Monday, April 06, 2009

21st Century "Duck and Cover"

I grew up in the McCarthy era. There was a Stalinist under every bed and nuclear war was a possibility on every day. The Civil Defense signs were seen in hallways of down-town office buildings and large cardboard boxes sat in basement stairwells filled with survival supplies. Subway entrances were posted with "shelter" signs as well as Chicago Transit Authority logos.

In school we learned that desks near the windows got you a fresh air breeze in the temperate months, but offered the possiblity of gamma ray flash burns followed by severe lacerations when the blast wave blew out the glass. Periodically we would do the government mandated "duck and cover" drill and every Tuesday morning at 10:30 the air raid sirens would be tested for one minute.

Were we scared little tykes? Well, yes, we were. My secure world and my loving parents could be annihilated in a very literal flash.

So, what do you make of this:

Indoctrinate While Young

"Are you worried the earth won't exist when you grow up?" Excuse me, if the earth won't exist, you won't grow up will you? What kind of rational adult poses this question to a 6-11 year old?

Notice that the concerned parent quite reasonably asks the telephone poller who sponsors this survey. He gets no answer.

Can there be any doubt who it might be? It's a four-letter word...G..O..R....No more hints.

So, little tykes, to save the planet, you be sure to dun your parents into buying a piece of crap electric car for $40,000 dollars, giving up air conditioning, foregoing electric lights in the house, and converting to windmills and solar panel suits for their entire body.

1 comment:

LauraB said...

Ah,yes - I remember those good times at Hibbard Elementary on Ainslie...

Still called it the "cloak room", still had holes in the desks for ink wells. I preferred to sit by the exit. Didn't trust those funky poles for opening and closing the windows.

And, of course, I could duck and cover with the best. But they've ensured no escape for the kids from their program...or would that be progroms?