I just HAD to ping the HTT list for this one. Please, wake me up from this nightmare of nonsense!!! We kicked this about on the Kid Rock threads and others for a while, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that some people still do not "get it", and are encouraged in their delusions by such hucksters and conmen as Dobson and Wildmon.
Politics is the art of the possible. It is NOT a means to solve every slight or offense taken by every individual. POSSIBLE it is in the next four years to enact certain crucial points of the Right agenda...tort reform, tax reform, and Social Security reform. Furthermore, the possibility of confirming nwew justices to help in the slow healing of almost 50 years of Leftist rot exists. All these things, and maybe a few more, rest squarely within the POSSIBLE. However, if one or more is soundly defeated, they will not be again raised for a generation.
These "crusades" against such nonsensical things as Spongebob Squarepants, Kid Roc at the Inaugural, "indecency" on TV and in radio, inevitably brand the Right as unthinking buffoons, and render its message about serious economic and legal issues moot and "guilty by association". They make people question our sanity.
The President hasd an ambitious, to say the least, agenda for his final term, including all of the above items PLUS, of course, winning the Terror War. He will need the support and effort of ALL the Right ere it is finished. He has already laid out his agenda; it does not include such foolishness as Dobson and Wildmon would drag to it and affix to it with barbed staples. Such distractions over ridiculous things like cartoon characters do far more harm than good, and play directly to our opponents' best arguments against us.
Oh, and spare me the testimonials to Dobson and Wildmon's efforts on behalf of "families". One of the biggest problems families face today is paying the bills and avoiding the need to have both parents work. Part of this worry is because of taxes and Social Security concerns. If these preachers wanted to truly do something, they'd take all of that dough they currently bring in and assist in the lobbying of Congress and the people for such changes. As well, they'd take on the Bar Association over tort reform. That they continue to waste time and money chasing after cartoon characters is all the evidence I need to call them, as I do, conmen and hucksters. Serious people do not do such things; they do not willingly invite ridicule...unless the profit motive were present.
Forgive the rant. But recently, I have become quite frustrated with thiose who continue to take their eyes off the targets and chase rabbits (or sponges) to no possible benefit or result. There is probably ZERO chance that any "boycott" of Spongebob will have any effect whatsoever on th evideo people. It is a waste of time and prestige, much as was the reaction (wholly manyfactured) to the Kid Rock situation. Distractions and sideshows, bread and circuses, deflecting needed energy from far more serious and lasting matters.
I also have come to the end of my patience with so-called "conservatives" who imitate perfectly the ever-offended Left in spouting and sputtering over ANYTHING that concievably twists their tails. Not every issue is Earth-shattering; not EVERY little word or phrase is part of a "conspiracy". However, thoase who believe that it IS are certainly quite popular...with the media. I'm sure they like to speak with people like that becaus ethey are a GOOD and POSITIVE representation of the Right. Yeah, sure...
The Left is nearing total destruction in America, and more's the joy; it had no right to even be here in its present form in the first place (and would not have been, save for the efforts of communist-inspired and paid operatives in the '60s and '50s). One of the things that killed it was its inability to avoid wandering off into the hinterlands with such issues like gun control, the "peace" movement, and radical environmentalism. Special interst groups within it dragged it to those tar pits, whence the American people at large simply would not follow.
The Right could easily find itself struggling in those same tar pits next to its old enemies if we continue to be dragged there by those with no perspective, seriousness, or reason. This nonsense (the Spongebob stuff) is exactly that kind of thing.
Well said. Very well said.
Color me amazed at the reactionary "theocons" here at FR.
Did you even read the article, and Dobson's statement?
It would appear you haven't read the posts in this thread nor the links pointing you to more information.
I've never seen Sponge Bob,myself,so I haven't a clue.But this pathetic garbage is ridiculous! Today's cartoons stink.They're mindless,worthless twaddle.The overprotective lunatics,who railed against LOONEY TUNES,brought this upon themselves and everyone else! Looney Tunes were written by adults,for adults,with lots of inside joke;but, children not only loved them,but through them,were exposed to grand opera,wonderful classic music,Shakespeare,and all kinds of very clever,intricate plots,many taken directly from the Comedia D'el Arte.
You don't like SpongeBob? Don't let your kids watch it. I wouldn't allows my child to watch SESAME STREET,so don't tell me you can't prevent your kids from seeing some dumb show now.
Righty-o LC,this is really the least of things we have to worry about and Dobson was on Hannity & Colmbs a few nights ago,saying that he NEVER said that SpongeBob was queer. So what's up with all the nervous Nellies here,anyway?
Lol, as soon as I saw the ping list personel, I knew it could only be: The 'Road Kill' brigade!
Now this particular rant is a beauty. LC, this is truly a tangent destined for another planet:
"These 'crusades' against such nonsensical things as Spongebob Squarepants, Kid Roc at the Inaugural, 'indecency' on TV and in radio, inevitably brand the Right as unthinking buffoons, and render its message about serious economic and legal issues moot and 'guilty by association'. They make people question our sanity."
After reading this post, the word "sanity" certainly does NOT come to mind. Go listen to a bit o' Kid Rock and chill.
As I view it, Longcut, there is no issue simpler than this one.
I have no problem with homosexuals or their behaviors (though their actions don't exactly make me comfortable, per se), and I am probably one of the most "liberal" FReepers on this one issue, opposing any sort of Big-government legislation aimed at denying homosexuals the same legal rights as straight couples. I hate Dr. Dobson and nearly everything he usually stands for, such as his many obsessive quests against all percieved moral "lapses" in the entertainment industry. My respect for him is akin to my respect for the ACLU, Pat Robertson, the modern-day NAACP, and the Christian Coalition--- that is to say, NONE.
That said (and on the record for good), I have to say that I agree that the most basic outrages committed in this case were committed by overzealous, militant gay rights activists. I don't believe that it is now, nor is it ever acceptable for a political group to co-opt a popular children character or children's TV mascot for the advancement of their own agenda, and that is what is being done with SpongeBob Squarepants by his appearance in the tolerance video. Truth is, 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 (provided that the child has parents) to raise up that child within the religious or moral system that the parents may believe in. If this means that the child will grow up with a bigoted opinion of homosexuals, than so be it; the greater threat to America's freedoms in the long run is a government which takes upon itself the right to form the minds and opinions of children that said government neither conceived of, bore, or cares for.
There might be a few good, small-government libertarian 'Pubbies out there who understand what I am saying, but for the rest of you...FLAME ON!
Bump for good measure & book for a later reply...
Thanks for the ping and thanks for your post. I agree with it totally. The single minded, myopic zealots are seriously misguided and need to have some common sense talked into them.