children are whores

I couldn't resist repeating Umberto Eco's rationalization of his win as a ten-year-old of an essay competition arguing for mortal sacrifice in service to Mussolini. (Via Rake's Progress)

"Children are whores," he says bluntly. "They are ready to repeat what they see on the TV screen, and it was the same with us." So did he believe it when he was writing it? "I don't know. I don't remember. I remember having been completely confused the morning when I woke up and I said to myself, do I really love the Duce?... So it means that we had doubts."