My son is a high school junior and has started getting a raft of letters from colleges hoping to enroll him. But I wasn't prepared for the expensively-produced packet that arrived a few days ago.
The oversized mailing envelope had his name & address in elegant script, and what appeared to be hand-applied stamps (tilted just so to avoid that "machine-made" look). The return address was Vienna, VA, but didn't give any names.
Inside was a folder bearing the embossed gold-foil stamp of the "NATIONAL YOUTH LEADERSHIP FORUM -- NATIONAL SECURITY," with the subhead "Exploring American Diplomacy, Intelligence & Defense." What the heck...
Inside was more elegant script honoring my son for his academic achievement and leadership ability, and inviting him to participate in the aforementioned "youth forum". RSVP was requested, with prominent notice that "THIS NOMINATION IS NONTRANSFERABLE".
Included was a card that warned "PARENTS: CONFIRM RECEIPT WITHIN 24 HOURS. We are tracking your child's nomination package." Yikes, I'm being tracked! I have to go to a website and enter a personal secret code to comply!
It goes on and on. There's an application form demanding personal information on both me and my child and asking how we intend to pay the "tuition" of, ahem, $1,595. There's an offer of "Travel and Tuition Protection" for another $119. There's another card with that gold foil emblem, listing nine "distinguished alumni" from my son's school, all the way back to 2006. There's a schedule of the six-day(!) event, and a bunch of promotional material, which describes the National Youth Leadership Forum as a "nonpartisan educational organization founded specifically to help prepare the nation's highest-achieving secondary school students for careers in [in this case] diplomacy and national security."
Then there's the three-page cover letter, promising exciting stuff like "You will learn about the latest intelligence strategies" and "You will learn how America's leaders plan to protect our nation in the coming months and years". Whooee!
And the kicker: a breathless cover letter from Amy Takayama-Perez (how very multi-ethnic), Assistant Dean of Admissions at ... wait for it ... George Mason University.
Yes, that George Mason University. The public institution that a reporter noted "Koch virtually owns much of, through grants and direct control over think tanks within the school. For instance, Koch controls the Mercatus Center ... an institute that set much of the Bush administration’s environmental deregulation policy."
If you needed any evidence of how efficiently the right-wing propaganda machine functions, here it is. This is just one small part of it: the part that wants to grab the minds of our youth, lock them in a high-pressure environment for six days, and get them on the team early. All promoted with flattery, intimations of excitement and exclusiveness, and an appeal to unwary parents who of course want to help their children succeed.
Disgusting.