Culture Wars: How Sesame Street is Helping Save the World

I originally posted this diary with a different intro on the Daily Kos a few months ago. As I introduce myself to this community, I thought a good way for people to get to know a little about me would be to repost a few diaries I am proud of. This one seemed pertinent given the recent uproar over Cookie Monster going healthy and the info that has come out this month about the chair of the CPB being a partisan wing-nut hack (see Media Matters).

I have spoken to many people lately about how we should define and spread our liberal values, especially in the face of the right wing controlled media. How do we teach our values to the next generation, while those values are under fire? As with anything, you have to start young. A great resource already exists that is helping us in spreading our values not only here in America, but across the globe:

The longest street in the world:

We all know the right is targeting children’s shows and characters — an effort spearheaded by James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. SpongeBob has gotten the most attention, but he is certainly not the only one. Education Secretary Margaret Spelling recently prevented PBS from showing an episode of the children’s show Postcards from Buster in which the cartoon rabbit Buster visits two farms run by lesbian couples, even though the show never mentions the sexuality of the women. Nor was SpongeBob the only character attacked by Dobson for the “We are Family” video. That video included Big Bird and others.

This attack on children’s characters is part of the “Culture Wars” the right has begun against liberal values. I know there are those here who don’t believe there are culture wars underway, but those on the other side certainly do. I have a wacko, over-the-top religious brother who refused to come to my wedding because it wasn’t in a Catholic Church performed by a Catholic priest. He didn’t want to set a bad example for his kids by “celebrating a blasphemous union.” Around Christmas time, he sent out one of those “Year in Review” letters that some people are so fond of sending. In it, he talked about his ongoing struggle to raise his kids in the midst of the culture wars — yes, he actually used the phrase “the culture wars”. Included with the letter was a list by each of his children of the top 10 things he or she was greatful for in 2004. All 7 included Bush winning the election because of his values. The youngest, a 4 year old, had it as #2 on her list. “My God,” I thought to myself, “even the 4 year old is totally brainwashed.” He and his wife homeschool the kids to keep them away from “bad influences”. The only movies the children are allowed to see are religiously themed movies like the Veggie Tales or The Passion of the Christ (which also made it onto most of the kids’ lists). They aren’t allowed to watch but a select few TV programs. Sesame Street is not one of them.

Why? What is so dangerous about Sesame Street?

Read the caption below the Ernie and Bert pic. Sesame Street is a tool for political and social change? Yes. But not by promoting gay marriage. Anyone who has actually seen Sesame Street knows Ernie and Bert are not gay. They are actually the Odd Couple, in Muppet form. One is a shoot from the hip slob, the other is anal retentive and very proper. In spite of their differences, they have a respectful, loving friendship. Ernie and Bert are being twisted. They are an easy target simply because they live together. But if they weren’t on Sesame Street, the right would still be going after the program because it is chock full of liberal values.

What Liberal Values?

This is why the right is after children’s characters: they fear characters that are teaching the next generation liberal values. Respect for differences, diversity, community, a sense of global citizenship, these are dangerous ideas when your goal is perpetual warfare.  You need a citizenry in fear to get people to surrender their rights and vote against their own best interests. You need an enemy to rally people and get them to sacrifice their children to the government military machine.

Those are also dangerous ideas if you want global economic dominance. You need servile people around the globe so our corporations can take advantage of them. But, as the above quote (from a Sesame Workshop fundraising letter) suggests, Sesame Street doesn’t just promote those liberal values to children here in the United States. Sesame Workshop (formerly the Children’s Television Workshop) works with educators and filmmakers in more than 20 countries to create regional versions of the Street and other programs. The regional shows are tailored to meet the needs of the children in each area and take into account the history and culture of the region. The shows not only teach basic skills, but are designed to foster cross-cultural understanding and respect. The Workshop’s programs are seen in over 120 countries.

The fundraising letter highlights some of the great lessons Sesame Street is trying to bring to the rest of the world:

 In Egypt, where female literacy is very low, a four year old female Muppet named Khokha has a passion for learning which shows girls that education is not just for boys.

 In South Africa, the Workshop uses TV, radio, and outreach materials to reach remote urban and rural areas to teach basic skills that the children would not be learning otherwise. The program also features a 5 year old girl Muppet named Kami, who is HIV-Positive, and teaches age-appropriate lessons about HIV/AIDS.

 In Macedonia, the Workshop has targeted pre-teens with a dramatic series called Nashe Maalo (Our Neighborhood) that teaches tolerance and understanding between Albanian, Macedonian, Roma, and Turkish children and teens.

Sesame Workshop is now working on new projects in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bangladesh, and Northern Ireland, all areas where ethnic, religious, or political conflict and violence has interrupted education and warped people’s shared sense of humanity.

There are those magic words: “more peaceful.” Want to win the war on terror? Instill liberal values in everyone; promote a sense of common humanity and global citizenship. Want to spread freedom and democracy? Spread the ideas of equality and respect for differences. Democracy is government by the people, so the people must be assured that they have the same value no matter what their station in society, no matter what the language they speak, the religion they practice, or the color of their skin (or fur if you’re a Muppet). These are the same reasons that the right attacks the UN: it promotes common humanity and global citizenship, which run counter to the neocon desire for US hegemony.

In a time when our government talks about freedom and democracy while engaging in illegal wars and bombing civilians to oblivion, Sesame Street is perhaps our best ambassador to the rest of the world. Since our administration wont spread real American values through a sane foreign policy, I am glad we have an organization like the Sesame Workshop that does.

While some may take issue with me suggesting we support a TV program, I think it is one of the best investments we can make. Some may say TV is used for nothing but selling, turning us all into consumers. TV hypnotizes us, turns us into zombies. Most of us probably watch more TV than we want, and allow our children to watch more than they should. So why shouldn’t our kids watch shows promoting liberal values? As a special education teacher, I can attest that TV is a very powerful tool for teaching children, perhaps because it is so hypnotizing. If our kids are going to want toys and dolls of characters they are familiar with, why shouldn’t they be characters that represent liberal values?

Ultimately, you say, parents teach their children values. But why, then, do we all rail against the RWCM? Because the media can be a very powerful tool for teaching or indoctrinating. Why does my brother homeschool his kids and monitor their TV viewing so closely? Because a parent is not the only input a child receives.  If a parent teaches a child one thing, but the world contradicts it, that can undermine the lesson or confuse the child. If parents can have their values echoed through the entertainment their child watches, it reinforces the lesson and lets the child know the parent is teaching them the truth. Sesame Street gives us that reinforcement in the MSM.

You can bet the Freepers know it, too:

(on a side note, look at the posters’ sigs… frightening!)

Why are we all drawn to liberal blogs, and why do so many of us listen to Air America? Because finding likeminded others gives us comfort; it reinforces our values and lets us know we are part of a community. Humans are social creatures by nature, after all; we long to belong. We want the world to confirm our beliefs and let us know we are normal, let us know we belong. Sesame Street lets our kids know that others share our values.

The fundraising letter states that production in some places (like the U.S.) is sustainable through merchandise sales, so look for Muppet merchandise with the Sesame Workshop logo (Sesame Workshop is a non-profit, but profit from Muppet merchandise without the Workshop logo will go to the for-profit Jim Henson Company). To maintain production in the poorest places, where the show may do the most good, the Workshop relies on contributions. Unfortunately, both government funding and corporate contributions are down, and the Workshop has turned to the general public for donations for the first time.

If you are interested in donating to Sesame Workshop, click here.

Full Disclosure: I am not now, nor have I ever been, affiliated with Sesame Workshop (I can do several Muppet voices, though).