Somewhere on the side bar of my blog is a link to a friend's blog. The Blog of the Union Address. Now, while I don't really follow politics, and while I'm far from a Republican, I admire the author's POV and appreciate his no-holds-barred opinions enough to have shared this link. I may not agree with everything that Andy has to say, but he does his research, posts intelligent blogs, and never loses my interest. Also, we share an affinity for Captain America that most of you will never understand...
The Blog of the Union has been quiet as of late, so I was surprised to log onto facebook and discover that Andy had posted something new. And, after reading his post, I felt it important enough to both share with you, and to add my two cents worth. What Big Bird Really Thinks of You.
If you can't be bothered to read Andy's post, I'm going to embed the video he links to, as I feel it's worth 11 odd minutes of your day. If you are a parent and are concerned about what your children are exposed to on television, this may be one of the most important videos you ever watch.
Now, I'm not exactly sure who Ron Shiller and his crew at PBS thinks is on the other end of the phone when they hold their million tele-a-thons each year, but I'm going to go out on a limb and hazard a guess that it isn't the blue collar working stiffs that make up the vast majority of the Democratic Party. Most of those folks are too worried about how they're going to pay for their next gallon of gas to be donating money to anything. I'm going to specualte that the 'public' funding that keeps PBS on the air is coming from the 'more money than brains' crowd, that tend to lean towards a Republican voting stand point.
And, before this goes any further, let me clarify something: I do not support the Tea Party. I really don't support or follow any political line of thinking, but I'm particularly against any extremist bend. Yes, I mean you too, you fucking tree hugging liberals that bitch about the economy endlessly but support moronic endeavors like raising minimum wage (which anyone with half a fucking brain knows will only cause the cost of living to go up).
For those of you that remember PBS from your childhood, and look back fondly on shows like Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and Sesame Street... I invite you to never turn that channel on again as an adult. And certainly not for your children.
My children won't even watch Sesame Street. I don't blame them. It isn't the show we grew up on. It's a dumbed down version that tries entirely too hard to push propaganda on it's young viewing audience. The messages we inferred from that show as children are now jammed down your throat. The innocence is gone, and you're left with 20 minutes of 'ethnic diversity is more than okay, it's the master plan!' followed by the 10 minutes of Elmo, which is the crack of every 3-6 year old on the planet.
After reading Andy's post, I wanted to be shocked. I wanted to be appalled. Outraged. Indignant. But, I wasn't. Not overly. Because I started remembering one of the my other childhood favorites brought to me by PBS. Mister Roger's Neighborhood.
Here was a show that didn't just promote a White Christian God, it insisted upon it. My brother, his girlfriend and I like to play a game when we go to punk rock shows. It's a variation of Where's Waldo, that includes finding the black people at the concert. You could play the same game here. Fred Roger's neighborhood must have been in the suburbs, if you catch my drift. And, if you don't, just take a look at the Nazi jackboots on his mailman. Oh shit, right? Some of you never noticed that the preacher with a TV show was getting mail hand delivered from Adolph Hitler.
And maybe thats what really got me cranked about watching that video. Mr. Shiller was all about taking 5 million dollars from a Muslim organization, so that he could continue to spread the gospel. I guess the Public that PBS is serving consists only of white christians that despise the government and want to form a new world order. A group that will tolerate Muslims, provided they have the cash...
Using television to brainwash the masses isn't new. In fact, it's old hat. We've endured everything from subliminal messaging to outright propaganda. Big Brother monitors your viewing habits and might be watching you from a camera inside your tv set. Who knows?
But, the manner in which PBS is doing it is disturbing. They aren't trying to create wholesome Americans that are willing to fall on the sword for God and Country (something that might not be tolerable, but we would all dismiss as standard operating procedure). These sick puppies are trying to further divide a nation that clearly needs to put aside it's differences and find unity. Because, in case you guys don't know it, we've become the villain of the modern world. Every other country out there, especially the ones taking our hand outs with a smile, would love to see us wiped off the map. We're walking around with targets on our backs.
I can live with Sesame Street implying through Bert and Ernie that same sex couples are okay. I can accept that Oscar represents the surly homeless guy that is amusing and harmless. I can deal with the huge ethnic crowd living in bliss while a large homosexual bird and a blue furball with an eating disorder take children into the alley unsupervised. I can even stomach Elmo, and his fingernails-on-chalkboard voice.
But, I can't stomach a Public Broadcasting Service that is too busy meeting it's own political agenda to be serving the public.
In general, I hate television. I view that black box as a means to transmit movies from my DVD player and little more. The networks are all bought and sold, pumping out vapid programming that will attract sponsors who, in turn, insist on liberal or right-wing media... And the few channels that stand apart from this conglomerate whoring aren't showing shit worth watching anyway.
Yet, I have children. And I generally give them free reign of the television, trusting that I haven't raised fools. They usually make the right choice in programming, but now... now I have to wonder if what they're choosing isn't what I need to be concerned with. Maybe I should start being concerned with the political agenda of these so called kids networks, before they have my children goose stepping through my living room.
We are a nation that is on the verge of a second civil war. Don't delude yourselves otherwise. But, this time, the battlelines won't be geographic in nature. They will be intangible. We will be pitting ourselves against each other over the political agendas we hold to be true based upon which channel delivers our news, and which end of the extreme they're hypno-toading us with. (Kudos to those of you that caught the Futurama reference)
Those of you that are caught in the middle, like me... I'd advise you to make a trip to your local buy-by-the-bulk place, get about 300 gallons of water, 300 pounds of rice, as many D-cell batteries as you can, and start digging holes in your basement. Because, when Elmo is telling your kids to kill whitey, they're going to listen. And, we're all fucked.
I had a teacher in college who once said to the class, "My job is to teach you how to think." We butted heads many times after that, and I eventually dropped his class. His job was to teach me grammar and how to write more effectively. I learned how to think independently.
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