I've been trying to follow and research what I believe is a progandanda message which has been hitting the mainstream media. In my "Oprah Says Make More Babies" post I tried to start a conversation on this, but I wasn't very clear or concise, and so the subject started bouncing around all over the place.

Basically, what I'm saying I've seen is a message which equates 'baby raising' with 'patriotic military service'.

I was speaking with a communications professor a month or two ago and we had an 'Oh my gosh!' moment when we realized we were both seeing the 'baby' message in various mainstream places (she had seen it on an Energizer battery billboard). We agreed we found it very troublesome, because, it seems similar to how Germany tried to prepare for WWII, but that's just our opinion.

The newest mainstream manifestation is a Disney film: [u:0860fa5abb]Vin Diesal is The Pacifier[/u:0860fa5abb]

Here's the official movie website:
[disney.go.com]

The caption on the movie poster reads: "Welcome to the infantry". Vin Diesal stars as a Navy Seal taking on child rearing. The official movie website is very clear and unabashed at linking the themes of military service and child rearing. There's really nothing held back as far as this example goes. I mean, it's very odd in the first place that Vin Diesal is being used in a Disney film.

And I find it very interesting that both of these examples are linked to Disney. This film obviously... and as far as Oprah's "Worlds Biggest Baby Shower" filmed at Fort Campbell Army base; Oprah=ABC= Owned by Disney.
[www.oprah.com]

Here is one military wifes' blog who takes offense at Oprahs' military baby shower:
[www.recalcitrant_femme.blogspot.com]

Is anyone else seeing or recognizing this 'baby+military' message in other places? Does anyone find it disturbing that in the midst of two wars and possibly more, we are being marketed with this junk?

I have no opinion on this idea, except that it seems to me that the USA is awash in what i would call "military propaganda" of many kinds, and all kinds of covert mass persuasion.

But I want to just make a more general point.

When thinking about things of this nature, it is essential for us to reflect on our own perceptions and biases.

For instance, there is something called a "Confirmation Bias".
[skepdic.com]
This is where one selects and observes things that confirm one's beliefs, and ignores things that might contradict them.
There are many ways we can fool ourselves.
Add www.skepdic.com to your favorites, and use it often.

Also, there are many other tools of careful Skeptical Thinking, in Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit.
[www.xenu.net]

To me, these tools are ESSENTIAL when dealing with such tricky things as Mind Control, Cults, covert mass persuasion, propaganda, and things of this nature.

Coz

Marc :

The points you make are interesting. Personally, I've missed that particular propoganda.

When birth certificates are filed, there is a section submitted for governmental use only - the individual and family will never be able to access that section. That section includes various demographic information.

Anyone in my profession (Obstetrics) in the USA, daily observes that the birth rate of women with darker skin, e.g. recent immigrants, is much greater than that of middle class caucasians.

Sociologists could have a field day extrapolating that data & the implications for coming decades.

Coz : Tks for the links!
Corboy : Tks for the new book ref's. Been clicking away here...