PBS is at it again.
First, they develop a character on the “Arthur” cartoon show that has
Asperger’s Syndrome ( a form of autism), now they have introduced a “Sesame
Street” character named Alex, who wears a hoodie and whose father is in jail.
Yes, that’s right, the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting (CPB) is creating characters that help kids who might otherwise
feel ostracized feel as though they are part of the mainstream because they
are. But there are some knee-jerk
reactionary people who see the depiction of a character with an incarcerated
parent as a bad thing, that it somehow makes it “normal” for a child to have a
parent behind bars. But they miss the
point: the character is meant to help the child, not the parent in prison.
This is not the first time the CPB and Sesame Street have
come under fire for tackling social issues in ways that are seen as attempts to
influence children. The characters “Bert”
and “Ernie” are two males, sharing a bedroom (with separate beds) that have a
close friendship. There are those who seek
to sexualize that relationship, implying that they are homosexual lovers, but
the show has never done so. Sesame Street’s
diverse cast and the friendships and tolerance for everyone in all walks of
life that are depicted in the show have helped children mainstream into society
for decades, teaching them simple Spanish and sign language in ways that have
us all speaking “Sesame Street Spanish” in a pinch.
Alex is not meant to portray the norm, but he is meant to
let kids who live the nightmare of an incarcerated parent feel normal. What the critics fail to understand is that,
while it is one thing to condemn guilty adults for the crimes they commit, it
is another thing entirely to condemn the children for the sins of the
fathers. Even the God of the Old
Testament gave that up when he sacrificed his only begotten son for the sins of
all mankind in the New Testament.
And that is the irony in this story: that the very people
who are supposedly the most forgiving are the first to judge. They are often the first to condemn children
for the choices adults make, be they alternative lifestyles (i.e.: gay adoption,
same-sex marriage, etc…) or incarcerating petty drug offenders (robbing their
children of a parent when rehab might have solved the problem) or even
stigmatizing the welfare and other assistance that poor parents (many of them
single unwed mothers who chose not abort their babies) need to help raise their
children.
Broadcast outlets, like PBS and the CPB, wield great
power in the shaping of public attitudes on any number of socioeconomic and
political issues and they, therefore, have a huge responsibility to the public
(from whom they utilize the airwaves).
PBS and the CPB are to be commended, not condemned, for reaching out to
demographics poorly served by commercial broadcasters because they are not as
profitable as the money-demo, adults 25-54.
A child with autism should be able to see himself in a character on TV,
just as should a child with a parent in jail.
So many children in that lamentable state are minority children and so
are fighting off layer upon layer of prejudice and bigotry. Let’s all consider that before reacting to a
felt puppet on a kids’ show.
