Althouse: An earnest pro-reading poster...

May 5, 2012

An earnest pro-reading poster...

... is making everybody laugh:

29 comments:

harrogate said...: Not bad at all.; 5/5/12, 4:38 PM
edutcher said...: Looks like they turn into the Village People.

Even Hatman wouldn't want that.; 5/5/12, 4:42 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Nothing will help your children become individualized more than reading the same few books every other child is reading!; 5/5/12, 4:44 PM
rhhardin said...: It's traditional female swordplay.; 5/5/12, 4:45 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: The girls in the "after" drawing all have something obscuring their faces. Does reading give women body image issues?; 5/5/12, 4:52 PM
Scott said...: You see how the female's weapon is the biggest of all? It's obviously penis envy.; 5/5/12, 4:52 PM
edutcher said...: Either the boy on the right is wearing a witch's hat or a dunce cap.

In either case, it's sssseeeexxissssmmm!; 5/5/12, 5:05 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Scott: You see how the female's weapon is the biggest of all? It's obviously penis envy.

We're assuming the people wearing dresses are female. They're probably all cross-dresses, and the artist is trying to hide it, which explains the lack of detail he gave to the faces.; 5/5/12, 5:05 PM
Scott said...: Jason, I hadn't thought of that. We need to desensitize grade schoolers from associating certain clothing with gender. So what if Johnny wears a dress to school! Stop the bullying!; 5/5/12, 5:11 PM
David said...: They are all black people. Isn't this racist or something.; 5/5/12, 5:12 PM
john said...: Looks like a target on the left.

War on Women!; 5/5/12, 5:14 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: If I had a daughter, I wouldn't want her to cut up her face and put on a habit.; 5/5/12, 5:21 PM
Henry said...: It's not a habit. It's a deep sea pressure suit. Now it switches back and forth: Torquemada. Captain Nemo. Torquemada. Captain Nema.; 5/5/12, 5:50 PM
yashu said...: The last few days haven't been great for graphic designers. Sorry Julia.; 5/5/12, 6:02 PM
Joe said...: That's right; if it wasn't for books no kids would have an imagination.; 5/5/12, 7:19 PM
chickelit said...: I immediately associated the one on the left with a hardhat diver and the one on the right as a warlock or a wizard. I'm pretty sure I made those associations from reading books as a kid, for example treasure salvage adventures and King Arthur.; 5/5/12, 8:28 PM
Michael K said...: The best way to get your kids reading is to get rid of the TV set.

Oh No !; 5/5/12, 8:46 PM
dbp said...: Deep sea diving in a dress takes balls. So it must be a transvestite deep sea diver.

Imagination brought to you by reading books as a kid.; 5/5/12, 8:50 PM
Chip S. said...: I think the kid on the left has been influenced more by South Park than anything (s)he's read.; 5/5/12, 9:45 PM
Dante said...: Wow, they are trying to get kids to read Catch-22. I wonder how incredibly far away that is from the realities of today's video culture, and today's military culture.

I don't think people understand the idea of 3500 Americans dying to take an Island, let alone the crazy odds in bomber runs over Nazi Europe.; 5/5/12, 10:28 PM
Dante said...: Wow, I just read Ann's slam, not realizing why everyone is pooh-poohing this website. Maybe I don't understand the depth of thought on this blog, sometimes it seems pretty deep, but folks.

These images are what kids are growing up with. Sure, there are the social crowd enablers like FB, and others, but the deep running current is that video games are replacing movies with interactive, immersed, virtual reality. Scoff if you will, but the contact with base human imperatives over the "virtual world" will only get stronger. It is still nascent, but it will supplant everything, and at present it is driven by economics and deeply involved individuals.

This website is clearly trying to bring back the book to make it meaningful. The competition is enormous. And it shows no sign of abating. Rather, it is getting stronger and stronger. So don't laugh, unless you have a better idea.; 5/5/12, 10:46 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Althouse's earnestness only comes through when she's pondering the ins and outs of the racial spoils system in academia.; 5/5/12, 11:04 PM
David said...: It is not that hard to get kids reading. Restrict the TV and internet time. Don't get them video games. No cell phones at young ages. Read to them and with them. This is how my kids are doing it with their kids, and it works well.

At some point their children will rebel, but by then it will be too late. The will be book-lassoed.; 5/5/12, 11:26 PM
Clyde said...: Looks more like "this is your kids on Halloween" to me.; 5/6/12, 12:16 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: It's very good. At first the kids are like, bink: all lined up and ordinary. Then they're like, boink: all lined up and interesting.; 5/6/12, 1:43 AM
Toad Trend said...: And here are your children on liberalism:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAYlQhhocMw; 5/6/12, 6:39 AM
Astro said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/6/12, 7:05 AM
Astro said...: The statement under the picture isn't even worded very well. The second sentence ought to be "Our goals are to give free books to kids who want them and need them, [strikeout 'and'] to have follow up discussions in an attempt to encourage literacy and reading comprehension, and to spark a life long passion for reading!"; 5/6/12, 7:19 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: The ad makes me wish I'd read more pornography as a child.; 5/6/12, 7:34 AM