Homeland Security Uses Sesame Street

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
Sounds like the old "Stop, Drop, and Roll" campaign of the 80's to me. This isn't about terrorism, it's about emergency preparedness, something our country clearly lacks as evidenced by, oh, I don't know... they way our citizens have handled themselves following every major emergency the past decade has brought to us.

Really, so you are ashamed that the first responders did what they did during 9/11? Or how about when I walked 5 miles lugging water in along with most of my neighbors bringing supplies.

Take a hike.

reply to post by wytworm


See, the funny thing about what I said when I compared it to stop, drop, and roll is that even before that campaign began, not everyone who caught fire was so stupid and ignorant about proper personal blaze safety that they went running wildly around the room, fanning the flames & screaming like a madman. The same can be said for the way our citizens have handled themselves during emergencies... not everyone has acted like a clueless dullard, but enough have to warrant stressing proper emergency preparedness & procedures to our children.

Hitch a ride.

reply to post by ProfEmeritus

-Yes, because my mother told me that if I ate my vegetables every night, that it would protect me from the Atom Bomb."

If you told it before, I didn't see it. Thank you for the bought of hysterical laughter!

On topic: I remember a day several years ago when the initial idea of Homeland Security was announced. I listened to the speech. At the time, it sounded like a good idea (this was before I realized Bush was a dictator wannabe).

But that's what I find really scary. It was a good idea. It was simply a re-organization of the various arms of the Executive branch in order to reduce duplicity and coordinate information quickly and efficiently. Of course, that's not what happened. The complete list of atrocities committed against our liberties since that inception would fill three libraries and seven encyclopedias.

I seem to remember a day long long ago when my parents actually cared about what our leaders said, because despite the regular goofs and moments of idiocity, there was this deeply-held belief that our leaders actually tried to do the right thing. Ah, those good old days. Where did we go wrong? Where did we lose that allegiance to a higher dream?

This program is no different. It is a good idea, but one where the implementation carries the seeds of persecution and enslavement. Those seeds seem to be responding to Global Warming and sprouting fiercely as of late. If we must hew down a few roses to get the tangled mass of thorns that will eventually choke them down anyway, so be it. The true seeds of liberty still exist in the hearts and minds of men like us.

TheRedneck

reply to post by TheRedneck


Pardon the interruption, as I know you were responding to another.

I wanted to say that, sadly, I agree with you.

All of these programs are potentially good things. I simply have no trust (in fact I have come to distrust) the execution of any plan by those so closely entwined with the events of the last few decades.

I agree that the DHS concept was, on its surface, a sound notion. But it was also engineered to be an exploit for another agenda. This, I fear, is the potential of 'teaching' preschoolers and our youngest members of the community how to recognize the 'badness' of the world around them, even though they are too young to do anything about it.

I can't accept that our children need this pressure. I think we would do much better focusing on things like civics, or governmental processes and structures in high school. Rather than 'alert' a bunch of children to those things for which the adults in their lives should take responsibility.

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
reply to post by wytworm

 

See, the funny thing about what I said when I compared it to stop, drop, and roll is that even before that campaign began, not everyone who caught fire was so stupid and ignorant about proper personal blaze safety that they went running wildly around the room, fanning the flames & screaming like a madman. The same can be said for the way our citizens have handled themselves during emergencies... not everyone has acted like a clueless dullard, but enough have to warrant stressing proper emergency preparedness & procedures to our children.

Hitch a ride.

Which ones behaved like clueless dullards? Cite your source.

reply to post by Maxmars


I'd love to agree with you, really I would. But the very sad truth is that we don't live in a world of sunshine & farts where we can shelter children from knowledge of evil & the obscene anymore (if such a world even ever existed in history). I've got two little ones of my own and I'd love for them to be sheltered from all of this crap, but I wonder how much more traumatic and devastating it would be in their lives for them to have their heads in the sand leading up to the next attack or the next major hurricane or the next disaster. A pre-emptive preparedness wake up call, I would think, is far less catastrophic to their young lives than watching complete chaos unravel around them during an incident they were completely unprepared to handle would be.

That said, I'd do anything to see to it they hold their innocence & bright doe-eyed view of the world for as long as possible.

Sesame street and the DHS.. well, at least they are at the same level..

One bringing fairy tales to keep children amused, one bringing fairy tales to keep grown ups scared..

And now the amusement moves over for more scarey-tales..

Sad, sad world..

reply to post by Maxmars

I can't accept that our children need this pressure. I think we would do much better focusing on things like civics, or governmental processes and structures in high school. Rather than 'alert' a bunch of children to those things for which the adults in their lives should take responsibility.

Absolutely, in MHO, the main point in this whole discussion. Although I seemed to digress in my little true story about the Atom Bomb and eating my asparagus, it demonstrates why we need to guard against attempts by the government such as this. My story shows HOW IMPRESSIONABLE young children are. I was in second grade, but blindly believed what my mother said (yes, I know she was doing it for my own good). That is the second point- the government may or may not be doing it for the childrens' own good. But since the potential for abuse is there, and the innocent acceptance by children of people in authority is there, that is a potential combination for disaster. Again, preparing children for emergencies should be the job of parents. Yes, fire drills ARE good, but this is far from a fire drill that is being enacted.

reply to post by Maxmars

Pardon the interruption, as I know you were responding to another.

This is an open debate forum, my friend. No apology is needed.

You know, when I went to school, we had those bomb drills, sure. We also had tornado drills and fire drills. But those were so secondary to our education, that we didn't dwell on them. We saw math and science and literature and english and social studies on a daily basis, while we had a drill maybe once a week (and usually a small fraction of that).

But back at home, even though I was with the family, I was also exposed to the TV. Shows back then were either variety shows (Hee Haw, Laugh-In, Ed Sullivan) or clean sitcoms (Andy Griffith, Gilligan's Island, The Addams Family, The Beverly Hillbillies) which may have had a moral behind them, but had family-oriented morals and good fun. I remember looking forward to Saturday morning cartoons so I could watch Bugs Bunny and Johnny Quest. So yeah, TV has played a large part in my upbringing, even though it was always with parental supervision.

Now, DHS intends to inject a dose of 'terrorism alertness' into those daily regiments of fun and entertainment. That is much more of a dosage than the occasional drill at school.

TheRedneck

reply to post by hoochymama


My kids school no longer has bus service, so now you have to disrupt your work schedule or us the daycare or after school program. And my county probably is one of the wealthier one in S. Ca. I'm not but the county is. Anyway they keep harping on how education is our top priority but keep cutting programs that make getting an education harder. Private schools are no better, one of the kids in my family goes to private high school and i was blown away that drug testing is one of top priorities there. And if you play on a school team it is mandatory. If another kids says you do drugs go get a test to prove that kid wrong. Crazy times we live in. Watch that movie Idiocracy and you can actually envision that happening.

reply to post by burdman30ott6

But the very sad truth is that we don't live in a world of sunshine & farts where we can shelter children from knowledge of evil & the obscene anymore (if such a world even ever existed in history).

*snip for brevity*

That said, I'd do anything to see to it they hold their innocence & bright doe-eyed view of the world for as long as possible.

I'm really not sure if we agree or disagree burdman. But I do know this: children can only handle a certain amount, that amount depending on their age as well as their personal maturity level.

When my kids were ages 6 and 9, their grandfather and a few others from that side of the family tried to force my wife (and kids) to leave me (yes, via physical force) while I was stranded in Texas. To my wife's credit, she told them to take a long walk off a short dock. But in the argument that ensued, wherein the police had to pay at least one visit, my children saw the evil side of humanity at a precariously tender age.

Of course, I rushed home as fast as I possibly could to try and make sure everything was under control. When I got home, I had to explain to my children why 'Grandpa' hated 'Daddy'. That was the hardest talk I have ever had to give. I would prefer to give the 'birds and bees' talk every day for a century than to give that one again. I mean, what do you say in answer to that question from a six year old child?

I know what I said to him. I told him that Grandpa didn't hate Daddy (I hoped that was the truth) and that Daddy didn't hate Grandpa. I told him that sometimes people try to do things which are bad, but they think they are doing good. He seemed to understand a bit, so I dried his tears and went to my daughter.

She knew more than he had. Her question was more along the lines of 'Why is Grandpa so mean to us?' I told her that Grandpa wasn't trying to be mean, he just didn't realize what he had done. I also told her that we wouldn't be seeing Grandpa for a while, so she didn't have to worry about it.

My son could not have handled even the idea that his beloved Grandpa was acting 'mean', or that we would not be seeing him again for a long time. My daughter, three years older, was able to. In short, I gave them the information they needed and the explanations as they could understand. Today, with both of them in high school, they already know that we will not be going back to Grandpa's house, although he can come visit when I am home. They know I harbor no ill will toward him, but also will not give him the opportunity to do that again. They also know that once they are adults, their relationship with their Grandpa is up to them, whether or not to visit him, renew ties with him, or forget him. They make their own decisions on that subject, and so as not to taint those, neither my wife nor I have ever said one harsh word against the man in the kids' presence. We agreed to do that the first night I was back.

So you're right that we cannot isolate our children from all the evil in the world, but we can (and should, no, must) shelter them from the full brunt of truth whenever it would harm them.

May your children always be happy and unconcerned about this mess we call our world.

TheRedneck

reply to post by watch_the_rocks


Well, to be honest, terrorism killed maybe a hundred, two hundred people on 9/11.

Bad structural considerations killed several thousand.

But it's more fun to point to nineteen dead Arabians and Egyptians as a reason to kick the crap out of Afghanis, than it is to drag the builders of the buildings in question to claims court.

Remember children. We want to know what mommy and daddy are talking about so write it all down and give it to us. We will see that they see it our way. OK. You are such nice children now go.

I don't see the big deal here at all. If a parent feels that it is "brainwashing" there is a button located on your television (and remote) that says power. When pushed, an amazing thing happens.. your television cuts off if it was on.

The fact that ppl would bitch at how the gov't is raising their children is laughable considering that the complaint is an admission that you are allowing them to do so..

To the person who mentioned the Cookie Monster: he's now called Fruit Monster in order to better control what parents feed their own children. Please report to your nearest Reeducation Center immediately.

reply to post by justamomma

I don't see the big deal here at all. If a parent feels that it is "brainwashing" there is a button located on your television (and remote) that says power. When pushed, an amazing thing happens.. your television cuts off if it was on.

I knew this was going to come up. Yes, you can turn off the TV, but are you seriously advocating that parents who disagree with this move should sequester themselves from all communication with society? Sesame Street has traditionally been a staple of children's programming that taught counting, the alphabet, etc. I know parents who used it (besides myself) to help teach their children while entertaining them at the same time and allowing the parents to do chores. Not everyone has a maid to clean and a chef in their home to cook.

Not to mention that a lot of parents are not reading this board. If I had children at the Sesame Street age, I would probably curtail their viewing of the show, unless I was watching as well. But that's because I saw this article. How many parents didn't?

The fact that ppl would bitch at how the gov't is raising their children is laughable considering that the complaint is an admission that you are allowing them to do so..

So I am implicitly allowing the government to raise my children if I send them to school? Check the law books; that is a legal requirement, not a personal choice (unless you have the time and knowledge to home-school).

I think your arguments in this case are unreasonable, based on the present laws and realistic demands of living in society.

TheRedneck

reply to post by TheRedneck

Good Evening Redneck.
Your posts, as always are so eloquent and to the point. Your handling of that difficult family situation was wonderful. All of us, I'm sure have had situations like that. The point you made so well is that it should be the parents that decide what each child can handle. Yes, justamom, you can turn off the tv, but Sesame Street was one show (the Electric Company was another) that you could feel comfortable letting your children watch. Why take away that safe harbor?
Like you, Redneck, my memories of TV in the 50's were pleasant, tv mom and tv dad were always right, and there were no commercials for condums and other unmentionables then. Children were allowed to be children. Step by step, we have robbed children of their childhood. Yes, it is possible, with constant attention, to shield children from much of it, but as soon as they get to school, their friends "transfer" their robbed childhood to your children. In fact, they don't even get to school to have that happen, the good old yellow school bus does a good job of that. It is harder for people to maintain that shield, since so many families need two incomes just to survive, and as a result, their children are with strangers more hours per day, than they are with their parent(s).
Given the potential for abuse by DHS, as many posters have mentioned, I, for one, am going to send a letter to my congressman asking him to consider stopping this DHS-Sesame Street connection. I would urge all that agree to do likewise. After all, it is an election year, and all 535 members of Congress are up for election.

Originally posted by ProfEmeritus
Homeland Security Uses Sesame Street

Wow. Sometimes I am amazed at the volume of BS on this forum that people sound off about. DHS is all-hazards, and these children are going to be taught about how to not talk to strangers, to prepare 72-hour provision kits, to plan fire escape plans, tornado/earthquake/hurricane plans, and how to dial "0" or "911".

Homeland Security being a right-wing conspiracy? I have co-authored graduate level curricula for Homeland Security, and I am sorry to inform all you conspiracy theorists that it is not well enough funded or organized to be a threat (not yet anyway). Most of the people involved with DHS are either ex-military or they push for local control and limiting government... but one thing is certain -- tt is quite polarized, just as the American people are. So stupid comments like "turn in your parents if they are Democrats" is so far off-based that they are infantile.

Also, comments like automobile accidents kill more than terrorism? These are toddlers and kindergarteners. So newsflash *THEY CAN"T DRIVE* Are you brain dead?

The damage done in the public school systems to our children are orders of magnitude worse than DHS working with Sesame Street. Children are across the board indoctrinated into liberal worldviews and garbage that is much more of a threat to our rights than DHS ever has been. Are you people really zealots to the point that you cannot even open your eyes and think?

reply to post by ScienceDada

DHS is all-hazards, and these children are going to be taught about how to not talk to strangers, to prepare 72-hour provision kits, to plan fire escape plans, tornado/earthquake/hurricane plans, and how to dial "0" or "911".

Have you really read the posts, before you pulled the trigger on your shotgun?
First of all, those tasks that you mentioned should be performed by the PARENTS. AS I STATED in one of my posts above, my wife and I have done all of those things for our children, and when our grandchildren visit us, our grandchildren. In addition, as TheRedneck so eloquently pointed out, it should be done with parental care and love, so as not to frighten the children. You may have co-authored graduate-level courses(Is that supposed to impress us?-big deal, I taught them), but I will tell you, you CANNOT talk to a 3 or 4 year old like you can to a grad student! Three and Four year olds can have night terrors if you don't put things in a gentle, non-threatening way. One poorly placed phrase, and you have traumatized a child for life. Scold a grad student, and they go out and have a few beers.

Most of the people involved with DHS are either ex-military or they push for local control and limiting government... but one thing is certain -- tt is quite polarized, just as the American people are.

So you are saying the DHS is incompetent to handle their tasks? ALL THE MORE REASON not to let them handle this one.

So stupid comments like "turn in your parents if they are Democrats" is so far off-based that they are infantile.

Maybe so however if you had been in Germany during the 1930's, you might not have been so sure of your statement.
Can it happen here? Yes, if we don't guard against it. Remember, Hitler didn't go full-blown at the start. He slowly unfurled his sails. Hitler was elected because many people didn't do their homework. How many people today know exactly what Obama or McCain plan to do, if elected? Specifics, not generalities. I submit to you that our electorate is more concerned with what a great Orator a 2-year senator is. I know of someone else that was a great orator in Germany in the 1930's. Guess what, the press in Germany was in love with him, just like the love affair of the MSM today with you-know-who.

Also, comments like automobile accidents kill more than terrorism? These are toddlers and kindergarteners. So newsflash *THEY CAN"T DRIVE* Are you brain dead?

Yes, I did not make that statement, but I did disagree, and addressed it in a post above.

The damage done in the public school systems to our children are orders of magnitude worse than DHS working with Sesame Street.

I agree with you on that. However, life does not have to be an EITHER/OR, or as Boole would say, an EXCLUSIVE OR. If you had been around, you could have participated in my thread about Homeschooling, and how the CA Supreme Court OUTLAWED it in CA.

Children are across the board indoctrinated into liberal worldviews and garbage that is much more of a threat to our rights than DHS ever has been.

I also agree with that statement, and those that know my posts, are aware of that. Again though, we don't need a Boolean "exclusive or".

Homeland Security being a right-wing conspiracy?

I certainly don't think it is a "right-wing" conspiracy. What I do think, though, is that together with the Patriot Act, there is too much room for potential abuse, to give them additional tasks. I say that as a person that believes the Constitution of the United States has been compromised by the Patriot Act. The quicker that ACT is thrown out, the better. Like most people, I want to catch the terrorists, and prevent terrorism. However, taking away freedoms from 300,000,000 Americans is not the way to do that.

By the way, if you don't like to discuss conspiracies, then perhaps ATS is not for you:

AboveTopSecret.com is the Internet's largest and most popular discussion board community dedicated to the intelligent exchange of ideas and debate on a wide range of "alternative topics" such as conspiracies, UFO's, paranormal, secret societies, political scandals, new world order, terrorism, and dozens of related topics

Source: www.abovetopsecret.com...

God I love this stuff. Right out of MAD tv. Say bigbird? What's up with birdflu?

Say cookie monster? What's up with radiation poisoning?

It is to laugh.