“Sesame Street will soon introduce its first HIV-positive Muppet character to children of South Africa, where one in nine people have the virus that can lead to AIDS,” Reuters reports.
The upbeat female Muppet will join ‘Takalani Sesame’ on Sept. 30 for its third season on the South African Broadcasting Corp.
Upbeat? Why upbeat?
The character — which has yet to have a name or final color or form — will travel to many if not all of the eight other nations that air versions of the educational children’s show that began in the United States in 1969, said Joel Schneider, vice president and senior adviser to the Sesame Street Workshop.
[…] ‘This character will be fully a part of the community,’ Schneider said. ‘She will have high self-esteem. Women are often stigmatized about HIV and we are providing a good role model as to how to deal with one’s situation and how to interact with the community.’
[…] ‘We will be very careful to fashion our messages so they are appropriate to the age group. What do I do when I cut my finger? What do I do when you cut your finger? That sort of thing.’
Well, whatever works. Me, I’d make my HIV-positive Streeter one pissed-off girly sock muppet — a sassy and bitter brunette who makes balloon animals out of condoms and who rails against daddy for having unprotected sex with prostitutes.
Which is why I’ll never get a job with the Sesame Street Workshop, I guess. That, and because I’m a big fan of paddling smart-mouthed brats.
Any parent who lets their kids watch TV—public, network, or cable should be hauled in for child abuse. Sesame Street is incidious indoctrination, not much different than the Hitler Youth Camps. Commercial television is one big toy, junk food and leftist propaganda.
Get some “Magic School Bus” tapes and let the kids soak up some fun and learn something to boot. Probably other tapes are good as well, but my granddaughter just love that silly yellow bus.
I liked “Schoolhouse Rock” when I was a kid. More like that, I say.