At a U.S. Senate hearing in 1969, Fred Rogers gave a skeptical and dismissive inquisitor "goosebumps" with his impassioned case for sane children's TV. This has been part of my Speechwriting Jam Session for a couple of years and it has moved audiences around the world, even people who have never heard of Fred Rogers, or Big Bird.
Mitt Romney, you had good parents. You understand something about love, and kids. Maybe Fred will change your mind, too.
I use that Mr. Rogers piece in courses myself – it’s a good little case study on so many levels. As for Big Bird, well, I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes the first campaign in which a candidate’s ultimate loss can be traced to the mistake he made taking on the mighty Sesame Street pr machine and its many loyal followers. Don’t piss off muppets, Mr. Romney. It never ends well.
If public television can no longer fund Big Bird — rather, if we decide we can no longer borrow from China to pay for him — I pledge to mortgage my house in order to purchase his licensing rights and maintain BB’s presence in the world. This will be a spectacular investment — what Facebook might have been. Moreover, I will be motivated to build BB’s image even greater around the world than PBS ever did — profit motive, you know. Untethering BB from his chains of “charity” would be the best thing to spread his message to even more people. (And I will get rich in the process.) Careful what you wish for, friends of BB. It feels nice to spend other people’s coerced money (i.e. taxes) on this yellow fellow, but he’ll do fine on his own. The profit motive, as ugly as some find it, has led to more success than all the world’s good intentions combined.
In other news, you have my sympathy on moving, buddy. I can’t stand the box-and-truck shuffle. Shudder.
Mike:
The profit motive got us utterly foolish, shit like Popeye and the Roadrunner and Tom & Jerry. Luckily it has also gotten us Dora and the other Sprout stuff. But those are cable shows.
I’m not drawing a red line down Sesame Street. But Sesame Street and Mister Rogers were created as intellectual and emotional public broadcasting Head Starts.
I think they did a lot for kids who didn’t have parents home teaching them the ABCs or expressing love to them. (You may disagree with this. We are both guessing, I realize.)
The profit motive does not do a lot for communities that don’t have money. Witness the food deserts (and overflowing, stiflingly hot classrooms) in urban ghettos.
If you don’t think government has a place there, fine. But I think we’ll wait a damn long time until we see profiteers fixing our shittiest problems.
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