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| Scarlet
Letters |
| Brought
To You By the Letters S-T-U-P-I-D |
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Children
have this nasty habit of growing up and going out on their own in the world,
and there are no (internet) filters out there for them - except the ones
parents instill in them at home.
--
Myron Kukla, columnist, 2000 |
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Congress
has finally managed to do something so stupid not even I could make it
up.
Allow me to begin with a disclaimer:
I watch "Sesame Street" every day. It's not exactly by choice: I have a
three-year-old son who thinks the sun rises and sets over Big Bird's nest
every day, and if three-year-olds could vote, Elmo would be president of
the United States.
Which might be an improvement.
"Sesame Street" is seen by millions
of viewers in the U.S. and overseas. It has different versions for families
worldwide, and still each one balances entertainment with education, as
it has for generations stretching back before my own.
I like that he watches "Sesame
Street." It was The Count that taught him to count to twenty, and Cookie
Monster helped him recognize the letters of his own name. He sings along
with Elmo and guesses "where's Ernie" every morning. He is exposed to scientific
principles, beginning Spanish, forms of art, dance and music, and even
helps Big Bird through the loss of his nest after a hurricane.
That's before he even gets to
preschool.
As Barry James of the International
Herald Tribune said, the road to peace may very well start on "Sesame
Street." "Local adaptations of Sesame Street
are accepted on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict, in Egypt, Russia,
China and many other countries," James writes. In Macedonia, Serbs, Turks,
Albanians and gypsies live in a gritty apartment house together, and "Sesame
Street" has looked for "uniting features" in its Israeli and Palestinian
versions.
The recent announcement that
the South African edition of "Sesame Street" would add an HIV-positive
Muppet was met with incredulity in the American press and blustering foolishness
from the Congressional Clowns.
In one developing script, "the
character is sad because she misses her mother." In another, she is "shunned
by children who don't want to play with her because she is HIV-positive,
but the other Muppets rally around her."
Six Republican Congressmen,
led by Rep. Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, sent a carefully worded letter to
PBS, expressing their concerns and reminding them that Congress oversees
PBS' budget. "We look forward to working with you to ensure that only age
and culturally appropriate programs air on PBS,'' the letter said.
What these elected morons fail
to understand is that approximately 95,000 South African children are HIV-positive,
and 370,000 have been orphaned by the disease. One in nine South Africans
is infected. That's in one country alone. Throughout the rest of the continent,
the combined populations of Los Angeles and New York have died of AIDS.
They face AIDS every day in
their streets. It is burning through Africa like a wildfire, much more
dangerous than any receiving incessant media coverage in Colorado. And
it's not like AIDS is invisible in the U.S., after all. Just because we
can suppress it to a great extent with drugs doesn't mean it's gone. Might
I point out that among the many victims of AIDS is Richard Hunt - one of
the earlier puppeteers for "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show"?
Once more, with feeling: AIDS
IS NOT ABOUT SEX. AIDS IS NOT ABOUT MORALITY. AIDS IS A DISEASE THAT IS
KILLING PEOPLE. INCLUDING CHILDREN.
Did you hear that, Congress?
I'm really not sure, because despite 21 years of AIDS education, it seems
the oath of office for federal government service still includes implantation
of earplugs that filter out any common sense.
It may seem that I'm a bit more
irritated than usual. Actually, I am. For all that the press has to bear
some of the responsibility for playing up the sex angles with the AIDS
stories, it should be blindingly obvious by now that disease has no sexual
preference. The children of Africa are facing a horrible epidemic, and
we quibble about whether a children's show should address it?
I say, bring on a Muppet with
a terminal illness. The only show on television that has anything like
the sensitivity and skill to bring on a child-oriented discussion of disease
and dying is "Sesame Street." Where would you prefer they get their information,
Congress? On the streets of Johannesburg? Or the streets of St. Louis?
Once again, Congress has proven
that it has its collective head in the sand. AIDS burns up Africa and it's
not our problem. Children are dying in South Africa, but they shouldn't
hear about it on TV. No, they'll hear about it at their parents' funerals
- and the funerals of their friends, boys.
Leave "Sesame Street" alone.
Leave PBS alone. They're the only ones in the collective rat race that
is the modern entertainment industry trying to be responsible to its viewership.
Go back to balancing the budget, and leave the responsibility of educating
small children about life to the ones who can handle it. Even Elmo knows
you don't mess with a good thing. |
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Column Credo:
I'd be sitting in a restaurant and someone
would come up and say, "I don't like your column on this or that." I'd
hand him 35 cents. That was what the paper cost then. The refund on the
product. He'd get upset. Well, that's one attitude I have. Today,
it's half a buck. What can you buy for half a buck? Do I owe them something
that will be worth reading a hundred years from now? I don't think so.
Do I owe them something of the quality of Mark Twain? Naaa. Not for 50
cents.
I guess what I owe them is that when I
write something, it's what I think. No editor told me to write it. I'm
not doing it because the Tribune editorial page will like it, or not. So
they can be quite sure that they're getting what I think at the moment.
-- Mike Royko
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