Hands Off SpongeBob!(Reuters more accurate than the NYTIMES)

Toonzone via Instapundit. ^ | 01/21/05 | Maxie Zeus

[Pikamax]

---

First they came for the Teletubbies and I did nothing, because I hate mewling horribles who live in Orwellian romper rooms. But then they came for SpongeBob SquarePants. Now it's time to march.

That's the reaction a lot of people--not all of them cartoon fans--seem to have had when The New York Times on Thursday reported that James Dobson had criticized Nickelodeon's cheerful yellow sponge for appearing in a video promoting tolerance. The problem, apparently, is that the kind of tolerance being promoted would extend to (among others) people who are gay.

People who read the Times account weren't very happy with Dobson. Over dinner, for instance, my sister laid it on the table with the off-hand remark, "I see that now they're attacking SpongeBob for being gay." "They" are not one of her favorite groups. Nor one of mine.

At Toon Zone, we haven't followed this story with focused interest. But I have watched, with a mounting dread, as each piece of the current controversy started to fall into place. Last November we reported on the video now being criticized.

We reported, too, when the attacks started earlier this month.

And on Thursday we duly carried a summary and link to the Times article (registration required; here is a hassle-free copy).

So I'm not exactly surprised to see this break out into the wider world. While posting the earlier articles I could be heard silently muttering to myself: "3… 2… 1… Make controversy go now!" Complaints that cartoons are corrupting our kids are about as bewhiskered as the Bugs Bunny in a dress gag. This kind of hysteria makes me very tired, both because it's very silly and also very old.

At the same time, let's remember that it's The New York Times we're dealing with. These days it helps to have an advanced degree in Kremlinology while perusing their articles.

Look at the Times opening grafs:

On the heels of electoral victories to bar same-sex marriage, some influential conservative Christian groups are turning their attention to a new target: SpongeBob SquarePants.

"Does anybody here know SpongeBob?" James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, asked the guests Tuesday night at a black-tie dinner for members of Congress and political allies to celebrate the election results.

In many circles, SpongeBob needs no introduction. He is popular among children and grownups as well who watch him cavorting under the sea on the Nickelodeon cartoon program that bears his name. In addition, he has become a camp figure among adult gay men, perhaps because he holds hands with his animated sidekick Patrick.

Now, Dobson said, SpongeBob's creators had enlisted him in a "pro-homosexual video," in which he appeared alongside other children's television characters such as Barney and Jimmy Neutron, among many others.

Compare it with this summary from Reuters:

Christian Conservative groups have issued a gay alert warning over a children's video starring SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney and a host of other cartoon favorites.

The wacky square yellow SpongeBob is one of the stars of a music video due to be sent to 61,000 U.S. schools in March. The makers -- the nonprofit We Are Family Foundation -- say the video is designed to encourage tolerance and diversity.

But at least two Christian activist groups say the innocent cartoon characters are being exploited to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.

Notice the difference?

The Times: Several conservative Christian groups are criticizing SpongeBob SquarePants for appearing in a video that they claim promotes homosexuality. (Those are the words of our reporter Ace the Bathound.)

Reuters: Christian groups are criticizing a video that exploits cartoon characters to advance a pro-gay agenda.

As Reuters describes it, Christian groups are attacking a video; the various cartoon characters and entertainers who appear in it are being criticized indirectly (if at all) for lending themselves to an agenda that these critics deplore. As the Times describes it, though, these groups are specifically attacking SpongeBob. And by sticking in an early and gratuitous reference to SpongeBob's popularity with gay men (a point utterly irrelevant to a story about the video), the Times creates the impression that Dobson is attacking SpongeBob for being a gay icon. No wonder a casual reader comes away with the impression that Dobson is attacking SpongeBob for being gay.

In fact, if you read the Times article carefully you'll see that it adds nothing to the story carried by WorldNetDaily two weeks ago, except for some innuendo about a popular cartoon character. (Reuters' more pellucid summary makes clear that the story hasn't advanced in the last two weeks.) Of course, I don't know for sure: maybe Dobson went off on an anti-gay tirade in which he mocked SpongeBob for his cheerfulness, his tendency to skip and sing, and his fondness for holding hands with his best friend Patrick. But if so, why is the only Dobson quote in the Times the colorless "Does anybody here know SpongeBob?"

I'm not interested in the "gay" angle to SpongeBob, and as an editor and reporter on this site I have no interest in gay marriage, gay rights or any of the other social controversies that so exercise Dobson. I think Dobson and his allies are very foolish to treat what sounds like a bland grammar-school video as a threat to American values; I think it is execrable that he should try piggybacking his social agenda onto innocent cartoon characters and their innocent creators.

But the Times, intentionally or not, appears to be guilty of the same thing. Deliberately or not, it appears to have twisted Dobson's position and imputed to him (without evidence) an argument he does not seem to have made. And in making SpongeBob sound like a martyr, it appears to be trying to piggyback a rival agenda onto his very thin shoulders: Save SpongeBob from the bluenoses!

Cartoons don't deserve this. SpongeBob doesn't deserve this. And SpongeBob's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, certainly doesn't deserve to have his creation kidnapped and turned into a giant puppet in some freak protest parade, no matter what its cause.

To Dobson and the Times I've a simple message: Get your hands out of SpongeBob's square pants.

Update: Dobson's organization has released a statement on the controversy.

[scripter]

Thanks. I have another Narth link that lists similar articles (on Genetics) - I'll update the database...

[little jeremiah]

There's none so blind as those who don't want to see.

The only way to see the truth is to WANT to know the truth.

In fact, a serious hunger for the truth is the best adornment a person can have.

[EdReform]

You're welcome!

Adios - it's almost 1 am here. Gotta get some sleep!

[scripter]

I figured it was getting late there. Thanks for the links.

[scripter]

Indeed. Apparently some folks will only see what they want to see, and see only hate in those who disagree with them.

[nmh]

"Most parents do not believe, and do not want their children being taught that homosexuality is normal."

I'm with you but as you can see on FR people are not always normal. They don't seem to mind, as long as it is their beloved Sponge Bob! I assume these tapes are going to our lovely public schools?

[nmh]

"Most parents do not believe, and do not want their children being taught that homosexuality is normal."

I'm with you but as you can see on FR people are not always normal. They don't seem to mind, as long as it is their beloved Sponge Bob! I assume these tapes are going to our lovely public schools?

[scripter]

I assume these tapes are going to our lovely public schools?

Yep - 61,000 of them. While I don't know how many public schools exist, 61,000 schools are quite a few.

[gidget7]

.]...[their inclusion of the reference to "sexual identity" within their "tolerance pledge" is not only unnecessary, but it crosses a moral line.]

Elementary school children will be shown videos and asked/encouraged(?) to make a "sexual identity" "tolerance pledge"?

Is this what is happening?

You got it, but don't any of us Christians get all fundamental on them!! HA We try to teach our kids no one should get touchy feely and they shouldn't talk to strangers, and they go to school and get taught stranger are just like Sponge Bob, and they are all family, all inclusive, even if they are NOT your family and very different. Even if they make you feel uncomfortable, you must be "tolerant"

THAT is why we oppose this video. And the pledge too!

[gidget7]

Thank You!!!!!!! SOmeone finally said it!

[little jeremiah]

I realize that you, Dave, are gone... (sniff!) but you can still read FR.

In response to your argument that because some animals have been observed (in their normal habitat, or in zoos?) engaging is some form of same sex behavior (usually one male animal mounting another in some form of power ritual, not an actual sex act), here is a rebuttal:

What Animals Do
That [anyone] would rely upon animals to ‘teach humans' anything betrays its fundamental lack of any moorings — or for that matter, of much in the way of common sense. To see this, let us first remember what animals do.

Animals, among other ‘criminal' activities:
· Kill and eat members of their species — that is, they are often cannibals;
· Kill and eat some of their offspring — that is, they commit cannibalistic infanticide;
· Compete with other males for the opportunity to have sex with a particular female, often killing or debilitating the rival;
· Fight with and exile or kill the ‘owner' of a ‘harem,' kill his ‘children,' and then raise other children with the females in the harem (the females show no ‘loyalty' to their former ‘husband' and blithely have sex with the new guy).
· Discriminate against and kill ‘aliens' to their particular territory or tribe;
· Often have sex with some of their offspring;
· Often have sex with relatives and near-relatives (from a human perspective, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, grandparents, etc.) — in other words, they commit incest;
· Let the males just about always get their way (e.g., eat first, win any spats),
· Often allow large groups of males to have sex with a female, even leaving her near-dead or even dead — that is, they engage in ‘gang rape;' and
· Often allow one male to hog all the females in a given area, driving away his ‘sons' and his ‘friends' who would like a little sexual ‘pleasure' with the ‘girls.'
None of these activities inform how we regard cannibalism, murder, gang rape, marriage, the rightful place of the sexes, or incest. What happens in the animal kingdom is irrelevant to what occurs in the human realm.
...
Humans are different from animals in countless ways. Humans speak, write, have a sense of personal history and the history of their culture (and often of other cultures as well). They think about and plan for the future, have theories about what makes the world tick (e.g., believe in God, Evolution, or alien visitors), and devise schemes of how the world 'should be' (e.g., have legal systems and cultural ideals 'everyone is equal', only a man and a woman can be married,'etc.).
...
Humans also change the world in innumerable ways (build roads, buildings, bridges, tunnels), and manipulate the earth for food and entertainment (e.g., horticulture, husbandry, planetary exploration). Animals, as near as we can determine, do none of these things. Even when they 'use tools' (like sticks or rocks), animals display only rudimentary skill at the enterprise. Source
...

If we arbitrarily pick which animal behaviors to value, then any such study from which we get insights for human behavior is a complete waste of time.

[scripter]

Great post!

[little jeremiah]

I got it from you.

:-)

[gidget7]

sorry but you are wrong. There is nothing wrong with Sponge Bob, however the use of him, and other characters children love to lure them into believing things that are not safe, IS wrong.

[scripter]

I know. ;-) Just couldn't help myself. I just went to that old thread and grabbed the original html to that post for safe keeping. I'm out of here until tomorrow.

[gidget7]

This isn't going to fly. I am too tired to deal with the left propoganda and denial.

Another time perhaps, not tonight.

[gidget7]

That is both rediculous or and alughable, I don't know which it is, more!!!!

Hahahahahaha

[spinestein]

[tolerance of the homosexual lifestyle is something that the government has no right to teach in schools using taxpayer dollars, and it is the specific duty of a child's parents and a child's parents ALONE]

This sentence is really the only thing that matters in this whole debate.

Opinions on homosexuality, or SpongeBob, or Dobson are trumped by this.

[spinestein]

[Haven't some secular nations executed homosexuals? Aren't there folks in this country who so hate the homosexual that they'd murder one if they could?
I work with a fellow who, if he had the slightest provocation to do so, would. Doesn't that sort of thing scare you?]

These sort of "folks" are VERY rare (I don't know anybody like this and I don't want to) but it does send chills up my spine that you would knowingly work alongside a person who would murder a gay at the slightest provocation.

Unless it is a greatly exaggerated description of your coworker I am scared for you.

[RockAgainsttheLeft04]

RE: "Opinions on homosexuality, or SpongeBob, or Dobson are trumped by this."


For once, I find myself in agreement. Our opinions of homosexuality aren't nearly as important in this case as our opinions on who determines the upbringing of a child in America-- the federal government or their own parents. I'll side with the parents every time, and I believe that anybody who calls themself a conservative should be in favor of putting family above government in deciding the course of a young child's life. Though I may angrily disagree with the actual teachings of said parents, the idea of a group of people who have never met or known the child, and who don't have the child's best interests at heart, deciding what a parent may or may not teach their own child to believe in is anathema to my basic support of religious and speech freedoms and personal liberty in every American.

Dr. Dobsen can rest on this one...but it won't be long before I'll have cause to rip him to shreds again.