That video Jonah linked to makes my skin crawl. If there’s one thing I absolutely cannot stand is the willingness to use children as a political football. I wrote a column about the dangers of Manipulated Child Syndrome (MCS) last year:
Perhaps the gravest public threat endangering our youth, MCS occurs whenever insubstantial claims of child endangerment are substituted for real political argument.
Though MCS has gone largely untreated, the signs are readily visible. Every time you turn on the TV do you see sullen children, half-lit against austere backdrops, opining about the dangers of global warming, despite the fact they’re barely potty trained, let alone able to grasp the intricate dynamics of climate science?
We know — you’re probably asking yourself why you didn’t recognize the signs sooner. Each of these children pictured above are suffering the ravages of MCS. Somewhere right now, one out of every 10,000 children is auditioning for a public service announcement. This can be a harrowing experience. One former casting agent who wished to remain anonymous told NRO of the horrors. “I saw a parent standing off-camera threatening to tear the stuffing out of Mr. Jangles if their little moppet didn’t start crying and telling the camera about an obviously childish and manufactured fear of ‘not being able to see, like, a blue sky or green grass,’” the casting agent said. “It was clearly sickening to the child. I know it made me ill just watching it.”