BBC article on Sesame Street: "Is Elmo Bush's secret weapon?"

[movielad]

I'll quote from the first paragraph:

"Images of heavily-armed Marines patrolling Iraq may not be winning the US many friends in the Islamic world. So it could be time to enlist the soft and fluffy inhabitants of Sesame Street in the battle against anti-Americanism."

Full article here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3200699.stm

Regards,

Martyn

 

[Hat Sharpener]

Most of the article is interesting and points out how ridiculously self-centered Americans have become when they assume that sharing, being nice, etc. are purely American values...

It's also interesting (and disturbing) to note the State Department is trying to quell Anti-American sentiments via mass-media. One might argue that a better policy might be to actually respect the views of the rest of the world, stop pulling out of world-wide environmental treaties and invading other countries on a whim...

Anyhow, regardless of one's personal feelings on the subject, this bit should scare all Muppet fans:

Iraqi prisoners were treated to repeated playings of the ditty at ear-splitting volume by US psychological operations officers intent on encouraging their captives to submit to questioning.

You've got to be kidding me....

- Derek

 

[Drtooth]

Most of the article is interesting and points out how ridiculously self-centered Americans have become when they assume that sharing, being nice, etc. are purely American values...

It's also interesting (and disturbing) to note the State Department is trying to quell Anti-American sentiments via mass-media. One might argue that a better policy might be to actually respect the views of the rest of the world, stop pulling out of world-wide environmental treaties and invading other countries on a whim...

Personally I agree! Sharing, being nice, etc. isn't even seen much in this country where religious figures are trying to spread fear and hate with religion (a tactic used everywhere in the world!!!!) amoung othewr nasty things.

We shouldn't try to quell Anit-Americanism as much as we should promote worldism. We should stop thinking of ourselves as countries devided by boarders, Languages, monitary systems, etc. We should think of ourselves as a planet full of people who can at least pretend to get along.

Unfortunately, we are, afterall, humans....

 

[Buck-Beaver]

He can't fix the economy, catch Osama or Sadam and now Big Bird is at the forefront of US foreign policy?

Scary thing is that Elmo can probably do a much better job.

 

[Patty]

If the bit about using the Sesame Street theme as a torture method is true, then I guess Evil Bert has taken charge of the US military?

(*edit* yes, it appears to be true. The story was first published overseas in May. They used "Barney" songs, too.)

That's really disgusting. In a perfect world, Children's Television Workshop would hand back its Army funding to protest such nauseating abuse of its wholly positive product.

I have such wonderful memories of Sesame Street ... that article was like a spear in the heart. As a child, I would have never dreamed that Sesame Street would be used to hurt anyone. It wasn't propaganda; it taught me to read and count and laugh and create.

 

[Drtooth]

That's really disgusting. In a perfect world, Children's Television Workshop would hand back its Army funding to protest such nauseating abuse of its wholly positive product.

I have such wonderful memories of Sesame Street ... that article was like a spear in the heart. As a child, I would have never dreamed that Sesame Street would be used to hurt anyone. It wasn't propaganda; it taught me to read and count and laugh and create.

If army's don't care about human lives, why would they care about the quality of programming.

Elmo COULD do a better friggin job than bush... even without Kevin Clash's hand up his bum....

 

[Patty]

If army's don't care about human lives, why would they care about the quality of programming.

Because, as that article points out, this program in particular (Sesame Street) can be used as propaganda.

Apparently, the US Army is donating money to Children's Television Workshop. That's sort of ironic, seeing how the government cut off most of PBS's federal funding a few years ago.

Either way, I still think Children's Television Workshop should not accept Army funds if its flagship product (Sesame Street) is being used as a form of torture by the military. The donations from the Army now look like payola -- in exchange for funds the military gets to use Sesame Street however they want. That's really ugly.

It's not perfect world, and I doubt CTW wants to give up the big bucks. So it won't happen. But it should.

 

[Super Scooter]

I had a conversation with someone about this the other day. He's not even a Muppet fan, andout of the blue said, "If you could have any Sesame Street character for president, who would it be?" I said Ernie or Grover, but he said "Bert. He's the only one who can actually handle the job. He may not be all that fun but he's serious and smart. He could beat Bush into the ground anyday." It's true, too. Bert's got the peacefulness of Sesame Street, but he's also serious. good world leader there.

Seriously, though, Cantus Fraggle should be president of the world. Or Pepe. I think Pepe'd do good.

 

[sarah_yzma]

*puts on her Pepe for president pin*