The whole "Bert and Ernie are gay" thing is stupid. Of course they're not gay. But it does demonstrate that in our hypersexualized society people frequently believe that it is impossible for two men to have a close friendship without being gay.

I love Sesame Street! Heck, if Bert and Ernie are gay, what are the Seven Dwarfs??

Sesame Street is good and wholesome and clever. People can find crap wherever they look for it.

I was a Captain Kangaroo man myself back in my glory days as a pre-schooler...

I remember the Electric Company, a little bit at least. Which one had "Letterman"?

I also liked Romper Room and the magical looking class although she never called out , I see "Nita", ie "I see Poncho, I see Zeilia, I see Cat Herder, I see Jen, I see Coco, I see Arbilad, I see Alabamabelle..."


I also liked the Big Blue Marble song (the Earth's a big blue marble when we see it from out there"

My favorite song was from ZOOM! (sounds dorky now, come on Zoom, Zoom, Zoom a Zoom..."

going back to the topic, I agree that it's bad when they make those type of remarks about the Sesame Street Characters. I'd heard the stuff about Ernie and Bert but not the others.

The only thing unusual is a big elephant walking around a huge city!

It also bothers me that the whole gay movement has taken over rainbows, ie their rainbow flag. Growing up, I used to enjoy drawing rainbows. A few weeks ago, we had a huge beautiful rainbow in the sky. It concerns me that those who are gay are using rainbows to symbolize their movement. I'm not sure why they do it.

snufflupagus reminds me of a woman I know. she even talks like him. sweet lady. innocent and gentle

I always thought he was a Mammoth.

Netflix has Electric Company. We've were augmenting our kid's reading curriculum with them for a while (maybe about 6 months, she blew past that level quite quickly).

It was great, re-remembering all the stuff. Seeing Danny Glover with a big honkin' 'fro playing Easy Reader, and Bill Cosby only looking 40 instead of 80.

And of course, Letterman was Gene Wilder, the announcer was Joan Rivers.

Fargo North, Decoder.

Love of Chair.

Great stuff.

LM

I'm not sure that it's fair to pin it on Reverand Falwell, about outing the Teletubbies character. Tinky Winky was already a beloved icon of the gay community at that point, and his gay-ness had been approvingly reported by a couple of publications prior to the publication owned by Falwell ran a piece by an anonymous author about it. The thing that sparked the protest was the fact that Falwell's publication disapproved rather than approved of it.

It seems to me that it is likely that Tinky Winky's character was deliberately designed to help kids to be comfortable with being gay, or have sexual identity issues. I didn't forbid my kids to watch it though because I'm hoping that the influence of this--a boy alien carrying a woman's purse, his taking turns with the two girls wearing a tutu, wearing a gay symbol created by the Nazis and then accepted by the gay community on his head--are too subtle to have any effect.

The man who first accused Batman and Robin of being gay in the 50's was probably overreacting. Whoever decided that Bert and Ernie was gay is ridiculous. But it's not outside the bounds of possibility to believe that Tinky Winky was deliberately designed to represent gayness, and to increase the acceptance of homosexuality. That his creator's designs might fail due to the fact that they are too subtle does not mean that that was not his intention.

I agree with you Randy about Tinky Winky. The flap was that Falwell was disapproving. The gay community had already accepted Tinky Winky as one of their own.

Even worse, Cookie monster now eats veggies and other healthy foods in addition to cookies.


Okay, maybe not worse than the HIV muppet, but still perty darn annoying

DaKnife wrote:

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Even worse, Cookie monster now eats veggies and other healthy foods in addition to cookies.


Okay, maybe not worse than the HIV muppet, but still perty darn annoying

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Well, my kids don't watch Sesame Street. Because it is too "politically correct" now.
But the Sesame Street I grew up was fine I thought.

They really have an HIV muppet? Now that's just getting ridiculous if you ask me.

I grew up on Captain Kangaroo too. Mr. Greenjeans and Mr. Boose and Bunny Rabbit were great.

-- Edited by Poncho29 at 16:45, 2008-01-01

I loved Mr. Rogers as a kid. "Who are the people in your neighborhood?" Good stuff.

And that HIV positive muppet showed up several years ago in South Africa. The govt asked Sesame St to add the character because so many children in South Africa are HIV positive, having caught it at birth from their mothers. It was supposed to help with the discrimination and cruelty directed at the sick kids.

As for politically correct stuff on kid shows, I don't think kids get any of it. I remember watching movies as a young teen and then finding out mom strongly disapproved of a couple of them. I couldn't figure out why. I re-watched them as an adult, and my jaw hit the floor. As a kid, though, all that stuff went right over my head. I doubt toddlers care about the sexual orientation of a teletubby, or even know what it is.

Love the trolley on Mr. Rogers and my eldest went as King Friday for one Halloween when he
was about 3.

The best part of Captain Kangaroo was Grandfather clock snoring and Fred the Eggplant.

As for the 'politically correct' agenda on programs today, those who wish to promote evil will find evil in everything and assign their own meanings to them just to be cruel.

We are living in a day where nothing is considered innocent anymore. Unless you don't have a dirty mind.

I like the Telletubbies since my youngest would only go to sleep with them, Barney or Mr. Rogers on during a very horrible time in his life. So nasty minds can think what they want to...

I loved it when the trolley went to King Friday and all the other puppets.
I sometimes couldn't wait for Mr. Rogers to quit talking so we could "get there."

I also remember thinking how clean his tennis shoes he always changed in to were.

I read in the paper the other day that they released the DVDs of the early episodes of Sesame Street but with a warning label that it may not be suitable for children. The reasoning was that things like imaginary friends and eating cookies is harmful to children. Sad.

Actually, Poncho, it was Mr. Moose... not Mr. Boose... and then there was Mr. Green Jeans, Bunny Rabbit, Grandfather Clock, the mime guy, and the cartoon about the little boy with the piece of chalk who drew his world (we have the book), and a whole lot of other fun stuff.

Coco, you have a source on the dirt on Bob Keeshan saying what you heard he said? There were also rumors that he had become a druggie (which I think were proven to be false). The man was of the same calibre as Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers). Although, I do have to admit it was pretty funny seeing Mr. Rogers get frustrated on a blooper out-take trying to put up a tent on one episode and being unable to and then totally exasperated just tossing the poles down and uttering "D**n!" in the same Mr. Rogers tone of voice!

Kids may not get the PC stuff directly like we adults do because of their innocence, but they are nevertheless subtely influenced by it. It is no mistake that PC gets slipped into programming aimed at them... the same as it is no mistake that major marketing and branding gets slipped into and becomes the main theme behind a lot of the "tween" and early teen programs these days.

cat- I have no source whatsoever... I can't even remember where I heard it... my Dad maybe? but it's been at least a decade... I hope it's not true! And I'll assume it's just dirt until someone can get a source for it.

On a semi-related note, here is a video of my daughter, standing in King Friday's castle, beating the holy livin crap out of X the owl.

My heart swells with pride whenever I watch this.

http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=85zbu36&s=1

-- Edited by LoudmouthMormon at 09:34, 2008-01-03

That's exactly how I felt.

are you talking about Henrietta Pussycat? 'cause SHE's a GIRL and would be mighty ruffled to think that you dissed her new frock and spring hat.

plus she's no bargain in a fight. she has teeth and claws and she ain't afraid to use them.
a lot like most cats in that respect.

I feel sorry for cats that have been declawed and turned back outside. they have no defenses against predators and can't climb too well.

Or are you referring to Daniel Striped Tiger who lived in the clock tower?

Now he was a little timid tiger who had a lot of trouble sorting reality from fantasy.

I loved the part of the show where Mr. Rogers showed us how things were made. I still love that now.

I wish factories still had real tours of how they made their products. My Brownie troop went to a lot of factories back in the day . . .

I don't know if it's Daniel or Henrietta or whoever that deserves a punch in the meow meow, but I think it's a female cat of some kind.