Jewish World Review June 27, 2002/ 17 Tamuz, 5762

Marianne M. Jennings

Marianne M. Jennings
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Nick not right


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Linda Ellerbee, Nickelodeon's "journalist," had a Nick-at-Nite show called "My Family Is Different." Ellerbee, GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) supporter and "Vagina Monologues" veteran, taught children, tuned in for "The Cosby Show," "diversity, tolerance and respect" for same-sex parents and their children.

Ellerbee had an in-studio focus group with the statistical objectivity of that old "Saturday Night Live" skit with a duck, a nun, a refrigerator and Garrett Morris in a police line-up. There were 3 children of gay and lesbian couples, a gay NYC fireman with 3 adopted children, and a gay principal from Minnesota who has no children but who assured us that parents love him. No doubt - the people of Minnesota elected a WWF wrestler as their governor, too. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

No straight parents were allowed, but Rosie O'Donnell represented Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge, and the fluctuating Anne Heche. Rosie was seated next to three Christian youngsters who were as frightened of her as Tom Selleck. A largely incoherent Muslim young lady sat, coincidentally, next to Ellerbee.

Ellerbee posed questions loaded with negative pregnants, as it were, to her stacked group: "Do you think it is morally wrong to be a homosexual?" "Do you think we need laws to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination?" "Many schools are bringing issues about homosexuality and diversity into the classrooms - do you think these kinds of things should be taught in school?"

Everyone bemoaned the name-calling children of gay and lesbian parents endure. Kids are cruel, but they are generically so, egalitarian in their ruthlessness. They are as diabolical over bananas in the lunch pail. Real kids turn only to Fruit Roll-Ups for fiber. My own children have endured merciless ribbing for their mother's musings and their own bad teeth. I got them braces and told them to say Molly Ivins is their mother.

Ellerbee's program was an affront to journalism, to wit, "Many kids these days are growing up in families that are non-traditional (have 2 moms, or 2 dads)." She failed to disclose that "Many" means .00000003 of the U.S. population, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics' highest estimate of children with same-sex parents.

The film snippets of children with lesbian parents looked like Sponge Bob mixing it up with Lamb Chop. Mothers (2) and teen daughter romping about and cuddling. If my husband and I did the same with our teen daughters, we'd hear, "This is so gross."

Propaganda should not be touted as a news show. Ellerbee forced dialogue and edited clips to the singular conclusion that same-sex parents are common and benign. Even the clips of Jerry Falwell were Casper Milquetoast.

To suggest that parents control access to these shows is naïve and hypocritical. Ellerbee and her ilk have removed the very mention of religion in schools because of their paranoia that children would begin thumping Bibles and living moral lives. They banished prayer at sporting events, in classrooms and even some Episcopalian dioceses.

Liberals lobbied in the 1970s to have cereal and sugar products ads curbed during Saturday morning 'toons because their children were going coo-coo with Cocoa Puffs. Ritalin not yet available, they sought a bureaucratic cure.

We, however, are asked to believe that Ellerbee's stealth indoctrination on kid TV and school discussions will not influence children. If the faith of our forefathers is banned for fear of conversion, then gay adoption discussions must fall to the same protest.

We of the extreme Christian right (no moderate sect was found in a word search), cannot win via boycott, even if we could abide the ideological inconsistency. I propose that Ms. Ellerbee do as many shows on same-sex parents as she wants so long as Nick gives equal time and prominence to other family tolerance issues.

"My family is different, we don't believe in abortion." Nick could show clips of college campus newspapers refusing to accept pro-life ads and then air an interview with Michelle Diaz, the California nurse fired for refusing to dispense "morning-after" pills.

The program could cover the litigation against the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform for its planes that fly over beaches this summer carrying banners that show a 10-week aborted fetus. Barbara Daw, a beach mother, objected to the fly-overs, "It took away my right to explain abortion to my children when they are ready." Well said, Mrs. Daw. Now curb Ellerbee and the schools on same-sex education of my cherubs.

Another show theme: "My family is different, we go to church." Some film of a couple of mosques and Amish carts will not suffice. We want clips of Sunday-go-to-meeting hordes headed into houses of worship as Ellerbee asks, "Some schools have begun teaching children about the various types of religions. Should they?"

Linda, I'm with you, babe. Focus group, onward! Just give all family tolerance issues equal time, complete with panels loaded in our favor.

Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor Marianne M. Jennings is a professor of legal and ethical studies at Arizona State University. Send your comments by clicking here.

Up

06/20/02: Behind the music
06/14/02: The sum of all fears in vouchers
06/06/02: Where was Agent Rowley when the FBI needed her?
05/30/02: Of big hair and sanity
05/24/02: Should I embrace liberalism?
05/20/02: Some passion about Israel
05/09/02: A mother who cares enough
05/02/02: Go ahead, pass judgment
04/29/02: The irritation of the modern wedding
04/18/02: Claire's life
04/15/02: Harvard takes off its pants one leg at a time
04/09/02: The Clinton legacy: Politics of personal destruction
03/31/02: Oscars' subtle bigotry was embarrassing
03/22/02: Blame Oprah, Rosie, Sally, Ted, David
03/14/02: The costs of women's feeble choices
03/08/02: Botoxic faces
02/28/02: The dangers of organized philanthropy
02/25/02: Don't take the gold
02/14/02: Ease up on the brothers and sisters
02/11/02: Because I was courted
02/05/02: Fat fault
01/24/02: Tolerance does not mean stupidity
01/17/02: Too old too soon
01/10/02: Ethically challenged firms
01/03/02: The year that was
12/27/01: The Twelve Days of inconsistency
12/20/01: Free Speech and the political spectrum
12/13/01: Curbing brats
12/06/01: Power to influence
11/29/01: The disappearing art of grading
11/21/01: The Big Two-Five
11/13/01: You can never find a lib when you need one
11/01/01: Unlucky in sports
10/26/01: An epidemic of counselitis
10/16/01: A touch of class
10/12/01: Of human nature and monsters
10/05/01: Sensitive man
10/01/01: Post-September 11 security
09/20/01: No tinhorn terrorists can frighten us
09/06/01: If there is no honor in youth sports, it is because of the adults
08/27/01: The draw of Condit
08/23/01: Lowering expectations and flying high
08/17/01: Thoreau, Walden and stems cells
08/13/01: Our masters: The animals
08/02/01: FRAN, MARY JO, MONICA & CHANDRA
07/30/01: When principle hits too close to home
07/13/01: Rage born of sublimation
07/06/01: Patient's rights and the Valley of Death
06/29/01: There is no excuse
06/21/01: I want an eternal soulmate, but the marriage thing is another issue
06/14/01: Which way maverick McCain? An Arizonan's perspective
06/07/01: No stroke of genius
05/30/01: The lesson of the Mr. Green Jeans senator: 'Moderate' is a classy term for wishy-washy
05/25/01: Baseball has not been so good to me
05/18/01: Clothes make the woman
05/11/01: Selective precaution
05/04/01: Grades: Equality of students, by students, for the students
04/27/01: The Horowitz revelations as seen by a college professor
04/20/01: First, let's kill all the tests
04/13/01: The continuing mistake of underpricing electricity
04/06/01: That pill, Julia Roberts
03/29/01: If it weren't for the parents, we might accomplish something
03/23/01: The melt down of the academy
03/15/01: Columbine redux: Moral infants
03/09/01: The lessons of Tom and Nicole
03/01/01: Pardon the temporary outrage
02/23/01: In defense of homework
02/20/01: A Message for faith-based organizations: Don't take the money, just run
02/06/01: Enough already with the Clintoons
01/26/01: The challenge to be better than we have been
01/19/01: Where have you gone Frieda Pushnik?
12/29/00: The year that was
12/23/00: Litigation: It's the American way
12/15/00: In defense of rhetoric
12/06/00: The company we keep: Lawyers and elections
12/01/00: Liberals' art of trashing of women
11/20/00: Put me out of my misery
11/17/00: On being a statesman
11/13/00: When it's broke, fixing it wouldn't offend the Framers
11/08/00: ELECTION 2000: I SURRENDER
10/27/00: Al in the package? Memo to women: Choosing presidents and husbands
10/20/00: Ten things the gay community should understand
10/13/00: "You Have a Lump."
10/06/00: The government as the pharmacy: Don't
09/29/00: The capacity for truth
09/22/00: Charity with strings and an agenda
09/15/00: The taming of the shrew: Gloria Steinem takes a husband
09/09/00: Why rich folk don't bother me none
08/28/00: Survival of the not-so-fit but conniving
08/25/00: Conventions: A study in contrasts
08/18/00: Resenting the accusations of racial prejudice
08/04/00: Women: Their own worst enemy
07/21/00: Hillary: Our longshoreman First Lady
07/21/00: SUVs: The root of all evil
07/14/00: The basketball gene and white men not jumping so well
07/07/00: I wanna be around
06/23/00: The liberal conversion
06/14/00: Sex and the City: The shallow but vulgar female
06/08/00: No excuses schools
06/02/00: Oh, Canada: Our Nutty Neighbors to the North
05/23/00: The new mollycoddling coach
05/16/00: On adultery and leadership
05/12/00: Taking your lumps
05/02/00: Elian: There's never a liberal around when you need one
04/25/00: Life's circle and tenderness
04/18/00: Womyn who want it both ways
04/11/00: The monsters we're raising with the ergo proposition
04/05/00: Endowing the Hooters Chair for Literature Appreciation
03/28/00: Dr. Laura: The passive/aggressive kid's mom
03/21/00: Dough and campaigns
03/14/00: The volunteerism of conscription and pomp
03/07/00: Hope and pray that religion remains a force in politics
02/29/00: Ditzes in TV Land
02/22/00: Cranky nitpickers make writing a [sic] experience
02/15/00: Those chameleon 60s activists
02/08/00: McCandidate McCain: Flirting with principles
02/01/00: The demise of marriage
01/25/00: Stroke of the pen, law of the land: Clinton's Camelot
01/18/00: Off the Rocker Rorschach Test
01/11/00: Oprah's lemmings
01/04/00: Struggling mightily amidst the comfort
12/23/99: Confused fathers
12/14/99: Drop-kicking the homeless
12/07/99: Turtles and teamsters, side-by-side in Seattle
11/29/99: When conservatives behave badly
11/22/99: Compassionate conservative: Timing and targets
11/18/99: The elusive human spirit and accountability
11/11/99: Succumbing to the intellectual child within with the help of crackpots and screwballs
10/28/99: Live by litigation, die by litigation
10/22/99: Jesse, Warren, Cybill, Donald and Oprah
10/14/99: Inequality and injustice: It's the big one
10/05/99: Dan Quayle, morals and schoolyard bullies
09/30/99: The monsters of epidermal parenting
09/21/99: The Diversity Hoax
09/15/99: Waco Wackos
09/09/99: Selective censorship
09/01/99: The village, the children, judicial imperialism and abortion
08/24/99: Naughty Newt?
08/17/99: In defense of Boy Scouts and judgment
08/10/99: Ruining the finest health care system in the world
08/03/99: Nihilism and politics: ethics on the lam
07/26/99: Of women, soccer and removed jerseys
07/23/99: Not in despair, a mere mortal doing just fine
07/20/99: "Why me?" How about "Why us?"
07/13/99: Bunk, junk & juries
07/06/99: An Amish woman in a Victoria's Secret store
06/30/99: That intellectually embarrassing Second Amendment
06/24/99: Patricia Ireland eat your heart out --- but check out the recipe in 'women's mags' first
06/22/99: Dems and the Creator coup
06/17/99: True courage is more than just admitting troubles

© 2002, Marianne M. Jennings