My teens mentioned adult coloring books, and my parental mind immediately darted to soft core cartoon porn, but no, it’s all about relaxation through crayons.  I thought this was a nifty new trend, but it’s not.  Adult coloring books took off in the early 1960’s, and were conveyances of subversion and fun-poking at, of all things, colorless corporatism and hipsters!

“Not only did coloring books show adults a childishly simple view of a corrupt world, they also showed how a child could be corrupted in the process of learning.” (New Republic)

Fight the power that’s fighting the power, and you may end up a domestic terrorist. On the other side, ask the ghost of Socrates about the thin line between educating our youth and corrupting them. Attending a school board meeting in the US, or honking your horn in Canada could land you in serious trouble. Who’d a thunk there existed such a wide variety of coloring books?

What say you?