As noted in several places, the programming of children as consumers is almost as efficient as religious school catechisms in creating automated responses. Pavlov would be proud. With 3- to 5-year-olds tasting actual McDonald's and store-bought products, the children tested reacted to the bright McDonald's packaging with no taste capabilities demonstrated. In other words, they chose repeatedly whatever was in McDonald's wrapping and said it was better, whether it was the actual fast-food franchise's or store-bought food. Likewise, whatever was not so packaged tasted worse, also including McDonald's or store-bought.
Francis Ford Coppola was quoted in the August 17 The Week: "[Coppola] . . . says he merely is trying to maintain the sense of wonder he had as a youngster. . . . 'At 5 years old, I saw the world as a very enchanted place. I thought of myself as a kind of magical elf. . . .' Drawing on the innocent belief that anything is possible, Copola said, is essential to his creative process. 'If you observe children in those magical ages of 1 1/2 to 5, there's something they have that is so captivating and magical--the art they draw and the little stories that they tell.' But holding on to that feeling isn't easy. 'So many people are battered over that period of adolescence, battered in terms of conforming to the group. That's really the battering ram that knocks the belief in magic out of people.' "
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." --Henry Ford
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