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Kid’s TV Sucks

Kid’s TV Sucks

By Isaac M. Morehouse

Watching the TV shows and movies my 3 year-old son enjoys, I’ve noticed something - they suck.

I’m shooting from the hip here, since I’ve only been privy to the selection of kids media that my son happens to watch, but I have noticed in these stories some disturbing trends that don’t bode well for the future of freedom.

In nearly all the stories, some private citizens screws up or is in trouble (usually due to their own incompetence) until a public “servant” comes to the rescue. The heroes are almost always people on public dole – teachers, mail carriers, police officers, mayors, firefighters, even librarians. Now I have no problem acknowledging good done by anyone, government employees included, but there is a subtle message that makes me a tad uneasy.

Come to think of it, I recall similar sentiments expressed by shows I indulged in as a youngster. Villains were big nasty businessmen; heroes used government to solve their problems. (Captain Planet, anyone?).

Captain Planet

In fact, this phenomenon is not relegated to children’s entertainment. How many popular movies over the last 50 years have featured evil individuals and heroic government agents? Don’t get me wrong – anyone who cheats, lies, steals or murders should be villainized. I don’t care if the villain is a corporate tycoon, mother, factory worker, pastor, garbage man or DMV clerk. The disturbing part is not so much who the villains are, but that so often government agents are the heroes.

With the notable exception of crooked cops in drug-dealer movies, government agents and people using government to achieve their goals are painted as nearly incorruptible in much of pop-culture. In reality, those with the force of government behind them can do more harm than any private citizen, and we should be especially wary of them.

For once I’d like to happen upon my son watching a show that portrays a heroic private citizen standing up to corrupt taxpayer-funded bureaucrats. Or at least something that doesn’t send a message that, were it not for kindly and selfless government agents, we’d always make the wrong decisions and be completely lost.

Can you imagine Charlie Brown asking his inaudible teacher, “Why are my parents forced to pay taxes for your enormous benefits package and crappy teaching?”