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February 13, 2006
Curious George - The Politicially Incorrect Monkey
The pseudo-intelligent politically-orrect anti-llectual potentates are beating their drums again. This time they're having a field day with poor little Curious George. I always thought it was just a funny children's book. Who knew that it was a lesson in third world exploitation by Western Imperialists, replete with flagrant violations of animal rights and glorification of destructive behavior such as smoking and hunting. Arkonline says this of the book:
Not only does the story reveal the sinister side of a corrupt wildlife trade with perilous roots in Western imperialism, but recent ethical, legal and scientific considerations on the personhood of primates makes a traditional reading of Curious George both impossible and irresponsible.
The book begins with a picture of a happy monkey swinging in a tree and eating a banana. The image is so pleasant, in fact, that even the flowers in the illustration have happy faces. The little monkey is happy as well, until he is captured, when his wide grin turns to a grimace. When H.A. Rey first wrote the book in the early 1940s, public attention and conservation efforts failed to focus on a dangerous and controversial wildlife trade where millions of apes and monkeys are slaughtered, captured, and sold into animal slavery, and babies are frequently snatched from the lifeless bodies of their mothers. In Rey's book there is no violent capture-only a benign looking white man - presumably a wildlife trader -- in a big yellow hat.
The current controversy has remarkable parallels to these satirical observations of Curious George from four years ago:
Authorities now suspect The Man in the Yellow Hat may be responsible for having lured Curious George to the urban jungle of drugs, sex, and carnivals and away from the jungle he called his home. A photo, recently obtained from an unnamed source, implicates "The Man" teaching George to get high. The Man's attorney, Burt Goldenberger, released the following statement: "These photos don't prove a thing...they were completely doctored. George doesn't even have an opposable thumb."
The satirists are clearly having a ever more difficult task of trying to keep ahead of the Left Coast loonies and the self-appointed guardians of the politically correct ideologies. It seems nearly impossible to dream up something so absurd that these thought-police won't adopt the satire as their true cause.
Fortunately, I'm on board now. I've seen the proverbial light. I'm going to go home and torch all of Jennifer's "Curious George" imperialist propaganda and, while I'm at it, I'll dig around for that horrific Goodnight Moon manifesto also. (Goodnight Moon paraody here).
Posted by Peenie Wallie on February 13, 2006 at 11:55 AM
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