Sesame Street Spreads Secret Political Messages, Insiders Admit
In his new book Primetime Propaganda, conservative writer and columnist Ben Shapiro called the seemingly innocuous show Sesame Street a vehicle for spreading left-wing propaganda, according to the Daily Mail. Shapiro apparently interviewed "hundreds of industry insiders," some of whom actually admitted using their shows to "spread secret political messages."
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"I was shocked by the openness of the Hollywood crowd when it came to admitting anti-conservative discrimination inside the industry," Shapiro told The Independent. "They weren't ashamed of it. In fact, some were actually proud of it." The Independent summarizes some of Shapiro's findings:
The TV series Friends undermined family values; Sesame Street taught ethnic minorities about civil disobedience; Happy Days had a subtle anti-Vietnam subtext; and the 1980s cop show MacGyver tried to persuade pistol-packing Americans that guns are bad.
But Sesame Street, which targets us when we're young, is worst of all. Shapiro quotes Mike Dann, one of the show's founding executives, saying it "was not made for the sophisticated or the middle class." Early episodes featured the character Grover breaking bread with a hippie. Oscar, who lived in a rubbish bin, was supposed to address "conflicts arising from racial and ethnic diversity." Dann also told Shapiro he used the program in the wake of 9/11 to highlight how there were peaceful alternatives to war. Shameful! Criminal, even! In fairness to Shapiro, however, Sesame Street was criticized in the past for having an anti-right agenda in 2009, when it mockingly referred to America’s Fox News channel as "Pox News."
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"Sesame Street tried to tackle divorce, tackled 'peaceful conflict resolution' in the aftermath of 9/11, and had [gay actor] Neil Patrick Harris on the show playing the subtly-named 'fairy shoeperson'," writes Shapiro. And since 95 percent of Americans have watched the show by the time they're three years old, well, the levels of brainwashing must be astronomical!
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"Television isn't just about entertainment," said Shapiro. "It's an attempt to convince Americans that the social, economic, and foreign policy shaped by leftism is morally righteous." And, he added to the Independent, "It's not paranoid to speak the truth."
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Video of Michele Obama on Sesame Street is below. Watch if you must, but don't say we didn't warn you.
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