Manic Monday: The Sponge Bob Manifesto

Posted by: chatblu on: August 15, 2011

• In: Current Events | Democratic Values | Television
• 22 Comments

Postdiluvian picture of an antediluvian woman

    And I thought that I was having a bad week!  Fox and Friends put me right to shame with a recent show during which they fussed for a considerable period of time about an episode of SpongeBob Squarepants.  It would appear that the show discussed climate change without bothering to explain to the audience (of toddlers!) that “climate change is an untested theory”.  One of the hosts actually admitted that they have difficulty following the story line.  Having watched more episodes of SBSP than I care to admit while entertaining Number Two Grandson, I can state unequivocally that I would probably die before making such an admission.  SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea, works at the Crusty Crab (a small business) and has a friend named Patrick.  What could be more Republican that an underwater homeowner who is gainfully employed at a small business (probably for a few clams a week) and has a friend?  So, what’s your problem, Fox?  Do you suspect that SpongeBob is a secret subversive that wished to organize the Crusty Crab?  Are you fearful of a “bromance” between SpongeBob and Patrick, who may after all be a card-carrying liberal if not a Communist because he’s pink?  Please tell me why you think that the scenario of an underwater homeowner fearing rising seas is so damned implausible.

Here’s Cenk Uygar’s take on it:

Remember back a few years ago when the Right-Wing Whackos were protesting the Teletubbies, because they were dead certain that the lavender one was gay?  If that wasn’t bad enough, one of the pro-gay marriage groups wrote to Sesame Street and requested that Bert and Ernie marry.  (Here’s their online petition.)   Sesame Street wrote back, and stated that puppets are by definition asexual.  (I suppose that they could secretly be Alberta and Ernestine – who knows?)  Furthermore, who the hell cares?  They’re puppets, already.  Leave them alone.  What’s next – the revelation that Dora the Explorer is the love child of Che Guevara?

When I was a kid, nobody wondered if Howdy Doody was messing around with Princess Summerfallwinterspring.  If any of the Mousekeeteers were indulging in sexual experimentation, it went right over my head. ( I did notice that Barbie had quite a bustline, however.)  Come to think of it, I don’t recall my parents musing about any of those things, either.  They were apparently grateful that I was quiet, amused, and out of their hair for thirty minutes or so.  (My father, however, was pretty well convinced that flouridated water was a Communist plot, and I have the bridgework to prove it.)

Honestly, there’s a lot to worry about in the world, and I concur with parents who monitor their children’s television. I’m also a huge conspiracy theorist.   However, I’m just not all that certain that I can really believe that there is an abundance of subversive children’s programming  in progress.  Just because Arthur the Aardvark is on PBS does not mean that he is personally  responsible for the deficit.  There’s enough going on right now to keep everyone pretty well hysterical, so please butt out of the precious few minutes that many parents tearfully call  ”peace and quiet”.

This is an open thread.

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Tags: SpomgeBob. Fox News