Big Bird vs. Osiris

I have loved Don't Eat the Pictures for ages, because of just how spiritually conscious and holy foolesuqe Big Bird and Snuffy are during their encounter with the spirit world.

If there can be said to be a mystical side to Sesame Street, that program epitomizes it.

they did eventually have other people encounter snuffy, because the whole "secret friend nobody else can believe in" came a little too close to what some pedophiles tell their victims.

Oh for frak's sake! What a stupid reason to do something. I am getting SO frakking tired of this damned artificial "pedophile panic" crap. Yes, serial molesters exist, but they're as common as hen's teeth or rooster eggs. About 99.9% of all children who are molested, get molested by family members, teachers, priests, or other trusted adults in positions of authorities. The whole "creepy dude in a car asking for help finding his lost puppy" thing is largely fiction made up by the Fascist States of America as a scapegoat and a distraction, get people too scared of the serial molesters for them to want to pay any attention to the REAL crimes being perpetrated by people in government. Thanks in part to this bullshit "pedophile panic" crap, the corporations have taken over and we now live in a fascist state... though they're trying to keep that fact quiet, because openly fascist states don't have much of a lifespan. Freedom in this country has been dead since at least the McCarthy era.

It's a lot like the war on drugs, in fact.

er. even when it's a family member or other trusted adult (which is indeed by far the most common situation), some level of secrecy is usually retained, often by shame and "no one will believe you". since no one believed big bird, this actually fit the most common schemata pretty well. there was no attempt to equate snuffy with a creepy dude or lost puppy, just that "you get to say what happens to you" and "you will be believed". and imho kids deserve that.

i have no idea where you're going with mccarthy on this.

Also, the few serial molesters that exist don't operate for long before they get caught. This whole "stranger danger" thing is largely unnecessary, kids generally have a fairly good creepometer and will not trust the type of idiots that become serial molesters.

In fact, the "stranger danger" thing is counterproductive. Did you hear about that Boy Scout who almost died in the woods because he avoided people he didn't know while lost, thus was actively walking away from members of the rescue party? I doubt it's the only case, just the most extreme. So like I say, there's really nothing good at all coming from the whole pedophile panic bullshit.

For myself, I can only say that having a believable adult character who could see Snuffy, without having *everyone* able to see him, would have helped a lot.

I think someone linked me this writeup at some point, and I was mostly incredibly relieved that I hadn't made it up at 3 AM or something.

That figures.... I mean, he's a giant bird. And what costume do shaman's wear?

It depends on the culture, but many medicine workers wear the costume of sky-spirits, yes.

According to some Googling, Snuffy was Big Bird's imaginary friend for a long time. But after the 80's, they changed it so everyone could see Snuffy, too. (Preshades of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, anyone?) This is what I found:

"Snuffy hasn't been invisible to people since the early 80's! He absolutely can be seen by everyone. He was invisible up until then because he was Big Bird's imaginary friend. Many children have imaginary friends, and at the time, Sesame Street was trying to let kids know that having one was ok.

"Later on it was revealed that the reason they made Snuffy visible to everyone is because it was feared that having the adults in Big Bird's life not believe him about something they couldn't see, and get angry with him as they would do whenever Snuffy was mentioned would make children afraid to tell adults about true things going on in their lives such as sexual abuse for fear of getting yelled at and not believed. A sad commentary on society? Yes. But if making Snuffy visible saved even one child from keeping quiet, then I say well done."

Better yet would be a variety of adults having a variety of responses (none actually frightening) ... and a few cool adults who could accept the reality of something they could not see. And how to find out which whose cool adults were, without getting into trouble.

My sister wanted two things for her fifth birthday: to ride on an airplane and to go to "that place where Big Bird helped the boy go to the afterlife."

So my parents made it happen. We live in Boston, and they were able to find cheap Logan-to-JFK tickets, got a cheap-but-not-scary hotel room for the weekend, and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was ten; it was my first trip to New York, and my first trip to that museum. Probably the best birthday present for my sister that was actually a present for the entire family ever.