Religious Letter to Mr. Rogers

[Sitaram]

Here is a letter I wrote to Mr. Rogers on 12-15-2000. He wrote a reply. He read all of his mail and answered it personally.


Dear Mr. Rogers,

I am 50 years old (male). I did not begin watching your show until I was in High School in the mid 1960's.

For the past several years, I have wanted to write you a letter of praise and thanks.

Today, I saw your program on PBS Television, and I decided to search the Internet, and find your email address.

When I was in high school, I would come home in the afternoon feeling nervous and pressured by the academic demands placed upon me. I would turn on your show, and instantly feel a calm and a peace, a tranquility which your show and your personality inspires. Although I have not had time to view your show regularly through the years, any time I did tune in I always perceived this same atmosphere of peace and tranquility. And also, I might add, a sense of moral and ethical strength, of purity and integrity and most importantly EQUANIMITY (an even keeled spirit in the face of all things).

Two years ago, I had to settle my late mother's estate near New Haven, Connecticut, where I grew up and first saw your show. The day before I sold the house that I grew up in, I saw my next door neighbor, now quite elderly, making his way to his mailbox with his walker. I went to say goodbye to him, explaining that the house was being sold. He had moved into that neighborhood in 1955, when my parents bought that house across the street from him. I grew up and went to school with his son. As I said goodbye to him that day, the last thing he did was look at me with a smile and a twinkle in his eye and he sang the beginning of your theme song, "Won't you be my neighbor."

Obviously, many adults watch your show as well as children. I think this is a great tribute to you and your program. The episode that I happened to see today featured the young boy who was handicapped and in a wheelchair. As I watched him, I realized how foolish I am sometimes in my own life, feeling sorry for myself over the little problems and frustrations that I experience. We all realize that there are those in this world who face far greater problems, and face them from infancy onward, and yet they manage to be courageous and optimistic about the blessings that they do have. We all know this 'intellectually' but few of us know this 'emotionally'. I am quite certain that these are some of the very messages which you seek to convey to your audience.

In my Internet search today, I came across some biographical material about your own life and education. I had not realized that you pursued a vocation in the ministry. But I am certainly not surpised to learn of your religious background, since the feelings I have always had from your show are ones of a deeply spiritual nature, yet totally free of any sectarian or doctrinal overtones. I now realize that this too is a great tribute to your success; to convey a spiritual message without appearing 'religious'. Perhaps that is the highest form of religion that there is. Perhaps the very meekness, gentleness and compassion which you convey every day in your program is a 'living icon' of that Personality which you yearn to proclaim and about which you are perennially, tactfully silent.

Several years ago, I noticed a news item that you were involved in some litigation to protect your name from unauthorized misuse in the media. My first thought was simple "Yes. He should. Mr. Roger's stands for something important, and no one should wrongfully misuse that name or image for purposes contrary to Mr. Roger's goals and standards."

I do hope that this little email of mine can reach you personally, Mr. Rogers. I realize from reading your biographical info that you have no shortage of awards and commendations for your life's work. You do not know me personally, and yet you have been a part of my life since I was very young. Yet even the holiest of temples is built up by individual stones. I am sure you have touched the lives and hearts of several generations now, young and old. And the seeds which you have patiently sown these many years will surely take deep roots in the fabric of our society for generations to come. And your values and ideas, so subtle and tactful as to be almost subliminal, will shape our world for decades, perhaps centuries to come.

I did not want to reach the end my life without having expressing my thanks to you. Of course, many individuals touch our lives, especially in this soon to end 20th century of unprecedented media and communications explosion. Such personalities as yours and others become perhaps larger than life, larger than your own individuality. I am sure that the gravity of this responsibility, the weight of this public image, has been trying for you at times. And yet, our world needs larger-than-life heros and icons, even though we are "vessels of clay". I think St. Paul wrote somewhere, "God places His treasures of gold in vessels of clay". I just want you to know that there are people out here who know your job has not been an easy one, living in the public eye, and you have surely made your own personal sacrifices and suffered in order to achieve your goals. But from where I stand, it looks like you have done your work masterfully. I am quite certain in my heart that one day you will hear those cherished words "Well done, good and faithful servant." If anyone deserves to hear them, it is certainly you. You have been a shining beacon in what is otherwise an often dark and sinister television medium.

God bless you Mr. Rogers! It has been an honor to know you over these many years.

With warm wishes and best regards,

Sitaram


Also see:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12983

[papayahed]

Hi Sit,

I'm just wondering how this is religious in nature. True Fred Rogers studied religion, but it was never conveyed in his shows. His show to me didn't have anything to do with religion, but had to do with setting an example on how to be good humans, I guess you could say that had religious undertones....

[Sitaram]

That's the whole beauty of the thing. I never once thought of his program as "religious". I only pieced things together years later, as I searched the Internet. His Bishop gave him the "assignment" to create a television minstry which would convey the message of Christianity, e.g. "the golden rule", without ever once seeming like a religious show.

Mr. Rogers did not just "happen" to be an ordained minister who had a kids show on Public Television. For Mr. Rogers, that WAS his ministery. Every show, he had to preach without seeming like he was preaching.

I think he did a really good job of it. I always felt some kind of religious aura when I watched the show, but I never for one minute dreamed that he was an ordained minister who had set out to create exactly the feeling that I was experiencing as I watched.



And, it was not until today that I realized he was a trained killer in the military. And after his combat experiences, he sought ordination, and took a vow of non-violence, so to speak.


I mean, doesn't it really make sense? If you want to spread the Gospel message of the New Testament, then isn't the best way in to world to find some format that does not appear religious? Religious people in Christian countries will wind up in Church anyway, so you will be "preaching to the choir" so to speak. What you really need to do is get your message to people who would never set foot in a church.

http://crunchable.net/?p=133



Mr. Rogers did not have an absolute message to instill in our heads like other programs did. Oh, sure, he had lots of helpful things to say and lots of friendly advice. He was always willing to show us how to tie our shoes or remind us that we didn’t have to worry about being sucked down the drain when we take a bath. But the real content of the show was emotional. Mr. Rogers made us feel like there was something special about each and every one of us as individuals. He made us appreciate our own unique personhood.

Mr. Rogers was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church. Not much is made of that aspect of his life. I wonder about it now as I walk my own path towards a calling to the ordained life. I have assumed that at least part of my life as a priest will involve parish ministry, the role that most people associate with clergy.

But Fred Rogers proves that ministry can involve many things and many paths. His program was not explicitly Christian in content, nor could it be viewed as inaccessible to children of other faiths. Yet many of the best Christian values shine through. He celebrated life, love, charity, humility, thoughtfulness, peace, and dignity.

He brought his message to the people who Jesus found among the most compelling, the ones who our society constantly talks about and never talks to, the children. His was a wonderfully outside-of-the-box ministry. I hope and pray that I have gathered some of that creativity to use in my own ministry some day.



http://www.wfn.org/2001/08/msg00268.html



Rogers has never served in the traditional role of pastor, but through
television he has conveyed his simple message of affirmation and acceptance
to a "congregation" of millions.

"This is a recognition that we'd been doing something right," Barker said.
"To put it in theological terms 'This was carrying out Christian ministry
all throughout the years.' Although there's a time to hang it up and calls
it quits, we're doing so with some mixed feelings, but at the same time also
knowing this was good. And it's relief for Fred. It's time for him to
consider other ways that he can reach out to people. And he's doing that."


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1591452295/103-0239683-7358222?v=glance


the one side of his persona that he kept very quiet, his Christian faith. In his younger days, Rogers started off as a puppeteer on a children's show and saw the need to bring the Gospel into the way that television reached out to children. To this end, he enrolled in seminary, only to find resistance to his being ordained. The ordination board did not know what to do with a man who did not want to pastor a local church, but instead wanted to pastor every person who watched a children's TV show he led. But Rogers's insistence that the Holy Spirit was able to speak truth even through the airwaves convinced the seminary board; he was ordained in the United Presbyterian Church.

The show he became famous for first debuted in Canada, then came to PBS via WQED in Pittsburgh. Rogers lived right down the street and walked to the studio every day. And that was the kind of person Rogers was. He was always given to the simple, the quiet, and the vulnerable even as a child. From the people in the neighborhood he grew up in, he learned that the small things matter. Hollingsworth relates Rogers's encounter with an elderly woman who taught young Freddie how to make his favorite breakfast, toast sticks, using this encounter as a backbone of the book.

The best parts of this book are the little revelations. Hollingsworth tells of Rogers and his seminary buddies going on a road trip to hear a famous pastor speak, only to find a substitute preacher--and a boring one at that--putting the congregation to sleep. Rogers was incensed by this, only to turn to the woman seated next to him and notice her crying because the message spoke to the deepest part of her need. Rogers decided at that point that it was unwise to be judgmental because he could never know how the Holy Spirit was touching someone. Hollingsworth also tells stories that viewers of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" relate concerning how the show changed their lives. Some of these stories, particularly the teenager who was horribly abused by his parents throughout his early years, are worthy of five hankies. Another revelation is that Rogers cultivated deep friendships with many famous people. Of particular note to me was that Rogers was close friends with Henri Nouwen, the Catholic priest and author of classic books like "The Wounded Healer" and "The Return of the Prodigal Son."

One of the other truths that comes out of this book is that God blessed Fred Rogers with an enormous creative gift. He wrote 900 episodes of his show, penned over 200 songs, performed the classic background piano music, and was the voice behind most of the puppets in the Land of Make Believe. Hollingsworth does an excellent job showing how that creative bent allowed Rogers to draw children to him and share the Gospel of Jesus in the same way that the Lord blessed the little children who were presented to Him. Knowing that Rogers got up every day at 5AM to read the Bible and pray only reinforces the reality that he brought that time before God into every show he made.

If there are any complaints against "The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers" they lie in the brevity of the book and the lightness of the entire narrative. Fred Rogers is about as teflon a personality as ever walked the earth (the author even discusses the urban legend that thieves stole Rogers's car, only to return it the next day when they learned it was his), but more discussion of the man's flaws and how he used his faith to overcome them would have been appreciated. This book is as close to fawning as any biographical work you'll ever read.

[Dyrwen]

That, and Mr Rogers wouldn't have had a sucessfull show if it didn't teach some sort of lesson or idea in each show. Watch any cartoon and you get the same "learning a lesson" for good or bad, mentality from it. Rogers was just a good guy to have on the show because of his demeanor, but there were writers on that show, giving him his lines like any other actor I'd imagine.

Give the idea to someone else and they'll find something different. Just because he taught "be good to your fellow man" doesn't make him a televangelist, so much as just a normal, socially-acceptable, role model and teacher of modern morality. That idea didn't start with Jesus, you know; we've always known that through violence comes demise and through goodwill comes reward. That's just how the world works and religion places an emphasis on the concepts for those unable to follow human nature without the lines on the page telling them its correct to follow.

I watched the show like any other and appreciate his learning environment for what it was. If it makes you feel better thinking it was all religious and made subtle to preach a message without really preaching it; good.

(I really can be a contrary person at times.. I swear, heh)

[Adelheid]

Is this a popular show? I've neer seen it. Or is it only shown in America?

[Sitaram]

Rogers was just a good guy to have on the show because of his demeanor, but there were writers on that show, giving him his lines like any other actor I'd imagine.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1591452295/103-0239683-7358222?v=glance

Someone wrote an entire book about Roger's television vision of a television ministry for children. It doesn't get more plain or obvious than that. What more can I say.


One of the other truths that comes out of this book is that God blessed Fred Rogers with an enormous creative gift. He wrote 900 episodes of his show, penned over 200 songs, performed the classic background piano music, and was the voice behind most of the puppets in the Land of Make Believe.


The Simple Faith Of Mr. Rogers (Hardcover)
by Amy Hollingsworth
ISBN: 1591452295



once said of the American icon Fred Rogers, "Mister Rogers was an ordained minister, be he never talked about God on his program. He didn't need to."




In his younger days, Rogers started off as a puppeteer on a children's show and saw the need to bring the Gospel into the way that television reached out to children. To this end, he enrolled in seminary, only to find resistance to his being ordained. The ordination board did not know what to do with a man who did not want to pastor a local church, but instead wanted to pastor every person who watched a children's TV show he led. But Rogers's insistence that the Holy Spirit was able to speak truth even through the airwaves convinced the seminary board; he was ordained in the United Presbyterian Church.



http://www.youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/outreach/hospitality.php



Arguably, the greatest modern day practitioner of hospitality was the late Fred Rogers. In an editorial eulogizing Mr. Rogers (himself an ordained minister), Smith College professor of religion Carol Zaleski correctly surmised, "The disciplined, courteous, loving attention which he gave to each person, as a marvel of supreme worth, was what made Fred Rogers a source of endless comfort for his young viewers. You are special, he sang to them, and you can never go down the drain."

Time to dig out your cardigan sweaters and head to the Neighborhood? No, but let's not mistake the message for the medium. Everything Fred Rogers did was about hospitality and dignity. Some may think that I'm talking about the Land of Make Believe, but I envision something more like the upper room—a table where Jesus invited the one who would betray him through denial and the one who would betray him unto death. If Jesus can offer hospitality to the likes of them, then anyone in my neighborhood can come to the table, too.


http://www.temperantia.net/archives/2003/05/index.shtml




May 07, 2003

As you might have heard by now, the beloved-by-children TV star Mr. Rogers passed away earlier this year. There was a memorial service in Pittsburgh, PA this past weekend, honoring the man who, for some, made it easier to be a child. Renowned people such as Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Alan Morrison were in attendance. Another famous, yet not renowned, person was also in attendance. Well, OK, at least in spirit. Infamous hate-monger the so-called Rev. Fred Phelps sent his hate posse to picket Rogers memorial service. That's right. In attendance of this sorry band of losers (there were about six in total) was an 8-year old girl who held a sign expressing an extreme dislike of GLBT people and how God absolutely must share in that dislike. Suddenly its not such a wonderful day in the neighborhood. I wonder what Rogers would have said about the whole thing.

When asked about Rogers, Phelps said this (published in this March 2003 Post-Gazette article):

"Mr. Rogers gave aid and comfort to homosexuals," Phelps said, his Mississippi accent dripping with insincerity. "He was a man who preached tolerance of all sorts of people in ways that directly contradicted the Bible. His syrupy teachings led millions astray. He was a wuss and he was an enabler of wusses."

"Enabler of wusses"???? This is hardly biblical. Phelps has definitively shown one thing: he is, in fact, off his nut. It was morbid and sick to picket Matthew Shepard's funeral. It was downright despicable to picket Mr. Rogers funeral, a man who was faithfully married and had children, a man who tried, in his own, quiet way, to bring peace to America's kids in a time when it's hard to find peace.






He was often asked to speak at graduation ceremonies, and rather than give the students a pep talk on how to be successful, he told them that even if they never accomplished anything spectacular they were still extraordinary people.


http://www.thinklings.org/index.php?cat=19




I started reading Hollingsworth’s The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers last week and only began reading a chapter from it as part of my morning devotional a few days ago.

But today portions of Matthew 10, Reading 8 in Piper, and Chapter 7 in Hollingsworth all synced up.

What effect does it have on your longings when you think that God says true religion is to visit orphans (Jm. 1:27)?

The effect it has on me is to make me want to love like Jesus loved and not always be thinking of the earthly payoff. Face it. A few kids are cute, but most street kids will be thankless, rude, dirty, diseased, scar-faced, shifty-eyed, lice-infested, suspicious, smelly, and have rotten teeth. If we minister mainly for the earthly payoff, we will burn out in a year.

Jesus did not say, “True religion is converting orphans.” He did not say, “True religion is making orphans mature and successful adults.” He said, “True religion is visiting orphans.” Results are God’s business alone. Obedience is ours by his grace. More specifically, by faith in future grace. Perhaps when we grasp this, we will be freed from our earthbound way of thinking and released to minister to the ones who are least likely to thank us.


http://www.planetout.com/news/feature.html?sernum=481




Over the years, Mr. Rogers built up a special influence; he had a charmingly unassuming way of getting to people. Nobody knows whether -- if he were still alive -- he would have put a dent in President Bush's resolve to go to war. After all, the president isn't listening to millions of peace protesters, trusted allies or even the pope.

Nevertheless, it seems appropriate at this critical time to repeat a few words of wisdom that Fred Rogers offered last year to graduating seniors from Pittsburgh's Chatham College:

"Have you heard the story that came out of the Seattle Special Olympics? For the 100-yard-dash there were nine contestants, all of them so-called physically or mentally disabled. All nine of them assembled at the starting line and at the sound of the gun, they took off. But one little boy didn't get very far. He stumbled and fell and hurt his knee and began to cry.

"The other eight children heard the boy crying. They slowed down, turned around and ran back to him -- every one of them ran back to him. One little girl with Down's syndrome bent down and kissed the boy and said, "This will make it better." The little boy got up, and he and the rest of the runners linked their arms together and joyfully walked to the finish line.

"They all finished the race at the same time. And when they did, everyone in the stadium stood up and clapped and whistled and cheered for a long, long time. People who were there are still telling the story with obvious delight. And you know why?

"Because deep down we know that what matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win, too, even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then."

[Jay]

After reading (almost) all of the above... I'm getting the idea of the show's possibility to have been based on religion and 'preaching without preaching' but I still can't see how the original letter qualifies as religious? If I wrote a letter to Isaac Asimov, would it make my letter science fiction?
Why is this in this section again?

[Sitaram]

Of course, I originally posted my letter as an afterthought, since I was totally taken in by the Internet hoax

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12983

which claimed that Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers were killer marines, and martial arts mastering Navy Seals, etc. Once I began to search on Mr. Rogers, I came across detailed curricula vitae which made it obvious that he had never served in the military.



Here are the portions of my letter which are religious in nature. (Since I quote some "Bible stuff" in the letter, and "Bible stuff" officially make it religious.)




... I perceived this same atmosphere of peace and tranquility. And also, I might add, a sense of moral and ethical strength, of purity and integrity and most importantly EQUANIMITY (an even keeled spirit in the face of all things).


We all realize that there are those in this world who face far greater problems, and face them from infancy onward, and yet they manage to be courageous and optimistic about the blessings that they do have. We all know this 'intellectually' but few of us know this 'emotionally'. I am quite certain that these are some of the very messages which you seek to convey to your audience.


I had not realized that you pursued a vocation in the ministry. But I am certainly not surpised to learn of your religious background, since the feelings I have always had from your show are ones of a deeply spiritual nature, yet totally free of any sectarian or doctrinal overtones. I now realize that this too is a great tribute to your success; to convey a spiritual message without appearing 'religious'. Perhaps that is the highest form of religion that there is. Perhaps the very meekness, gentleness and compassion which you convey every day in your program is a 'living icon' of that Personality which you yearn to proclaim and about which you are perennially, tactfully silent.



Yet even the holiest of temples is built up by individual stones. I am sure you have touched the lives and hearts of several generations now, young and old. And the seeds which you have patiently sown these many years will surely take deep roots in the fabric of our society for generations to come. And your values and ideas, so subtle and tactful as to be almost subliminal, will shape our world for decades, perhaps centuries to come.


Such personalities as yours and others become perhaps larger than life, larger than your own individuality. I am sure that the gravity of this responsibility, the weight of this public image, has been trying for you at times. And yet, our world needs larger-than-life heros and icons, even though we are "vessels of clay".

I think St. Paul wrote somewhere,

"God places His treasures of gold in vessels of clay".

Look out! Here comes some Bible stuff


"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."

I just want you to know that there are people out here who know your job has not been an easy one, living in the public eye, and you have surely made your own personal sacrifices and suffered in order to achieve your goals. But from where I stand, it looks like you have done your work masterfully. I am quite certain in my heart that one day you will hear those cherished words "Well done, good and faithful servant."


Look out! Here comes some more Bible stuff


His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'


If anyone deserves to hear them, it is certainly you. You have been a shining beacon in what is otherwise an often dark and sinister television medium.



So, my letter has something to do with religion. And Mr. Roger's life obviously had something to do with religion. And this sub-forum seems the closest thing we have to a Religion section.

So, why not post it, and why not post it here. It doesnt seem any better or worse than evolution or "sex and the Qu'ran". It is something different. It gets people thinking and talking about different things.

Perhaps, in the Marshall McCluen sense of "the media is the massage", we will arrive at an era where the media will become the medium for spirituality, and supplant religious scriptures.

Searching on Rogers brought up some new things for me to think about. One of them is the controversy over a religion which makes everyone feel welcome, versus a religion which feels a moral duty to condemn certain life styles.

This thread reminds me of Charles Schultz, creator of "Peanuts" comic strip with Charlie Brown.

A book came out entitled "The Gospel According to Peanuts", written by a minister, precisely because Charles Schultz had embedded all sorts of Gospel lessons into the comic strip.

With regard to the literary forum as a whole, we see various authors with ideological agendas, such as Ayn Rand, and George Orwell, and others. I suppose one might include Sartre's "Nausea" in the genre of literature with an agenda. Mr. Roger's Neighborhood was a children's show with an ideological agenda.

Here is a catchy title for you: "Genres with Agendas".

[Jay]

So what you're trying to do here is discuss Mr Rogers' show and his agenda? Why didn't you say so? You posted a letter you wrote to him 5 years ago if I'm not mistaken with:

Here is a letter I wrote to Mr. Rogers on 12-15-2000. He wrote a reply. He read all of his mail and answered it personally.
as an introduction? It didn't much seem like a discussion starter, there wasn't a question/point in your letter other than the letter itself. At least I couldn't find out what you intended to say with your letter to Mr Rogers.

And no, if the statements in bold meant 'here is a pointer, see, that religious enough for you?' that it makes it religious... I don't really think so as I could as well post a quote from the Bible and wait and see what happens next, I bet quite a few members would go 'huh?'

[Sitaram]

Perhaps some other readers will find something of interest in the thread. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.

One beauty of threads on forums like this is the total freedom. You never know where thoughts and conversations and arguments will lead.

Reasonable controversy is good for a forum like this, because it attracts readership. Controversy and disagreement is good for readers because it motivates them to do reading and searching to support their own opposing views.

These posts get in the search engines and attract people who are searching topics on Mr. Rogers, or Rev. Phelps, or "The Gospel According to Peanuts".

[mono]

That, and Mr Rogers wouldn't have had a sucessfull show if it didn't teach some sort of lesson or idea in each show. Watch any cartoon and you get the same "learning a lesson" for good or bad, mentality from it. Rogers was just a good guy to have on the show because of his demeanor, but there were writers on that show, giving him his lines like any other actor I'd imagine.

Give the idea to someone else and they'll find something different. Just because he taught "be good to your fellow man" doesn't make him a televangelist, so much as just a normal, socially-acceptable, role model and teacher of modern morality. That idea didn't start with Jesus, you know; we've always known that through violence comes demise and through goodwill comes reward. That's just how the world works and religion places an emphasis on the concepts for those unable to follow human nature without the lines on the page telling them its correct to follow.

I watched the show like any other and appreciate his learning environment for what it was. If it makes you feel better thinking it was all religious and made subtle to preach a message without really preaching it; good.

(I really can be a contrary person at times.. I swear, heh)
To me, Dyrwen hit the nail on the head. Yes, Mr. Rogers, I have known for some time, attended much schooling, and attained his authority as an ordained minister. I watched his television show all throughout childhood, and loved it! Even in the present time, if I see his television show coming up, I will watch a few parts, and, a few years ago, I realized that he does have several religious overtones in his ideas, not surprisingly.
His lightly-preached ideas, however, sound far from the preachers sometimes smothering a church attendent with words (though most of them, I have encountered seem kinder). On the contrary, Mr. Rogers communicated his point through innocent kindness, stating mostly the attributes of having good morals in decision-making and respecting those around you ("neighbors"). That he never shared his authority in religious practice on his show does not surprise me; I cannot doubt that Mr. Rogers did not write his whole own script, as Dyrwen mentioned, but I think he desired to approach his viewers (mostly children) in an unbiased presence, equalling that of his viewers.
I could never call Mr. Rogers a televangelist, or anything of the sort, but more of a preacher of decent morals, frequently motivated by religious undertones; and though it seems uncommon to find this thread in the 'Religious Texts' forums, I think, reflecting the forums directory, it would belong here better than 'General Chat' or 'General Writing.' I do not intend on taking sides in this debate, but, in reading threads, a viewer has the option of never opening, hence never reading the contents of, the thread.

Is this a popular show? I've neer seen it. Or is it only shown in America?
Yes, Adelheid. Even after Mr. Rogers' death, he still gains much popularity in the United States. His show televised for many years on PBS (Public Broadcast System), and I happened to find a link for you that may help :):
http://pbskids.org/rogers/

[Eliza]

My mother used Mr. Rogers to re-inforce her lessons in morality and Christianity. I had no concept of God when I was a child so I just didn't care what he thought I should or shouldn't do. Mr. Rogers, on the other hand, was very important to me, and I listened to every word. I honestly never knew any of the information you posted, but it makes sense!

[Sitaram]

You see, the whole postmodernist thing is that it is no longer just "texts" or scrolls or documents.... it is the media itself that becomes the "text" or grand narrative.... and it could be Mr. Rogers, or it could be Bart Simpson or Peanuts.

I have started wondering if there is an agenda behind the Simpsons (other than maintaining ratings), and if so, what it might be. There is certainly a LOT of material in the Simpsons about the treatment of women, as second class, in society, dramatized by the treatment of Lisa, Bart's sister, as sometimes second class to Bart, even though she is portrayed as his moral and intellectual superior.


People who liked Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and who like Christianity may be charmed by the notion that Mr. Rogers considered his audience to be his parishoners. Others, who dislike religion, may possibly feel used; the victims of propaganda. If religion was on the official agenda, then what ethical issues does it raise and whose rights may possibly have been violated. I loved the show myself, and though I reject Christianity as my personal religion, just as Gandhi did, yet, just as Gandhi, I greatly admire Christianity, and the message of the Bible, and the personality of Jesus.

Think of the tremendous power of hidden agendas in media and entertainment.

In the 1970's there was a sci fi movie called "The Last Starfighter", about a boy who was champion at a video game, but the hidden agenda of the game was to identify and recruit real starfighters for an intergalactic struggle which would determine the fate of all creatures in the universe. A lot of young people are addicted to certain games and shows, so how might such energy be harnessed and directed towards some ideological agenda, whether capitalistic or communistic, or theistic, or atheistic, or existential, or something else?

Mono brought up that one author, Leonard Shlain, who tries to show how things appear first in fiction, and then become actual discoveries in reality.

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12932


From the classical Greek sculptors to Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, and from Aristotle to Einstein, artists have foreshadowed the discoveries of scientists, such as when Monet and Cézanne intuited the coming upheaval in physics that Einstein would initiate.

[CheshireCat87]

y were u watching Mr. Rogers in high school that show was ment for 5 year olds. i mean u have the right to watch what every u want i was just wondering. oh yeah and Mr. Dress-up was so much better that Mr. Rogers.

[Sitaram]

I guess Mr. Dress-up was a Canadian show.

Here is a synopsis of Mr. Dressup:

http://www.jumptheshark.com/m/mrdressup.htm

[baddad]

"........A book came out entitled "The Gospel According to Peanuts", written by a minister, precisely because Charles Schultz had embedded all sorts of Gospel lessons into the comic strip.

With regard to the literary forum as a whole, we see various authors with ideological agendas, such as Ayn Rand, and George Orwell, and others. I suppose one might include Sartre's "Nausea" in the genre of literature with an agenda. Mr. Roger's Neighborhood was a children's show with an ideological agenda.

Here is a catchy title for you: "Genres with Agendas".

Though I generally (on some twisted personal principal my therapist will never unravel...) find little agreement with the 'Sitmeister's view, I must applaud (and chuckle quite heartedly) with this 'right on the target comment.

SITARAM: You have never been more correct...... the last sentence says it all.......

[byquist]

Interestingly I actually briefly got to talk, well lets say be around him for some slight chat, for a few minutes at a picnic on Nantucket, oh maybe a dozen years ago. I remember most he was looking at this picture on the wall of this majestic house in S'conset of a sailboat or something. Just like in his show, he was extremely interested in the detail of the picture. I mean to me it was just another sailing picture, but Mr. R. took relish in every little detail. You have to admit he found amazement in every little thing in life.