I would like to share something with you all that was recently brought to my attention. I don’t think teaching history is a bad thing but I am a bit on my heels with this one. I believe there is a reason that such history lessons are not taught to children of a certain age. I believe it has to do with what the mind and experience of a child at a certain age is able to process in a healthy manner. I believe this “coloring book” is crossing the line. I understand the book has a PG rating and therefore it is up to the discretion of the parents and “OK“. It just saddens me that such material would ever be considered acceptable for a child that is of an age that coloring in a coloring book is still interesting.
This book was produced and published by the folks at Coloringbook.com. On their site, where they are selling the book, you will find a few pages from it. On these pages you can read some of the text and see some of the images to be colored. The most disturbing image they provide for you to preview would be the one to the right. I think they were trying to show Osama as a coward in that he is hiding behind a woman… but I think it more appropriately shows that an unarmed woman was killed by a soldier while she was trying to protect an old unarmed man. Regardless, I never had such coloring books when I was a kid. Nobody got me the “Vietnam – the Mistake that Should Not be Repeated” coloring book and I think I am a better person for it.
You will also find a list of comments/editorials from a variety of news sources. Ridiculous statements where they attempt to justify the content by making a comparison to video games or other disturbing forms of media to which children are subjected. Well, I don’t know about you, but I was always taught that “two wrongs don’t make a right“.
I would like to commend a few sources for not joining the patriotic bandwagon, but I couldn’t find any. Which is strange because I keep reading that this coloring book is “controversial“. I find no controversy from any one. Most reports/reviews simply pieced together the same quotes of text from various members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the book’s publisher. I am guessing they feared being shunned for taking a stand. So much for freedom of the press, freedom of religion or freedom of speech for lack of fear of prosecution.
It is pointed out again and again that the book doesn’t talk about all Muslims or Islamic followers in general. It only repeatedly references “‘radical Muslim Islamic extremists“. Oh! Well, that’s different! I am sure small children understand the difference, right? It’s the way they walk and their purple skin! You can’t be confused as it is always so obvious. Publishing and releasing a coloring book of this magnitude is not a responsible move. It is the plain and simple indoctrination of a prejudice at a very early age. So much for learning from history. I for one am very disappointed.
One of the rather famous artists of the genre was Gil Elvgren. Artworks were drawn based on actual models and his motto for a perfect model was “a fifteen-year-old-face on a twenty-year-old-body”. And then comes “the artist’s touch” to create a classic of pin-up art. Have a look at the original photograph and the finished result and see what kind of differences you can notice.