The toddlers were at the pizza parlor to celebrate Kristina's 3rd birthday. A dozen youngsters jumped and clapped their hands as a giant rat, Chuck E. Cheese, came out to greet them. The Iraq War was far from my mind.
If you have never been to Chuck E. Cheese, it is a mix of carnival and play park, with so-so pizza, lots of video games, coin operated kiddie rides, and arcade games like ski ball. The place is designed for 2- to 10-year-olds, with occasional adults playing the games. There is even a designated play area for babies. I was escorting 4 little boys for the evening, to free their parents for a night out without the children.
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When the birthday party settled into eating pizza and birthday cake, a second feature began. A series of large screen TVs came to life to show Chuck E. Cheese TV. The program was, at first, MTV-like. Performers in large animal garb sang and danced through an idyllic scene with herons and alligators. A man clad in a blazing yellow shirt and red vest skipped across the screen, singing and snapping his fingers to the lively music. The scene shifted to a person dressed in a dog costume fishing in the lake with 3- and 4-year-old children and then shifted again from pictures of the children to mothers holding small babies. Although it was disjointed and a bit crazed, it was what one might expect at Chuck E Cheese.
Then my jaw dropped: the MTV segment shifted to a promotional piece compiled by the Department of Defense! The promo showed happy, smiling soldiers in Iraq handing out toys and candies to delighted children. This was followed by a series of scenes showing war planes, tanks and more happy soldiers. This production lasted for 5 minutes of the 15-minute CEC TV show. Throughout the segment, the large animated puppets' eyes shifted toward the TV as they nodded in approval and clapped. Then their eyes shifted back to the children, who were spellbound by the movie.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205C.shtmlThe Department of
DefenseWar Waging must be really feeling the heat if it has to reduce itself to propagandizing 4 year olds, but maybe they're just thinking long term on meeting future recruiting needs.
Somehow this following article by an ex-department head from the US Army War College seems more appropriate than ever. Although I have been a cynic for a while, I still found the above story about propagandizing 3 and 4 years olds in a Chuck E Cheese outlet mind boggling. Although it's quite possible that the propaganda is being aimed as much at the parents and other adult relatives in attendance as at the toddlers. Goebbels couldn't hold a candle to these guys.
Brainwashing America by Dr. Norman Livergood
In an earlier article, I reviewed the varied aspects of personality profiling and simulation. While serving as Head of the Artificial Intelligence Department at the U.S. Army War College, 1993-1995, I conducted studies on profiling, psychological programming, and brainwashing. I explored and developed personality simulation systems, an advanced technology used in military war games, FBI profiling, political campaigning, and advertising. Part of my discovery was that:
* unenlightened human minds are combinations of infantile beliefs and emotional patterns
* these patterns can be simulated in profiling systems
* these profiling systems can be used to program and control people
Personality simulation systems are being used to create political campaigns that apply voter profiles to control their voting behavior. TV commercials and programs use personality simulation to profile viewers to control their purchasing and viewing behaviors. And sophisticated propaganda and brainwashing techniques are being used by the Bush junta to keep American citizens under control.
http://www.hermes-press.com/brainwash1.htm 
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