Sunday, June 15, 2008

Brainwashed

Remember Elian Gonzalez?



(Pic by Alan Diaz, AP, Pulitzer Prize Winner)

The little Cuban kid who was wrenched from his American relatives in the middle of the night by your stereotypical jack-booted thugs at gunpoint, and subsequently returned to communist Cuba as Uncle Fidel's propaganda prize?

Well, his indoctrination is complete, as he proudly joined Cuba's Hitler Youth Young Communist Union on Saturday along with 18,000 other kids, other ways to spend their weekend not being in the cards, it seems.

"In an article in Cuba's communist youth newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, the 14-year old Gonzalez said he would never let ex-President Fidel Castro and his brother Raul Castro down."

I hate to break it to you, kid, but I'm giving 10 to 1 odds that ol' Fidel has already taken the big dirt nap, and that they're easing the country into accepting the idea of Raul as the new Great Leader. If they announced Fidel's death all at once, the peasants might actually rise up and take their country back.

2 comments:

DiscordianStooge said...

I'll just point out that Elian Gonzales was here illegally.

Douglas Hester said...

Good point. Very good point.

Let me think.

Nope, you're right. Elian should have been returned to his father eventually, as he is the true next of kin, and yes, he was here illegally. The way the situation was handled, however, was incredibly boorish and downright dangerous. After all, aren't we lectured regularly on how we need to have "compassion" and "sensitivity" for the children of illegals? I don't find dragging them out of a closet at gunpoint very compassionate.

This was also quite a different situation than your normal illegal alien story. Cubans are escaping a dictatorial regime that tortures and kills its citizens, as opposed to someone coming here merely to make more money.

My main problem with the situation was the employment of such heavy-handed tactics, short-circuiting the ongoing talks with the family at the time.

I still believe that the father had knowledge and approval of his ex-wife and son's trip, and isn't free to say so, which is kind of the problem with Communist governments in the first place. Remember the "handlers" that were with him 24/7?

All in all, though, you have made a fascinating point. Thank you. I will ponder this further.