As someone with addict parents, PBS quite literally raised me. Like it was one of the only things I could watch for free that wasn't daytime talk shows, had it not been for PBS I'd have been raised by Jerry Springer and Maury, and I imagine that some kids were.
Looking around the country, I'd say we don't have to imagine. All too many were raised by Jerry Springer and Maury.
50+ years ago Mr. Rogers spoke to Congress defining what it was to support public media. Speaking to what what it was to give comfort and a voice to kids back when it was so common to treat them as meant to be seen and not heard.
My own youngest has recently started to show signs that they've heard and, if not fully understood, at least memorized some talking points that would make Fred very sad. We need to keep these kind of programs available perhaps now more than ever.
Edit: Help do something about it... https://protectmypublicmedia.org/
You're leaving out the part about how his testimony brought a congressman who was previously against the funding to tears
Also the part where fox literally called him an evil man. If you’re opposing Fred fucking neighborly Rogers, you’re on the wrong side of history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iljhDaowoLc&t=68s&pp=2AFEkAIB
How dare he tell children that they're special!
Fascinating. I have never seen a fox and friends segment before, and listening to it I honestly couldn't guess when this aired except it was after his passing in 2003. It's interesting that so many of them were laughing when someone called him evil though. Gives off this feeling they don't even believe it themselves but it was just their improv, Whose Line is it Anyway prompt.
Oh and the irony of a bunch of evil people calling the nation's most wholesome public figure evil.
Mr. Rogers would not approve of the things I should like to say to these people...
Bob Ross was a drill sergeant before his show, I’m pretty sure he and Fred would agree on denouncing nazis. Mean words are the least they deserve
IIRC Mr. Rogers was a marine, or something like that. Yeah, they were both fine with fighting for what's right. They would just prefer kindness win out before any fighting is required.
It’s an urban myth, conflated with Bob. Bob was a USAF round brown for years, Fred signed up but was disqualified due to eyesight so same generation and intent.
Both would prefer talking to war. Anyone who’s been to war will tell you talking is better.
Except nazis. You fucking demolish them from the earth with flame
I nabbed a copy of it off of YT, at some point I need to get a peer tube or similar set up for bigger files like that. 6 minutes and change that perhaps redirected a generation's youth.
Similarly (though obviously a different subject), I'm also a big fan of Frank Zappa's testimony to Congress regarding censorship.
Worth watching if you've never seen it.
Look, if you don't want to listen to some random dude who thinks reading is cool, fair enough. But if that random dude also runs level three diagnostics on the warp core and can swap polarity on the main deflector dish with one hand tied behind his back? Yeah...you should probably pay attention.
users instance checks out
Watching shows like Doctor Who and Red Dwarf on PBS in rural Idaho was a window to another, more enlightened and witty world. Mr Rogers and the Sesame Street crew taught very important lessons about compassion and empathy. Bob Ross taught us about happy little accidents and the joy and peace of painting (made even more poignant knowing he used to scream at recruits all day for a living).
I’m glad LeVar was able to bring RR back as a podcast, but the channel and idea are what’s important. I can all but guarantee if they manage to cancel it, the next bright idea will be replacing it with something religious
the next bright idea will be replacing it with something religious
"Tonight on: You're always a Sinner, we teach that praise of Lord God Trump is the only way to salvation. Remember, empathy is a sin. Report your woke communist neighbors and you will be blessed with Lord God Trump's love."
Also remember that greed is not really a sin, praise Jeebus (or whatever his name is, we forget) ... but ignore all the parts of the Bible where he preached kindness and empathy. Remember again, empathy is the devil's tool that only serves to try and force hardworking honest billionaires to separate from their godly money by giving free school lunch to kids.
Jeebus was a woke terrorist, he flipped the tables on those hard working money lenders. He was probably an illegal alien as well.
Tom Baker fan checking in. Im not sure being raised by Dave Lister was the best thing for me but he did teach me to have a good time all the time.
I found lister to be incredibly optimistic. Sure he got down now and then but, like, he’s essentially isolated knowing there isn’t much else coming for him in life (and sure that ends up not being true, due to various shenanigans), so the fact that he keeps going and doesn’t just turn into a puddle of goo is pretty heartening, imho.
Perseverance and stuff. Enjoy what comes because it may be the only good that does.
There are actually a few books based on the series, written by by the series show runners.
Lister does end up as a human puddle for a time. Which is why Holly brings Rimmer back as a hologram. The one person who can drive Lister insane enough to keep going.
The show sort of touches on this, but the books make it quite clear that Holly could have brought anyone back, and specifically chose Rimmer.
I thought the show was explicit in that reason for rimmer coming back.
Are the books worth a read? I get kind of sad watching red dwarf now because my life has changed a lot since I discovered the show. But the show is excellent and wish I knew people in real space who could appreciate it.
I’m not familiar with that work but based on your presentation, I’d argue that that goo puddle was actually just a phase of being down, like deep depression, because, importantly, he didn’t stay a goo pile. Being down and depressed is fine, life happens, but coming out of it and longing for living life as a result is pretty optimistic. You have to -really believe- things are going to improve to be light, even with someone perfectly optimized to drive you crazy to keep you sane.. that doesn’t touch on how it feels. And considering the burden, he was super light about it.
Growing up poor in the south, couldn't agree more. PBS has done such enormous good in the world. I mean, incalculable, flat out.
Edit: wait, Bob Ross screaming at recruits, wtf?! Eyes glossed right over that and refused to let it in the ol ticker!
Last edit: found it further down the thread, that is crazytown. Cannot imagine it and I have a RICH imagination.
Lol yup, why do you think he always painted a solitary cabin in the woods
There’s an urban legend around Mr Rogers being MARSOC or SEAL, but it’s the calm happy accident brush stroke man who could jump start a jeep with his bark
jump start a jeep with his bark
About Bob Ross!! LOL now that's a fuckin image. You have a gift, hope you keep using it lol
whys that guy got the NK flag in his username?? 🤨
Same reason username is "republic" of Juche probably.
I can't take anything serious from someone who unironically put NK flags and Juche in the username.
"There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind." -Mr. Rogers
-Tom Morello
-Bob_Robertson_IX at discuss.tchncs.de
PBS along with CBC here in Canada was a cornerstone of my childhood.
The Magic School Bus was my first voluntary expositions to English. I grew up in Québec, in a town near the border with Vermont/NY. We didn't have cable and one of the ways for me to see more cartoons and learn English was to tune the TV to channel 57, PBS Plattsburgh, and watch some Magic School Bus. I don't know why, maybe because it wasn't cartoons, but I was not a fan of the other shows on PBS.
That's a whiplash inducing username
Tom Morello? Yeah that's a weird one.
I entered kindergarten already a reader, thanks to PBS programs like Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow. Later, as a pre-teen my local PBS offered great British sci-fi Saturday afternoons featuring Tom Baker as the lead on Doctor Who , and The Tripods .
Matt Baume did a great job talking about the last PBS was trying to be canceled.
It really has become a perennial thing, but with the inmates running all three houses of the asylum this time it's a particularly dangerous round.
Exactly. They have wanted to kill public media since the Reagan administration.
pbs was awesome i loved carmen sandiego every day after school (also late 80s and early 90s nickelodeon because mr wizard's world was amazing)
BUT
my favorite show was on wcvb in boston called a likely story:
the first episode is here: https://collection.oldfilm.org/Detail/occurrences/56856
Yeah, well, IBS raised me!
What is PBS?
It’s a public broadcast service in the US. See more info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBS
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