Meat eaters

At the GNU Public Dictatorship we are nothing if not committed to excellence in propaganda, which is why we appreciate New Healthway, a textbook aimed at teaching hygiene and health to 11- and 12-year-old Indian children.  The textbook was written by a group that believes it is immoral to eat meat, and while the GPD has no policy about the consumption of animal matter we do have a policy to defend the right of world citizens to choose their own diet.  Unless, of course, that diet includes hallucinogenic substances transported on the surface of brads.

Anyway, the real genius of the textbook was the way it uses the techniques of propaganda to make a statement that would be regarded by most rational world citizens as true but uninteresting sound bizarre, unhealthy, and abnormal.  Specifically, the textbook states that meat eaters lie, cheat, steal, and commit sex crimes.  This statement is true, as many criminals do eat meat, and many people who eat meat engage in these other immoral behaviors.  The genius behind this book, though, is the way it refrains from making similar statements about non-meat-eaters, which would also be true.  By specifically not mentioning that vegetarians have also been known to commit these same crimes they turn the simple statement of an uninteresting fact into a way to manipulate people into doing what they want.  It's almost as if the authors had taken Propaganda 314 and 465 at the GNU Public University, but we can't find any record of that having happened.  Of course it is always possible that they took a pirated copy of the course, although they wouldn't have been able to receive their degrees without reporting the course back to the working group that controls the GPU.

This book would have been an awesome propaganda tool for those who wrote it, but unfortunately they attempted to use the racist argument by stating among other things that the Inuit people are lazy because they eat mostly meat.  The racist argument is one that should be avoided unless all other attempts at propaganda have failed as, if it doesn't succeed, most people simply dismiss you as foolish or racist after you make the argument unsuccessfully.

Incidentally, the GPU is opening a new program for those interested in become better propagandists.  The degree is a Master's degree in the art of "Persuasion" and is available to all qualified applicants.  Inquire at your local GPD office!