Anyone worried about the next generation?

[Misskermie]

I woke up to a few children's shows yesterday, and I realized, that, while Muppets are clearly not real, cartoons can teach kids irrelivant things. Do you think that this will effect their life?

 

[Drtooth]

Why do I have a feeling that this is going to turn into "I don't like cartoons that aren't to my taste and not made for me specifically" thread?

Still, I can't give enough credit to Wow Wow Wubzy and Curious George. Even though Wubzy is long since canceled... they prove you can have a show for preschoolers that isn't a show for morons. We need more of that and less Super Why.

 

[newsmanfan]

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This isn't new. Has been for decades. Wasn't it in the 80s when a slew of shows designed solely to get kids to buy action figures and sweet cereals pandered to an already-becoming-spoiled Me Generation?

Not just cartoons, since kids of all ages these days are exposed to so much more everyday..."news" soundbites, a narcissistic culture of look-at-me-I'm-tweeting-what-I-stole-from-Walgreens, junk music advertising soulless sex and violence, junk shows and books and games doing the same... While any one of these wouldn't be awful as an influence on its own, perhaps, the cumulative effect -- especially when a child doesn't have parents teaching them things to balance that self-absorbed worldview -- is deadly.

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[D'Snowth]

I've been saying this for years.

Look at what kids are doing today:
- Doing drugs and getting high
- Having unprotected sex and dropping babies
- Joining gangs and causing chaos
- Running around looting stores
- Shooting or stabbing people for the heck of it

And THESE are the hands that the future of our society are in, and society today is already corrupted as it is.

 

[newsmanfan]

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"Those dagnabbit teenagers, runnin around all hopped up on goofballs!"

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[Drtooth]

I've been saying this for years.

Look at what kids are doing today:
- Doing drugs and getting high
- Having unprotected sex and dropping babies
- Joining gangs and causing chaos
- Running around looting stores
- Shooting or stabbing people for the heck of it

And THESE are the hands that the future of our society are in, and society today is already corrupted as it is.

You know this stuff's been going down for decades, right? We've been in the hands of that generation since before we were born. That stuff ran absolutely rampant in the 50's. They try to sugar coat it with malt shop memories.

Not just cartoons, since kids of all ages these days are exposed to so much more everyday..."news" soundbites, a narcissistic culture of look-at-me-I'm-tweeting-what-I-stole-from-Walgreens, junk music advertising soulless sex and violence, junk shows and books and games doing the same... While any one of these wouldn't be awful as an influence on its own, perhaps, the cumulative effect -- especially when a child doesn't have parents teaching them things to balance that self-absorbed worldview -- is deadly.

You know that's the generation WE technically are in, right? The only thing that bugs me about the coming generations is the instant gratification culture we got off of the internet making everything too easy.

On the contrary... people are getting far more tolerant, basically not caring about differences. When a bunch of narrow minded "moms" started calling out Archie for having a gay character marry (essentially making the characters... well... relevant), more people came out in favor of Archie's decision, the character went from cult hero to mainstream hero, and the comics sold the heck out. That's a sign of positive change.

It's the other generations I'm worried about... specifically the completely entitled you know whats that were mostly born in the 60's and 70's.

 

[D'Snowth]

That stuff ran absolutely rampant in the 50's. They try to sugar coat it with malt shop memories.

I dunno, my mother's a child of the 50s, and she says life back then essentially was pretty much exactly as depicted on Leave it to Beaver.

 

[newsmanfan]

You know this stuff's been going down for decades, right? We've been in the hands of that generation since before we were born. That stuff ran absolutely rampant in the 50's. They try to sugar coat it with malt shop memories.



You know that's the generation WE technically are in, right? The only thing that bugs me about the coming generations is the instant gratification culture we got off of the internet making everything too easy.

On the contrary... people are getting far more tolerant, basically not caring about differences. When a bunch of narrow minded "moms" started calling out Archie for having a gay character marry (essentially making the characters... well... relevant), more people came out in favor of Archie's decision, the character went from cult hero to mainstream hero, and the comics sold the heck out. That's a sign of positive change.

It's the other generations I'm worried about... specifically the completely entitled you know whats that were mostly born in the 60's and 70's.

Er...um...that would be me. Though I hope my hippie parents raised me better.
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[Sgt Floyd]

You know that's the generation WE technically are in, right? The only thing that bugs me about the coming generations is the instant gratification culture we got off of the internet making everything too easy.

I thought about adding one of my infamous rants about download only, but I won't.

I've been saying this for years.

Look at what kids are doing today:
- Doing drugs and getting high
- Having unprotected sex and dropping babies
- Joining gangs and causing chaos
- Running around looting stores
- Shooting or stabbing people for the heck of it

And THESE are the hands that the future of our society are in, and society today is already corrupted as it is.

I dunno. I believe it only seems like this because its all over the news and such. For every bad apple there's thousands of people who are normal. If there's one thing I learned in Journalism, its that the news like horrific things.

 

[Drtooth]

I dunno, my mother's a child of the 50s, and she says life back then essentially was pretty much exactly as depicted on Leave it to Beaver.

That is, of course, a bold face lie. The only difference was that they did a lot better hiding that from plain view than we do now because... well... Floyd got it right.

I dunno. I believe it only seems like this because its all over the news and such. For every bad apple there's thousands of people who are normal. If there's one thing I learned in Journalism, its that the news like horrific things.

Precisely. The brilliant episode of South Park "Major Boobage" said it best. The media likes to make it look like every single kid does something rotten based on the actions of a few in a small town of bored white kids. Our lame 24 hour news cycle culture knows we'll only tune in if they blatantly exploit a story and exaggerate everything with scary graphics and music. I swear I read a study that Teen pregnancy went down. But it's everything... supposed drug use, the obesity "epidemic" (their fun little term that makes it sound like everyone's 500 pounds)... It's sensationalism... and if you fall for it... well, you become Commercial Free Childhood. I said it.