Dan Sherrier

Political correctness needs to go on vacation, indefinitely.

Apparently, some of today’s adults feel that the earliest episodes of Sesame Street–from 1969 through the ’70s–are inappropriate for children. This saddens me.

If you’re not already aware, Google “Sesame Street inappropriate,” and you’ll see. The DVDs collecting the first several years warn parents that the content may not be suitable for today’s preschoolers.

Would you subject your child to this?

This isn’t news, but the overarching issue of political correctness gone crazy is as enduring as Sesame Street itself.

Look at the product description on Amazon.com: “Were some of your first friends named Grover, Mr. Hooper, and Bob? Do you remember the Ladybug Picnic? How about Pinball Number Count? Sesame Street Old School is a time capsule of the early days of the ground-breaking series you grew up on. Take a trip back in time with Bert, Ernie, Big Bird and Snuffleupagus. Sing along with classics like ‘C is for Cookie,’ ‘I Love Trash,’ and ‘Rubber Duckie.’ For the first time on DVD, the music, memories, and mayhem from Sesame Street’s first five seasons can be enjoyed again and again!”

Sounds like the marketing aims for nostalgic adults rather than preschoolers who need to learn their ABCs.

Here are some of the allegedly objectionable bits:

Not only does Cookie Monster practice poor eating habits, but he has the nerve to smoke (and eat) a pipe during his “Monsterpiece Theatre” bit. Can’t have today’s kids watching that! Yet, I clearly remember being a young child watching Cookie Monster with his pipe, and to this day, I have never even touched a cigarette or pipe, much less smoked either one. That’s because my parents and teachers made it clear that smoking was a bad idea. Cookie Monster didn’t have much influence one way or the other over my decision not to smoke.

Yes, to this day, I do eat many cookies. I love chocolate chip cookies and always have, but that’s because they’re delicious, not because I saw Cookie Monster eating them.

Oscar is another offender. He’s a grouch who should have been treated for clinical depression, or so the PC folks say. Looking back, he presents a great opportunity for teaching kids to deal and interact with difficult, cranky people. He can serve the antagonist role. Through his exploits, kids can learn about resolving conflicts.

But we can’t have such characters today, says the PC crowd. No, we must shield our children from the horrors of Oscar the Grouch!

Ernie and Bert, apparently, lived in substandard housing conditions. I don’t recall ever noticing.

There’s more. No doubt, some people will find new excuses to take offense. Perhaps Big Bird jaywalked at one point, or the Count’s thunderstorms contributed to global warming.

I survived watching the 1980s Sesame Street, which included plenty of earlier material. I remember fondly Grover running back and forth shouting, “Near! Far! Near! Far!” I remember Kermit’s reporting and that bit with the x-ray machine. And Ernie singing about his rubber duckie. And so on. It was all quite harmless, and still would be. (Maybe still is? Do they still air some old material on the new episodes? I haven’t watched in many years.)

Now, if Oscar or Cookie Monster were, say, decapitating their fellow muppets or shouting profanities, then that would be inappropriate for children. But being a grouch or eating too many cookies? Relaaaaaxxx. This notion that we can only expose children to situations and characters that are purely shiny, happy, and squeaky-clean…that’s not doing the children any favors. Eventually, these children will grow up and will be forced to live in reality, where the reality is that not everyone behaves in a perfectly nice and cuddly fashion.

This is what truly bothers me–this all-or-nothing mentality, this elimination of any middle ground. The real world is not all black and white, and it’s not all shades of gray either. There’s black, gray, and white. Teaching kids to add = all good. Teaching kids to kill = all bad. A muppet smoking a pipe = Who cares?

It seems like PC folks don’t like to make judgment calls, so they err on the side of caution and slot everything into either the “good” category or the “bad” category.

However, some modern Sesame Street content bothers folks, too.

Seems you can’t pair yoga with Big Bird, at least not without also pairing Jesus with Big Bird. I kind of get where they’re coming from. Much of politically correct society would love to sweep the whole Christian faith under the carpet in favor of pretty much any other religion. (Another component of the PC formula, of course. The majority offends, while the minority holds great virtue and educational value. I wonder what would happen if Christianity became a minority religion…Would the same PC people start advocating for school prayer?) Still, I think it’s over-reacting a bit there to object to yoga. Yoga has always struck me as a secular activity, and I don’t think kids would read too much into it.

Sesame Street is not a substitute for a parent. Rather than expect perfection from a children’s show, parents should realize that they have the ability and authority to supplement anything their kids see on TV.

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