my bedroom bookshelves). I've spent the last 23 years periodically looking through it and checking off what they got right and what still has yet to come:
- "A House Run by a Computer"...check
- "City Under a Dome" (complete with illustration of Midtown Manhattan under protective glass)...nope
- "Here Come the Beans" (on increased use of Soy)...check
- "Spare Parts For People" (regarding advances in artificial organs)...check
- "A Robot For a Teacher"...nope...thank God...
- "Information By Computer"/"The Case of the Vanishing Post Office"/"Networking: Linking Up The World"...check...pretty much...
- "Ships of the Sky" (on gigantic dirigibles for mass transporation)...no, goddamn them, not yet.
- "New Ways To Fly" (the requisite page on personal jetpacks)...nope...
I love the techno-hippie ethos that informs this book. Now that we're actually IN the Future that the catalog refers to, I'm more than a bit disappointed that so many of its utopian visions have apparently failed. A lot of the tech stuff is there in some form, or is at least on the way, but the social revelations are still a long time coming.
Even the tech disappoints in places... I want to ride a giant blimp! I want my jetpack! I WANT MY JETPACK!!!
Posted by: Erich at July 21, 2005 08:20 AMrecent entries
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