Why Children of the 70’s Were Tougher

My mother dropped off a box of books a few weeks ago for the girls.  I assumed all of them were child appropriate as that they belonged to my brother and myself when we were little.  Imagine my surprise and excitement when my daughter brought me this gem:

First of all, you can tell from the cover that this is going to be awesome!   Look at all the firearms.  Those look appropriate for a children’s book.  I would also like to point out that all the folks chasing the little Aryan nation kid on the cover are all brown. That’s a good message for Z to learn as early as possible. I am thinking right away, “This is the perfect book for a two-year old.”  So, we read this with little Z and Baby Bird, and I would like to share my review with you.

So apparently, the malevolent Chinese Dr. Chiang is going to poison the earth’s water supply with a vile salination machine.  I can almost hear Dr. Evil laughing and demanding “One Million Dollars”.    But fortunately, according to this piece of literature, the United Nations are going to send a pre-teen boy to fix Dr. Chiang’s wagon.  Enter our hero:  Johnny Quest.

See that kid in the turban to the left of the table?  That is Johnny’s friend, Haji.  I AM NOT KIDDING.  His actual name in the book is Haji.  Haji is going to help save the world too.

Above is the nefarious Dr. Chiang gently stroking his Fu Manchu.  Y’all, I don’t know what to say about this one.  There is so much implied, unintentional racism I am speechless.

 

Here on this “television” are Dr. Chiang’s slaves that Johnny and Haji are going to be liberating.  Y’all, this book has everything.  It is environmentally conscious, multicultural (although overtly racist at the same time) and anti- human trafficking with a strong stand on gun control.

You can see here in this picture that every bad guy in the book has a gun.  Contrast this with the fact that Johnny and Haji take down an evil mastermind’s regime with an apple.  Y’all, we’ve been going about this the wrong way.  Someone should alert Israel that their “Iron Dome” isn’t necessary.  Apparently all they need is love and apples to defeat Hamas (who are all named Haji by the way).

As you can see, with all the great messages meted out by this masterpiece, it is easy to understand why children of my generation were tougher than those of today.  All of Z’s books feature animated, big-eyed animals and sight words.  I have to say, I do question some of the parenting decision’s of Dora The Explorer’s Parents. They let that nina get away with a LOT.

 

 

 

 

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