They’re Everywhere! They’re Everywhere!
As Jenny mentioned yesterday, President Bush’s new Secretary of Education has objected to an episode of a PBS children’s show that features a cartoon rabbit visiting a lesbian couple in Vermont. (Presumably the episode’s title, “Sugartime!”, with its hints of hot girl-on-girl-on-bunny action, is what first alerted Ms. Spellings to its unsuitability for children.)
And then in February, there will be a same-sex wedding on “The Simpsons.”
And, of course, we are still feeling the effects of SpongeBobGate.
The Baptist Press reports on what this all means:
Pro-family leaders say both cartoons are another indication that homosexuality is moving further into the mainstream of society.
“As any parent knows, kids are riveted to cartoons,” Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, told Baptist Press. “… You’re taking a kid and what he loves to do most — which is watch cartoons — and you’re introducing an adult topic which is inappropriate.”
[…]
LaBarbera said he watches Postcards from Buster with his children.
“It’s extremely offensive that they would even consider doing this issue,” he said. “… They’re teaching the acceptance of homosexuality to toddlers.”
Reportedly, in the “Sugartime!” episode, a girl introduces Buster to ‘’my mom and Gillian,'’ and the group sits down to dinner. So, toddlers will be taught to accept the idea that you can have dinner with two women and a little girl. Thank heavens Margaret Spellings is trying to protect innocent children from that!
Mr. LaBarbera says that it shouldn’t be about teaching children to be tolerant of those with different family situations, or helping children from nontraditional families to feel accepted. No, cartoons should be showing children that these kinds of families are abnormal and sick. You know, for the good of the children.
LaBarbera said homosexual activists miss the point. Children need both a mother and a father, he asserted.
“They’re trying to get kids used to the idea that having two moms or having two dads is normal, when actually it’s very abnormal and it’s very harmful to children,” he said. “This is the liberals’ way of indoctrinating our children — all the while they lecture us about being intolerant and respecting diversity.”
Marc Fey, director of Christian worldview and education analyst at Focus on the Family, called the Postcards episode an “insidious attempt” to teach children what many traditional parents would find unacceptable.
“Our kids are targeted particularly in schools and in the media to adopt a worldview consistent with a group that we would vehemently disagree with,” he told BP. “There are big stakes with cartoon characters because they have the power to define for a child what’s real or what’s acceptable or what’s true.”
Um, yeah. From the cartoons I watched as a child, I learned that violence is the acceptable response to any situation. Oh, and that’s it’s perfectly fine for a rabbit to dress up like a woman and give steamy kisses to a human — as long as the human really believes that the rabbit is a sexy lady. I also learned that it’s true that animals can talk, people can be mutated by gamma rays so as to turn into the Fantastic Four, and that if you walk off of a cliff, you won’t start falling until you realize that you aren’t on the ground anymore. So, yeah, I can see where showing a rabbit visit a girl with two mommies will cause terrible psychic damage to our youngsters.
Anyway, BP has more about those omnipresent TV homosexuals:
In April 1997 ABC aired the controversial episode of “Ellen,” in which the lead character, Ellen DeGeneres, announced that she was a lesbian. A subsequent episode showed Ellen walking into the bedroom with a woman.
Since then, homosexual characters have been somewhat of a staple of television, led by the popular NBC sitcom “Will & Grace.”
“People are sick of homosexuality being everywhere — when they turn on the TV, when they open the newspaper,” LaBarbera said. “Everywhere you turn in the culture homosexuality is being promoted and celebrated and treated as if it’s no big deal. The average American — not just the average Christian — but the average American is sick of it.”
Yes, there is homosexuality everywhere! On “Will And Grace”! On “Ellen”! On every page of the newspaper! And now in three cartoons! And we average Americans are sick of it — sick of having to acknowledge that homosexuals exist. We want it all to stop. So from now on, we’d appreciate it if homosexuals would stop doing stuff that makes us obsess about them, such as wanting to get married, having dinner with Buster, or existing.
January 28th, 2005 at 5:20 am
And those comics were also full of left-wing propaganda, like Spidey not stopping the burglar who then killed his Uncle, thus supposedly showing how bad “selfishness” was. Actually it only proved that we can’t just sit back and let Saddam pick the pockets of the UN Oil for Palaces program, or he’ll come to our own house and marry the new RND Chair, or something equally vile, so we HAD to invade….
January 28th, 2005 at 5:44 am
Peter laBarbera watches Postcards with his kids? It’s broadcast around 3:30PM. Why isn’t Labarbara at work?
BTW, a few years ago LaBarbera–the Confused Women in America’s (it’s actually the Concerned Women for America, but it has so many men in leadership position that we just consider them to be Confused Women) anti-gay hit man was quoted as saying that his office was loaded with gay porn. For research purposes, of course.
Of course
/sarcasm
January 28th, 2005 at 6:02 am
Good one, s.z. I don’t get it how the Gay Agenda, whatever that is, can possibly be threatening straight people or our families. We here at Casa Biscuitbarrel have bunches of gay neighbors, and the only problem is a superficial, trivial one–that our house and yard look shabby compared with theirs.
I get really skeptical about the supposedly automatic superiority of traditional marriage when I look back at my own childhood. I grew up in an all-white community in which all the daddies went to work and all of the mommies stayed home–I can remember a total of two working mothers–and my heterosexual parents were married for more than forty years.
Sounds like a scenario that would bring tears to James Dobson’s eyes, right?
Well. Except that my parents got falling-down drunk every single night. My father was one of those so-called “functioning alcoholics” who holds a good job but starts belting down booze the minute he entered the house after work. So man + woman + marriage = perfect is a gross oversimplification in my eyes. There’s more to making a family–much less a reasonably happy, functioning family–than insisting from the get-go that one parent is a man and one is a woman.
January 28th, 2005 at 6:37 am
people can be mutated by gamma rays so as to turn into the Fantastic Four
Ahem. The Fantastic Four were mutated by Cosmic radiation the Incredible Hulk was mutated by exposure to Gamma rays.
January 28th, 2005 at 7:14 am
Yeah, the average non-Christian American is tired of seeing homosexuals as stars in… um… 1 TV show and single episode guest stars in several more. Because without the bible telling you to hate teh gays, there are so many other reasons.
Frankly, none of these anti-gay people ever feel the need to ever actually give any evidence that gay parents are worse then straight ones. It bothers me.
The one person I’ve argued about this with gave as evidence of the badness of gay folks, a study supposedly proving that since gay marriage was introduced in scandanavia, divorce rates have gone up. I found one study supporting this and two denying it. Given that this person also didn’t believe in evolution (Because of all the disagreement in the scientific community), I would’ve thought he’d have needed more evidence on the issue before coming to a conclusion. Oh well.
January 28th, 2005 at 7:40 am
And after all, if kids think it’s ok to sit down to dinner with homosexuals, soon they’ll be voting to have their parents change sex!
Er, wait, let me back up a bit . . .
Even granting the dubious premise that TV show guest-shots breed acceptance of vaguely-referenced behavior, I would be SO much more impressed if the FCC showed a similar interest in, say, overly-sympathetic treatment of mobsters on TV. I don’t watch much TV, but I bet that even on public TV there are sympathetic portrayals of people who commit all kinds of sins. Since we’re not a theocracy, I can’t see why that should matter anyway, but if it does matter, shouldn’t ALL sins be off-limits?
January 28th, 2005 at 7:57 am
Well, the next logical step after removing homosexuals from television, print media, etc. would be to remove them in real life, right? I feel as if the Baptist Press is giving me the green light to kick the crap out of these people whenever I cross paths with them. Margaret Spellings is telling me to see them on TV is not okay, so it also must not be proper to see them in real life. So, it would be patriotic of me to beat the crap out of them if their shopping cart happens to crash into mine at the local supermarket, no? How dare they show their faces in the supermarkets of the United States! There might be children there.
The logic of it all boggles the mind. Truly.
(Note: I really am not going to start picking a fight with homosexuals while shopping for kid’s baby food. Just making a point.)
Nice post, as usual, s.z.
January 28th, 2005 at 8:14 am
just a quickie here…how do you say it’s nasty to teach peace and understanding, but hatred and fear are ok? Xtians try to teach this bullshit to not only their children, but everyone else’s, too.
peace
January 28th, 2005 at 8:22 am
There’s going to be a lesbian marriage on the Simpson’s??? Who’s getting married? I’ll bet it’s Mrs. Crabapple and someone else–I’ll have to think about who. It’s only a matter of time before Mrs. C stops wasting he time on men and finds a nice woman who can really satisfy her. Oh, and any woman who thinks that having sex with another woman is more “complicated” (than heterosexual intercourse) has obviosly never had sex with a man.
January 28th, 2005 at 8:23 am
It’s hard to take all this seriously when Donald Duck hasn’t been wearing pants for 50 years.
January 28th, 2005 at 9:02 am
I’m sorry SZ, but I don’t appreciate your making light of what is in fact a deadly serious subject. I know that these insidious messages can seriously undermine a child’s moral values and lead to a life of sin and degredation because that’s what happened to me.
When I was a child, I used to watch Sesame Street every day. My parents thought it was a harmless educational show. They had no idea of the inappropriate and harmful concepts I was being exposed to. I’m referring of course, to Mr. Hooper, the ‘lovable’ grocer who was treated as a respected member of the community despite the fact that he was obviously and openly Jewish. My parents would have vehemently disagreed with anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, but those liberals at PBS didn’t care. They indoctrinated me under their very noses. They lectured us on being intolerant, but were they tolerant of my parents’ belief that Jews are hell-bound Christ-killers? Of course not! Mr. Hooper and other positive Jewish characters taught me it was ok to be Jewish, undermining my moral values and leaving me the hopeless wreck of a person you see before you today.
January 28th, 2005 at 10:02 am
The big problem with having shows like this, is that now you can’t let the TV babysit your kids anymore. God forbid you have to TALK to them!!!!
January 28th, 2005 at 10:29 am
So we have to shun kids who have same-sex parents? Check. Mmm… I love the smell of Christian tolerance in the morning… smells like… hypocracy.
Frankly, I’m most offended by reality-TV contestants. If I had kids, I wouldn’t want them exposed to such stupidity and pettiness.
Oh, and I heard a rumour that one of Marge’s sisters is getting married to another woman, and Homer is ordained to do the ceremony. Not sure how accurate that rumour is, but I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks…
January 28th, 2005 at 11:27 am
If people were really concerned about the lessons that TV teaches our shildren, they should take a hard look at commercials on children’s TV.
Sugar Bear is now beating up an old women and stealing her cereal.
Digum the Frog is now torturing innocent cats into insanity ans stealing their cereal.
Various children are portrayed as so addicted to Corn Pops that they teeter on the brink of blind rage and violence when faced with the possibility of not getting any.
And in commercial after commercial, children ridicule their parents, babysitters, teachers, policemen, and other adult authority figures because they “just don’t get” why the kids LOVE this product so much. (This also lets the advertiser off the hook: the kids never have to explain why the kids love the product–they just have to make fun of those who don’t.)
So, you know, long before I get concerned whether a female rabbit of unnamed relationship in a passing scene in a cartoon I’ve never heard of is actually a lesbian (cause, you know, bunnies are such good role models for sexual morality), I’d worry more about the lack of respect for other people shoved into our children’s brains by advertisers. (And when those advertisers try to claim their commercials have no effect on a child’s behavior, we’ll have to ask them why they bother spending money on them, then.) Ms. Spelling can rest assured that her little darlings will never have to worry about being recruited to the gay lifestyle, because if her little BratZ follow their TV role models as well as she thinks, I’ll have to forcibly remove their genitals long before the age of
puberty.
January 28th, 2005 at 11:35 am
Imagine if they had a show about two hairy guys (aka “bears”) who lived together, wore only collars and neckties, went around stealing food, were disrespectful to park rangers and the younger, more effeminate one was called Boo Boo. Couldn’t get away with that today, thank God.
January 28th, 2005 at 11:40 am
if they’re sick of ‘all’ the homosexual content being foisted on them, imagine how sick i am of all the ‘jesus/god/christian’ crap being foisted on me!!!!!
January 28th, 2005 at 11:49 am
(Presumably the episode’s title, “Sugartime!”, with its hints of hot girl-on-girl-on-bunny action
You’re right, that is a transparent reference to women’s genitals. Compare the Rolling Stones’ song “Brown Sugar” and Sheena Easton’s “Sugar Walls.” Yes, the gays are taking over our society. Before you know it, the Vice-President will be taking the oath of office with a lesbian holding the Bible, and a gay guy will head the RNC. Oh wait, both those things are already true.
January 28th, 2005 at 12:10 pm
“You’re taking a kid and what he loves to do most — which is watch cartoons — and you’re introducing an adult topic which is inappropriate.”
I guess they’re off to burn down the house of the Jack Chick tract guy next.
Seriously, what ever happened to the good ol’ days when all the Christians were too busy decrying other sects of Christians to worry about all us “unsaved” freethinkers? I say it’s high time we had a new reality TV show to get those Christians to turn their internecine hatred back onto each other where it belongs!
Bring back Catholic vs. Protestant vs. Moonie vs. Charismatic vs. Evangelical vs. Baptist vs. Lutheran vs. Episcopalian vs. Koreshian vs. Methodist vs. Mormon vs. Raelian!
(Just leave the Unitarians out of it, please, they all seem like the nice, tolerant sort).
January 28th, 2005 at 1:11 pm
When I was a child, we watched Bishop Fulton Sheen a lot. He was kind and witty and warm and taught me the value of ‘normal’ Christianity.
These days, Hollywood keeps showing me these bug-eyed, angry, apoplectic ministers berating people and running them down with threats of permanent Hell. And they insidiously try to get us to accept this as ‘normal’ Christian behavior.
Average Americans are sick of watching such perversion passed off as acceptable.
January 28th, 2005 at 1:14 pm
yer gettin’ a big AMEN outta me there sisters and brothers!
January 29th, 2005 at 5:43 am
So the average American is so sick of homosexuality that it’s being treated as if it’s no big deal? So sick of gay TV characters that Will and Grace has been on for how long?
I sure hope Bush gets the Mars mission going soon, because these folks definitely need their own planet.
January 29th, 2005 at 1:48 pm
Hollywood keeps showing me these bug-eyed, angry, apoplectic ministers berating people and running them down with threats of permanent Hell.
Your cable provider dumped Bishop Sheen for the ‘ Elmer Gantry Channel’ ?