Posted on 06/19/2002 7:49:15 AM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative
By Scott Hogenson
CNSNews.com Executive Editor
June 19, 2002
Nickelodeon's June 18 special on homosexual parenting was not a sensitive presentation on a delicate issue; it was a slick piece of cultural propaganda designed to intimidate kids.
In airing the program, the nation's preeminent cable TV channel for children has traded on its brand to provide a new avenue for advocacy of homosexuality.
Aired without commercial interruption after rumors that advertisers didn't want to touch this 30-minute teenage gabfest with a 10-foot pole, the show went to considerable lengths to promote homosexuality and portray even measured, rational disagreement with homosexual behavior as narrow minded and hate-inspired.
The program was promoted as a 'news' show designed for youngsters, but it was little more than a platform for often uninformed opinion from fewer than a dozen teenagers; indoctrination; and the gay proselytizing of three adult in-studio guests.
Void of factual information about the considerable documented health risks associated with homosexual conduct, the program instead staked out a 'take no prisoners' approach to the subject: You either accept and agree with homosexuality or you are guilty of hate.
Among the kids on the show were a few who noted their disagreement with homosexuality based on religious grounds, along with a few pre-packaged sound bites from Culture and Family Institute Senior Fellow Peter LaBarbara and portions of a longer pre-recorded interview with Rev. Jerry Falwell. But these program elements, doubtlessly included in the name of 'balance,' were thin intellectual gruel compared with the overwhelmingly liberal slant of the program.
The show's brief introduction was followed by a gauzy feature segment about a kid being raised by two lesbians and the anxiety she experienced as a result of the intolerance of some of her classmates.
The in-studio kids, three of whom were from households with one or more homosexual parents, then proceeded to swap anecdotes and opinions about homosexuality, alternately demonstrating both the wisdom and naivete of youth.
A subsequent segment of the program delved into some of the reasons many people don't agree with homosexuality, but the entirely gracious remarks by LaBarbara and Falwell were stitched together with those of hard-line homosexuality advocates.
After another round of teen perspective, including a brief discussion on whether there may or may not be any substantive difference between being raised by a mom and dad versus being raised by homosexuals, a third pre-recorded segment was aired, this one equating homosexuality with religion and race.
Ironically, when one child on the set expressed his reservations about homosexuality on religious grounds, he was summarily dismissed as closed minded by a girl raised by homosexuals. So much for tolerance.
Further evidence of the program's pre-determined intention was offered by the closing credits, which acknowledged the cooperation of a smorgasbord of some of the nation's most militant homosexuality advocacy groups, including Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, and the Human Rights Campaign.
Nickelodeon and supporters of the program it aired Tuesday night will beat their breast about how the show offered a balanced, informed and age-appropriate examination of an issue they say is important to kids.
In fact, Nickelodeon and the show's producers offered up a liberal catechism for children designed to browbeat the next generation into further paying homage to one of the most destructive behaviors on the face of the Earth.
Scott Hogenson is executive editor of CNSNews.com.
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Actually, it is the producers of this show that are closed-minded about dissenting views.
An awful lot of lives are going to be ruined by that program. I hope the producers can live with that.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
I don't know which program this author watched but the one I saw was nothing like what he's described here.
They took a very sensitive subject and presented it delicately with decorum, balance, and respect to each opinion. The religious views were not derided as hateful. LaBarbera and Falwell were very well presented in clear-spoken and lengthy taped segments.
The religous children were outspoken and respected. The children of gays expressed disagreement, but in a respectful way. When one child of lesbian parents said issues of gay families should be addressed in school, one of the Christian children spoke up and dissented strongly. He wasn't chastised for his opinion and in general most seemed to agree with him.
Overall, I think it was well-balanced and far, far less inflammatory than many conservatives were expecting.
Conservatives do themselves no favors by misrepresenting the facts on this issue. It only serves to undermine what credibility we hope to have. Once we lose credibility, why should anyone believe us?
Why is it that so many teenagers, even from the best of families, get hooked on drugs, despite two generations of warnings? It is because of the natural tendency of kids asserting their sense of a growing adult independence to want to experiment, to try forbidden fruit. If you take the stigma out of homosexuality--the public contempt for the practices--and just leave parental and clergical admonitions that it is a sin--a lot of adolescents are going to try it.
Let us just cut to the chase. There may be a few very mixed up people, who have an inherent bent in that direction. The increase in people practicing such deviant methods of seeking pleasure reflects not nature, but experimentation with perversion. To seed the idea that such experimentation is perfectly wholesome is a deliberate corruption of the normal defense mechanisms, developing within the age group targetted. Someone should be prosecuted for this!
In making this point, I do not mean to disparage in anyway the completely justifiable outrage of religious Americans at this assault on and insult to the bases of Western Theology, which was involved in the program. My point--as to the criminal nature of the program--is in addition to that outrage.
Unless Conservatives want to see America go the way of ancient Sodom, where crowds gather in the streets to demand their deviant pleasures--and with Disney Land and other amusement parks already having days when they mimic Lot's old neighborhood, we do not have that much further to go; they will demand strong counter-measures to this attack upon reason, common sense and common decency.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
Cancel Cable Channels.
I've had no broadcast TV for 3 years now, and pay extra to have CABLE internet without CABLE TV.
(It was a special when I signed up for Cable Internet service).
My kids don't know who or what PokeMon or Brittanny Spears are, and I love it!
The problem here is that Nickolodean is a kid's show. Our cildren are being bombarded with alternative agendas. Their opinion of "fair and balanced" or "age apropriate topics" isn't necessarily the same of a parent. These are issues that need to be dealt with by parents. I consider myself very open minded. I don't care what other people do in thier private lives. I have a problem when someone else is trying to influence my children. Children are OFF LIMITS!
Have you all thought about just not watching? It's not your place to decide what everybody else watches (which is what you'd be doing by trying to get certain channels blocked). This is the US after all, not Cuba or China. I don't hear a rallying cry against the movie channels, which show much worse than anything Nick could ever show.
Dan
I betch you wish you could say the same ;-)
I like auto-racing and when I read that Ms. Spears is doing a movie with NASCAR, I couldn't believe it.
The difference is that Nick is a kid oriented network, the movie channels are not. Don't you agree that a network that is geared to children should act responsibly in what thye choose to air?
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