SpongeBob SquarePants again

[pegkerr]

wayfairer is absolutely right. You must read this essay by plaidder about why the SpongeBob Squarepants controversy matters. An excerpt:

This battle matters, people. No matter how stupid it looks. This is not just about whether same-sex parents will ever be visible in children's television, or whether gay people will ever be treated right in this country. This is about whether the voters of the next generation will believe that tolerance is a virtue to be encouraged or a vice to be avoided.

I was struck strongly by how the analysis in this essay dovetails very neatly with what Lakoff was arguing about the Religious Right's point of view in his excellent book Moral Politics which I've been pimping ever since minnehaha lent it to me.

Read the essay. It's important.

Comments

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

I'm dumbstruck by this gem that plaidder found:

A "homosexuality detection expert" at the similarly conservative Family Research Council told the NY Times that words like "tolerance" and "diversity" are part of a "coded language that is regularly used by the homosexual community."

homosexuality detection expert?

They've jumped the rails. Can anyone at FRC or Focus say things like that with a straight face?

[lkw18.livejournal.com]

words like "tolerance and "diversity" are part of a "coded language that is regularly used by the homosexual community.".

Sheesh, that really gets me.
How dare those homosexuals use words like tolerance and diversity! How dare we teach our children those "morals"!

How sad it is.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you heard about the kerfuffle over "Postcards from Buster" and the lesbian couple contained therein?

I admit that my initial reaction is, "Good grief, this is stupid, this is just a kid's show."

And the selfish parts of me think, "I don't want to constantly fight to raise my child the way I want him raised."

But really, isn't every day a struggle in that regard, for a parent?

And, to echo right wing rhetoric, "If you don't draw the line in the sand here, they'll erode the ground right out from under you."

I don't want that to happen.

[jessindistress.livejournal.com]

Same thing happened over here.

A kid's educational show, PlaySchool, showed footage of a little girl going to the park with her two Mums, and the conservatives went nuts out here. Moreso because the ABC (the channel showing PlaySchool and producing it and stuff) is government-funded...

It's seriously screwed up. I nearly rang the channel and said that I was offended by them showing all the heterosexual families they'd showed in the past because that was giving my child the idea that heterosexuality was the only way to go... but figured the poor bastards had been through enough shit already. *sighs*

And... where are all you normal, awesome parents in Australia!? *g* Most of the parents I come across out here think I'm over-reacting. *sighs* Or that it shouldn't matter because my partner is a guy. :(

~Jess

Thanks for posting that Sponge Bob article :)

[bimo.livejournal.com]

Hello Peg :)

I discovered your entry via friendsfriends, and as the subject header already says, simply wanted to thank you for posting a link to that essay.

A highly interesting, very frightening read. I'm a German history student, preparing for a term paper on the US-American fundamentalist movement of the 1920s. Based on my current stand of knowledge (still fighting my way through secondary literature) I'd say, Plaid Adder's analysis of the fundamentalist psyche is right on spot.

Again, thanks for posting :)

Bimo

Re: Thanks for posting that Sponge Bob article :)

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Then you absolutely must take a look at this essay, too, about the historical threads of fascism in American history. One section is on the intertwining of fascism and fundamentalism. Lengthy, but VERY good.

Welcome to my journal.

Re: Thanks for posting that Sponge Bob article :)

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Do let me know what you think of it, if you have a chance to read it.

[jessindistress.livejournal.com]

Thankyou, Peg!

Hardly anyone's mentioned this one over here on LJ land (that I've noticed, anyway) and that was the thing that stood out for me above anything else: that some people want our next generation to be raised to be completely intolerant of our differences.

Because, hey, when you're picking on kids' TV characters, you could probably accuse them of just about anything. But when you're condemning them because of the loosest link to gay pride stuff... it's just scary.

*scuttles off to read the essay*

~Jess