• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Sesame Street Banned in Mississippi

Lord Tammerlain

Lord Tammerlain

DP Veteran
Joined
Jan 25, 2010
Messages
30,788
Reaction score
15,088
Gender
Undisclosed
Political Leaning
Undisclosed
I never knew about this until today

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street#Critical_reception

Sesame Street was not without its detractors, however. In May 1970, a state commission in Mississippi, the state where Henson was actually from, voted to ban Sesame Street because of its "highly integrated cast of children" which "the commission members felt ... Mississippi was not yet ready for".[SUP][118][/SUP] According to Children and Television, Lesser's account of the development and early years of Sesame Street, there was little criticism of the show in the months following its premiere, but it increased at the end of its first season and beginning of the second season.[SUP][119][/SUP][SUP][note 6][/SUP] Historian Robert W. Morrow speculated that much of the early criticism, which he called "surprisingly intense",[SUP][120][/SUP] stemmed from cultural and historical reasons in regards to, as he put it, "the place of children in American society and the controversies about television's effects on them".[SUP][120][/SUP]
Click to expand...

Banning Sesame Street for being to integrated wow
 
It really was a different world back then.
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
I never knew about this until today

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street#Critical_reception



Banning Sesame Street for being to integrated wow
Click to expand...

It is important to note that there was no official statement on WHY the Commission ruled the way that they did, and we only have an anonymous member of the group, one almost certainly against the ruling, to rely on for that being the basis of the decision.
Click to expand...

Did the State of Mississippi Once Ban Sesame Street?
 
Grand Mal said:
-So, uh, a different source that says the same thing.

Actually, both sources quote the same NY Times article.
Click to expand...

The only source is a NYT article that had an anonymous member as thier source.
 
Crovax said:
The only source is a NYT article that had an anonymous member as thier source.
Click to expand...

Still not getting your point. Do you mean that the commission didn't exist or that it didn't make a ruling or that it didn't make that ruling?
 
Grand Mal said:
Still not getting your point. Do you mean that the commission didn't exist or that it didn't make a ruling or that it didn't make that ruling?
Click to expand...

My point was that there isn't sufficient evidence to say that the ruling was based on the TV show being integrated
 
dimensionallava said:
why else do you think they would ban it?
Click to expand...

From the OP

Historian Robert W. Morrow speculated that much of the early criticism, which he called "surprisingly intense", stemmed from cultural and historical reasons in regards to, as he put it, "the place of children in American society and the controversies about television's effects on them".
Click to expand...
 
Crovax said:
My point was that there isn't sufficient evidence to say that the ruling was based on the TV show being integrated
Click to expand...

What would be sufficient? A member of the commission said that was what it was about. Nobody else denied it. If there was another reason, don't you think it would have been given? I mean, they wouldn't just ban a kids show with no explanation, would they?
 
Crovax said:
From the OP
Click to expand...

From your citation...

One of the members of the commission, speaking anonymously, stated that “Some of the members of the commission were very much opposed to showing the series because ‘it uses a highly integrated cast of children'” and furthermore, that the main objection was “mainly that we’re not ready for it yet.”
 
Grand Mal said:
From your citation...

One of the members of the commission, speaking anonymously, stated that “Some of the members of the commission were very much opposed to showing the series because ‘it uses a highly integrated cast of children'” and furthermore, that the main objection was “mainly that we’re not ready for it yet.”
Click to expand...

Yes that's the point the only reference to it being banned for being integrated is a based single anonymous source
 
Crovax said:
Yes that's the point the only reference to it being banned for being integrated is a based single anonymous source
Click to expand...

It was a member of the commission, speaking anonymously. Is someone lying here? Maybe it wasn't a member of the commission and the NY Times are lying about their source, or maybe the member lied about what the commission decided? No, if that's what you're saying, you're grasping at a straw. Nobody denied what the source said, did they. That's what happened.
Don't mean nuthin' anyway. It was 45 years or so ago. In fact, I've already given this non-issue more attention than it deserves.
 
Grand Mal said:
It was a member of the commission, speaking anonymously. Is someone lying here? Maybe it wasn't a member of the commission and the NY Times are lying about their source, or maybe the member lied about what the commission decided? No, if that's what you're saying, you're grasping at a straw. Nobody denied what the source said, did they. That's what happened.
Don't mean nuthin' anyway. It was 45 years or so ago. In fact, I've already given this non-issue more attention than it deserves.
Click to expand...

Thats conspiracy theory logic, if you dont understand a reason behind something then your theory must be the only valid one.
 
Crovax said:
Thats conspiracy theory logic, if you dont understand a reason behind something then your theory must be the only valid one.
Click to expand...

What's your theory? You don't accept the published report, so...
 
Of course, there were also other things going on at the time.

This timeframe is also when National Education Television (NET) was under fire for a great many things.

Public Television, it was frequently funded by taxpayers and run from college and university television stations. And the entire NET was under attack, both from broadcasters and their funders, as well as donators. Many of the shows in the 1968-1970 season were highly controversial. Racism, Poverty, and positive portrayal of protests of various kinds led a great many to pull back from NET.

With the Ford Foundation pulling almost all financial support, the network was on the brink of bankruptcy. This is why in 1967 the US Government created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, to try and moderate the content on the NET network. Finally at the end of 1970 NET was disbanded and PBS was created and took over all operations.

Knowing the history of NET, I have to wonder how much of this really had to do with SS, and not the majority of content that was actually operating out of the old NET network prior to the PBS takeover.
 
Kobie said:
It really was a different world back then.
Click to expand...

It would seem that way but then I read the barrage of prejudiced comments in this forum directed at Muslims and then I realize that its still pretty much the same, its just that the old bigots and racists have now turned their attentions to another group...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom