Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Neighborhood of Make-Believe

"The fight to stop funding PBS is getting ugly. The Republicans are spreading a rumor that Elmo was born in Kenya." — Andy Borowitz on Twitter.
With all the recent vindictive attempts to cut public funding for PBS and NPR, it's no wonder this video is making the blog rounds. Here is Mister Rogers in 1969 speaking in support of PBS to the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications:



To me, the most amazing thing about this video is how the Senator starts our rather hostile, but is kind of disarmed by Fred Roger's calm tone and passion. I haven't seen this level of civility in a long time.

For the 30 years that Mister Rogers' Neighborhood aired on PBS, Fred Rogers demonstrated this kind of genuine respect and gentleness towards all people. He was the best neighbor ever. I have to wonder how his testimony would be received today?

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