Students wear SpongeBob gear to show tolerance

nynews.com ^ | 01/29/05 | RANDI WEINER

[Ellesu]

STONY POINT — About a half-dozen James A. Farley Middle School students sported SpongeBob SquarePants pajamas or pants yesterday in support of the cartoon character's right to be himself.

SpongeBob Support Day was the idea of seventh-grade class president Jordan Uffer, who wanted to protest opinions expressed about the character's link to homosexuality.

"He's a cartoon," the 12-year-old Uffer, attired in SpongeBob pajamas, said. "I felt there was no reason for them to say that he was homosexual, and there isn't a real difference between gay people and not-gay people. We're all human beings."

The SpongeBob issue made the news after the Rev. James Dobson spoke to about 350 people in Washington, D.C., during Inauguration Week, saying a video to be sent to 61,000 elementary schools in March had a subtext that promoted homosexuality. Dobson is founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, an organization that says it promotes Christian, Bible-based family values.

The video features cartoon characters ranging from SpongeBob SquarePants and Winnie the Pooh to Clifford the Big Red Dog and Jimmy Neutron singing "We Are Family" and supporting tolerance of diversity.

While the video itself is innocuous, the group that created and distributes it, the We Are Family Foundation, gets support from groups that promote tolerance for homosexuality, Dobson said. The foundation's Web site also asks people to show understanding and tolerance for differences, including sexual orientation.

"SpongeBob has no idea what's going on in life, and he has fun with everything," Uffer said, explaining SpongeBob's appeal. "Me and my parents were watching the news, and we saw that a few religious groups were saying it's homosexual. I got mad. I asked my Student Council supervisors if we could do a SpongeBob Support Day and they said yes."

One of the reasons Uffer got his go-ahead was that the school participated this week in No Name Calling Week, said Farley Principal Alice Gottlieb.

No Name Calling Week was created last year, inspired by characters in a book by James Howe called "The Misfits." The children in the book, who were targets of name-calling based on their weight, intelligence, height or sexual orientation, run for school office on a platform to erase name-calling through a No Name-Calling Day. Farley seventh-graders read "The Misfits" and discussed its message of tolerance in class this week.

"This whole SpongeBob thing came to the kids because of that," Gottlieb said. "They're just great kids. It just bothered them."

Uffer asked his seventh-grade classmates to wear either SpongeBob gear, yellow or a tie (SpongeBob wears a tie) yesterday to show their support for tolerance and the character. Fewer than a dozen students appeared to participate. Trevor Wargo was one of them. Wargo not only wore SpongeBob pants and a top, he painted "Save Sponge Bob" on his forehead and both cheeks.

"He's just funny," Wargo said. "You're not going to grow up to be gay because you watched a television show. That's absurd."

[F16Fighter]

"It is spam in the sense that, while the truth, it was posted 6 times on one thread."

Yes -- in a thread of over 400 posts, and numerous uninformed refutations which "spammed" the thread from the beginning.

[Sir_Humphrey]

You are the jack-ass.

Let me guess- you have not seen the video or visited and read what was published at thier webiste. You just gave a knee jerk defense of Dobson said because you think he is a "man of God". Oh how he must love to have followers who think like that.

BTW, there was no mention of sexual practices at all. There was only appeals to keep from being intolerant (ie no violence, no hateful actions) towards people of different races and ethinic groups. The smallest amount of space was dedicated to sexual orientation and clearly that was only a small part of the message. Then again, it's obvious you didn't go to the site.

[jwalsh07]

It is spam in the sense that, while the truth, it was posted 6 times on one thread.

Evidently for some 6 times is not enough.

[jwalsh07]

It's rather obvious that you didn't go the site before they dumped their teachers guide which promoted sexual politics in grammar schools.

This is really pretty simple. Keep all sexual politics out of the schools.

[Sir_Humphrey]

Oh for crying out loud! The tolerance pledge was NOT to be handed out in class along with the video and was NOT in the "For Kids" section of the website. More importantly, sexual orientation was only a small part of the intolerance they are addressing. It's mostly centered on racial and ethnic difference along with a strong anti-bullying message.

[Sir_Humphrey]

What now? You might want to think before you post, slick.

OK, show me on the website where they promoted the gay life style? They said tolerate (ie no hate, no violence) gays. Remember, love the sinner but hate the sin. A good Christian would grasp that concept.

[nmh]

Another good suggestion!


Thanks!

[Sir_Humphrey]

It's rather obvious that you didn't go the site before they dumped their teachers guide which promoted sexual politics in grammar schools.

What the heck do you mean by 'sexual politics'? If you mean no violence or hate towards gays then yes and so what. Surely a good Christian would never advocate hatred of the person.

[nmh]

"You wasted bandwidth by posting the same story to different posters, over and over. It was not necessary.
At least you're over here and not on the religion forum trashing the Catholic Church."

Whenever you respond with something nasty ... as you usually do ... it's a waste of bandwidth. As for trashing your church, I let your church do that. There is no need for me to do it. The lawsuits keep coming and the headlines keep getting worse and you stand by it all defending it. LOL! If anyone reads your replies ... that also contributes to the "trashing of the Catholic church. Believe whatever makes you feel righteous. The truth is there for you to see too!

[longtermmemmory]

Should spongebob's bottom line be terminated as a result of this, I see future carton creators/owners rejecting participation in pro-homo campaigns.

The owners of sponge bob had a choice, they chose homosexuals.


Who do we have to protest to get an "H" rating encoded on the V-Chip ratings?

[nicmarlo]

Here's more information and links to curriculum about which Dr. Dobson referred in his article about "Writing for Change" (used in schools). This curriculum USED TO BE previously linked to pdf downloads directly from the WAFF website but has subsequently been removed. WAFF continues, even today, to remove working links in an attempt to hide that which would expose their lies.

See this link for Section 1 to the curriculum which used to be at WAFF google cache of Section 1 curriculum for Writing for Change.
(thanks to BykrBayb, who went to the trouble of saving that link).

Last night, anyone could have used the wayback link to retrieve what WAFF posted for Section 1
.....however, as of this morning or early afternoon, EST, the wayback archive can no longer access Writing for Change, Section 1. Instead, you now read this:

Path Index Error.
Sorry, we can't find the archived version of this page. The URL has been archived but not indexed. Try another request or click here to search for all pages on wearefamilyfoundation.org/TEACHERS/wfc_s1.asp See the FAQs for more info and help, or contact us.

If you go to Tolerance.org, you will find every section used in the Writing for Change curriculum. Compare their Section 1 with what used to be on the WAFF site as Section 1 (see google cache above). In case Tolerance.org decides to delete access to the curriculum, too, here's what Section 1 says:

SECTION 1
These activities are designed to be completed in 5 to 10 minutes.

1.1 Questioning Order
Respond to ordered phrases; discuss hierarchical ranking in language.

1.2 Generating a Description
Conduct a “write and pass” exercise; define identity terms ("gay" or "old.")

1.3 Rating Your Behavior
Complete a worksheet; expose student behaviors as they relate to “-isms.”

1.4 Talking About Being "Out"
Answer worksheet questions; discuss perceptions of sexual orientations.

1.5 Uncovering Attitudes About Sexual Orientation
Write definitions; explore the impact of homophobia and heterosexism.

1.6 Looking at Looks
Write freely about experiences with appearance bias.

1.7 Treating People in Parallel Manner
Rewrite sentences to give parallel treatment to various groups.

1.8 Respecting Age
Debunk the myths behind adjectives associated only with certain age groups.

1.9 Seeing the Whole Person
Rewrite sentences to "put the person back in."

1.10 Appreciating Diversity
Fill in the blanks, and raise awareness about perceptions of diversity.

1.11 Comparing Instead of Contrasting
List the similarities between groups of people; analyze the effects of emphasizing similarities.

1.12 Challenging Your Assumptions
Identify the "norm" conveyed in each sentence; rewrite each sentence to avoid assumptions based on factors like age or race.

1.13 Adapting to Cultural Differences
Respond to provided scenarios; devise respectful responses to cultural differences.

1.14 Developing Definitions
Write definitions; expose assumptions about various factors that affect people’s status and others' treatment of them.

1.15 Questioning the "Norm"
Identify societal norms; discuss assumptions about how or why certain attributes define the “norm".

1.16 Re-conceiving Notions
Complete worksheets in order to reveal preconceived attitudes about ethnic groups.

1.17 Uncovering Impressions
Fill in the blanks; expose factors that contribute to students' impressions of people who are different from them.

1.18 Interrupting Lesbian- and Gay-Baiting
Learn how to break the cycle of lesbian- and gay-baiting.

1.19 Seeing Racism as Systematized
Explore the concept of racism as systematized rather than random or individual.

1.20 Changing Your Perspective
Create advertisements for three different audiences; learn how one might communicate with diverse audiences.

1.21 Recognizing Slanted Words
Examine the power of slanting verbs and nouns; identify how they depict people favorably or unfavorably.

1.22 Recognizing Slanted Words 2
Dissect the use of slanting in online news media.

1.23 Challenging the Pseudogeneric "Man"
Generate gender-free, inclusive nouns and pronouns.

1.24 Creating Gender-free Nouns
Generate gender-free, inclusive nouns.

Sample image from Writing for Change, Lesson Plan, 1.1, "Questioning 'Order'":

Any guesses as to why Section 1 has now been removed/wiped-out from even the wayback machine and why WAFF continues to attempt to make it seem as though they aren't using/affiliated with pro-homosexuality curriculum with or without videos? Up until this past week, WAFF had such materials and/or access to such websites openly posted on their website.

[nicmarlo]

fyi, please see my post #271

[Sir_Humphrey]

The stuff from tolerance.org may be PC crap, but in no way does it promote or encourage homosexuality. Again, I can't address the WAFF info that is no longer there.

[nicmarlo]

Propagandizing children into accepting that HOMOSEXUALITY IS NORMAL is not "pc" crap. It is wrong. They have no right to undermine the moral values parents teach their children.

[nicmarlo]

As far as information that is no longer there...I've given you plenty of links to what WAS there....look on the google cache URL address...it says "wearefamilyfoundation.org" It's not someone typing information and then claiming it came from the WAFF site. It is an actual copy of what WAS there, just last week. They have since removed direct links to such.

You continue to keep your eyes closed. Why is that?

[rwfromkansas]

You have no idea how popular Spongebob is.

I know some college students who like the show for crying out loud.

It is not just a little kid's show.

Kind of like Harry Potter is read by a lot of old kids and college students as well.

[longtermmemmory]

thanks

[polymuser]

There are DU trolls here.

[nicmarlo]

yw. Here's the link to Section 1, Lesson plan 1.2, "Generating a Description" pdf from the tolerance.org website.

[Sir_Humphrey]

OHHHH a DU Troll. Get out the tin foil hats.