Hiker raises awareness of kids in foster care

This is really a strange story. Why would somebody feel the need to hike the Appalachian Trail in order to raise awareness of children in foster care? What benefit could something like this have?

Hiker raises awareness of kids in foster care

Russell and his two dogs began their hike in Virginia on April 5, which took him through Wawayanda State Park, in Hewitt. CASA staff and volunteers symbolically participated in this historic 2,175-mile, seven-month event, by walking a portion of the trail. In doing so, they hope to bring awareness to the public of the need for more CASA volunteers in support of the more than 9,000 children in New Jersey, currently in foster care.

Hmm.

I am going to get a bit philosophical here, and explore a pattern that I have noticed regarding one of the Child Protective Industries Public Relations Social Manipulation Tactics. IE. The use of symbolism in the manufacturing of public support for their cause.

Now when I say manufacturing of public support, I mean, they need the public support in order to convince the tax payer to allow the spending their tax dollars on such a screwed up system as the Child Protective Industry. And that's easily done by a simple fluffing the numbers, pulling on the heart strings, and public glorification of those involved, but all of this is done symbolically. They need to create a cultural base in which such support for their cause can be fostered, thus we have the need to raise awareness of a particular need or a particular problem that needs fixing. And since we don't know who all the foster children are, we just need to know they are there and apparently there is even more of a need for us to know they are there, otherwise people wouldn't feel the need to do things like walk the Appalachian Trail or spend 4 days on a roof in effort to raise awareness of the children who are in foster care, although we are not supposed to know who they are or why they are there outside of the symbolic words "Child Abuse and Neglect".

So what is Symbolism? According to Wikipedia, a symbol is something such as an object, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On maps, crossed sabres may indicate a battlefield. Numerals are symbols for numbers (amounts). All language consists of symbols. Personal names are symbols representing individuals.

Now, that's a pretty generic description, but there are symbols for practically everything. So don't underestimate the power of symbology.

• What comes to mind when I say the Golden Arches, or the Crucifix?
  
• Why did ancient cultures use make-up and masks?
• How about the Peacock?
• Do the letters RX mean anything to you?
  

You see, throughout human history symbolism has been used in so many aspects of our lives that nobody ever notices anymore. Yet the public relations industry is well aware of this, as symbolism is used in propaganda.

So here are a few examples of how the Child Protective Industry uses Symbolism for it's own purposes which is usually to manufacture public support for their cause and it's representations and misrepresentations.

• We'll start with this dude here, who just walked the Appalachian Trail in an effort to raise awareness of children in foster care. Thus, we are supposed to create an association between children in foster care and a long walk through the woods.
• Pinwheels are used during Child Abuse Propaganda Month as a representative symbol of the number of abused and neglected children.
• Cardboard Cutouts and Photographs of children have been used as a representation of children in the system who are up for adoption.
  

The importance of this is that once you are able to pick up on the symbolism, you will be better able to call them on their bullshit because you'll know when they are bullshitting you.

Also the family rights movement should develop and start using it's own symbolism.