I’m not making this up. I mean, if I did, it would be such an obvious (to the point of stupidity) heavy-handed parody of conservative paranoia.
But damned if it ain’t real. It’s even on Amazon.
Awww, how kyoooot!!! It’s never too young to learn about the effective use of straw-men and caricaturing people you don’t like.
What’s really amusing is that, back when the Soviets did this sorta stuff, conservatives used to call it by its proper name - indoctrination. How quickly we forget!
Are there any children’s books which are fairly described as indoctrination for a liberal point of view?
I think it’s cute. Relax.
Yes. The rest of them!
[scary music]
Duh, Duh, Duunnn…
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You are aware of the liberal bias in children’s publishing these days, right?
I wish there were liberals under my bed.
Hot, lesbian ones!
You mean the ones that talk about fairness, sharing, and being nice to others?
Nah. I think what’s really amusing are some of the reviews:
I’m sorry. Due to a change in values, now the only lesbians avalible in the “Things hidden under your bed at night” department are so-so-looking closeted republican lesbians, married to men and only now realizing their sexuality. 
Commie.
And what do you call books of the “Timmy has two dads” genre? They are nothing but attempts to indoctrinate children early with the idea that gay couples are normal and OK. Now that happens to be something I believe in, but I’m not to blinded by ideology not to see it for exactly what it is. There are parents out there who do not believe that gay couples are normal or OK, don’t they have the right to give their kids books that teach the values that they hold?
(Frankly, the piece you quoted about the lemonade stand seems spot on. I wish more kids would be taught that we need the government OUT of our lives, not further IN.)
Well, if it were Conservativeland Tommy and Lou wouldn’t have been able to get their lemonade stand funded by the state in the first place 
Well, I dunno, Bricker. It’s hard to find children’s books that try to persuade kids that no glass of lemonade is truly complete unless it’s washing down a yummy snack of broccoli florets.
I spose you’re talking about books like “Heather Has Two Mommies,” but then the question arises, is it indoctrination if you’re simply sharing the truth?
Yes.
Well, it doesn’t demonize anyone, so perhaps it doesn’t count, but Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type explores the world of labor-management relations from a slightly leftward perspective. But neither that, nor any other book offered openly for acceptance or rejection by the public, can fairly be called indoctrination. Propaganda, sure, but not indoctrination. Conservatives might as well worry about all the emphasis on sharing that we force on our children.
I’m not overly concerned about this, and I’m pretty far left of center. The book might be well-written and funny, although the author doesn’t sound like a light-hearted person. Liberals (more so, the bureacracies they tend to favor) can be officious, meddling do-gooders (and I hope to heaven we don’t prove it by getting all worked up over a book we don’t like).
I think the publishers are on to something. I actually hope this becomes a series. Next up:
–**There’s a conservative under my bed ** – Because Lou might not be a girl’s name.
–There’s a libertarian under my bed – Explaining why it’s okay to save money by using floor cleaner as flavoring as long as they don’t force anyone to drink it.
–Pat Buchanan is under my bed – Checking for recent immigrants.
–Dick Cheney is under my bed – But we can’t reveal that information to anyone.
–Jeff Gannon is under my bed – And the conservative is beginning to feel very conflicted.
I see your point here, but I personally have a hard time equating a book that has a message of ‘It’s okay to accept people for being gay’ with a book that says ‘It’s okay to hate liberals.’
But, hey, First Amendment. I just shake my head and laugh at the crazy sidewalk preachers too.
No, I’d say it’s not indoctrination if you’re sharing the truth.
I’d say a requirement for “the truth,” though, is it be objectively verifiable and factual, or intended to teach objectively verifiable facts.
My favorite part is the note from the publisher:
(emphasis mine) What the hell? Which children’s books are telling kids to light up? “Curious George Gets Really Baked”? “Hop on Pop”? “Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Abandoned VW Van”?
More importantly, why didn’t I get to read them when I was a kid?
Have you read anything about the book? I have, and I wouldn’t say it fits within the parameters of “verifiable, factual, or intended to teach objectively verificable facts.” It’s about a couple kids who open a lemonade stand. First their tax rate goes up to 50% so the government can buy dustpans for poor children to wear as shoes. Then they are told to take down a picture of Jesus they have on their stand. Finally they’re told they must give out broccoli along with each cup of lemonade they sell.
Tell me which of those scenarios is even analagous to anything in the real world. The closest may be taxes, the rest are pretty much completely out there.
Enjoy,
Steven
Without having read it, perhaps this?
See below.
I see it as what they’d figure out for themselves if nobody was doing any indoctrination any which way. Which is why I can’t regard it as indoctrination. It’s like if I wrote a book teaching kids that if they jump in puddles on the way to school, they’ll go to school in wet clothes, is that indoctrination? Few would say so.
There certainly are. And they have the right to do this in any manner they want to.
However, most Americans with this point of view are of one or another of the Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), and all three of these belief systems warn rather strongly against bearing false witness. So I’d expect them to do so in a way that doesn’t distort the truth. Which pretty much leaves them saying lamely, “there’s no evidence that gay couples are any different from straight couples, but we believe homosexuality is immoral.”
Unfortunately, this is not the approach they take, so I can cheerfully point out that they’re a bunch of raving hypocrites who think it’s more important to trash homos than to follow the tenets of their own faith.
Yeah, government officials are always going into private businesses and demanding they take down religious symbols.
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Say, how do you like the way we’re appeasing the Shi’ite fundamentalists in Iraq? 
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