Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Early indoctrination

In the spirit of DoubleQuotes, take the children's show "Tomorrow's Pioneers":

The show, along with paramilitary-style summer camps for Gazan boys, reveal a key element in Hamas's long-term strategy.
Like Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which spawned Hamas, the group takes a patient approach to tapping religious conviction to build political support. It is the movement's youth focus, critics say, that sets it apart from Hamas's rival, Fatah, which controls the West Bank and enjoys US and Israeli support.
The basic unit of the Hamas organization isn't cells or political committees – it's families. The organization has shown that by introducing children early enough to Hamas's hard-line Islamic thinking, it can recruit lifelong supporters.

Contrast with a report from the movie Jesus Camp:

Pastor Becky Fischer, effervescent and focused, recruits for Kids on Fire, a Pentecostal summer camp in Devils Lake, N.D. There campers pray to a cardboard standup of George W. Bush, weep and speak in tongues, writhe on the floor clutching little fetus dolls and perform Cultural Revolution-style musical numbers in camouflage face paint.
Think of it as boot camp for the future army of God. Fischer cheerfully admits to borrowing techniques used by other extreme religious factions (Islamic fundamentalism is a particular favorite) in her jihad against abortion, liberals and godless secularism. Counselors at Kids on Fire do not use war as a metaphor, but a sincere and formidable call to arms aimed at "taking America back for Christ."

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