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Should this be in Politics or Media? Indoctrination!

#1

Dave

Dave

Olivia Goes to Venice.



Are you fucking kidding me??


#2

Cajungal

Cajungal

Is that real?


#3



makare

Olivia just likes the attention.


#4

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Olivia was cavity searched for drugs, the TSA was pleased.


#5

Dave

Dave

Cajungal said:
Is that real?
Click to expand...
Link to the actual children's book is the first line.

*At least it is now. Apparently I forgot that step when I first posted.


#6

Cajungal

Cajungal

Good Lord.


#7



makare

I don't understand what the problem is. Olivia is generally clueless to what is actually going on. Her self involved child's view of the world is the cornerstone of the books.


#8

Dave

Dave

You...don't see the problem with this? And you're going to be a lawyer? Someone who is supposed to be interested in the rights and liberties of citizens?


#9

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Just the lights and sounds of ambulances.


#10

Krisken

Krisken

So your issue is not with the child's reaction to being searched, but the searching itself.


#11



makare

They are going to board a plane and are going through a metal/weapons detector what exactly is unreasonable here?


#12

Cajungal

Cajungal

It's kind of funny when you take in the whole scene. The people behind looking annoyed/a little confused, the almost suspicious frowns on the TSA pigs, and then there's Olivia smiling away.


#13

Fun Size

Fun Size

I'm siding with Makare here. As adults we look at this and can muster outrage, but the fact is that this is a thing that happens, right now, in the real world. This is a thing that kids are going though. Kids react differently to stuff than adults. So no, I don't see this as indoctrination. I see it as a kids book reflecting how a child might view a real world situation.


#14

Dave

Dave

I'm against both the level of searching in today's society - which we can be reasonably certain does NOT work - and the indoctrination of children to accept the level of intrusion as being normal.


#15

Krisken

Krisken

I think it is freakier that it looks like something you'd see by Orwell. Scary times, these.


#16



makare

Cajungal said:
It's kind of funny when you take in the whole scene. The people behind looking annoyed/a little confused, the almost suspicious frowns on the TSA pigs, and then there's Olivia smiling away.
Click to expand...
Do you read Olivia books at your school? I love Olivia and the Missing Toy. That character is so much like I was when I was a kid it's scary.

And it is a metal detector those have been around for a long time. It isn't like she is getting strip searched. I am a civil liberties junkie and a privacy dinosaur and even I don't have a problem with metal detectors. If they were searching under her clothes or something like that then I'd have a problem. Or if they were just on the street or some other public place. But it is a metal detector before getting on an airplane. I don't see any problem with it.


#17

Cajungal

Cajungal

I read them to my godchild a lot. She's nuts about them. I've never gotten to read them in a classroom, but that's because I mostly deal with older kids. If I ever taught the little ones, I would.


#18

Gryfter

Gryfter

I don't see a problem. Airport security have had metal detectors for decades. I don't think anything there harkens to current TSA policies.

Now, if she was under-going an anal cavity search....


#19

MindDetective

MindDetective

The searching isn't the problem for me, really. It seems very contrary to be pleased about being searched for weapons. What is pleasing about that as an experience?
Added at: 11:52
Now that I think about it, the real problem for me is that it is just terrible writing. To quote the Robot Devil, "You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!"

A good writer, even for a children's book, would try to demonstrate what was happening less directly and through action. For example:

Going through the airport the security man waved his wand around Olivia to look for metal.
It was like when daddy pretended to tickle her without touching and Olivia giggled.

They way it is written, it leaves for too much to the reader's imagination, which is why I think it is is interpreted so differently by people in this thread.


#20

DarkAudit

DarkAudit

They failed to do a complete search by not cutting her open.

TSA warns of surgically implanted bombs.

:facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:


#21



makare

I don't know. When I was 5 we went to the police station and had to walk through the metal detectors. I thought it was great. A machine that can tell if you are wearing metal? super cool.


#22

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

But did 2 burly men hold you hands up and go over every inch of your body with wands?


#23

MindDetective

MindDetective

makare said:
I don't know. When I was 5 we went to the police station and had to walk through the metal detectors. I thought it was great. A machine that can tell if you are wearing metal? super cool.
Click to expand...
Sure, but the author doesn't convey anything about how cool it is. You as the reader have to interpret that by making up a reason for why Olivia is pleased.


#24



makare

She is pleased because she is being searched for weapons. And like I said above Olivia likes the attention.


#25

MindDetective

MindDetective

I haven't read the books, so maybe that is indicated elsewhere. That particular page is poorly written, though, since it neither says nor implies anything of the kind.


#26

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

I am going to hell for this...

Olivia looks to be part camel.


#27

Officer_Charon

Officer_Charon

Honestly? I don't think that this is something that should be broached in a children's book. Yes, it's a fact of life when you travel, but, frankly, I feel that it's a subject to be brought up by one's parents, not handed to you in kid's literature.

The writing itself? Yeah... "searched for anything bad," might have been a better choice.

I'm not one to candy-coat stuff... my daughter's going to be raised knowing what to watch out for when it comes to creeps and pervs, and know how to defend herself. But it's my choice - I know that there are plenty of people out there who might be horrified at me doing something like that. My child, my choice.


#28



Wasabi Poptart

I don't see a problem with this. I think it's great that they have it in a book. Why? Because most parents will not talk about these things with their children or just don't know how to broach the subject on a child's level. I can remember when I was a little girl I needed to have my tonsils out. Anything my parents told me was frightening. My surgeon didn't sit me down with my parents to talk to me. But my parents bought me a book about a little boy my age who was having his tonsils out. I read it a hundred times before my surgery and it made me feel so much better about what was going to happen.
It's a lot more reassuring to a child to see a familiar character, like Olivia, going through something they may have to in the near future than to simply have a parent tell them all about it.


#29

ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Then they looked for weapons up Olivia's bum.

She was very pleased.


#30



Wasabi Poptart

Also, seeing Olivia going through the metal detector and liking it is a whole lot better than having her refuse to go, throwing a fit, and making her fellow passengers wish she was a pulled pork sandwich.


#31

MindDetective

MindDetective

Wasabi Poptart said:
I don't see a problem with this. I think it's great that they have it in a book. Why? Because most parents will not talk about these things with their children or just don't know how to broach the subject on a child's level. I can remember when I was a little girl I needed to have my tonsils out. Anything my parents told me was frightening. My surgeon didn't sit me down with my parents to talk to me. But my parents bought me a book about a little boy my age who was having his tonsils out. I read it a hundred times before my surgery and it made me feel so much better about what was going to happen.
It's a lot more reassuring to a child to see a familiar character, like Olivia, going through something they may have to in the near future than to simply have a parent tell them all about it.
Click to expand...
I agree with the intent. It just was executed poorly, I think.


#32

strawman

strawman

We should take all references to traffic lights out of children's literature. Just because they are a part of life doesn't mean I want my children indoctrinated to accept such a great deal of control and authority.


#33



makare

Fight the power!

(Xzibit's voice makes my lady area heavy with dew! >.>)


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