Will Sesame Street Really Join the Political Correctness Craze by Doing Away with Cookie Monster?

There has been quite a bit of talk of the political correctness trend taking over Sesame Street, changing the way that it has been run for over forty years. What is being said that would happen is that Cookie Monster would be renamed as Veggie Monster, trying to enforce in the minds of children that veggies are great and that they should be eaten in order to become healthy, big, and strong. Is something so crazy as this really going to happen? Is the crazy political correctness trend really going to destroy this show that many children have loved for decades, just as it has destroyed everything else that we have? Are our children going to be subjected to more political correctness nonsense? The toys are already lacking in creativity, as they are all becoming educational and politically correct, but does this mess now have to affect every single one of the TV shows our children watch, even those that have been fine for years and do not need any such critiquing? Can they escape from it? Of course we know that veggies are great to eat. Of course we tell our children that, and of course, children have to hear from well meaning adults to the point of utter annoyance that they must eat their veggies, but what is the problem with a show that children can watch and enjoy that enables them to escape from such an annoying message and reality, enabling them to escape into a world of fantasy and make believe, where cookies are always acceptable to eat? Children have done it for decades, and we do not have a number of malnourished adults roaming the streets, underweight and small. As a matter of fact, America as a whole is quite the opposite, as we are an industrious nation, as the majority of us are not malnourished and frail, unless we suffer from some sort of sickness that causes us to be that way. Why destroy a TV show that is so well done and get rid of Cookie Monster, a character that children spanning over several decades have always loved? Let's see if the makers of Sesame Street have really lost their minds and have joined the extreme political correctness craze.

Snopes, which is a website that is devoted to debunking rumors and false claims, and has been a reliable source for years states that in the year 2005, Sesame Street has changed somewhat to deliver messages of a more positive nature to children. Due to this change, Cookie Monster's diet has expanded to include fruits and vegetables, along with his cookies. Though this is the case, the rumor that he is going to stop eating cookies entirely is false. There are no plans for him to give up his favorite food, nor are there any plans for his name to be changed, though he eats his cookies far less than he used to. Makers of Sesame Street state that the positive message that they want to deliver to children is that fruits and veggies are great to eat, and they want to encourage children to take a much healthier path, not consuming cookies all of the time (Mikkelson). The reason for doing this is because they realize that obesity is an epidemic, and they want to help children stay healthy. While it is such a relief that they will not be getting rid of Cookie Monster entirely, there are still a number of people who are upset that there are any changes at all. While there is nothing wrong with having positive messages delivered to children, sometimes this phenomenon is taken to the extremes. But why has positivity been taken to an extreme level as this to the point of even lightly tampering with a long time TV show that everyone has loved for decades? Children of past decades did fine. Why the need for such extensive programming and treating these kids as if they are incapable of coming to their own conclusions and stripping them of their integrity? Why treat children as if they are stupid and cannot think for themselves?

From my own personal observation, children today live in a plushy world where everyone else thinks for them and they are protected even from themselves. Games, such as Cops and Robbers, dodge ball, capture the flag, and freeze tag, are discouraged, and children are discouraged from activities that children did when I was growing up, such as playing with cap guns and having fun with other explosives that were not harmful if used correctly. We live in an era in which everyone has to be extremely paranoid and safety conscious. There are labels on everything, and everything has to measure up to safety codes that are set by bureaucrats. Regarding this, one article states that to comply with safety standards, playgrounds have been dummied down. Swings and jungle gyms are the first things to go, and the sand boxes follow right after (Scott). As a blind child, I've found the swings, jungle gyms, and the sand boxes to be the most enjoyable parts of my playground experiences. I disliked the slides because I often found it annoying that I had to fumble around to get to them, often having to lug my cane to each place, and then I'd have to look for it when I was done, sometimes to discover that another child picked it up and carried it off because they thought it was the coolest and most innovative thing they ever got their hands on, as they more than likely have never seen a blind person's cane before. I favored the sandbox because it stimulated my senses, enabling me to utilize my sense of feel. I loved the swings because I did not have to go to so much trouble making myself move back and forth, and I loved the jungle gyms because I could do all the fun things I wanted right in one place. The glory of all three of these parts of the playground is that I did not have to fumble around to get from place to place, nor did I have to worry about my cane being lost, which has happened when I played on the slides and tunnels, not saying that blind children do not play on these pieces of playground equipment. It is just that I did not prefer them because I felt they were just too troublesome to me. Concerning the safety standards, the article states that those imposing such regulations do not care at all what children need for good development. When children get dirty, and sometimes injured, a lot is learned through those experiences. Children learn to be tough, and they learn to be creative, hence the reason that many experts harshly criticize the stringent safety standards that children are routinely subjected to (Scott). However, these experts are totally ignored, and children continue to lead boring lives. Children cannot even get a scrape from play without CPS being called, thinking that somehow the parents had something to do with their injury and that it is impossible for the child to incur such an injury at play. It seems that people have lost their sense of reasonableness and have gone completely mad!

The idea of children having fun these days is to go over and chill at a friend's house and play on the computer and play video games for hours. Rarely do they go outside, play in the parks, get dirty, and possibly break a few bones, which when I was a child, these were part of childhood experiences, and they were okay. In my day, children ran around, and they did not have foolish safety standards hanging over their heads, keeping them from being children. Did anyone ever think that if children were allowed to play and be children that the epidemic of obesity would disappear? Eating right is only half of the solution. Exercise is the other half, and if children are routinely made to sit still or can only engage in simple child's play to either comply with safety standards or to avoid government intervention from coming into the home and totally annihilating the family foundation, then it can be expected that children will become much fatter than they ever have been in centuries past! One can also look forward to more and more children being medicated, as they are not allowed to be children and let out all of that pent up energy in fear they will get hurt, scrape a few knees, or break some bones. I did not even need a scholar to explain that one to me. With common sense, logic, and reasoning, I was able to think for myself, contrary to what children are taught to do today, and I came to that conclusion on my very own all by myself. Yay for me! I deserve a gold ribbon! Of course, I might be construed as arrogant, simply because I state things as they are, but I can't help that the truth hurts and that I use logic to make my deductions.

Toys have even lost their finesse. They are not what they used to be. Children cannot be as creative and use their imaginations as they once did, as most toys now seem to not only be electronic and educational, planting the ideas into the child's head and not allowing them to come to their own conclusions and learn on a path that is right for them. Consequently, the bonding experience with parents and other children is lost because not much can be done with these electronic educational toys. Why is all of this occurring? I can pretty much tell you why.

We live in a society that is not only worried about being very politically correct; it is also worried about anyone getting hurt. A child is allowed to receive the same rewards as another peer who worked harder than he has, even if he did not put forth any of the effort. The positive thinking has gone so crazy to the point that there can be no losers. Take for example, the "NO Child Left Behind" laws, which is just a small piece of this overall scheme of programming that our society is subjected to as a whole. This forces all children to be subject to a one size fits all standardized learning approach, despite the fact that there might be a child who is a much better competitor, much smarter, and a much quicker learner than his peers. But sadly, these talents are overlooked, as these precious children are lumped in and forced to go at the same pace as their peers who are slow learners or who may even suffer from a learning disability. So, competition and creativity have been squandered, and the children become bored out of their minds, while waiting for their peers to catch up. And should they act out or rebel, they are then medicated to sit still, be robotic, and just be good little recipients, waiting for their next dose of programming. Their minds are now not only altered by medication, which severely impairs their thinking, they are now subjected to programming that will not enable them to be who they potentially can be. For the sake of politeness and always being unrealistically positive to the point of becoming sick to the tummy, the great thinkers of our future are done a greater disservice than anyone ever thought imaginable. Even our geniuses are dumbed down, not being allowed to progress or think for themselves, all because it will make the child who is not grasping things very well next to him go into a complete crying fit or offending his parents. Individuality is sucked from these children, drop by drop, until they are mindless robots who cannot ever think for themselves. They must submit to the trend of always being positive, politically correct, even if it is not the correct way to do things at all, even if it is not in the least bit realistic, as reality sucks, and children are going to have to face the fact that not everyone can be a winner and that thinking positive one hundred percent of the time and living in a world of plush is going to accomplish anything. Not to mention, children will need to learn that getting hurt is a part of life, and unless we are Jesus, playing will call for some scraped knees, broken bones, ER visits, bruises, and some blood. It is all part of being a child, after all! Children will never be able to explore and deduce things for themselves, as they will always have these messages shoved down their throats.

TV shows and the toy market must also follow this sickening and unrealistic trend of political correctness in fear of not gaining acceptance from the general public and not getting any viewers or sales, which would hurt their profits dramatically, hence the reason that sesame street has had to make any changes at all to how the show is produced. While the makers of Sesame Street have not completely lost their minds and have completely gotten rid of Cookie Monster, they present the beginning symptoms of being indoctrinated by Political Correctness.

I feel sad, and even sickened, about giving birth to children and bringing them up in this era because it seems that they will not have as enriched as a childhood as I had. I've considered adopting children who are already here and are in less fortunate circumstances because they did not ask to be brought into this world and need a loving home; but adding more bodies into this world via my birth canal seems to be a foolish decision in my eyes because that is more people that I will help bring here to be subjected to this nonsense programming and corruption. While it is such a relief that Sesame Street does not have plans to do away with Cookie Monster, It is still sad that the show has changed to follow our current disgusting modern trend of political correctness and robotic thinking. All that we can do is hold onto the remnants of our past and pray that our children do not become far more cheated than they already have been.

 
Work Cited

Mikkelson, David P., and Barbara Mikkelson. "Cookie Monster Becomes Veggie Monster." Snopes.com. N.p., 1995-2009. Web. 28 Nov. 2009. http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/veggie.asp.

Scott, Janny. "When Child's Play is Too Simple, Experts Criticize Safety-Conscious Recreation as Boring." DPFP.org. N.p., 15 July 2000. Web. 28 Nov. 2009. http://bpfp.org/PlaygroundDesign/ WhenChildsPlay.php.