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 | | From: | NZDude | | Subject: | dumbest intolerance in a long while | | Date: | Sat, 22 Jan 2005 07:16:43 +1300 |
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 | And you guessed it, Fundies are behind it AGAIN. AND of course it is
rampant homophobia run amuck.
If people actually READ and acted upon the books they so busily thump...
***sigh***
NZD
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http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/20/sponge.bob.reut/index.html
Christians issue warning on SpongeBob video
Conservative groups criticize maker's 'tolerance pledge'
Friday, January 21, 2005 Posted: 10:26 AM EST (1526 GMT)
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Conservative Christian groups accuse
the makers of a video starring SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney and a host of
other cartoon characters of promoting homouality to children.
The wacky square yellow SpongeBob is one of the stars of a music video due
to be sent to 61,000 U.S. schools in March. The makers -- the nonprofit We
Are Family Foundation -- say the video is designed to encourage tolerance
and diversity.
But at least two Christian activist groups say the innocent cartoon
characters are being exploited to promote the acceptance of homouality.
"A short step beneath the surface reveals that one of the differences being
celebrated is homouality," wrote Ed Vitagliano in an article for the
American Family Association.
The video is a remake of the 1979 hit song "We Are Family" using the voices
and images of SpongeBob, Barney, Winnie the Pooh, Bob the Builder, the
Rugrats and other TV cartoon characters. It was made by a foundation set up
by songwriter Nile Rodgers after the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001, in an effort to promote healing.
Christian groups however have taken exception to the tolerance pledge on the
foundation's Web site, which asks people to respect the ual identity of
others along with their abilities, beliefs, culture and race.
"Their inclusion of the reference to 'ual identity" within their
'tolerance pledge' is not only unnecessary, but it crosses a moral line,"
James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a statement released
Thursday.
Rodgers said he was astounded by the attack.
"That is so myopic and harsh," he told Reuters. "You have really got to look
hard to find anything in this that is offensive to anyone. The last thing I
am going to do is taint these characters."
Dobson was quoted by the New York Times on Thursday as having singled out
the wildly popular SpongeBob during remarks about the video at dinner this
week in Washington, D.C.
SpongeBob, who lives in a pineapple under the sea, was "outed" by the U.S.
media in 2002 after reports that the TV show and its merchandise are popular
with s. His creator, Stephen Hillenburg, said at the time that though
SpongeBob was an oddball, he thought of all the characters in the show as
aual.
It is not the first time that children's TV favorites have come under the
critical spotlight of the Christian right. In 1999, the Rev. Jerry Falwell
described Tinky Winky, the purse-toting purple Teletubbie, as a role
model.
--
49ers faithful for life - unless they move them to L.A.
"In battling evil, excess is good; for he who is moderate in announcing the
truth is presenting half-truth. He conceals the other half out of fear of
the people's wrath."
- Kahlil Gibran
"You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses
to frighten you."
- Eric Hoffer
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