There's an award winning children's book called 'The Rainbow Fish' written by Swiss author Marcus Pfister in 1992. Maybe you've heard of it? We have the puffy plastic bathtub edition which I'm sure is abridged.
The basic scenario is that the beautiful rainbow fish with shiny scales is the envy of all the other fish. They don't want to be his friend because he doesn't want to give them his scales. He becomes sad and after seeking the advise of an octopus decides to give away his scales and of course all the fish like him in the end because they now all have the same single shiny scale.
Is it just me or is there something inherently wrong with this story? Doesn't it seem a little communist to you? I always remember hearing that if people don't like you for who you are they aren't worth your friendship. This story is telling kids that they should give everyone a little piece of themselves so that they can all be the same.
As I was formulating this post I googled 'Rainbow Fish' to find a piece of clip art. I was surprised to find that according to Wikipedia (I know, not an entirely reliable source) there has been controversy brewing over the theme of this book that I was unaware of. I'm happy to say that it is as transparent as I found it to be and many others see the socialist agenda behind it.
Why is this story still so popular? It's title should be changed to 'The Socialist Fish'
The basic scenario is that the beautiful rainbow fish with shiny scales is the envy of all the other fish. They don't want to be his friend because he doesn't want to give them his scales. He becomes sad and after seeking the advise of an octopus decides to give away his scales and of course all the fish like him in the end because they now all have the same single shiny scale.
Is it just me or is there something inherently wrong with this story? Doesn't it seem a little communist to you? I always remember hearing that if people don't like you for who you are they aren't worth your friendship. This story is telling kids that they should give everyone a little piece of themselves so that they can all be the same.
As I was formulating this post I googled 'Rainbow Fish' to find a piece of clip art. I was surprised to find that according to Wikipedia (I know, not an entirely reliable source) there has been controversy brewing over the theme of this book that I was unaware of. I'm happy to say that it is as transparent as I found it to be and many others see the socialist agenda behind it.
Why is this story still so popular? It's title should be changed to 'The Socialist Fish'
I don't know where you have come up with the communistic senerio regarding this story....I think the message is saying everyone should look the same,eg. twiggy body, hoochie momma clothes, $100's of dollars for shoes, boots and various other clothing items....Why do we want to be a cookie cutter society.....As Mom's don't succumb to manufacturers and media's idea of what beauty is.....We all have great beauty and should be proud of it......Mimi
ReplyDeleteHi, that's another very good point. Why should we all look the same...bad message. If you read the story it has the overtones of why should someone have more than someone else, hence the communist/socialist reference. Either way, not a message that should be ingrained in kids.
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