17th May 2017, 9:01 AM
Mr. Rogers was a nice person on TV, and exactly as nice in real life.
The message "just the way you are" though has rubbed me the wrong way for years. I get the sentiment, but well, was Hitler fine "just the way he was"? Was Ted Bundy? Some people are absolutely awful just as they are. Also, there's got to be some way to add in a message about self improvement. Ignorance is just the way most of us are, but should be something people actively try to correct.
I still agree that Mr. Rogers was an amazing show, and his ability to get kids to tell their own stories and just listen to them was good stuff. I also loved that he refused to lie to kids, and so even his puppets were all clearly called the "Neighborhood of Make-Believe", saying "it's fun to pretend, but also important to know the difference between fact and fiction". I also love Sesame Street, but in recent years that one has kinda lost the way. Original Sesame Street stories would be about one of the muppets trying to help fix a window they broke, but lately we're getting completely nonsensical stories like "how to make sure you recite the spell's incantation correctly lest the magicks fail in unpredictable ways". I mean, that's important too I guess, but only for magical fairy muppets, not for us really real people watching the show.
The message "just the way you are" though has rubbed me the wrong way for years. I get the sentiment, but well, was Hitler fine "just the way he was"? Was Ted Bundy? Some people are absolutely awful just as they are. Also, there's got to be some way to add in a message about self improvement. Ignorance is just the way most of us are, but should be something people actively try to correct.
I still agree that Mr. Rogers was an amazing show, and his ability to get kids to tell their own stories and just listen to them was good stuff. I also loved that he refused to lie to kids, and so even his puppets were all clearly called the "Neighborhood of Make-Believe", saying "it's fun to pretend, but also important to know the difference between fact and fiction". I also love Sesame Street, but in recent years that one has kinda lost the way. Original Sesame Street stories would be about one of the muppets trying to help fix a window they broke, but lately we're getting completely nonsensical stories like "how to make sure you recite the spell's incantation correctly lest the magicks fail in unpredictable ways". I mean, that's important too I guess, but only for magical fairy muppets, not for us really real people watching the show.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)