Got the below email through one of my Stanford distro lists. . . was actually quite disturbed by it. Now, I’m not affiliated politically. . . but I’m probably more right leaning than left . . . a typical California Republican (i.e. social democrat + laisez faire economic republican). Still, I find this uncalled for - a children’s book making fun of a specific ideology or groups of people. Granted I haven’t read the book (and not about to spend money on it), the concept of the book is kinda sad. I’m not sure imposing our religious, societal, and political views in such a mean spirited manner (the social democrat part of me) on our children is such a great idea.
Rather, I believe belittling something you simply don’t believe in or belong to teaches close mindedness and bigotry. Morality and ethics (family values . . . eek hate that word) is not the exclusive domain of any one group of people . . be it race, nationality, religion, or political affiliation. Trying to present it as such is amoral in of itself.
I know it’s really a novelty book and not meant to be consumed by children but cant people stick to political cartoons making fun of each other on Time or Newsweek? I certainly enjoy caricatures of GW or Hillary. But using seemingly innocuous and innocent mediums to spread hate or disparagement seems a little low. Its almost like hijacking a religious sermon to rant on about politics. . . oh wait. . . that’s actually pretty normal practice for both sides . . . forget it, I’m just way too thin skinned for politics.
This is a humor book that my company is putting out — it actually hit
#1 on Barnes & Noble’s website at one point today. The subject matter
speaks for itself so feel free to disregard this notice if it’s not your
cup of tea.Best wishes,
Erichttp://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/prweb/20050922/bs_prweb/prweb288598_1
Conservative Kid’s Book Challenges Harry Potter for #1 Amazon Spot
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 22, 2005 — An unlikely children’s
book has stepped forward to challenge “Harry Potter” for the #1 ranking
on Amazon.com’s bestseller list, and its portrayal of left-wing icons
Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy as cartoon villains has provoked a
firestorm of controversy in the process.“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed” (Kids Ahead; hardcover
$15.95; ISBN 0976726904) by Katharine DeBrecht soared to #6 in Amazon’s
overall rankings on Wednesday afternoon after being praised by talk radio
king Rush Limbaugh on his national radio show. The illustrated book
ranked second only to J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince” in Amazon’s children’s book category, and was also ranked as #8
overall on Barnes & Noble’s site.Should the book go on to topple “Harry Potter” for the top spot, it
would be a major upset by a most unlikely underdog. Not only have the
leading publications in the publishing industry such as Publisher’s Weekly
and The New York Times Book Review ignored the book, it has also been
fiercely denounced by liberal pundits and bloggers. The average customer
review for “Liberals Under My Bed” on Amazon stood at only one star out
of five earlier this week as liberals flocked to the site to criticize
the controversial book. But its fortunes dramatically reversed as word
of the book spread in conservative circles.“Our hat is off here to Katharine DeBrecht, the author of ‘Help! Mom!
There Are Liberals Under My Bed,’” Limbaugh proclaimed to his audience,
adding that left-wing critics were upset about DeBrecht’s book because
of its accurate parody of the liberal movement. “I’m telling you, the
liberals cringe — they go ape! — when you dare be honest about them.
They call it an attack!” Limbaugh added.Limbaugh recounted that Ron Reagan — whom he playfully referred to as
an MSNBC “quasi-host” — scolded DeBrecht on his cable television
show, and that Alan Colmes, the liberal co-host of “Hannity & Colmes,”
claimed her book existed for the purpose of brainwashing. Limbaugh went on
to note that the popular Democratic Underground website named DeBrecht
to its “Top 10 Conservative Idiots” list, and that the highly
trafficked left-wing blog Daily Kos likened her book to Nazi propaganda.“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed” — which features
full-color illustrations by award winning artist Jim Hummel — tells of two
brothers who open a lemonade stand. Their plans to save up their
hard-earned profits to buy a swing set go awry when a Ted Kennedy character
taxes away their proceeds and a pants-suit clad Hillary Clinton look-alike
outlaws sugary drinks. The book is being hailed by traditional values
advocates as an alternative to liberal books such as “Rainbow Fish”
(where a fish is hectored into giving away his beautiful scales so that all
the fish look the same) and “King & King” (where two princes marry each
other and adopt a little girl), which are often found in our nation’s
classrooms.About Kids Ahead: Kids Ahead is an imprint of Los Angeles-based World
Ahead Publishing, the West Coast’s premier publisher of conservative and
libertarian books. To learn more, visit www.worldahead.com .Contact Information: To interview author Katharine DeBrecht, contact
Special Guests at (630) 848-0750.# # #
