Monday, September 01, 2014

Remember When Republicans Wanted To "Cut Funding For Big Bird"?

Maybe that was a good thing.  We wouldn't want to harm children, now, would we?
Thrillingly, the early episodes of Sesame Street have just been released on DVD, but be warned - those shows are dangerous! Slapped across the front of the case is the message, "These early Sesame Street episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child." And looking at the wobbly sets and be-stringed puppets, they probably are better suited to sentimental adults than kids raised on Pixar. But this sticker is an expression of concern.

It's not the psychedelic nature of the programme in its 70s incarnation that worries, but the behaviour it might encourage. Children dancing in the street! Grown men reading storybooks to kids - for no apparent reason!
I recall reading once that in the first episode, a sad child is invited into a man's house for milk and cookies--and that's one of the horrors to which our modern prudes object. Yes, let's just assume that every man is a child molester.  That's the ticket to a balanced psyche and a good society...

It's just a tv show.

1 comment:

maxutils said...

Think About "Mr. Roger's ' neighbor hood ... as an adult, it seems positively terrifying. As a kid, it seemed normal, meow meow meow meow. As a side note ... one time a student dared me to do the Mr. Rogers entrance to my class ... I had a coat clset, where I put a cardigan sweater and slippers ... and I came in singing, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood .... went over to the closet, changed my shoes to slippers, put on the cardigan, and finished the song ... It was pretty funny, and I won the dare.