Some conversations are like hidden premises. That is, to have the discussion about a thing is to plant the seed of the thing being discussed.
Some seeds begin larger than other seeds, and some seeds are more important than other seeds. And, of course, we know that only a fool thinks the size of the seed determines the importance and tendency of the seed’s growth. [1.1]
We might say that the seeds of what we teach to children are the most important seeds of all, implicating our own social duty to create “intellectually astute, curious, socially aware, mentally tough, disciplined, physically healthy, secure, spiritually reflective, empathetic, human beings.” [2, 3]
Wisdom is the prediction as to which seeds tend to grow in which way. [4, 5]
It has been said, “Wisdom does not have to be perfect, but it does have to be astute.” Wisdom reads the signs, and wisdom sees the tendencies. [1.2] Wisdom does not need to be perfect, but only to be true enough to serve the objective. [6] The objective is the proper education of children. [*2] And, indeed, the sage knows that some pleasures are not worth the risk. [7, 8]
Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, is making $27M per year [*2], depending upon the stock price, which is a function of profit. [*2] Iger’s primary objective is profitability. [*2, *6] I do not suggest that Iger is not an honorable man, and I have financially profited much from his masterclass. However, Iger’s primary objective is not the proper education of children. [*2] Iger is a financial profiteer through clever marketing of the Mouseketeer. And he is meeting his primary objective of profit.
In June, Disney is going to release Inside-Out 2 into our children.
I’ve admitted that my love for Disney products and services makes Disney the most dangerous company in the world. [9] Disney controls an indoctrinating narrative through the pleasure of entertainment [10]. I have admitted my natural inclination to be enslaved by entertainment. There is no suggestion here that anyone else needs to be entertained, or that anyone else is a slave to entertainment, but only recognizing my own natural human tendency.
Inside Out 2 will introduce our children to new “emotions.” These new emotions—all vices in effect or derivatively—are Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, Ennui. [If you don’t know what “ennui” is, it a “feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.“] These new emotions are no longer simply happy or sad, but complex and rather sophisticated. Everyone has these new emotions at one time or another, but that is not the issue.
To the extent that teaching children is an objective (which it ipso facto appears to be), I understand a pedagogical teaching method of educating children by introducing opposites with these cutesy vice character human attributes; that is, through named character vices rather than named character virtues. [*2, *3]
Sure, some people will read books on self-improvement and leadership to help them not to wallow in self-pity. [11] That is, to cheer Barbie’s new self-power, on the one hand, while, on the other hand, providing a hypocritical or contradictory reductive set of vice characteristics to children. [*10] But, it has been said:
A mother’s coddling love may embrace the weak, until the mother teaches to be weak. Embracing the weak is a service, teaching to be weak is a disservice. Fortitude is the virtue, not weakness.
Embracing what is and teaching to create what is not are not the same thing. [*2, *1.3] Teaching virtue by nominative implication through the overt reductive nominative expression of vice may have some degree of pedagogical merit, but I’ll suggest it is not a best practice or even a better practice.
Many young children probably don’t even know the word “anxiety” (or even the complex “clinical anxiety“) until seeing it on the big screen with the cutesy characters, perhaps as naturally within the context of “being human.” [12]
But, as detailed in On Empathy, it does not follow that because human beings may have certain natural weaknesses or vices that those traits must be embraced or coddled. [*3, 13] Moreover, the new-math logic is false that suggests that because someone needs a cure that everyone must endure the remedy. [14]
Wisdom teaches that we tend to walk the path that has been presented to us. The existence of a path tends to enable the easy opportunity to self-fulfill its own existence. All the more so for children, who look to adults for character development. [*1.4] Therefore, is introducing words to a child that derive from human vice and weakness really solving a problem or introducing it? [15, 16]
In an ever-increasing “my therapist is better than your therapist” proud to be out-of-self-control emoting culture, often guided into the purchase or consumption of false remedies, we need to be careful not to normalize the natural—although descendant—vice exception to ascendant humanity virtue. The best therapist for a child is the example of an excellent parent, as children “are imitative,” says Thomas Jefferson. [17] And so says Benjamin Franklin, “A good example is the best sermon.” [18] Ozempic will never cure a failure of discipline, diet and exercise. If we can buy it, then it ain’t us, it’s inside-out. [*1.4]
Yes, the big advanced human brain will justify almost anything. [*2] But a lot of highly-educated and brilliant people—including doctors [19]—do foolish things, if not all the time, then certainly often enough. [*1.5, 20, 21, *2] And Aesop taught that misery loves company and the self-interested Fox Without a Tail mentality will push everyone into the ditch. [22, 23, *1.6, 24]
As of right now, we don’t know how the story will be presented, so we are vulnerable to hope and trust, in a manner of speaking. [25, *14]
But, then again, Aesop teaches over and over and over that trust is not the characteristic of wisdom. [26, *7, 27] And, the Founding Fathers teach over and over and over to be vigilant with what is most precious. [28, 29, 30]
Therefore, even if all should turn out well by some luck [31], lest we are beguiled by the kiss of clever marketing tactics, we must remember that these corporate entities serve themselves and profit as their primary objective. [32, 33, 34, *6]
The Cardinal Virtues are Wisdom, Fortitude (Courage), Temperance (Discipline) and Justice (Harmony). [*25] Alas, we might have been lucky if Disney had chosen to name its new characters for virtues and not for vices. But this post is not to judge what is not yet presented, but only perhaps to forewarn or to forearm. Perhaps we will be joyous that Disney will have done it right, sort of, as we will see.
Indeed, we are teaching character to our children as our next generation of self-empowered American leaders, and we need to be vigilant with what is so precious. The seeds we plant will grow as we are careful to nurture as much as to prune. [*26, *27, *28]
The first time a little child asks for an Anxiety Doll, it might already be too late.
Indeed, the merchandising of the new characters to children is sublime in subtle effect. “Mommy,” says the little girl or boy, “Please, please, please, I must have Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and Ennui!” when it might have been, “Mommy, please, please, please, I must have Wisdom, Courage, Discipline and Justice!”
Wisdom does not need to be perfect, but it does need to be astute.
[1] ONE®: The Unified Gospel of Jesus, Divine Version [Second Edition] Published [#GRZ_59] 1.1 ONE: 1167 [T13:31, R4:30-32, L13:18] (“Mustard Seed”); 1.2 ONE: 988 [L12:54] (“Reading Signs“); 1.3 ONE: 1661 [T18:6, R9:42, L17:2] (“Millstone); 1.4 ONE: 2211 [T23:25, L11:39] (“Inside-Out“); 1.5 ONE: 296 [L4:23] (“Physician Heal Thyself“); 1.6 ONE: 1325 [T15:14] (“Blind Lead Blind-Ditch“)
[3] On Empathy: To Give Empathy Is a Blessing; To Need Empathy Is a Curse [#GRZ_106]
[6] The Lincoln Leadership Dilemma; Or, The Primary Objective [#GRZ_176]
[7] On Leadership and Trust. [And, Should We Trust the U.S. Government?] [#GRZ_160]
[9] Why the Walt Disney Company is the Most Dangerous Company in the World [#GRZ_146]
[11] Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator. Or, Quit Crying Like a Baby and Do Your Job [#GRZ_150]
[13] The Flesh is Weak, Or Why Jesus Got It Wrong [#GRZ_69]
[16] I Am Not Brainwashed, And Neither Are You. Maybe. But I Might be Wrong. [#GRZ_165]
[17] Freedom of Religion, by Thomas Jefferson – Abridgment Series [#GRZ_61]
[18] Do As I Say, Not As I Do – The Business of Aesopâ„¢ No. 103 – The Mother Crab [#GRZ_55]
[19] Brisk Critical-Thought Exercise in the Circumcision of Circumcision [#GRZ_152]
[20] The Recipe to Make Bud Wiser [Branding, Part I] [#GRZ_142]
[21] Marlboro Man; You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby. [Branding, Part II] [#GRZ_143]
[22] The Insecure Human Being – The Business of Aesopâ„¢ No. 51 – A Fox Without a Tail [#GRZ_36]
[26] The Essential Aesop LinkedIn Article Index [#GRZ_144]
[28] The Social Vice Triumvirateâ„¢: Jealousy, Envy and Pride [#GRZ_58]
[31] On Wisdom and Luck; Or, Getting Lucky is not the Same as Being Wise [#GRZ_155]
[32] The Academy Awards and Bud Light Parallels, Gone Sideways with the Wind? [#GRZ_147]
THE aphorism, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” not only embraces the whole of a man’s being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called “spontaneous” and “unpremeditated” as to those, which are deliberately executed.
Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.
James Allen, As a Man Thinketh
“Sapientia perfectam esse non habet, sed astutam esse habet.” (“Wisdom does not have to be perfect, but it does have to be astute.”); “Amplectens infirmos servit, docens homines quomodo infirmetur non est serviens.” (“Embracing the weak is a service, teaching people to become weak is not a service.”) ~ grz
© 2024 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn.
The statements or opinions made in this article are solely the author’s own and not representative of any institution regarding which the author is affiliated.
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