First of all, let me say. I love my country (that's the USA, in case you are a first time reader) and appreciate the efforts of all those in the trenches (literally and figuratively) who keep us safe. And I have no desire to get my name on any sort of list. So if any of those aforementioned first time readers are employed by a government agency of some kind, please note this blog is posted in good fun. There are plenty of bloggers who are happy to leap into the debate over whether the actions or inactions of our various spy organizations are a good or bad thing, or somewhere in between. Often that seems to depend upon one's views on the use of assorted tools like water assisted conversational prompters... or party lines where all parties are not aware of all parties on said line. Sorry if that last sentence didn't make sense. I'm trying to avoid setting off any flags in government web-crawlers. ;)
Me, I'm not going there. I'm just happy to poke fun at their latest endeavor at winning the hearts and minds of our people... in this case our young people. To be accurate, their kid's site isn't really new. It was created in 2007. It's almost as if they had some foreknowledge of the need for a bit of image reconstruction. Oh, wait... that's right... they're spies. They see stuff coming way in advance. Okay, back on subject, they created a cute (well, I'm sure it's meant to be cute) kid's page with links for kids in K-5th Grade, 6-12th Grade, and Parents & Teachers. Oh, and games... did I mention their site had games for your kiddos? In fairness to them (the slightly disturbing recruiting effort on the 6-12th Grade page notwithstanding) it does have some helpful info for parents who want to keep their kids safe on the Internet and how to get them to say no to drugs. It also includes lesson plans for teachers on subjects such as:
- Examples of Problem Solving
- Gathering and Analyzing Information
- Myths About CIA vs. Reality
- Intelligence's Role in War
- Codes and Code-Breaking
- The Importance of Accurate Communications
To quote from the introduction on their kid's page, "The CIA is an independent US government agency that provides national security “intelligence” to key US leaders so they can make important, informed decisions. CIA employees gather intelligence (or information) in a variety of ways, not just by “spying” like you see in the movies or on TV (though we do some of that, too). On the following pages, you can read more about us, play some games, and help us solve some puzzles. Throughout this section, you’ll also see some top secret things you won’t find anywhere else."
Anyway, a twitter message with a link to their Kid's Page floated across my screen, and something about it struck me as both funny and slightly disturbing. So what do you think? Is it cute, helpful or just a little creepy? Well, there's a black helicopter hovering over our house. Gotta run. Have a day.
I vote: disturbing. I mean from 6-12th grade I kinda get it. Kids are learning about various governmental branches, and so it does probably behoove them to give those kids a place to do "kid research." BUT- what the hell are kindergarten through 5th graders doing on a CIA website?? That's just creepy.
ReplyDeletei vote disturbing and funny that CIA recruiters are looking to make an impression upon kids! Don't they know that well informed parents like you guys will be keeping up on what their kids are looking at online?? and probably wouldn't be too happy about this one? and also...i vote alittle cool on the other hand because, as talked about in one of my fav movie "reality bites" there was a show martin got to watch when he was little that told him about how a bill goes through congress, so while i was watching rainbrow bright and carebears, he was learning about bills! so not fair! When I watched the movie, I didn't even know then what Winona Ryder was singing, and once i figured it out, I knew how a bill goes through congress!
ReplyDelete*Putting on Men-in-Black type shades*
ReplyDeleteYou know I work for a government agency right...a watchdog agency at that. haha. You're welcome for the helicopter...just keeping you safe. It's all about safety, right ;)
I vote that it's a little odd. I guess it's good that they are trying to revamp their image, but since when do they really need to reach out to kids anyway? Weird. Great post!
Now just look at this little flashing light really fast. Ok good. There were NEVER any helicopters near you and aliens never crash-landed here...and the CIA would NEVER do anything that was less than ethically sound ;)
(I hope you've seen Men in Black...otherwise that won't make much sense..haha)
I'm thinking little odd, but mostly cool, because they do so much less of the spy stuff than they used to...almost everybody there is some kind of analyst or technician these days. I guess they want to get the smart kids thinking about them as cool.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I could be part of the system and tasked to defend this website and report those who disagree. Who knows?
Shannon, per your question on the need for a page just for kids in K - 5th grades... gotta win those hearts and minds while they will still listen. One certainly can't exect to get those 6 - 12th graders to listen. Except for little Molly. I'm sure when she's a teen she'll hang on your every word. ;)
ReplyDeleteNikki, loved "Reality Bites" (especially the My Sharona scene) and totally remember that cartoon: I'm Just a Bill. Gotta love School House Rock. Kiddie indoctrination and government propaganda at it's best! ;)
ReplyDeleteLaura, I was going to comment on your comment, but for some reason my mind has gone completely blank. Weird. Have a great weekend, anyway.
ReplyDeleteFrank, but the "smart kids" will be smart enough to know the real work, while important, isn't cool. It's mundane, detailed grunt work. Sort of like a job I seem to remember you having at one time. ;) I'll leave it to other readers (in the unlikely event there are any) to guess what your past government job might have been. I'd say, but then you'd have to kill me.
ReplyDeleteThe UTA job was excellent cover for my real job....sorry I had to have the tunnel sealed to the secret underground transportation network. Wouldn't do to have a bunch of urban explorers stumbling into a test of the Roswell saucer's propulsion system. The Illuminati would be almost as PO'd as the MIB.
ReplyDelete