Can You Tell Me How to Get... To Fair and Balanced Street?
Posted by Jake G. on 11.09.2009
Conservatives expose Socialist Street?
It's been a while since I wrote but something historic happened this week that I just knew I had to speak about. It's something that's been decades in the making. It's a landmark for our country and it no doubt has affected every person born in this country in the last forty years... That landmark epic event was healthcare reform, Sesame Street. That's right folks, Big Bird and company turned 40 this past week. I can say with a certain safety that every child in America has been exposed to Sesame Street on some level and obviously nobody has anything bad to say about a learning institution such as Sesame Street. Really when you think about it there are only a few things left in this country that we can all relate to, feel proud about and enjoy no matter our race or political affiliation and Sesame Street has to be high on that list.
Wait, this just in... Conservative Republicans have declared WAR on Sesame Street. You see while some think the Republican party may be falling apart and others have even speculated it has embraced the lunatic fringe, it's high time we recognize that at least the GOP base still has it's priorities straight: Burt, Ernie and Elmo are promoting an evil liberal agenda.
At least that's what Conversative Bloggers at Big Hollywood have said. What could make you a bigger tent party than taking shots at the Muppets? The brouhaha all got stirred up after a two year old episode of Sesame Street aired in reruns recently and featured a segment where Oscar the Grouch was doing a report on his garbage news GNN and apparently one of his fellow Muppet viewers was upset with the content and said, "From now on, I'm watching Pox News. Now there's a trashy news show!"
OH SNAP! Since this episode is two years old, we can only assume this sort of indoctrination of our youth is part of the reason that Obama won the election this past year. Clearly Sesame Street is brainwashing our kids to be liberals. Oscar the Grouch? No, clearly he's Oscar the Marxist!
Me personally, I'm glad that Fox News, Conservative bloggers and no doubt soon the rest of the party have taken on this fight. It's bad enough we have to deal with the liberal movies, liberal elite Hollywood but now our kids are being taught to be liberal puppets by... Liberal puppets! Look at this quote from one of the "concerned" parents who had to stop his kids from watching Sesame Street because of it's crazed teachings.
"My kids were banned from watching it back in the early 90's due to the liberal slant. It's not that I don't believe in free speech/ideas - quite the contrary. I just want to decide what is taught/shown to my child as they go through their formative years. I want my kids to grow up with my morals/values that I instill in them. same as I am sure you would want your kids to be raised following yours. But it's about time America woke up to the indoctrination of our youth."
Obviously this parent has saved his kids from the evil liberal agenda of Big Bird. Hopefully none of Sesame Streets other important lessons like, reading, writing, counting, spelling, diversity, sharing, and treating all people with kindness and respect were taught to the kids in their viewing's of the show before the parent caught this atrocity.
Look, conservatives need to focus on REAL issues. Toppling Elmo isn't one of them. Conservatives who are up in arms about this have once again missed the point. For starters, this is a parody, something that Sesame Street has done for 40 years. Sesame Street has brilliant writing that often looks at the world in a somewhat sardonic view. It's also actually a compliment to Fox News, because in Grouchland the trashier something is, the "better" it is. Moreover, the parody is intended at people who proclaim one news is better than the other than actually being a shot at Fox News... But Conservatives have never been one to let facts get in the way of a good story.
Then there's the other issue at hand, assuming this is a shot at Fox News, so what? Fox News has campaigned for years against PBS. Bill O'Reilly has criticized PBS and tried to shame the network. When PBS was hurting for donations a few years back and shows like Sesame Street were in trouble they regularly promoted the idea that the network should go down and to NOT support PBS affiliates. Fox News was part of the outrage a few years ago when word spread that Sesame Street would introduce a character with AIDS (in countries where AIDS education is highly important) and criticized them for doing so. So why after all the trash talk (pun intended), would Sesame Street have anything nice to say about Fox News? If this was a shot at Fox News, it was a shot at the company itself not conservatism.
And if slamming Fox News is a shot at conservatism, are conservatives now openly admitting that Fox is a right leaning news organization?! I thought they were fair and balanced?! Or maybe, just maybe conservatives and anyone who calls themselves a member of the GOP should be more concerned with real issues than fictional media slants. It wasn't that long ago that George Bush was hanging out with those "brainwashing" Muppets himself.
I hope the liberals continue to try and indoctrinate our youth because that will simply mean more conservatives in college, since the natural state of the teenager is to rebel against the establishment. Hollywood, universities and the mainstream media are the "establishment", who ironically were the 60's counter-cultural revolutiuonaries of the last generation.
Conservatism on the ascendancy baby!
Posted By: Da Man (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 01:15 PM
Actually, they were campaigning against some of the politcal leanings of guys like Moyers at an organization that receives federal tax money. I don't think they were protesting Ken Burns' baseball and countless replays of Victor Borge in Concert.
They were protesting certain policy, not the network as a whole.
Posted By: Duke (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 02:11 PM
Because when the conservatives go after the muppets, it doesn't make them look like a bunch of raving lunatics. The GOP wants PBS gone, because when they do reporting it doesn't favor them. You know why, because the GOP deals with shifty shady crap that most Democrats don't even want to touch. When they get called on the carpet about it, they scream liberal biased when its 100% true. They want Fox News to be Big Brother. Da Man is also sadly mistaken about the colleges. Since I teach at one, I can tell you its the exact opposite. Most students come in with a fairly conservative view point, but by the second month they realize theories don't hold and actually experience life with minorities. Most actually change parties due to being away from their families. The family unit determines political affiliation more then TV. Yet, keep blaming TV for all the worlds ill, it helps you sleep better at night.
Posted By: AFan (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 03:42 PM
I say we protest any furry animal creature puppet show that doesn't show kids how to eat a cheese sandwich and say please and thank you.
Let's just eliminate all semblance of free speech on both sides that way EVERYONE will be happy and we can once again go back to watching big bird, The andy griffin show and The Brady Bunch...
Oh wait, my bad I forgot that the brady bunch is to liberal for the conservatives and too conservative for the liberals...scratch that
Posted By: sarcasim (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 03:49 PM
personally I find this whole affair all ado about nothing really. I enjoyed Seasame street growing up as many other children did and will and honestly parodies are nothing new in the entertainment world anyway. Besides aren't there bigger fish to fry these days?
Posted By: just sayin (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 04:08 PM
You know what is funny to me? I was watching C-Span a few months ago and saw a guy on there who was saying that one of the main reasons for the young voters going for Obama so heavily in last year's election was that they were the first group of kids to watch Barney and that it greatly influenced the way they saw the world. I've also heard the same thing about the Potter books and with Barney bridging over to Potter, we may see fifteen to twenty years worth of young voters vote liberal by a 3 to 1 margin. So, there may be something to the GOP fear, but it does sound stupid.
Posted By: The Great Capt. Smooth (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 04:46 PM
You know what the best part of this whole thing is? No one young enough to be watching Sesame Street got the pun. Conservatives are spending time, money, and energy to combat a two year old joke that no six year old in the country even understood, much less placed into their formative minds for later use. FTW!
Posted By: General Sandoval (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 05:23 PM
Stop watching cable television opinion shows and trolling conservative blogs and you will realize than none of this matters.
Posted By: AdmChesterMynutz (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 05:40 PM
I'm pretty sure "diversity, sharing, and treating all people with kindness and respect" are indeed part of the Evil Liberal Agenda. I mean, aren't those just weasel words designed by the liberals to make Affirmative Action, socialism, and moral equivalence sound less harmful?
Posted By: Bruce L (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 06:07 PM
The only problem I have with the show is that it's funded with tax dollars while it could easily survive on any network on the planet. It really is time to kill off NPR and PBS.
Posted By: Chris Connolly (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 07:34 PM
Sesame Street teaches sharing! Sharing = Communism and Socialism! Greed is good! We should be teaching that to our children!
Posted By: Boss Limbaugh (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 09:24 PM
If Fox isn't propping up some insane non-issue as a threat to America, they just don't know what to do with themselves. Because actually reporting the news with any sort of journalistic integrity seems to be completely out of the question.
Posted By: black hole of charisma (Guest) on November 09, 2009 at 09:32 PM
Not to show off Jake but i can sum up your titalating story in a paragraph or less...
Republicans boycott 2 year old episode of sesame street. What's up wid dat?
Posted By: wtf????589 (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 02:08 AM
Firstly, to Connolly. You are flat wrong AND hypocritical to the supposed free market to boot. If you have to KILL it off..than no, it is not time. If it was, it would die on its own without you having to go after it.
Secondly, in general...isnt it interesting that for about the last 5 years, the entire Republican attack plan has hinged around the idea of attacking the politics of the people behind the things they don't like? It's like they can't deal with the message or something.
Posted By: AdamS (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 03:00 AM
Television as a medium can only be indoctrination if you're a lazy, shitty parent who lets the networks raise your kids.
Also, you think some toddler is gonna still remember the sound-alike network name being insulted/complimented by the time he's old enough to watch the news? This is such a stretch it's making my insides hurt just thinking about it.
Posted By: James (Registered) (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 03:04 AM
First of all, it's a freakin' kids show! There is absolutely NO need to make fun of ANYTHING and there is no need to get involved in politics! Keep it simple... Near..... Far... One of these things doesn't belong...etc..
The reason conservatives back Fox News is because it's pretty much the ONLY News channel that gives them the time of day. CNN RARELY has an article or piece that actually shows any amount of balance. Don't even get me started on ABC or MSNBC.
Posted By: Spyke (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 05:38 AM
I'm assuming they were watching Sesame Street because The View was to intellectually stressing for them...
Posted By: Q:? (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 07:24 AM
Do you really think that some five year old is going to make the connection between Pox news and Fox news. Seriously, kids are stupid as hell, its not like Oscar the Grouch came out and said conservatives all do blow in the back rooms of bowling alleys.
Posted By: Deathpool (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 07:44 AM
Fox news? More like Fucks news. Am I right?
Posted By: Curry Fan (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 08:54 AM
Chris Connolly (Guest),
To get rid of something that helps someone else, that is just like a conservative...
Posted By: David (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 09:08 AM
Hey teach,
Since when does being conservative = not interacting with minorities? There are no conservative minorities????
Keep looking at the world through skin color and ethnicity, you racist.
Posted By: Da Man (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 10:05 AM
The bipartisan politics and fighting over meaningless issues are the real joke in this country.
Posted By: Guest#7677 (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 03:35 PM
No, its mainly due to the area of the country where its mostly whites and the college primarily brings in minorities. Not many colleges are set in cities and when they are they are set-up more as two year community deals. Where there is very limited interaction as opposed to a regular college campus. You will find most of your traditional colleges in areas of the state where its mostly white due to wealth during that period of time when it was constructed. Its not really racism, its more like economics. Sorry, if the truth hurts, I know you don't get that through Fox News.
Posted By: AFan (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 03:41 PM
so, let me get this straight.
White kid grows up without talking to minorities, so he believes in free markets, individual liberty and the pursuit of the American dream.
Then, white kid gets to college where he meets minority, and realizes that government command and control, group rights trumping rights of the individual and subjugating your needs to the needs of the state are the way to go?
So what you're saying is that minorities are the reason we have so many people turning their back on all the principles that made America the greatest country in the history of civilization?
So, again,I must say: You're a racist for laying all those centuries of human suffering caused by Marxist/socialist/centrally planned economic rule at the hands of the minority. Shame on you, sir.
Posted By: Da Man (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 05:04 PM
"Not many colleges are set in cities and when they are they are set-up more as two year community deals. "
What a slap in the face of the University of Chicago. Have you ever visited UC Berkley, USC, Tulane, University of Memphis, Tulane, University of Washington, any number of the satellite urban campuses of every state school in the country and I can go on. If you look around you may find that most colleges and universities are located in urban areas. Simply because they don't have football or basketball teams on Sportscenter doesn't mean they are a two year school or do not exist.
Posted By: AdmChesterMynutz (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 05:26 PM
Adam,
What was hypocritical about what I wrote? In a free market, NPR and PBS would have to get their funding like every other channel does, through advertising and investors. Right now, they get their funding through tax dollars (and fundraising from viewers, but I don't have a problem with that part of the equation). When I say kill them off, I clearly mean that they should get stripped of their fedreal funding.
David,
Once again, if they can survive on their own, I don't have a problem with them. My problem is using tax dollars I pay out to fund something that is well outside the proper scope of government. And one more thing: I AM NOT A CONSERVATIVE. I AM A LIBERTARIAN.
Posted By: Chris Connolly (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 05:27 PM
The bipartisan politics and fighting over meaningless issues are the real joke in this country.
Posted By: Guest#7677 (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 03:35 PM
ding ding ding...and we have a winner...could not have said it better myself, what the hell is happening to this country?
Posted By: hartfan (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 05:54 PM
By reading this article I am going to stay with my same theory! Americans find something to complain about all the time. This show Sesame Street is suppose to target CHILDREN! I understand adults want to control every damn thing but a show that half of the adults that I know that are older than I, have grew up on this program. In fact many programs on PBS. These shows are not teaching your children how to pick liberals and conservatives IDIOTS!! These shows are teaching your children things they are going to need in life. The same way the shows my parents use to watch. Instead of critizing everything that you see on a childs tv station, do it to certain things that could hender them. No on cares about FOX NEWS we all know they lean towards one party. And far as a college students, Barney played no part in me voting for OBAMA. Hell a blind man could tell you that McCain/Palin wasnt the way to go. And we see that now considering McCain found out the hard way that Palin was an idiot at the last minute. I voted off facts not because he was the youngest,black, or because we need a CHANGE!
Posted By: pmoore (Registered) on November 10, 2009 at 06:08 PM
"Since when does being conservative = not interacting with minorities? There are no conservative minorities???? "
The conservative party is a paradox that way. On the one hand, Michael Steele's position seems to be an obvious sign that there are, in fact, minorities in the Republican party.
But then you see the things that Michael Steele (and virtually the rest of the party) does and says, and THIS makes it seem like nobody in the Republican party has ever MET a minority, much less is in tune with whatever it is they may or may not be going through.
To recap?
Michael Steele as a Republican leader? Implies that there's some minority representation
Michael Steele running around awkwardly shouting things like "Raise the roof, dog"? ...Not so much.
Posted By: Well... (Guest) on November 10, 2009 at 06:15 PM
well...
Or it could be that for the past 40 years the democrats have been telling african americans that they simply can't do anything without the good old democrat party there to promise them the world every 2 years, and at the end of the day, what has the democrat party done? NOTHING. And they will continue to simply take this demographic for granted as long as they keep voting for these people at a 90 % clip.
Lets sum it up... Democrat candidate comes in and promises them the world, Republican candidate comes in and tells them that they won't help them out, but they won't do anything to stand in there way too, but it's up to them to make it happen. Who you gonna vote for? And there is ample evidence that many in this country think like that, if not there wouldn't be 70,000 plus lined up in Detroit, Michigan at Cobo Hall thinking they are signing up to get Barack Obama's money, and when asked where's it coming from, one lady responded "I don't know, his personal stash." Who do you think creates this kind of mentality? Candidate A promising the world, or the evil white dude that isn't promising them anything other tahn to stay out of his way to pursue his dream? And it's just like credit card debt. It just keeps mounting up year after year. And we've had 40 years of this.
Posted By: gwpbrian (Guest) on November 11, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Conservatives are such assholes.
Posted By: FEAR (Guest) on November 11, 2009 at 12:56 PM
Do you really think that some five year old is going to make the connection between Pox news and Fox news. Seriously, kids are stupid as hell, its not like Oscar the Grouch came out and said conservatives all do blow in the back rooms of bowling alleys.
That made me laugh out loud
Posted By: FEAR (Guest) on November 11, 2009 at 12:58 PM
"The reason conservatives back Fox News is because it's pretty much the ONLY News channel that gives them the time of day. CNN RARELY has an article or piece that actually shows any amount of balance. Don't even get me started on ABC or MSNBC."
There are NOT always two sides to every story. Just because a story might not be good for one side or the other does not mean it is slanted.
Conservatives biggest problem with reporting is that the truth has a well known liberal bias.
Posted By: black hole of charisma (Guest) on November 12, 2009 at 09:37 PM
STAY CURRENT