AL.com: Alabama Public Television refuses to air Arthur episode with gay wedding

[tshile]

1 hour ago, bearrock said:

tshile, I think we're starting to get into the realm of the absurd.  

 

Im not interested in defending Alabama. There’s a variety of reasons for that some of which have already been pointed out. 

 

I think the conversation and comments extend outside of Alabama. 

[Berggy9598]

1 hour ago, Dont Taze Me Bro said:

 

I was just providing examples of other topics that I would have PREFERRED she not see in the shows my wife and I watched.  I was speaking to my specific situation with my child, that would have occurred years ago.  I never equated same sex marriage to violence, etc. so stop twisting what I'm saying and putting words in my mouth.  We didn't want her seeing straight couples making out either, which was stated and obviously ignored.

 

I also stated that this particular scenario never impacted our daughter in any way, she's 11 and already had most of those talks to some degree the past 3-4 years.  And I've stated plenty already in here that I DISAGREED with the network not airing the show.  But I do believe that it should be up to the parents as to when they would PREFER any topic be exposed to their child along with what platform is used to introduce (TV show, cartoon, movie, real life, etc.) those topics (probably gotta spell this out for you too - I'm generally speaking here).

 

I also have stated more than once that when my child was growing up we did not shelter her from anything (outside of not watching our TV shows that were not appropriate for a young child to watch anyhow) and let her experience everything in life naturally as it occurred.  As for the topic of gay marriage, gay couples holding hands or kissing, showing PDA, our daughter wasn't introduced to that until she was 8 years old and it was addressed and she was educated that it was ok for two people regardless of being both male or female to love one another and get married.  

 

 

 

 

Who said anything about couples making out? There are certainly no couples making out on Aurthur and this whole debate is about the subject of marriage. It is only when gay marriage is introduced as a subject matter that a sexual connotation is introduced, but parents have absolutely no problem with their kids being exposed to the idea of marriage, providing the marriage is between a man and a woman. A response of “I wouldn’t want my kids to watch two straight people make out” to the question of gay marriage is bogus and veiled homophobia at its finest. That’s the point I was making without intending to infer that you share those views. 

[tshile]

1 minute ago, Berggy9598 said:

but parents have absolutely no problem with their kids being exposed to the idea of marriage, providing the marriage is between a man and a woman.

 

You can say this but it’s not true. It’s been proven not true in this thread. 

 

 

[Berggy9598]

Just now, tshile said:

 

You can say this but it’s not true. It’s been proven not true in this thread. 

 

 

Wait people don’t attend weddings with their kids? When kids play house or hold pretend weddings under the jungle gym? Do adults not marvel at how adorable that is? If you think there’s a difference between that and a gay wedding on a kids show, you have a problem with homosexuality. 

[Going Commando]

44 minutes ago, tshile said:

Ok so you don’t actually know what you’re talking about in regards to normalization and sheltering from straight marriages.  

 

You've taken an absurd and extreme position in order to justify a taboo against depictions of gay marriage in media.  To claim that straight weddings and marriages aren't portrayed in media for all ages, or even worse, that these portrayals are a bad thing for children, is ridiculous.  Nobody shelters children from the concept of straight marriage, nor depictions of it.

[Going Commando]

1 hour ago, PleaseBlitz said:

 

I agree with your reasoning completely.  I just don't think it's in the public interest for PBS to get embroiled in a culture war, especially over people's kids.  Do you think it's better in terms of the normalization of the population of Alabama for (1) the station to refuse to air one episode of Arthur because it is particularly offensive to their sense of bigotry, twisted christianity, conservatism, or (2) for all of Alabama to boycott the station (which presumably often airs programming like Arthur and Sesame Street that constantly preach inclusion) entirely?

 

That's more of a discussion of tactics than ethics then.  We agree on the ethical issues in play.  I can get on board with the argument for picking your battles.  It's important for progressives to keep in mind in every issue.

 

Honestly banning the episode will do more harm than good to the people of Alabama trying to sustain a taboo on gay marriage.  They'll get ridiculed, they'll galvanize opposition inside the State, and also drive interest in the issue by making it a fresh battleground.  Kids will watch the episode online anyway.

[Berggy9598]

Nowhere to go but laughing emojis at this point.

[tshile]

5 minutes ago, Berggy9598 said:

Nowhere to go but laughing emojis at this point.

Your arguments are dumb, all over the place, and indicate you didn’t read the posts of the people you’re arguing with. 

 

So yeah, no where to go from there. 

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

1 hour ago, Berggy9598 said:

Who said anything about couples making out? There are certainly no couples making out on Aurthur and this whole debate is about the subject of marriage. It is only when gay marriage is introduced as a subject matter that a sexual connotation is introduced, but parents have absolutely no problem with their kids being exposed to the idea of marriage, providing the marriage is between a man and a woman. A response of “I wouldn’t want my kids to watch two straight people make out” to the question of gay marriage is bogus and veiled homophobia at its finest. That’s the point I was making without intending to infer that you share those views. 

 

At this point you are either trolling me or blind or both.  But I'll play along, **** it.  

 

 

I first said this:
 

Quote

 

As for the TV shows we watch (wife and myself), we tried our best to not let her see those because a lot of times you wouldn't know what was going to happen (language, violence, sex scenes, straight couples making out, gay couples making out, etc. etc. etc.).

 

 

 

Which clearly is pointing out multiple examples of things that we preferred our child (when she was a lot younger) not be exposed to that would commonly occur in the TV shows that we watched.  It was an obvious general statement citing examples that did not have anything to do with the cartoon itself.

 

You then replied this:

Quote

Why does the simple concept of marriage, something which nobody thinks kids should be sheltered from, get mixed up with cussing, violence, sex scenes, making out, etc?...Why do these things only become houses in the same neighborhood when the topic is gay marriage? How do you understand a view that espouses the simple act of two consenting adults tying the knot is the same as exposing kids to sex and violence?

 

Which took a general statement I made (one that was not specific to the cartoon itself) and inserted it into your response about the specific cartoon anyhow to fit your agenda.  The above reply I made was not even related to the cartoon, yet you ignored that even though it was obvious.  

 

To clarify, I responded with this:

Quote

 

I was just providing examples of other topics that I would have PREFERRED she not see in the shows my wife and I watched.  I was speaking to my specific situation with my child, that would have occurred years ago.  I never equated same sex marriage to violence, etc. so stop twisting what I'm saying and putting words in my mouth.  We didn't want her seeing straight couples making out either, which was stated and obviously ignored.

 

 

Which clearly stated that I was providing examples of other topics that would sometimes pop up in the TV shows my wife and I watched that we felt inappropriate for her to watch back then. 

 

While also explaining that I never equated same sex marriage to violence, etc.  and providing the example of not wanting her to see straight couples making out either (edit:  I can see why this part of my statement was interpreted to be included in the cartoon.  I did accidentally toss it at the end of my statement and did not clarify - my bad for that).  Again, it was obvious that I was speaking to the context of the TV shows my wife and I watch and not the cartoon.  

 

Then you again ignore what I said and reply with this:

Quote

Who said anything about couples making out? There are certainly no couples making out on Aurthur and this whole debate is about the subject of marriage. It is only when gay marriage is introduced as a subject matter that a sexual connotation is introduced, but parents have absolutely no problem with their kids being exposed to the idea of marriage, providing the marriage is between a man and a woman. A response of “I wouldn’t want my kids to watch two straight people make out” to the question of gay marriage is bogus and veiled homophobia at its finest. That’s the point I was making without intending to infer that you share those views. 

 

Refusing to acknowledge (even though it was clearly spelled out for you multiple times) that I wasn't talking about the ****ing cartoon.  And refusing to acknowledge that I was talking in general about what we didn't want my daughter seeing in the TV shows we watched. 

 

And I also stated that we never had to address this topic with our daughter when she was a lot younger as this specific scenario was not presented to us back then (in the cartoons/shows she watched) and that it occurred naturally when she happen to come across it while we were watching a show and she saw two people kiss that were the same sex ( she was age 8 or so). 

 

In which we addressed it and educated her and explained that it was normal and perfectly fine for two people, even if they are the same sex, to love each other and be together and get married.  So, please, stop twisting my words, using my comments out of context and making false accusations that I'm homophobic when that clearly isn't the case.