Jewish World Review July 18, 2002/ 9 Menachem-Av, 5762
Marianne M. Jennings
Reality Muppets
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
Long before Tinky Winky, the purple Teletubby, trotted about with a purse, Bert and Ernie bunked together with their
falsetto voices and platform shoes even as Big Bird, the token eunuch of the ever-diverse Sesame Street, hovered nearby.
PBS's Children's Television Workshop, now Sesame Workshop, has heaped one odd conglomeration of characters upon the
toddlers of the nation for 30 years.
Sesame Street is what happens when early childhood educational theorists have an unlimited budget due to sponsorships
from corporations such as Sony, Pfizer and Crest that foolishly fund liberal minds. Adults use androgynous puppets to speak
condescendingly to children as all one-child parents do, with self-control so contrived that they seem just one juice spill away
from a tower and a rifle. For the anti-gun Sesame Street fans, make that a knife or a rope in the tower with schizophrenia.
One-child parents fret about their child having sugar. Parents who burst the sanity barrier with 3 children permit their tykes to
suck C & H with a straw from a 5-pound sack if it means quiet.
Sonia Manzano's Sesame Workshop Web column on raising children is quintessential childhood development mumbo jumbo,
"I'm trying to give my child the best of my parents' lessons in decency and politeness mixed with today's in-your-face
assertiveness. . . .My husband and I are raising our daughter Gabriela differently from the way we were raised. We let her feel
free to explore, ask questions and make decisions and that's made for some interesting moments... from when, as a
preschooler, Gabi insisted on wearing panty hose on her head... to when she decided she no longer wanted to appear on
Sesame Street...." Mercy, heaven help this child of a PBS star.
Sesame Street is run by socialists who have infiltrated 20 countries with pledges to meet the needs of children: "such as the
critical need in Egypt to bolster girl's education and self-esteem, the need in Russia to prepare children for life in an open
society, the need in South Africa for basic preschool preparation, and the need in Israel and the Palestinian Territories to
demystify differences among children and foster appreciation and respect for one another." Ten bucks says Arafat is Oscar the
Grouch's long-lost cousin. How long before Cookie Monster starts wearing a turban? Big Bird's peace plan triumphs!
But, the PBS types have a new quest. A muppet with AIDS is coming to Sesame Street.. Andy, the AIDS guy? Henrietta,
the HIV friend? From a business perspective, why risk a brand name with the taint of communicable disease? Those who hail
from la-la land know no fear when it comes to the terminally and contagiously ill. Those of us in the real world grapple with
continuing corrections from the Centers for Disease Control on the ways in which the HIV virus is transmitted.
Addressing illness, death, dismemberment, and perhaps suicide bombers for the Palestinian states edition, is nothing new
for Sesame Street. Its penchant for doing so is precisely the reason for its banishment from my household. I don't allow The
Simpsons either. Bart's smart mouth and Homer's dysfunctional existence are not the stuff of childhood. Childhood needs
innocence, a Sound of Music purity.
Lectures on lesions in between math sessions with The Count are an affront to the age of innocence. On their way to
discernment, children deserve peace of mind. Why sucker punch children before they turn 5 with Bart, Homer, and HIV?
Couldn't we get them through the importance of cleaning their ears before moving onto STDs?
Those who foist this claptrap upon children selfishly seek adulation from television critics for what is, at best, indifference to
children's best interests. Children would be better off being told to wear panty hose on their heads to parties.
This insistence on exposure to AIDS is disingenuous. The liberal righteous claim that broaching this subject with a muppet
will help children to be sensitive to those suffering from AIDS. What will occur is a rosy introduction to a deadly disease
without full information. If the Sesame Workshop addressed diabetes (Cookie Monster develops Type 2!), they would
explore causes, treatment, and prevention.
Big Bird explaining to the cherubs that the two causes of AIDS in all but a tiny percentage of cases are sharing drug
needles and sexual contact will bring a collective national screech as toddlers again inquire of their soccer moms, "What's oral
sex?"
Introducing children to HIV without causal backdrop is irresponsible. Presenting AIDS to toddlers in sanitized fashion, as it
were, is reckless indoctrination by television producers who take advantage of a malleable audience.
Parents should boycott Sesame Street, its products, its sponsors, and its propaganda. Folks this stunningly lacking in
judgment should be nowhere near children's programs.
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JWR contributor Marianne M. Jennings is a professor of legal and ethical studies at Arizona State
University. Send your comments by clicking here.
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© 2002, Marianne M. Jennings
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