you wrote this well, & SwampRangers really knows how to do deep dives! Taqo also made a key comment about magic in Sesame Street.
sorry to have missed out on this discussion. I was not ready a month ago to do an etymology study for these terms. Elijah — right, he confronted directly.
here’s a quick origination study, and then a cultural /spiritual application for today.
in the Old English and Middle English, there’s no connection to magic or the occult.
(plusses) It made learning fun. “Would you like to buy an ‘O’” alphabet letters skit with street salesman wearing a long coat, acting clandestinely, hiding what one would think would be counterfeit watches and jewelry. But this guy had a letter “O” to sell from inside his trench coat, and it “only cost a nickel”. Ernie: “A nickel?” salesman: “Shhhhhhh, riiiiiiight”. ____ Also, they did have some phonics lessons:: “m” ___ “op” ____ “mop”
(minuses) woke culture imposed secular values on children in post ‘80s episodes, and they added as well newer characters that I don’t think are good for children to watch.
Neil Postman wrote back in ‘85 “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business” that American society placed too much focus on entertainment. God was not first in our lives. Postman was not a downer on humor. There’s humor in creation, the duckbill platypus for example, and some irony in God’s Word.
Postman noted that children started out with Romper Room, then Sesame Street, and some graduated to The Electric Company, or “Power House” which was scientifically oriented. This was all TV entertainment and not family time projects, so Postman was not a big fan of TV entertainment education.
The big Sesame Street intro into the Egyptian Mysteries was in 1983 primetime show aired for the whole family: “Don’t Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art”. (don’t eat the pictures = the “Cookie Monster” portion of just 1 part of the theme.). ____ The big problem with this show is the ancient Egyptian mystery religion Osiris theme, that by a good heart one can be transformed to join the gods in the heavens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RB7CkNW0YU
At 14. in. 57 sec. into the TV movie, Big Bird and Snuffleupagus (the elusive woolly mammoth) both hear a child / spirit crying in the Met Museum. It’s an Egyptian princes under a spell who explains his situation. He is under a curse and can never reach his place in the stars unless he solves a riddle and tells the correct answer of the riddle to the demon watching over the child. “Where does today meet yesterday.”(in a museum!)
Big Bird thought it through and came up with the answer. After presenting the answer, the first demon disappears, and then Osiris appears who weighs the child’s heart on scale, weighed against a feather. The Egyptian prince child then ascends stairs and gets transformed into a star, joining his place in the sky with the gods.
So they introduced ancient Egyptian religious lore in the early ‘80s.
I think it is wise to avoid most Sesame Street, especially modern episodes. Some of the older ‘70s skits are funny, but whole episodes? — not worth it to put all that into children’s minds.
Better morals are found in “The New Zoo Revue” 196 episodes 1972-1977 and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Let’s not forget all the Bert and Ernie questionability.
There is an animated cartoon series of The Swiss Family Robinson that runs for quite a few episodes. It’s beautifully animated, they teach strong family morals. They pray. Every episode teaches a real life skill (they vary in actual practical use but are all very interesting). It’s accessible to all ages.
Also several old good Bible cartoons.
There’s a newer series that undoubtedly has some errors in it, but does a pretty commendable job of teaching the American Revolution called Liberty’s Kids. A few episodes need parental guidance and might want children to be a bit older, but it’s generally very good, and even notes some of the Prussian involvement that got covered up in school (notably, one is voiced by Schwarzenegger, whose voiceover accent is, funny enough, hilariously bad).
Transformers G1 has some shockingly based episodes (decades ahead of their time, and also some pretty weird episodes), including one where a media mogul flips perceptions of the autobots and deceptions in order to get massive wealth gifts from Megatron, who doesn’t honor his promise.
Pretty easy to hit a few hundred hours if desired, especially with rewatches.
If there’s not a thread on this for parents, there should be.
you wrote this well, & SwampRangers really knows how to do deep dives! Taqo also made a key comment about magic in Sesame Street.
sorry to have missed out on this discussion. I was not ready a month ago to do an etymology study for these terms. Elijah — right, he confronted directly.
here’s a quick origination study, and then a cultural /spiritual application for today.
in the Old English and Middle English, there’s no connection to magic or the occult.
Sesame comes from the Latin & Greek sesamum for the plant. https://www.etymonline.com/word/sesame
I checked, no hidden Rosicrucian meaning.
Sesame Street has its plusses and minuses.
(plusses) It made learning fun. “Would you like to buy an ‘O’” alphabet letters skit with street salesman wearing a long coat, acting clandestinely, hiding what one would think would be counterfeit watches and jewelry. But this guy had a letter “O” to sell from inside his trench coat, and it “only cost a nickel”. Ernie: “A nickel?” salesman: “Shhhhhhh, riiiiiiight”. ____ Also, they did have some phonics lessons:: “m” ___ “op” ____ “mop”
(minuses) woke culture imposed secular values on children in post ‘80s episodes, and they added as well newer characters that I don’t think are good for children to watch.
Neil Postman wrote back in ‘85 “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business” that American society placed too much focus on entertainment. God was not first in our lives. Postman was not a downer on humor. There’s humor in creation, the duckbill platypus for example, and some irony in God’s Word.
Postman noted that children started out with Romper Room, then Sesame Street, and some graduated to The Electric Company, or “Power House” which was scientifically oriented. This was all TV entertainment and not family time projects, so Postman was not a big fan of TV entertainment education.
The big Sesame Street intro into the Egyptian Mysteries was in 1983 primetime show aired for the whole family: “Don’t Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art”. (don’t eat the pictures = the “Cookie Monster” portion of just 1 part of the theme.). ____ The big problem with this show is the ancient Egyptian mystery religion Osiris theme, that by a good heart one can be transformed to join the gods in the heavens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RB7CkNW0YU
At 14. in. 57 sec. into the TV movie, Big Bird and Snuffleupagus (the elusive woolly mammoth) both hear a child / spirit crying in the Met Museum. It’s an Egyptian princes under a spell who explains his situation. He is under a curse and can never reach his place in the stars unless he solves a riddle and tells the correct answer of the riddle to the demon watching over the child. “Where does today meet yesterday.”(in a museum!)
Big Bird thought it through and came up with the answer. After presenting the answer, the first demon disappears, and then Osiris appears who weighs the child’s heart on scale, weighed against a feather. The Egyptian prince child then ascends stairs and gets transformed into a star, joining his place in the sky with the gods.
So they introduced ancient Egyptian religious lore in the early ‘80s.
I think it is wise to avoid most Sesame Street, especially modern episodes. Some of the older ‘70s skits are funny, but whole episodes? — not worth it to put all that into children’s minds.
Better morals are found in “The New Zoo Revue” 196 episodes 1972-1977 and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Maximum effort!
Let’s not forget all the Bert and Ernie questionability.
There is an animated cartoon series of The Swiss Family Robinson that runs for quite a few episodes. It’s beautifully animated, they teach strong family morals. They pray. Every episode teaches a real life skill (they vary in actual practical use but are all very interesting). It’s accessible to all ages.
Also several old good Bible cartoons.
There’s a newer series that undoubtedly has some errors in it, but does a pretty commendable job of teaching the American Revolution called Liberty’s Kids. A few episodes need parental guidance and might want children to be a bit older, but it’s generally very good, and even notes some of the Prussian involvement that got covered up in school (notably, one is voiced by Schwarzenegger, whose voiceover accent is, funny enough, hilariously bad).
Transformers G1 has some shockingly based episodes (decades ahead of their time, and also some pretty weird episodes), including one where a media mogul flips perceptions of the autobots and deceptions in order to get massive wealth gifts from Megatron, who doesn’t honor his promise.
Pretty easy to hit a few hundred hours if desired, especially with rewatches.
If there’s not a thread on this for parents, there should be.
thanks for Liberty’s Kids, Swiss Family Robinson, and based Transformers G1! good to know what is available & is best for our youth
good idea about a thread, maybe a thread post-precipice can be started for books, music, and media