Hate to say it, but it really was NEVER safe for kids. It used to be rather benign though, before the advent of TV 24/7 and the ability of young children to sit in front of screens for hours.
Reading is much better for children of all ages-—listening to parents reading to young children is far better for them than watching ANYTHING on screens which shuts down the brain and prevents neuron activity-—it atrophies the brain and is mind control—programs artificial emotions removed from reality.
Get your kids off of the screens and reading hard copies-—best for creativity, ability to think for self, and for intellectual growth. Have them play games again with other children—NOT video games either. The social skills of six year olds are equivalent to two year olds of 80 years ago. They are RETARTED!!!!!
I wouldn’t say that the Disney Channel was never safe for kids. I can name a few programs that definitely were safe (or at the very least, they definitely didn’t promote child rebellion or depict the adults/parents as idiots). For example, Kim Possible actually AVERTED the trend of showing parents as doofuses (especially the dads. Kim’s father’s a certified rocket scientist, and has actually been the voice of reason in several episodes. Even Ron’s dad was shown to be pretty awesome at times), and Kim, far from being disobedient, actually respected her parents and turned to them for advice. And Even Stevens actually shows family life in a positive and even the dad is generally shown in a good light (yes, he does tend to get high strung, but to be fair, when you’ve got someone like Louis Stevens basically causing a ruckus, one can forgive him being high-strung). And the Aladdin series, Lion King’s Timon and Pumbaa had some good elements. Heck, even The Lion Guard has some pretty good messages (even if it IS geared to Disney Jr. right now).
So far as your request that getting kids to read being a better alternative, call me cynical, but do you REALLY think getting kids to read more is actually going to improve their lot in life? Let me remind you that a large part of the reason the French Revolution, the September Massacres and the Reign of Terror happened is precisely BECAUSE people were made extremely literate, and gullibly lapped up anything Voltaire, Diderot and his ilk wrote in their agenda against Christianity just because they were in books. Just read Timothy Dwight’s sermon here, he makes it very clear:
The Duty of Americans at the Present Crisis by Timothy Dwight, July 4, 1798
“About the year 1728, Voltaire, so celebrated for his wit and brilliancy and not less distinguished for his hatred of Christianity and his abandonment of principle, formed a systematical design to destroy Christianity and to introduce in its stead a general diffusion of irreligion and atheism. For this purpose he associated with himself Frederick the II, king of Prussia, and Mess. D’Alembert and Diderot, the principal compilers of the Encyclopedie, all men of talents, atheists and in the like manner abandoned. // “The principle parts of this system were: // “1. The compilation of the Encyclopedie: in which with great art and insidiousness the doctrines of … Christian theology were rendered absurd and ridiculous; and the mind of the reader was insensibly steeled against conviction and duty. // “2. The overthrow of the religious orders in Catholic countries, a step essentially necessary to the destruction of the religion professed in those countries. // “3. The establishment of a sect of philosophists to serve, it is presumed as a conclave, a rallying point, for all their followers. // “4. The appropriation to themselves, and their disciples, of the places and honors of members of the French Academy, the most respectable literary society in France, and always considered as containing none but men of prime learning and talents. In this way they designed to hold out themselves and their friends as the only persons of great literary and intellectual distinction in that country, and to dictate all literary opinions to the nation. // “5. The fabrication of books of all kinds against Christianity, especially such as excite doubt and generate contempt and derision. Of these they issued by themselves and their friends who early became numerous, an immense number; so printed as to be purchased for little or nothing, and so written as to catch the feelings, and steal upon the approbation, of every class of men. // “6. The formation of a secret Academy, of which Voltaire was the standing president, and in which books were formed, altered, forged, imputed as posthumous to deceased writers of reputation, and sent abroad with the weight of their names. These were printed and circulated at the lowest price through all classes of men in an uninterrupted succession, and through every part of the kingdom.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2006/04/35810/#LFe1HvZ0eTHxBBmT.99
And heck, let’s also look at Karl Marx. He published Das Kapital, and enough people read that piece of trash book that they were literally inspired to create the USSR and the Eastern Bloc as a result. And Jean-Paul Sartre? Sartre’s so well read that he consumed his grandpa’s entire library, yet he managed to fall for the likes of Che Guevara and Mao Zedong among others easily, and his students fell for it as well, as did students here in America via similar people. Long story short, TV, especially 24/7 TV viewings, may be bad, but it’s extremely naïve to think that giving them more literacy is going to be much better. If we teach kids to be more literate, it’s just as likely they’ll just believe everything that, say, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote, or what Voltaire wrote, or even what Bill Ayers and Howard Zinn wrote, and will try to slaughter anyone to remake the world to be what they wrote about.