Page 61 - Effable Encounters

Kids’ Krusade for Krissendom

segment of our online community. I say temporary because, as you
pointed out, this trumpet blast for righteous warriors is being echoed
rapidly, and digital data takes time to mutate into obvious
misinformation. There may be second, third or fourth crusades.
Some may take place within the borders of the United States,
vigilantism exploited by older rightwing nativists to suppress dissent
or persecute minorities; those will be more difficult to blame on
foreigners, but I do not doubt that certain elements within our
government will use such outbreaks of lawlessness as excuses for
further erosion of civil rights and liberties. Any advice I could give
you on framing these new crusades for popular consumption or in
warning the public about their long-term effects would fall on deaf
ears.”
Now his sorrow, tinged with rage, was genuine. The Colonel,
recognizing danger signs, balled her right fist beneath the folder on
her lap.
“But,” Easton went on, passions back in check, “I am a doctor,
and I can prescribe a cure which, although watered-down for those
who will be responsible for administering it—you—should offer
relief if not remission. You did well in vetting me: I cannot deny
assistance to troubled children. To slow down the fanaticism of
youth you must, behind the scenes, find a way to tone down the
Manichaean rhetoric—at least in those media channels aimed at
youth. I would recommend suppressing the video games Killer
Crusade and Army of God. Comic Books and graphic novels should
similarly be analyzed for inflammatory content and discouraged.
Civil libertarians will be outraged, but Wertheimer’s Seduction of the
Innocent needs to be reconsidered. Military recruiters now penetrating
elementary and middle schools ought to be withdrawn or drastically
change their pitch in television commercials. High-ranking generals
must be dissuaded from making apocalyptic religious statements on
partisan talk shows—the hosts of which are evidently parroting the
party line and could be restrained in their attack-dog oratory.”
He paused. “This will not be easy: I do not think your managers of
propaganda are accustomed to fine-tuning their assault on our
intelligence, and the American oligarchy is drunk with the power
granted them by a potent means of manipulating childish fears and
desires. Kids’ Krusade for Krissendom is a symptom, a warning

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