A Poster Boy for Brainwashing

Imagine my surprise when I discovered my nursery school photo is being used by Cory Frickin’ Doctorow for an article on Boing Boing.

The subject? Counter-terrorism, natch.

England’s West Midlands counter-terrorism unit is putting nursery schools on notice to check out their four-year-olds to make sure that they’re not being “brainwashed” into “Islamic extremism.”

It should be noted that my nursery school was extremely white-bread, monocultural and Christian. I supposed that was fairly typical of a suburban nursery school in the American Midwest in the early 1970s. I doubt there was a whole lot of Islam in play there, extreme or otherwise. That’s what makes the juxtaposition a little jarring. Perhaps that’s Cory’s way of making a point.

By the way, when I referred to him as Cory Frickin’ Doctorow it was in light of the realization that this man, who’s written books I have read and enjoyed, has gazed upon my visage however briefly. It’s kind of like brushing up against a celebrity at the supermarket. Or something.

I posted this to Facebook, where the best comment came from my former classmate Aaron V., the very one who scanned this photo and shared it with me in the first place:

Where were the anti-terrorist cops when you threatened jihad on anyone that disrupted the prehistoric diorama you built in the sandbox?

Ha!