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SpongeBob, Barney and Dora All Part of Big 'Family' Project
AP via Houston Chronicle ^ | 11/16/2004 | AP

Posted on 11/16/2004 1:38:33 PM PST by lainie

Look out kids. SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney and Clifford the Big Red Dog are joining forces to rerecord the disco tune We Are Family to promote diversity and tolerance in classrooms.

A video starring the three children's characters plus nearly 100 others, including Dora the Explorer and Arthur, will be distributed to 61,000 public and private elementary schools nationwide, along with lesson plans for teachers. It will air simultaneously on Nickelodeon, the Public Broadcasting Service and the Disney Channel in March.

...

The We Are Family Foundation was founded by singer-songwriter Nile Rodgers, who wrote the song recorded in 1979 by Sister Sledge. The nonprofit organization creates and supports programs about diversity and multiculturalism. The video was financed by a grant from the Toni Mendez Shapiro estate.

"Cooperation and unity are the most important values we can teach children. We believe that this is the essential first step to loving thy neighbor," Rodgers said.

(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: barney; clifford; diversityeducation; multiculturalism; reasonstohomeschool; spongebob
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To: lainie

Back in the nineties, a television special featured cartoon characters teaming up to teach kids not to do drugs. I think that was a more useful tool than to have Spongebob and Barney belt out a feel good message of "diversity."


41 posted on 11/16/2004 2:34:13 PM PST by Galactic Overlord-In-Chief (Congratulations to Senator-elect David Vitter, the first GOP senator from LA since Reconstruction!)
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To: wtc911

In my best Elvis voice, Thank you, Thank you very much.


42 posted on 11/16/2004 2:35:00 PM PST by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: justshutupandtakeit
Step on your RIGHT foot...Don't forget it!"
43 posted on 11/16/2004 2:35:08 PM PST by Lowcountry (RIP: Peterdanbrokaw)
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To: bird4four4

Thank God little kids are too young to notice that Barney 'WAS'. Can I be charged with a hate crime?


44 posted on 11/16/2004 2:37:10 PM PST by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: bird4four4

Please, I beg you....don't put that song in my head.


45 posted on 11/16/2004 2:39:04 PM PST by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: lainie
Actually, 'We Are Family' was the theme song of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates...the late Willie Stargell adopted it as the team's theme song on their ride to the World Series. Sigh...it just won't be the same with Barney covering it. Spongebob and Gary maybe with Sandy, of course on chorus, but not Barney (or that little Dora the Explorer either).
46 posted on 11/16/2004 2:41:26 PM PST by PennsylvaniaMom (FreeMartha)
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To: lainie

It's not about God's law, it's about secular law that seeks to prohibit what they deem as 'hate speech'. Let's just cut to the chase. Primarily, it's any speech that says homosexuality is wrong.


47 posted on 11/16/2004 2:44:07 PM PST by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: lainie

Are they going to show Patrick the Starfish's naked and very pink ... uh, posterior? My eyes are still bleeding from that Sponge Bob trailer this weekend...


48 posted on 11/16/2004 3:06:11 PM PST by valkyrieanne (card-carrying South Park Republican)
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To: Galactic Overlord-In-Chief
Back in the nineties, a television special featured cartoon characters teaming up to teach kids not to do drugs. I think that was a more useful tool than to have Spongebob and Barney belt out a feel good message of "diversity."

I think something like "Scared Straight" would work even better.

49 posted on 11/16/2004 3:07:36 PM PST by dfwgator (It's sad that the news media treats Michael Jackson better than our military.)
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To: Bluegrass Conservative

It's all about (a) Destroying what real families are, (b) promoting moral relativity, (c) promoting homosexuality and multiculturalism, and finally, (d) reducing any influence of moral absolutes/religion.

Have you looked at any children's school text books in the last 20 years?

Examples: (more or less):

Abdul and Manuel went to the fabric store to buy fabric for their kitchen curtains and covering a couch. If they buy 20 yards of peach velour and 15 years of ecru linen, at 4.75 a yard for the linen and 7.55 for the velour, how much will each length of fabric cost? For extra credit, how many spools of thread will the boys need to complete their home sewing project? Etcetc.

Concepcion wants to be a soccer star, and Ming Lee Jasmine wants to be a nuclear physicist and then a general in the army. What classes do you think they should each take? For extra credit, would it help or hinder their careers if they had children?

La Trina and Devonne each had babies in the 8th grade. One baby is a boy and one is a girl. If La Trina and Devonne each bring their babies to the school day care center so they can continue their education, what are they chances they will each have another baby before they finish middle school?

Etc etc.
Etc etc.


50 posted on 11/16/2004 3:11:54 PM PST by little jeremiah (Moral absolutes are what make humans human.)
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To: dead

I also like Spongebob and am sitting in my Spongebob themed home office. The thing about Spongebob that is ever present is that he wins sometimes and loses sometimes. It's good for kids to learn that life goes on and to keep trying. And, Plankton, I want my Plankton watch from Burger King. PLANKTON IS SO LOUD for his size.


51 posted on 11/16/2004 3:14:03 PM PST by floriduh voter (www.conservative-spirit.org (mine))
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To: dfwgator
Aw, Man!


52 posted on 11/16/2004 3:35:50 PM PST by ThreeYearLurker
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To: lainie

53 posted on 11/16/2004 4:03:54 PM PST by RightWingAtheist (Krugman? More like Kool-Aid Man)
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To: pbrown

"Jellyfish Jam" is the best episode ever.


54 posted on 11/16/2004 5:29:50 PM PST by SilentServiceCPOWife (In the smiling twilight of the new political morning, the unwashed told their betters to shove it.)
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To: lainie

I have no problem with this project. What's wrong with teaching children about acceptance? Are some parents afraid that this will conflict with their "unaccepting" views? Is that what they're afraid of, that the schools will undo all the "indoctrinating" they've done?


55 posted on 11/16/2004 5:35:51 PM PST by richmwill
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To: lainie
It's offensive to use cartoon characters, in conjunction with their big-media-owned TV networks, to "teach" children, in schools, about diversity.

It's called PROPAGANDA - use images that are popular with children to shove a diversitopian agenda down their throats.

56 posted on 11/16/2004 7:55:44 PM PST by GOPcapitalist ("Marxism finds it easy to ally with Islamic zealotism" - Ludwig von Mises)
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To: lainie

Good. My grandchild has been very intolerant of the sponge people. This will help.


57 posted on 11/16/2004 9:24:06 PM PST by Lijahsbubbe
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To: GrandmaPatriot

I'm saying it's not exclusively a religious concept. I fully agree that it is one the foundations of Christianity. However, as previously said, "love thy neighbor", where maybe not put exactly that way, is the belief of and followed by most everyone, regardless of their religious affiliation or lack thereof.


58 posted on 11/17/2004 6:51:10 AM PST by Bluegrass Conservative
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To: lainie

I guess they didn;t invite the Vegitale characters. They don't tolerate religious.

However, they do include a sponge. My children are already accepting of all their sponge friends.


59 posted on 11/17/2004 6:54:34 AM PST by Republican Red (A Global Freak'n Test ???????)
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To: little jeremiah

While I would agree that I would not want to see anything promoting homosexuality in the curriculum, I don't see anything wrong with multiculturalism. Just because someone is different doesn't mean they are evil. We do have Americans named Concepcion, Abdul and Ming Lee. And you know what? They're good people! For every bad seed named Abdul there's an equally bad one named Jim Bob.


60 posted on 11/17/2004 6:57:59 AM PST by Bluegrass Conservative
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