Republicans are furious Seame Street's Big Bird (and now Elmo) got vaccinated.

[pbrower2a]

Sesame Street is produced, in part, by our tax dollars, and aired through public television.  Parents are the arbiters of their children's best interest, and this includes medical decisions.  It is not the role of the government to fund money to produce propaganda in the name of "educational television" to cause children in elementary school to believe that they should be vaccinated, and (implicitly) that their parents are "wrong" in not having them vaccinated.  That is not the role of government.  I know that the Soviet government and Nazi Germany lionized children who snitched on their parents for thoughtcrime, but this is still America, and our tax monies should not be used to undermine the status of parents as the arbiters of their children's best medical interest.

Any parent who refuses to get a child eligible for inoculation inoculation is putting a child at danger. Most states have laws mandating car seats for small children. Protective services will snoop around if a nosy neighbor reports that your child is malnourished or gets injured or traumatized in abuse. No parent can provide a child for prostitution. Failing to get an eligible child inoculated is prima facie child abuse or neglect.

Government has a rightful role in child welfare. At this point I want a child inoculated for COVID-19. If I had a child or grandchild over the age of 5, then that child or grandchild would be inoculated already. There has been little time for the 5-11 category... but one can never be too militant in protecting children from a real, preventable danger. We put down beloved dogs who bite children. COVID-19 is much more dangerous than an ill-behaving dog.

I am sure that the producers of Sesame Street thought this one over adequately. "Big Bird" getting an inoculation? If that is what it takes to fulfill social responsibility, then fine. I saw the living former Presidents getting inoculated.

This isn't an advocacy for parents being the final arbiters in things such as genital mutilation or not providing medical treatment for inoperable cancer, but the COVID-19 vaccine being administered to a 5-11 year old is not that kind of decision.  Nor is a 5-11 year old child capable of making that sort of decision.  These sort of things are propaganda aimed at children.  That's not OK on the taxpayer's dime.  The idea that vaccinating 5-11 year old children against COVID-19 is the best course of action for such children is far from settled science at this point.

Whether it is right to keep children away from rattlesnakes, to keep poisons and matches out of their reach, to not allow them to smoke or to drink alcohol, or to spare them from contact with pornography is settled. COVID-19 kills and does lasting harm.  Getting inoculated is not a partisan or sectarian issue. It is not a statement of economic values.

It is not up to a child between the ages of 5 and 11 to decide to get the inoculation. It is up to parents and guardians. To not get a child inoculated against measles is unconscionable. Most of us are in no position in which to dispute settled decisions of the medical community.

Propaganda?

Technically this is propaganda.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Sesame Street is produced, in part, by our tax dollars, and aired through public television.  Parents are the arbiters of their children's best interest, and this includes medical decisions.  It is not the role of the government to fund money to produce propaganda in the name of "educational television" to cause children in elementary school to believe that they should be vaccinated, and (implicitly) that their parents are "wrong" in not having them vaccinated.  That is not the role of government.  I know that the Soviet government and Nazi Germany lionized children who snitched on their parents for thoughtcrime, but this is still America, and our tax monies should not be used to undermine the status of parents as the arbiters of their children's best medical interest.

Any parent who refuses to get a child eligible for inoculation inoculation is putting a child at danger. Most states have laws mandating car seats for small children. Protective services will snoop around if a nosy neighbor reports that your child is malnourished or gets injured or traumatized in abuse. No parent can provide a child for prostitution. Failing to get an eligible child inoculated is prima facie child abuse or neglect.

Government has a rightful role in child welfare. At this point I want a child inoculated for COVID-19. If I had a child or grandchild over the age of 5, then that child or grandchild would be inoculated already. There has been little time for the 5-11 category... but one can never be too militant in protecting children from a real, preventable danger. We put down beloved dogs who bite children. COVID-19 is much more dangerous than an ill-behaving dog.

I am sure that the producers of Sesame Street thought this one over adequately. "Big Bird" getting an inoculation? If that is what it takes to fulfill social responsibility, then fine. I saw the living former Presidents getting inoculated.

This isn't an advocacy for parents being the final arbiters in things such as genital mutilation or not providing medical treatment for inoperable cancer, but the COVID-19 vaccine being administered to a 5-11 year old is not that kind of decision.  Nor is a 5-11 year old child capable of making that sort of decision.  These sort of things are propaganda aimed at children.  That's not OK on the taxpayer's dime.  The idea that vaccinating 5-11 year old children against COVID-19 is the best course of action for such children is far from settled science at this point.

Whether it is right to keep children away from rattlesnakes, to keep poisons and matches out of their reach, to not allow them to smoke or to drink alcohol, or to spare them from contact with pornography is settled. COVID-19 kills and does lasting harm.  Getting inoculated is not a partisan or sectarian issue. It is not a statement of economic values.

It is not up to a child between the ages of 5 and 11 to decide to get the inoculation. It is up to parents and guardians. To not get a child inoculated against measles is unconscionable. Most of us are in no position in which to dispute settled decisions of the medical community.

Propaganda?

Technically this is propaganda.

I am curious; just how many children do you have?  Or anyone else; how many of you are actually responsible for lives other than your own?

When he was a young child, my oldest son was unresponsive after taking the vaccine for Pertussis (Whooping Cough) for some time.  He finally did wake up, but this was a severe reaction, don't you think?  As a result of this, it was decided that he would not take this vaccine's booster when it came time for booster shots.  Needless to say, the school system had a hissy fit and (to be blunt) used flat-out coercion to attempt to get him to take the booster.  Ultimately, he was able to get a waiver through his doctor.  But the episode produced a key lesson; large bureaucracies do not care about the lives of individuals; they are only concerned with "macro" outcomes, and they rationalize this away by pointing to rules, insisting something is "safe" according to the CDC and other forms of "science".  The coercive school systems were, in effect, saying, "Don't be wusses!".

My wife and I are not "anti-vaxxers" by any means.  We are both fully vaccinated, but our reluctance to have our 16 year old son receive the vaccine is based on (A) his relatively low risk factors and (B) the concern that he may develop myocarditis.  In other words, concerns that the vaccine may be worse than the disease for him.  (Not for us; we'll be 65 and 67 in January.)  The decision to vaccinate young children on this is, and should be, a personal decision; there are certainly some children who ought to be vaccinated, but the vast majority of children are not at risk of COVID-19 death.  I don't wish for my son to develop a heart condition at age 16 for a vaccine he, arguably, does not need;  I am not convinced that the risk of such a heart condition in a vaccine recipient his age is "minute" and the media and social media censoring of information contradictory to what the politicized CDC puts out increases my concern that there is something to worry about in vaccinating young children that the CDC hasn't disclosed.  After all, Dr. Fauci, "The Face Of The Pandemic", has lied about his own role in funding the Gain of Function studies at the Wuhan Institute where this pandemic likely started.  You'll forgive me, but I don't consider politicized liars like Fauci (and others) to be "The Science".

[Brittain33]

It's interesting to see the many threads where a certain poster will drop one long post and never come back, and what the subject is of a thread that will engage and animate them so they come back to make multiple replies. Something about Big Bird really struck a nerve.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Sesame Street is produced, in part, by our tax dollars, and aired through public television.  Parents are the arbiters of their children's best interest, and this includes medical decisions.  It is not the role of the government to fund money to produce propaganda in the name of "educational television" to cause children in elementary school to believe that they should be vaccinated, and (implicitly) that their parents are "wrong" in not having them vaccinated.  That is not the role of government.  I know that the Soviet government and Nazi Germany lionized children who snitched on their parents for thoughtcrime, but this is still America, and our tax monies should not be used to undermine the status of parents as the arbiters of their children's best medical interest.

This isn't an advocacy for parents being the final arbiters in things such as genital mutilation or not providing medical treatment for inoperable cancer, but the COVID-19 vaccine being administered to a 5-11 year old is not that kind of decision.  Nor is a 5-11 year old child capable of making that sort of decision.  These sort of things are propaganda aimed at children.  That's not OK on the taxpayer's dime.  The idea that vaccinating 5-11 year old children against COVID-19 is the best course of action for such children is far from settled science at this point.

Sesame Street is produced, in part, by our tax dollars, and aired through public television.  Parents are the arbiters of their children's best interest, and this includes medical decisions.  It is not the role of the government to fund money to produce propaganda in the name of "educational television" to cause children in elementary school to believe that they should eat healthy, and (implicitly) that their parents are "wrong" in not having them eat healthy food.  That is not the role of government.  I know that the Soviet government and Nazi Germany lionized children who snitched on their parents for thoughtcrime, but this is still America, and our tax monies should not be used to undermine the status of parents as the arbiters of their children's best medical interest.

This isn't an advocacy for parents being the final arbiters in things such as genital mutilation or not providing medical treatment for inoperable cancer, but healthy food being advertised to a 5-11 year old is not that kind of decision.  Nor is a 5-11 year old child capable of making that sort of decision.  These sort of things are propaganda aimed at children.  That's not OK on the taxpayer's dime.  The idea that feeding 5-11 year old children healthy food is the best course of action for such children is far from settled science at this point.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The winner:

https://twitter.com/NotHoodlum/status/1457528247944716295

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

THE ENEMY OF THE CHILDREN!!!

[The Dowager Mod]

Owned by Big Bird. lol

[Middle-aged Europe]

The very idea that it causes a political controversy when an anthropomorphic animal character from a kid's show is pretending to get inoculated against a deadly disease in the midst of pandemic - something the national public health agencies in almost 200 countries have been advocated for for the past year - is utterly insane and completely preposterous. At this point, American politics are meant to be taken as satire. During his four years as president, Donald Trump had often bemoaned that "the world is laughing at us". Well, if the goal ist that the world isn't laughing at the United States then I must say that the Republican Party is actually doing a sh**tty job.

[MRS DONNA SHALALA]

What about the rest of the residents of Sesame Street?  Have they been vaccinated?

Oscar the Grouch is "doing his own research"

[HisGrace]

When you fight with Big Bird on Twitter you've already lost because you automatically become a self parody.

Are they mad when Sesame Street recommends other healthy choices like exercise and minimizing junk food?

Vaccines are good for you, vegetables and exercise are good for you, don't really see the difference here. If you say vaccines cause autism or sterility, you're simply wrong, that's not an opinion, just like if you said fried chicken was better for you than salad.

Fundamentally it's not propaganda because vaccines have nothing to do with political ideology, no matter how much some people may like them to.

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Big Bird shall carry us through '22 and then '24!

https://mobile.twitter.com/POTUS/status/1457525774530097152

[HisGrace]

At this point I'd be pretty comfortable electing Big Bird president in 2024 compared with what the alternatives are shaping up to be. As long as he doesn't put Elmo in the cabinet anywhere.

[GeorgiaModerate]

At this point I'd be pretty comfortable electing Big Bird president in 2024 compared with what the alternatives are shaping up to be. As long as he doesn't put Elmo in the cabinet anywhere.

Do we really want the U.S. to have a puppet government?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Ken Klippenstein lost all credibility when he started feuding with Michael Tracey, Glenn Greenwald, Aaron Mate, and Jimmy Dore. He used to be a good analyst, shame he bought into the Russiahoax.

He lost all credibility by feuding with the four most insufferable douchebags on Twitter? LOL.

In BTRD-land...people that are more often right than not are "insufferable". Truth hurts.

https://twitter.com/HKrassenstein/status/1457368702995808260

[Middle-aged Europe]

Big Bird shall carry us through '22 and then '24!

https://mobile.twitter.com/POTUS/status/1457525774530097152

Big Bird is so obviously a Democrat bird.

[Middle-aged Europe]

The very idea that it causes a political controversy when an anthropomorphic animal character from a kid's show is pretending to get inoculated against a deadly disease in the midst of pandemic - something the national public health agencies in almost 200 countries have been advocated for for the past year - is utterly insane and completely preposterous. At this point, American politics are meant to be taken as satire. During his four years as president, Donald Trump had often bemoaned that "the world is laughing at us". Well, if the goal ist that the world isn't laughing at the United States then I must say that the Republican Party is actually doing a sh**tty job.

Told you so: The story has reached German media.

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/sesamstrasse-jim-henson-caroll-spinney-corona-1.5459330

Thanks, Ted Cruz.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I think the whole pro/anti-vax movement is beyond ridiculous. People should make their own decision and not force people to either get it or not. If you want to get vaccinated, that's fine. If not it's your choice, just like anything in life along with the rewards/consequences that come with them. I disagree with mandates/mandate bans as well as people getting fired for not getting vaccinated, especially considering our economy was already suffering economically/medically and the healthcare workers fired were heroes during the peak of the pandemic. However don't confuse that with spreading misinformation, that is something that should at least be investigated if not reprimanded but there should be a way to tell where the information is coming from. What Biden did in Florida when he refused to give DeSantis antibodies was politically charged and unacceptable.

Refusing vaccines (save for conditions where they're contraindicated) is like playing Russian Roulette. Except that you're not only pointing the gun at your own head, you're also taking turns pointing it randomly at other people, or other people's homes. If someone wandered around town taking random potshots at buildings (and occasionally spinning the chamber on their mostly-empty revolver before pointing it at themselves and pulling the trigger) we would consider them dangerous and insane. I don't see any reason to consider anti-vaxxers differently,  saving that finding them all mentally incompetent simply isn't practical due to problems of scale.

I get what you're saying but why force someone to do something they don't want to do if all they're hurting is themselves? Most of them are aware of the risk they're taking and don't care.

Because they're not only hurting themselves, and it is deceptive to use that as an argument.  If the disease wasn't contagious, those who didn't choose not to vaccinate would indeed only be hurting themselves.  But as it is, they run the risk of spreading it to others who may be at much higher risk than themselves.

[7,052,770]

I think the whole pro/anti-vax movement is beyond ridiculous. People should make their own decision and not force people to either get it or not. If you want to get vaccinated, that's fine. If not it's your choice, just like anything in life along with the rewards/consequences that come with them. I disagree with mandates/mandate bans as well as people getting fired for not getting vaccinated, especially considering our economy was already suffering economically/medically and the healthcare workers fired were heroes during the peak of the pandemic. However don't confuse that with spreading misinformation, that is something that should at least be investigated if not reprimanded but there should be a way to tell where the information is coming from. What Biden did in Florida when he refused to give DeSantis antibodies was politically charged and unacceptable.

Refusing vaccines (save for conditions where they're contraindicated) is like playing Russian Roulette. Except that you're not only pointing the gun at your own head, you're also taking turns pointing it randomly at other people, or other people's homes. If someone wandered around town taking random potshots at buildings (and occasionally spinning the chamber on their mostly-empty revolver before pointing it at themselves and pulling the trigger) we would consider them dangerous and insane. I don't see any reason to consider anti-vaxxers differently,  saving that finding them all mentally incompetent simply isn't practical due to problems of scale.

I get what you're saying but why force someone to do something they don't want to do if all they're hurting is themselves? Most of them are aware of the risk they're taking and don't care.

That's definitely false. Most unvaccinated people believe conspiracy theories that tell them they're making the smart choice. They think COVID isn't a big deal and that the vaccine has dangerous, deadly side effects.

[Hermit For Peace]

Sesame Street is produced, in part, by our tax dollars, and aired through public television.  Parents are the arbiters of their children's best interest, and this includes medical decisions.  It is not the role of the government to fund money to produce propaganda in the name of "educational television" to cause children in elementary school to believe that they should be vaccinated, and (implicitly) that their parents are "wrong" in not having them vaccinated.  That is not the role of government.  I know that the Soviet government and Nazi Germany lionized children who snitched on their parents for thoughtcrime, but this is still America, and our tax monies should not be used to undermine the status of parents as the arbiters of their children's best medical interest.

This isn't an advocacy for parents being the final arbiters in things such as genital mutilation or not providing medical treatment for inoperable cancer, but the COVID-19 vaccine being administered to a 5-11 year old is not that kind of decision.  Nor is a 5-11 year old child capable of making that sort of decision.  These sort of things are propaganda aimed at children.  That's not OK on the taxpayer's dime.  The idea that vaccinating 5-11 year old children against COVID-19 is the best course of action for such children is far from settled science at this point.

I found this pertaining to the topic that seems to be very important.

How did we get rid of polio?

Polio has been eliminated from the United States thanks to widespread polio vaccination in this country. This means that there is no year-round transmission of poliovirus in the United States. Since 1979, no cases of polio have originated in the United States.

[fhtagn]

I'm more concerned about parents letting their children access Twitter (even if it's only to follow Sesame Street characters) than Big Bird getting the jab.

[Alben Barkley]

They clearly learned nothing from Mitt Romney. You come at the Bird, you best not miss.

[DaleCooper]

I'm more concerned about parents letting their children access Twitter (even if it's only to follow Sesame Street characters) than Big Bird getting the jab.

That's the hilarious contradiction here. Most of these helicopter parents are fine with feeding their kids several thousands of calories every day and letting them play on the internet round the clock. If they actually cared about parenting, maybe they'd bother to do a little bit of it here and there. The reason they're so scared of a show like Sesame Street saying something they disagree with is because they rely on the media to raise their kids for them.

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

Big Bird showing more leadership than Joe Biden is the only thing, you need to know about this administration.

[HisGrace]

Maybe drifting off the topic (Big Bird v. Cruz) but it does seem telling that people opposed to vaccines so frequently call it "getting jabbed". A lot of this stuff is probably just cover for people who are afraid of needles, which oddly enough I would have more respect for than thinking vaccines are how the CIA gives you your brain chip or something.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

The very idea that it causes a political controversy when an anthropomorphic animal character from a kid's show is pretending to get inoculated against a deadly disease in the midst of pandemic - something the national public health agencies in almost 200 countries have been advocated for for the past year - is utterly insane and completely preposterous. At this point, American politics are meant to be taken as satire. During his four years as president, Donald Trump had often bemoaned that "the world is laughing at us". Well, if the goal ist that the world isn't laughing at the United States then I must say that the Republican Party is actually doing a sh**tty job.

"Utterly insane and completely preposterous" is an objectively good description of the modern GOP. What's just as bad (if not worse) is how much the country has normalized them, and pretends a Senator arguing with Big Bird about vaccines is remotely acceptable.