I haven't been in the mood to write in my blog in a while. Frankly, I've been too depressed at how being a Republican or right-winger has been an excuse for inexcusable and immoral behaviour lately. Actually, it seems all manner of stupidity is being excused or, at worst, awarded.
How else can we explain Condoleeza Rice getting a promotion?
Or how "The Tsunami Song" was allowed to play on Hot 97 before being removed from the air?
Or how the "Sugartime" episode of Postcards from Buster gets pulled from the air by PBS?
Or that the We Are Family Foundation's video is thought to be "...manipulating and brainwashing kids."
All of this has got me all fired up enough to speak out.
Not that it would make a difference.
Yet for some strange reason I still have faith in humanity. There are still examples of hope and love throughout the world. It is incredibly hard to find these examples since it seems we are all so determined to hear bad news that that is all that is reported.
I'm not a psychologist, but I assume tragedy gives us that wonderful thing called "perspective" and reminds us that there are people worse off than us, so the more bad news the better. Happiness is an unwelcome stranger. The happier we are, the more paranoid we get, just waiting for the next tragedy to tear out joy from us.
Rarely do we fully enjoy this gift of life. We don't have to be alive and aware. But since we are, I figure we should take full advantage of it and not live in self-inflicted misery.
QUOTES - "Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode...Congress' and the Department's purpose in funding this programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television,"
- Margaret Spellings, new Secretary of Education, in a letter to PBS president and CEO Pat Mitchell regarding the "Sugartime" episode of Postcards from Buster which features the children of two lesbian couples. Spellings also demanded that PBS return the $77,000 in taxpayer dollars used to produce the episode.
RESPONSE - If parents don't want their children exposed to the gay/lesbian lifestyle they can turn the channel. From what you're saying, you can make the argument that since there are parents who don't like the "black lifestyle", that all shows with Blacks should be banned. If this is a matter of "majority rules", then (assuming that the majority of parents find this inappropiate, which they don't) that would mean the majority is always right. History has proven that even in a democracy the voice of truth and reason is often a whisper.
QUOTES - "...sensitive in today's political climate." - PBS spokeswoman Lea Sloan said after PBS pulled the episode prior to Spellings letter.
RESPONSE - Is this a way of copping out? It sounds like what was said should go like this: "We can't broadcast any shows that have any hint of independent thinking because of a few radical evangelists and a Republican-run government."
QUOTES - "... You're taking a kid and what he loves to do most -- which is watch cartoons -- and you're introducing an adult topic which is inappropriate...It's extremely offensive that they would even consider doing this issue...They're teaching the acceptance of homosexuality to toddlers...People are sick of homosexuality being everywhere -- when they turn on the TV, when they open the newspaper...Everywhere you turn in the culture homosexuality is being promoted and celebrated and treated as if it's no big deal. The average American -- not just the average Christian -- but the average American is sick of it...They're trying to get kids used to the idea that having two moms or having two dads is normal, when actually it's very abnormal and it's very harmful to children...This is the liberals' way of indoctrinating our children -- all the while they lecture us about being intolerant and respecting diversity."
- Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, as told to Baptist Press.
RESPONSE - Wow. This guy is so determined to be evil and illogical that it almost doesn't make sense to comment on him.
But I will anyway.
I've seen homosexuality get labeled as an adult topic before. The problem is people like this see homosexuality as sex rather than a class of human relationship. What could even be more dangerous is that LaBarbera might be using the "adult" argument, knowing it has nothing to do with sex, as another PR weapon in a hate war against, in this case, homosexuals. Hate mongers have been known to try to use any angle necessary to get people on their side--if not the majority, then a powerful minority.
LeBarbera is also an empath, much like Deanna Troi of Star Trek. He seems to intuitively know that Americans really hate gays and lesbians. I'm not trying to pretend I know it all, but my general philosophy is any philosophy that's based on exclusion can be very dangerous.
QUOTES - "Our kids are targeted particularly in schools and in the media to adopt a worldview consistent with a group that we would vehemently disagree with...There are big stakes with cartoon characters because they have the power to define for a child what's real or what's acceptable or what's true." - Marc Fey, director of Christian worldview and education analyst at Focus on the Family, who called the Postcards episode an "insidious attempt" to teach children what many traditional parents would find unacceptable.
RESPONSE - Hmm...traditional parents, eh? Are these the same parents who are more likely, according to studies, to abuse their children mentally and physically? There are a ton of issues I could get into regarding "traditional" (white, Christian) parents, but I don't have the web space or the time.
The only way that cartoon characters have the power to warp reality and values for a child is if the cartoon characters are the parents. Even the children of TV Babysitter Parents (they sit their child in front of the TV rather than interact with them) have an idea of what's real. Depsite their parents, and despite what they might see on TV, children still might decide for themselves what is right or wrong when they grow up. Tricky business this child rearing is, huh?
SPONGEBOB GAY? http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=11140&cid=1&cname=Media
REALLY BAD TSUNAMI SONG http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050126/ap_en_ot/ny_tsunami_radio_suspensions_2
POSTCARDS FROM BUSTER http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050128/ap_en_tv/parents_pbs_show_2
