Sesame Street Smarts

Sesame Street, now celebrating its 40th anniversary, is such a staple in our culture.  Nurturing us with our favorite muppets like Kermit the Frog and Big Bird (my favorites were Grover and Cookie Monster), teaching children diversity and multiracial, as well as multilingual, education, and bringing "head start" to urban children (hence its urban setting), this show has always been progressive.  This week, First Lady Michelle Obama will make an appearance to promote healthy and organic food.  

So, imagine my surprise to learn that the Fox News Network actually tried to make a "controversy" over an episode, which aired either last year or the year before, featuring Oscar the Grouch in his trash can offering a parody of news reporting.  He's a reporter for GNN (Garbage News Network -  get it?), and a viewer who is dissatisfied with his news show threatens to switch to Pox News (get it?).  Except a number of folks over at Fox News (and their conservative supporters) didn't get the joke since they believe this was some form of "liberal" political indoctrination of our children.  Hmmmm, sounds familiar?  Isn't this the same accusation leveled against President Obama when he was speaking to school children?

I mean, I have to believe that this so-called "outrage" over Sesame Street is itself a parody of the way marginal groups have often complained about racist and sexist indoctrination occurring in children's shows.  This has to be a joke.  It just has to.  Because, really, if this is not a joke, then we've got a bigger crisis on our hands than the economy and H1N1.  The "dumbing down" of America is a major, major pandemic.  

Seriously.  Anyone who has ever watched Sesame Street (and after 40 years that's a whole lot of us) should know that, when Oscar the Grouch and his fellow grouchies call anything "trashy" or vile or ruinous, that's supposed to be a good thing.  They wallow in trash, and this parody was an equal opportunity pun on the news media.  Shouldn't CNN also be offended that they were likened to a "Garbage News Network"?  And what about Walter Kranky and Dan Rather-Not (BWAHAHA! You gotta love Sesame Street for being able to appeal to the grown ups while entertaining the kids with muppets)?  

In short, where is our sense of humor?  Where did our basic understanding of puns and parody and the fun play on words (which has always been a staple of Sesame Street programming) go?  Are certain segments of the American population so dumbfounded at having the Obamas in the White House that they have lost all their senses (including their sense of humor)?  Or, has our education system failed so miserably that an extension of that education, via a children's TV show, is now too "complex" for a regular TV viewer's understanding?  

Scary stuff, I tell you.  But, in the mean time, I want to commend Sesame Street for keeping up the good fight in sustaining popular education and especially public television for persevering with a vision of education as fun and fun as education.  

Now, if only certain adults would lighten up, or just go back to school and learn some basic skills.