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Muppets in the Middle East

10:09 / 03.09.03

Is Elmo Bush's secret weapon? Is Sesame Street really brought to you by the letters U, S and A?

Images of heavily-armed Marines patrolling Iraq may not be winning the US many friends in the Islamic world. So it could be time to enlist the soft and fluffy inhabitants of Sesame Street in the battle against anti-Americanism.

Iraqi prisoners were treated to repeated playings of the theme tune at ear-splitting volume by US psychological operations officers intent on encouraging their captives to submit to questioning.
This revelation seems to run contrary to everything the TV show for pre-school children has stood for since its first broadcast in 1969. Also, by bringing Big Bird, Elmo and Mr Snuffleupagus into such disrepute, the US soldiers may have tarnished a more subtle plan hatched by their masters back in Washington.

The US govt is planning to use muppets to promote American Values in Muslim countries, but...

However, the Children's Television Workshop has told BBC News Online that it does not accept that it is an exporter of so-called American values. Even a policy for foreign licensing decided back in 1969 stipulated that non-US versions of the show reflect the morals and traditions of the host nation.

"We don't set out in any way to push American or western values. That's not our mission at all," says spokeswoman Beatrice Chow for Sesame Street's foreign co-productions.

linkety link

A

13:07 / 03.09.03

Man, they totally should have played that rad techno version of the them song from the early nineties. That would have been totally awesome.

13:10 / 03.09.03

God I hope Bush never sees the "Bert is Evil" site (whose address I forget) otherwise he'll be haulling the tall yellow fella in for questioning on the location of Saddam. They were close friends it seems.

A

13:34 / 03.09.03

Totally. Have you ever seen Saddam's mustache and Bert's monobrow in the same room together? Huh? Huh?

13:35 / 03.09.03

bert is evil was shut down some time ago, I'm afraid

most likely pressure from The Man, especially malevolent in the guise of felt and googly eyes which can quite happily withstand a large arm shoved up it's rear and still manage to sing a song about friendship.

evil, pure evil.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

14:09 / 03.09.03

Iraqi prisoners were treated to repeated playings of the theme tune at ear-splitting volume by US psychological operations officers intent on encouraging their captives to submit to questioning.

Wow. Jim Henson would be spitting with rage if he were alive. I wonder who authorised that?

15:12 / 03.09.03

Saddam could be Bert upside down.
I'm all for Sesame Street values, big gay birds, male life partners sharing a dwelling (Bert&Ernie), social inclusion of people whether they're black, white, muppet, alien, whatever, it rocks. I can't say it particularly promotes american values though...

15:53 / 03.09.03

Time for the alphabet song:

"A" is for Anthrax
"B" is for Bush
"C" is for Counter-insurgency
"D" is for Defense Spending
"E" is for Ecocide
"F" is for Fiasco
"G" is for Global Warming
"H" is for Heroin
"I" is for Impeachment
"J" is for Jihad
"K" is for Kilowats
"L" is for Liar-in-chief
"M" is for Mujahideen
"N" is for Neocolonialism
"O" is for Oil, Osama & Oh Shit
"P" is for Petrodollars
"Q" is for Qatar
"R" is for Religious Right
"S" is for Surreal
"T" is for Terror and Television
"U" is for Ugly American
"V" is for Vietnam all over again
"W" is for World War III
"X" is for X-ing off your civil rights
"Y" is for Your'e Under Arrest
"Z" is for Zero Hour

Now don't you feel better?

We're The Great Old Ones Now

16:11 / 03.09.03

X is for Xenophobia, surely?