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Unread 04-12-2021, 12:17 PM
Julie Steiner Julie Steiner is offline
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Location: San Diego, CA, USA
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Max reminds me that we're pretty far afield from Seuss now...but the lesson I took from And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street as a kid was how sad it was that many grown-ups, like the narrator's unimaginative father, want complete control over what their kids are thinking. Which is pretty ironic, given the context of the current kerfuffle.

A lot of the stated morals of children's stories are just naked propaganda to affirm the authority of parents and teachers. Roger's comment reminds me that the moral of many Bible stories, at least as presented by authority figures, seems to be "Do what I say if you want to stay on God's good side, because look at what a terrifying asshole God can be sometimes. Better listen to me!"

When I was little, my parents told me that the two morals of "Little Red Riding Hood" were 1.) follow your parents' instructions to the letter (e.g., to stay on the path and go straight to Granny's house--rather than disobeying to pick flowers, as a thoughtful gesture to cheer Granny up) and 2.) don't talk to strangers, or they will pry too many details out of you and then use those against you.

On one occasion I contradicted these stated morals, and said that the lessons to be learned should be 1.) adults should know better than to send kids alone into dangerous places, armed only with advice to stay on the path and not dawdle, and 2.) sometimes strangers (e.g., the woodman) are the only ones who can save you from wolves in family members' clothing.

This did not go over well.

In the context of the non-criminals in my family constantly trying to present the outward appearance of normality and goodness, to avoid the negative consequences of scandal and gossip and shunning, my parents' version of the lessons to be learned (or taught, anyway) makes perfect sense, in retrospect. But only if--as within the Catholic Church--the priority is to avoid negative consequences for predators and their allies rather than for children. Again, not sending children into places known to be dangerous is a far better idea, if you really want to protect kids, than teaching them to obey authority figures no matter what. Because the authority figures can turn out to be the wolves.

I think it's a good thing for children to grow aware that storytellers and their interpreters are choosing to present certain evidence in a certain light. Who benefits from that particular version of events, rather than another? And might the lesson be quite different if different aspects of the story were emphasized instead? Modern society could use more critical consumption of narratives among adults, all across the political spectrum.

Last edited by Julie Steiner; 04-12-2021 at 12:25 PM.
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