Sesame Street to Introduce HIV-Positive Muppet

[trekkie1701E]

Oh, alright. I didn't think "Anti-disabled-muppet-people" was offending. Glad you didn't, either!

Daniel

 

[radionate]

Originally posted by Special_Ed
Why should a gay couple be on Sesame Street when gay people make up less than 3% of the total US population? Why should this liberal agenda be crammed down the throats of innocent children? You stated that the Muppets are too young for that sort of thing, so why would the children watching the show not be considered too young to watch this on the show, by your very own standards?

I don't even know if I should dignify this ludicrious post with a response. But I think its hypocritical to replace one agenda for another, as it seems to me you have your own agenda. Step back a minute and think about what you posted above, think about, and tell me if you don't see how absoultly insane it sounds. Sexual Offenders? Come on. Perhapes you would have learned a valuable lesson as a child if you had watched S.S. What lesson might that be? Love thy fellow man.

 

[Special_Ed]

Mister Frog boy,

Who did I call a name? I only addressed the the Muppet Quilter by their ID so you would know to whom my post was addressing.

For Mister Trekkie.

The difference betwen a musculer disease and HIV is that HIV is a sexually transmitted disease. and MSD is not. Why do you assume that people who are anti gay are "afraid" of something? We are not afraid of anything. When something is morally wrong and we state that it is some people seem to think that it's out of fear. It's not, it's out of the simple knowledge of what is right and wrong.

For Warrick and Radiationate,

I have no agenda. I am a writer and creator of family entertainment and I assure you there is no "hidden agenda" in anything that I produce. I refuse to incorporate things like that into my own work and it's sad when others seem to feel the need to.

Sesame Street is a very popular children/family program and therefore makes a juicy spring board to unleash hidden agendas to brainwash children into accepting corrupt and morally wrong information.

You read me right, sexual offenders. Why shouldn't we accept their lifestyle if we are to accept all life styles? Use your own logic and see what my point is.

I did watch Sesame Street as a child, and no I did not think that Bert & Ernie were gay. It's obvious that they are friends!

I do love thy fellow man, but I do not approve of some of the things that they do. Does that make be bad? Well if it does in your eyes then so be it. Are you going to love me anyway? Hmm...very doubtful.

 

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

Originally posted by Special_Ed
When something is morally wrong and we state that it is some people seem to think that it's out of fear. It's not, it's out of the simple knowledge of what is right and wrong.

You seem to be anti-gay here, but HIV isn't "a gay thing"---that was just one of the first groups it showed up in. It affects people from all walks of life, and is sad and terrible. And homosexuality isn't even an issue with the SS tie-in to South Africa, from what I've skimmed over so far.

And since when is it "corrupt and morally wrong" for people to have this thing called compassion? I love God, love my church, but we don't bash gay people. Do you think Jesus would have done that? No. Jesus was about love and compassion. I and others believe that Jesus would have embraced gay people, since they are condemned by some others. That's what Jesus did, He welcomed all to His arms, and frequently spent time with those whom "normal" people despised, condemned, and practiced prejudice against. We need to teach our children to love, not hate. Otherwise, the behavior is the opposite of Christian love.

And only ignorance causes people to place gays in the same groups as murderers and child molestors. The very terms "murderer" and "child molestor" indicate conscious decisions to hurt others, and frequently. A gay person just happens to be attracted to their own gender---waaaaaaay different ballpark; you couldn't be in further directions here. Besides, being gay isn't a choice. In fact, I doubt most people would choose that lifestyle. Therefore, compassion is needed if we wanna make the world more peaceful and stop the madness that happens.

 

[Luke]

Actually, i do to an extent agree with Special Ed, and i also notice that some people are getting very jumpy here that things might not be going along so politically correctly here.

While i don't particularly agree with the use of 'sex offenders' or 'gay people' as examples i do get the point behind it that was being made. I actually agree that we shouldn't be thrusting these 'agendas' down Kids throats, especially as most of them will be too young to really get the points. They never did this kinda thing when i was young, we watched happy educational TV shows hearing stories and learning to spell - why on Earth at that age should it be upto a TV show to teach a kid the ways of the world, or about sexually transmitted things, or about sex education. Years ago, this was something parents decided to tackle with their kids and i expect most used their judgement to do a pretty good job. Why should parents get off easy and let some TV show take over their responsibilities ? I turned out fine (ok, maybe thats questionable) and my parents taught me this kinda thing, and anything more than that at school was done at an age where i could understand things properly.

I have to say, knowing the TV industry VERY well, i don't think the productions companies who introduce these kinda things are really doing this just for the kids education. I think to a point it is just part of the 'points scoring' that goes on between politicians, TV channels and new age educational people. It looks so good on them and they get good publicity when they do something 'groundbreaking' and are seen to be of a higher educational standard than their rivals. Sesame Street's popularity has been flagging all over the world for a long time now and it seems to me that this could be the work of liberal new-age style producers who just want to be known as the person in the industry who was 'the one who wrote the HIV Muppet into Sesame Street'.

It does trouble me that it seems certain very liberal members of the group seem to feel that there is something 'wrong' with any parent who objected to their child being subjected to this storyline. It goes further that in some places they seem to suggest that it shouldn't be upto parents and should just be included in the show without any indication and people just have to live with it. I really don't think it should be the case that parents opinions are cut out of this just because you personally want to see this introduced to Sesame Street.

 

[EmmyMik]

While I think that it's great that this character will be introduced in South America, I think that it's terrible that it has come to this. It's hard to imagine that millions of innocent people have lost, and will lose their lives to this disease. Hopefully this character will be able to inspire those children who have HIV/AIDS, and possibly teach acceptance to those who do not.

As for having a character who is HIV positive in the US version, I don't know. I would have no problem if this were to happen, but it might be too ambitious. I remember when I was younger there were a lot of diseases that scared me. Things like asthma, diabetes, and HIV (I remember when Magic Johnson announced that he was HIV positive). They scared me because I had no idea what they were, and if/how I could catch them. I could see Sesame Street introducing a character that has something like asthma, diabetes, HIV, or something else, and that character can show "I have this disease, I won't get better, but see what I can do?"

But that's just my two cents...

 

[Special_Ed]

Janice & Monkey man,

I never said I hate gay people, I said what they did was morally wrong. You love people and hate the sin. Your arguement that Jesus socialized with sinners is very true, but it was not because He embraced their sins as being just choices, He mingled with them in order to bring them to salvation.

Being gay is a choice and not a birth defect. Your arguement about "why would anyone choose that lifestyle" is very week. We can apply this arguement to many other groups, why would any group chose to rebel against their Government and be called traitors and face a death penalty? Yet that has happened at least twice in American History alone. Why would anyone embrace religious views that would condemn them to death by the majority, yet we see this happen throughout the world on a daily basis. Claiming that no one would chose a lifestyle for what they believe in is ludicrous.


Luke,

Very good points. I will further your comments by saying that I feel that a lot of the problems we currently have in this country, such as the HIV explosion, is because of these media outlets and educators cramming sexual education down the throats of children at younger and younger ages. Soon after this happened there was an explosion in children engaging in sexual activity. Liberals may laugh, but it's true. We've never had such wide spread open sexual activity among young people in history.

I don't see why some groups feel the need to take things out of the parents' hands and try to tackle it themself. I think they know very well that this kind of education causes young people to experiment because there have been numerous cases that went to court where Public School districts would not allow parents or even a church of the parents' chosing teach this stuff to the children as an alternative to public schools.

Also, a few months ago, to deal with the recent rash of school shootings, a New York City Rabbi proposed a campaign for Public Schools to teach gun education to students. The liberals and school officals complained that this would cause more children to use guns. Why is it any different than sex education?

 

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

Originally posted by Special_Ed
I never said I hate gay people, I said what they did was morally wrong. You love people and hate the sin. Your arguement that Jesus socialized with sinners is very true, but it was not because He embraced their sins as being just choices, He mingled with them in order to bring them to salvation.

I see what you're saying, but unfortunately, your ignorance seems too big for you to get around. Being gay is clearly NOT a choice. None whatsoever. Your argument is coming off as weak, because whether you are gay, straight, or bisexual depends on your hormones, not your mental strategies.

Have you never seen or heard of gay people struggling with themselves and in tears over their lifestyle, because they are opressed by their friends or family? And for what---something that is not under their control at all. You can't control what your hormones attract you to, and I believe most gay people would give anything to not be gay, and not be opressed by society.

That is what is ludicrous. Being gay is not "something to believe in", it's a fact of life, and always has been among some people. When you hear someone break down and confide in you what a torture is to feel those feelings, then maybe you'll understand that there is indeed no such thing as "choice". Overthrowing a government, yes. Sexuality, no.

 

[MuppetQuilter]

Muppet Central is a diverse community made up of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and who embrace a variety of lifestyles. There is room here for everyone, so long as we all respect one another and one another's choices.

Disagreements are inevitable. Debate is at the heart of the MC Forum. As a community, it is imperative that we chose our words carefully and remember that our beliefs may not be the beliefs of others.

Trekkie-- thanks for joining the discussion and sharing your experiences. Sesame Street has long made a habit of including children and adults with disablities and it is one of the things I love about the show.

 

[Luke]

Hey Byron,

I'm not so sure that i would agree that all gay people have not chosen that way of life - not that i'm saying there aren't plenty in the position you describe who have just found themselves having discovered those 'feelings' but i'm sure there are others who may have been influenced by the people in the social groups around them to make this choice, or even there are many cases of straight males going to prison and leaving as homosexuals after either mixing with gay males for the first time or even in much serious cases being raped. Saying most gay people would prefer not to be gay may be a little strong too - i'm sure there are a large percentage who are very proud to be gay but again, i get your point.