Results: Teaching Our Children To Fear

A self-proclaimed conservative gift expert is touting timely toys for tots. Conservative merchandise website Keep and Bear is selling "Build The Wall" sets, which are very similar in concept and design to LEGO toys, for $30. The set includes a Trump-like LEGO figure with a hardhat standing in front of a grey brick wall. On the other side of the wall is a man in a sombrero holding maracas, clearly meant to illustrate that he is separating himself from Latin America. The site's promotional language explains the motivation behind the blocks: "A mob of 10,000 Central American migrants is marching through Mexico and heading toward El Paso, Texas. Mexican border agents attempted to stop them at the Mexican border, but to no avail." That said, the online merchants get it: Of course foreigners are fleeing their homelands to live and work in America. "After all, we are the greatest nation on earth," the product description reads. "In the interest of national security, however, we cannot allow just anyone and everyone to cross our borders." And just because these blocks are targeting tykes, don't think the messaging isn't deep: "The wall must be built. The wall will keep America safe" from "gangs, criminals and terrorists." Would you consider this toy to be fear-mongering at an early age or a well-received toy teaching children an important lesson?

KeepAndBear.com launched in the summer of 2016 as a marketing tool for "Keep And Bear: The Movie," a documentary that theorizes "gun ownership is more than a Constitutional right." The e-tailer, a division of Georgia-based Romulus Marketing, now peddles hundreds of "conservative resources," including T-shirts ("printed in America on an American-made printer by a Veteran!"), bumper stickers, flags, Bibles, DVDs, books, toys, pro-Second Amendment merchandise, "patriotic novelty items and toy sets for the Crusaders". All items support and celebrate God and Country." The company also sells "Hillary in orange" figurines that come with "Trump sends Hillary to prison!" set. Fox News is promoting some of these toys, but so far no other media outlets have joined the "crusade". Would you buy children any of these gifts?

Keep and Bear uses fear to sell, that is a given. Their marketing slogans include: "Rep your conservative side with pride and show everyone what YOU believe in. The terrorists will NEVER win as long as we're in charge!" and "Shop here and the terrorists lose!: Do you find it surprising that this sort of fear mongering actually works?