Over the past few months we've seen more and more examples of attempting to brainwash kids into believing that all the new-fangled spy technology destined to restrict our freedom is actually a good thing.
For example, there was the instance of fingerprinting clueless kids at an early age to get them used to biometrics, then the MPAA running their brainwashing campaign and the RIAA following suit. The entertainment industry has realised that the future of its age-old arguments and failing distribution model will not hold up for ever, and is seeking to indoctrinate a less well informed generation before they realise they're being led astray.
The latest such story comes from Los Angeles, CA where the Boy Scouts are being offered a "merit patch" for completing one such brainwashing course, compiled of course by the MPAA. Why the Boy Scout council itself did not have a hand in writing the curriculum is unclear, but it seems likely that they figured the MPAA could be trusted.
The big question here is about whether or not the MPAA is teaching the kids about real intellectual property, fair usage or the abusive neglect suffered by artists at the hands of the industry giants. The answer, of course, is 'no'.
From the Boing Boing article:
The merit patch in "respecting copyright" will almost certainly not include any training on fair use, anything about the fact that the film industry is located in Hollywood because that was a safe-enough distance from Tom Edison that the its founders could infringe his patents with impunity; that record players, radios and VCRs were considered pirate technology until the law changed to accommodate them; or that the entertainment industry enriches itself without regard for creators, who are routinely sodomized through non-negotiable contracts and abusive royalty practices. I'm sure it won't mention the anti-competitive censorship masquerading as the Hollywood "rating" system, or the way that the studio cartel's copyright term extensions have doomed the majority of creative works to orphaned oblivion, since they remain in copyright, but have no visible owner and can't be brought back into circulation.
Sure you can be a Scout, as long as you believe exactly what we tell you
The Scouts leaders don't stop at mere brainwashing, and the "respect copyrights" programme is but a single example of it. If, by some chance, their brainwashing fails on a child and said child decides that no, he doesn't want to devote his life and livelihood to Mr Christ, they shun the poor brat.
In particular, a 19-year-old Eagle Scout with 37 merit badges has been ordered to renounce atheism or face expulsion from the Scouts. It's so nice to see that we've advancing as human beings in terms of encouraging freedom of thought and expression. Not.
