Friday, February 08, 2008

The more things change

While surfing around aimlessly, I found these McCarthy-era propaganda posters. Check this out:

The "unholy three": flouridated water, polio serum and "mental hygiene", a "diabolical plan by the enemy to turn a free and intelligent people into a cringing horde of zombies". Sounds ridiculous: flouridated water and polio shots are things we now know to be perfectly safe and good, and since people started dancing on the Berlin Wall, so much for the commies turning us into cringing zombies. But its hard not to notice we have modern-day equivalents that would fit right into the "unholy three": the HPV vaccine and gay marriage, say. The Enemy, with a different face, is still "The Other" with the same diabolical plan -- a worldwide caliphate in cringing submission to Sharia Law!

Replace "Communism" with "Islam", and this poster is something you might find on any wingnut website. It's amazing how long we've been manipulated by the same politics of fear and hate, only the players have changed. The McCarthy era is over in name only.