Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Mmm, Mmm, Mmm



The conservative media has been in an uproar recently over video footage of children at a New Jersey elementary school singing the praises of President Barack Obama. The RNC has even used this faux news event in their recent fund raising appeals.

I have been following this story with some interest. I actually have to agree, I don't think that we should be teaching partisan politics in school. On the other hand, this story is so minor in it's original intent, so ripe with political hypocrisy as presented and so overblown by the media that I am flabbergasted.

The most important point to be remembered about political propaganda is that if one is going to blame it on a political party or organization it must come from the top down. Obama can't indoctrinating school kids unless he or his party directed it.

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show said it most succinctly: "It was one school in New Jersey, Obama had nothing to do with it, it occurred during Black History Month, just after the inauguration, it was part of a program saluting other president's as well, and parent's were notified of the contents of the lyrics beforehand - and there were no complaint before the show, during the show or after the show."

Also, I cannot see how people can really be strongly against the lyrics of the songs - unless they are against fairness, equal work for equal pay, everyone getting an equal chance and treating all people as equals, or having a black president. If a person is against these things, then they are probably in the wrong country.

These are the lyrics to the song sung by the New Jersey elementary school kids:


These lyrics are certainly more offensive (for obvious reasons), and the message was conveyed from the top down, thus fulfilling the definition of 'propaganda' or 'indoctrination':

At the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, children from the stricken Gulf Coast region serenaded First Lady Laura Bush with a song praising the beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency.

To the tune of Hey Look Me Over, about 100 young children from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama sang:

Our country’s stood beside us
People have sent us aid.
Katrina could not stop us, our hopes will never fade.
Congress, Bush and FEMA
People across our land
Together have come to rebuild us and we join them hand-in-hand!

8 comments:

  1. If this is offensive to them, what's next? They put a bill before Congress to outlaw the playing of "Hail To The Chief"?

    What have they got against some school kids in the Garden state belting out a song of hope?

    They are really digging deep for something to bitch about.

    I'm starting to think you are right Dr. Z, man IS a pestilence.

    Doc

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  2. Just be happy Hussein X's handlers changed the original lyrics, dropping the coded references to internment camps and collective farms and nationwide Nazi indoctrination centers.

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  3. Why are Republicans so irritating?
    Seriously.... I'm not the smartest chick on the block (please give me back my brain Dr.Zed ..) but even I can see how stupid they are.
    I know not ALL Republicans are like that.. just the ones that Fox News interviews....

    ((Hugs))
    Laura

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  4. Right after Black History Month and his inauguration.

    The Nerve of some people! Imagine coming from a culture, forcibly immigrated here as Slaves, sold off, raped, worked to death, families shattered into a million pieces, and cultural references lost forever--how it must feel to look at the Underground Rail Road, and then at Barack Obama.

    Mmmmmm that must feel damn good!

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  5. Dr. Zaius, I, personally, am getting sick and tired of you and your "according to Hoyle" definitions and rules getting in the way of outright bias and hateful partisanship!

    Crush the infamy!

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  6. Doc: Man is indeed a pestilence, and I've got just right kind of bug spray to eradicate them! ;o)

    Randal Graves: They are still in the song, if you play it backwrds! MWUHAHAHAHA! ;o)

    Sunshine: One might as well ask "Why are rich people so irritating?" Rich people are irritating because they can afford to be irritating. ;o)

    Seeing Eye Chick: That's why I love that video "Yes we Klan". We must protect the White Christian Male Power Structure! ;o)

    Zirgar: I resent your insinuations. I have never played "according to Hoyle" in my whole life! Rules were made to be broken. ;o)

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  7. You know what frosts me?

    They had school kids sing a song with the word "doth" in it.

    You know the founding fathers said "doth". We are desperately trying to suppress any founding father's knowledge in our curriculum. That'll set us back WEEKS!!

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  8. If we stop allowing School kids to sing about Obama in positive terms, can we then stop naming airports after that DICK, Reagan?

    Just saying.

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