I went about 35 straight years without watching the Cookie Monster on Sesame Street. I have to say, I am disappointed that he hasn’t experienced any emotional maturity, nor has he expanded his interests. The main thing that has changed is that this Elmo character came on the scene. Even though he’s a liberal activist, I don’t care for him. I do still enjoy Bert & Ernie, however, even though there is no truth to the rumor that they are gay.
Here are some other things to consider:
The TV series Friends undermined family values; Sesame Street taught ethnic minorities about civil disobedience; Happy Days had a subtle anti-Vietnam subtext; and the 1980s cop show MacGyver tried to persuade pistol-packing Americans that guns are bad. That, at least, is the considered opinion of Ben Shapiro, an investigative author and right-wing columnist who will publish a detailed exposé tomorrow telling how Hollywood producers, writers and actors have been secretly using TV to promote what he calls a “radical” left-leaning political agenda.
I get the family values bit. But I have to laugh at the idea that teaching ethnic minorities about civil disobedience is a bad thing. And wasn’t it a bit late to worry about civil disobedience by the time Sesame Street came on the scene in 1969? The Jim Crow laws were already gone. Also, are we still debating Vietnam? Where are the pro-Vietnam voices? And MacGyver? That guy could stop an army with nothing more than some duct tape and a box of Milk Duds. If you could do that, you’d be less interested in guns, too.
Our discourse is so stupid.
