Permanently Deleted
A lot did read it as children and literally didn’t understand it and had to repeat what the teacher told them it meant because 12-year-olds don’t even know what the fuck the USSR was, let alone how those animals relate to it.
This. I was made to read it in 6th grade and had no idea it was even supposed to be allegorical to real world events. All I took away from it was a vague sense that we should be wary of authoritarian figures who make grand promises or some shit. (Which I still think is not a bad sentiment).
Then the teacher talked about it. And afterwards I thought to myself “so you’re telling me what we were supposed to take away from it is that sharing and egalitarianism is bad actually because pigs in a storybook lied and didn’t really want to share and fucked everything up? Nah. That’s bullshit.”
The teacher went on to talk about the USSR and somewhat inexplicably about the Berlin Wall but I was tuned out at that point. That’s not to say I didn’t avoid getting infected with plenty of :brainworms: but I’m glad to say I didn’t swallow that particular one. But clearly what many if not most kids took away from it was what the nerd in the OP did, that is, what they were told to think about it.
