As our kids grew, we allowed them to watch Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street on Public TV. Turns out that we have unknowingly scarred out kids for life. A school in Arizona near me last year made a 2nd grader turn his Sesame Street T-shirt inside out, deeming it offensive. The lovable characters who neighborhood helped our kids learn to read, write and sing had an ulterior motive to which we were blind.
This youngster wore this shirt to school as many of you allowed your kids to do. It had Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch on it. These subversive characters were recognized by mugshots on posters all over. The principal of the school immediately took action and made the perpetrator turn his shirt so he would not infect the other children and bring about the end to society or at the least incite a riot on the playground.
The characters represent, according to the principal, the worst of human characteristics and offend many in our culture either openly or subliminally. If you look at them closely, you can see that she is right on the mark and we should do away with all these characters and with anything might be different or inspire differentiation. The world would be a better place if we did not know how to get to Sesame Street.
Cookie Monster is the largest and most obnoxious of the characters. He is focused on only one thing, cookies. He will steal to get them, connive to obtain them, and because of this, he represents obesity. How many of us have Cookie Monsters in our family? These gluttons just want one thing to get more dough and sugar into their system so they can make our family’s lives unbearable. Never mind that he can count cookies, he is dangerous and subversive to our way of life.
Oscar the Grouch lives in a trash can. A character with a big heart, he is constantly saying negative things. When he learns he is wrong, his character softens and he gets along with others. Do we really want our kids to know that speaking out for themselves and ideas is wrong? Oscar promotes dissension with his constant grousing, and we want kids who are docile, go along with the status quo, and don’t think or express ideas. After all, those that create problems and rock the boat should be ostracized.
Bert and Ernie represent a questionable relationship. Who is questioning it? Suddenly two guys who live together and share bills and a house and a bed have a questionable relationship? Maybe this is all they can afford. Who cares? They offer the kids ideas on getting along. When I was growing up, my brother and I slept in the same room. We should be happy that these two have survived.
This school also will not allow any shirts that have liquor or religious symbols on them. The liquor I can understand, but religious symbols? Teachers are also forbidden from wearing jewelry in plain sight that depicts anything religious, and no jeans. These female teachers are now working with kids and are expected to get down on the floor with them, move around and get up again? Some kids, I imagine, will get quite an education!
I wonder if Mr. Rogers is ok? After all, he often went to the Land of Make Believe.
Doughnut
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