jeudi 10 mars 2011

Tinky Winky and the tyrants




In my early fifties I was an avid follower of the British Teletubbies program and Tinky Winky in particular was my hero then. Some kind of role model for me so to say.

So, out of curiosity I finally went to read what Wiki had to say about this series and this is when I knew I needed a massive dose of emotional rescue!

Tinky Winky, my hero, was suspected to be a sleeping agent of the homosexual conspiracy!

Jerry Falwell was on the watch and knew there was more than meets the eye behind the cute purple-colored-triangle-antenna-wearing character.

I had previously heard about this Jerry Falwell and I knew he played in the same league as Pat Robertson.

Some people really have to be embarrassed with sexuality and their own body to detect subliminal messages at every corner of the street. These religious zealots are birds of a feather, be they Christians in America, Muslims in Iran, Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia and orthodox Jews wherever they are.

For dozens of centuries, all these self appointed priests ruled the world and behaved as tyrants and criminals towards people who simply were different like that Teletubbies character is supposed to be. So if you meet one of them, run Tinky Winky, run!


Les méchants s'entendent plus facilement pour la guerre qu'en temps de paix pour la concorde.

Tacite
[Histoires, Livre I, chap. 54 (5)]

45 commentaires:

Anonyme a dit…

hmmmm....What else do you have for the widdle Tots?

I'm a Tot, Je suis une Tot, Tilly, Tom and Tiny

Flocon a dit…

Je ne connaissais pas les Tots TV.

Originally the little girl is French and speaks accordingly but in the U.S version she speaks Spanish.

Indeed at 7:40 she says "Qu'est-ce que vous faites?" and some seconds later "regarde" et "d'accord"

The Brits have long enjoyed a strong reputation for excellence re their TV programs for children and globally for their dramas and historical documents .

Sans compter les programmes animaliers.

The only quality TV chanel we have in France is a one shared with Germany, ARTE to which you may have noticed Ned often refers to.

Anonyme a dit…

Originally the little girl is French and speaks accordingly but in the U.S version she speaks Spanish.

Makes sense. One popular series is Dora the Explorer.
She teaches a few words in Spanish to young American kids. In this episode, "muy bien" is taught. It's not anywhere near as good as the Tots though. As you said, "The Brits have long enjoyed a strong reputation for excellence re their TV programs for children and globally for their dramas and historical documents".

Flocon a dit…

Are you a specialist in children TV programs Anijo?

I notice that both the Dora the explorer and Tots TV articles are semi protected which would tend to indicate there have been many attempts to alter or possibly vandalize said articles.

By the parents I guess, not the toddlers.

Anonyme a dit…

By the parents I guess, not the toddlers.

rires !

Anonyme a dit…

So if you meet one of them, run Tinky Winky, run!

LOLOLOL!

Bert and Ernie have also been declared gay.

In early 1994, Rev. Joseph Chambers attempted to get the puppets banned under a little-used anti-gay law in the deep South.

Flocon a dit…

Do you know homosexuality was a criminal offense in GB up to 67? 1967 that is, not 1867.

In Poland too there were questioning about Tinky Winky being an incitation to homosexuality.

Thanks god I watched the program after I was 50! Had I had the opportunity to do so when I was 5 my whole life could have been totally different. I may have become... Oh Lord no!

Wow, 'twas a close shave indeed.

ZapPow a dit…

Damned !

Dora the Explorer has been arrested for illegal border crossing and resisting arrest !

Anonyme a dit…

Run, Dora, run!

Flocon a dit…

Anijo,

Somehow your link doesn't lead where it's supposed to. Here is what I get.

Flocon a dit…

ZapPow,

Grâce à ton lien j'ai appris (deviné) ce qu'étaient des lezzies...

Il y a aussi un lien vers une photo maybe not suitable for the ladies commenting on Shall we talk ...

Comment diable déniches-tu de pareils sites???

Anonyme a dit…

maybe not suitable for the ladies

You know of course that I would just have to see what was 'not suitable for the ladies'.

And what a delightful thing to see, and oh so suitable for the ladies. ☺

Anonyme a dit…

And what a delightful thing to see, and oh so suitable for the ladies

Well, perhaps not so suitable for the lezzies.

Anonyme a dit…

« Tant à découvrir : Passe-Partout »
http://tinyurl.com/6hnwba9
http://tinyurl.com/4zbegdw
http://tinyurl.com/47xafv9

>>Wow, 'twas a close shave indeed.
http://tinyurl.com/49tluwf
http://tinyurl.com/4bqt5t4
http://tinyurl.com/4tor996
http://tinyurl.com/4pzmste

-Jan
CDN

Flocon a dit…

Merci pour les liens Jan (et le temps passé à les mettre en TinyURL), je ne connaissais pas Passe-Partout qui n'a pas été diffusé hors du Canada.

'Twas a close shave indeed for some episodes qui sont assez chauds!

Il n'y a quasi pas d'échanges de programmes entre le Québec et la France (Belgique et Suisse) et c'est dommage.

Sur TV5 international j'ai vu quelques journaux télévisés québécois au début des années 2000 mais je crois que la France a une position très peu partageuse dans cette instance.

Jean Dujardin doit presque tout à Guy Lepage of Un gars, une fille fame.

Anonyme a dit…

http://tinyurl.com/4pzmste

I have to admit that this one was rather suggestive.

Anijo,

Somehow your link doesn't lead where it's supposed to. Here is what I get


This is yet another mystery of the internet because I just clicked on my link and it leads here:

http://www.myspace.com/doratheexplorermusic/music/songs/run-dora-run-28186813

Flocon a dit…

Anijo,

I've made the research and eventually understood there is a song called Run, Dora, run from her album Dora the Explorer.

But the link to Myspace leads to this:

Error
Désolé, une erreur s'est produite et la page que tu as demandée est indisponible. Vérifie l'orthographe et réessaie ou accède à un autre contenu du site -- musique, films, jeux, célébrités, et +.


Il doit s'agir de questions de droits d'auteurs je suppose.

Peu importe, I get the picture and it works with Tinky Winky too...

-------------

Yes, the Canadian video is "rather" suggestive. I wouldn't expect a children program to contain such part even if the kids can't guess what it's all about (They're supposed to be 5 to 8 I suppose?)

Probably was it a private joke from the comedians and the TV staff.

Anonyme a dit…

>>Jean Dujardin doit presque tout à Guy Lepage of Un gars, une fille fame.
http://tinyurl.com/48j9wqa

-Jan
CDN

Flocon a dit…

Jan,

Oui ☺, j'avais vu cet épisode sur YouTube (I'm a great fan of Un gars, une fille).

At 4:57 Sylvie Léonard says: " Guy, chuis pas comme ça hein?".

In the French version Alexandra Lamy est "insupportable"... :-D

Ned Ludd a dit…

Two things. First on Tacite. American scientist Steven Weinberg said, “Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.”

Second, British mathematician Alan Turing, who was the father of the modern computer and was largely responsible for breaking the German Enigma code was jailed and finally hounded to suicide by the British government because of his homosexuality.

Flocon a dit…

Ned,

Two answers and one question :-D

- Tous les athées sont convaincus depuis toujours (mais il n'y en avait pas beaucoup au Moyen-Âge) de ce que dit Steven Weinberg. Et comme je ne le connais pas ---> Wiki.

Weinberg rappelle ce que disait Hitchens lors de son débat avec Blair il y a quelques mois.

J'aurais pu utiliser la citation de Tacite à propos des rabins et des imams en Israél il y a deux ou trois ans quand ils s'entendaient parfaitement pour interdir la tenue de la version locale de la Gay Pride.

Prêts à s'entretretuer et faire s'entretuer les autres pour leurs insanes superstitions mais unis comme les doigts de la main pour empêcher les gens de vivre en paix.

- L'histoire d'Alan Turing est bien connue de tous les apprentis philosophes, particulièrement les logiciens bien sûr, mais aussi des historiens de la WWII.

- Tes sentiments de profonde empathie avec les croyants et les religions en général m'amènent à croire que tu as été élevée par des religieuses d'une école catholique et que tu as poursuivi tes études chez les Jésuites ☺

Where am I wrong?

Ned Ludd a dit…

Flocon, you are wrong all along the line about be me and religion. I was raised Lutheran, went to Sunday services and Sunday school, but as far as I remember, I never believed the stuff.

I read Nietzche around 16 years old and found out why. The only things I remember from my Lutheran confirmation classes is that during the breaks, I smoked my first cigarette and learned what a condom was for and how to use it.

I was rather like Jonathan Miller; I passed my time while I would rather have been at the beach with my friends. I had no friends at the final church my parents made me attend.

Flocon a dit…

I'm not that wrong it seems...

Luthérien instead of catholic nuns and Jesuits ;-)

"as far as I remember, I never believed the stuff."

Pareil. Ce qu'on me racontait à 7/8 ans je l'écoutais comme une histoire qui me paraissait bien loin de la réalité.

The one thing I remember well was when I was taught the passage about "croissez et multipliez" et aussi la mission des apôtres qui consistait à répandre la bonne parole.

I couldn't help thinking: Pourquoi aller em..er les autres qui ne demandent rien à personne and also the Grow and Multiply (?) part which didn't go down well with my already pessimistic nature, like there wasn't enough pain, sorrow, suffering and cruelty in the world.

Coincidentally I also read Nietzsche (Zarathoustra to be precise) when I was 16 (1968). I was enthousiastic about that book because of the lyricism I found in it.

The kind of book that makes a huge impression on young lost minds.

But Nietzsche, like most great philosophers, requires a lot of rereading of their works.

I wasn't concerned with the cigarettes and condom paragraph though...

---------

No later than yesterday I saw a short passage of one episode of the Simpson and there was that picture of a building in Spingfield with a sign reading: Ayn Rand school for tots!!!

I had no idea the impact that devilish woman had on the American psyche until you mentioned her last Autumn...

Ned Ludd a dit…

I read "Geneology of Morals" and "Beyond Good and Evil".

I think I mentioned Jonathan Miller before, but here again is his BBC program "A Rough History of Disbelief".

Disbelief

Flocon a dit…

Thank Odin, the video lasts less than ten minutes :-D

J'ai probablement lu les 3/4 des livres de Nietzsche but -as I wrote before- these books need and deserve to be read many, many times donc it's a bit meaningless to have read them only once(je parle pour moi là évidemment).

That one in particular I read twice some 15 years ago.

Ned Ludd a dit…

It was just the first episode. I mentioned Miller, because his description of his personal experience with religion is similar to mine.

The book by Nietzche "Beyond Good and Evil" makes me think of another thinker that has influenced me, B.F. Skinner who wrote "Beyond Freedom and Dignity", which I highly recommend.

There are several videos of Skinner, here is one.

beyond

Flocon a dit…

Désolé Ned, ton commentaire a atterri dans les pourriels (French for spams, Anijo).

This article (with many links to the English original texts) will probably interest you since you're in behaviorism.

For what I understand, the article seems to be in line with the operant conditioning concept Skinner worked out.

Anonyme a dit…

Flocon and Ned,

You two are impressive. I didn't read any Neitzsche (or any other literary writings re sketicism etc etc )until I was well into my thirties. It was when I was around 13 years old that I began to question all of this, but without the benefit of being educated by any profound ideas from any prominent philosophers.

Anonyme a dit…

re sketicism

oops, pardon... skepticism.

Mon 'ti doigt droite est fenéante

Flocon a dit…

I started reading Nietzsche and Freud when I was 16 but you must remember there are these philosophy classes in France which we undertake the year before the Baccalaureate.

I stopped reading these books when I was 20 something until I returned to philosophy when I was 45. So I wasted some 25 years pulling myself together...

I'm not sure reading some books too early is much positive in the end. Those are books that need to be read and read and reread again.
D'un autre côté il faut bien commencer...

"without the benefit of being educated by any profound ideas from any prominent philosophers."

This is exactly why Nietzsche wrote his third Untimely meditation in hommage to Schopenhauer who Nietzsche considered as the true educator he was looking for.

Read just the first lines of chapter 2 and it may ring a bell with you.

Anonyme a dit…

This is exactly why Nietzsche wrote his third Untimely meditation in hommage to Schopenhauer who Nietzsche considered as the true educator he was looking for.

Read just the first lines of chapter 2 and it may ring a bell with you.


This provides me with something interesting to ponder tomorrow morning. Thank you. You, Flocon, are my mentor re philosophy.

Ned Ludd a dit…

It may surprise you, but Skinner spoke highly of Rousseau, particularly of "Emile, ou de l'education".

Emile

Another book to read by Skinner is "About Behaviorism".

aboutbehaviorism

Apparently this has not been translated into French. His "Science and Human Behavior" is rather long and technical.

Flocon a dit…

"It may surprise you, but Skinner spoke highly of Rousseau, particularly of "Emile, ou de l'education".

C'est inattendu en effet pour un scientifique tel que lui.

Je me suis toujours demandé s'il valait la peine encore de lire l'Émile de Rousseau. Un manuel d'éducation écrit au XVIIIè siècle. En tous cas je vais aller lire ce qu'en disent Wiki en français et en anglais.

L'article anglais est plus fourni que l'article français d'ailleurs.

Anonyme a dit…

Here is an aspect of Schopenhauer that is ugly.

Flocon a dit…

Yes, this is a well known piece by him and which is totaly unrelated to his philosophy.

It's just a text written by a German bourgeois in the middle of the XIXth century.

Philosophers are no saints like musicians are not necessarily paragons of morality.

Arthur had a very bad relationship with his mother whom he accused of being more or less responsible for the death of his father or at least not to be respectul of his memoire.

Also he wasn't exactly a revolutionaire politicaly wise.

Anonyme a dit…

Philosophers are no saints like musicians are not necessarily paragons of morality.

Sone artists are certainly not paragons of morality.

Various people influence and add to our intellectual understanding about life.

Flocon a dit…

"Some artists are certainly not paragons of morality."

Had you Polanski in mind?

Parmi bien d'autres, il y a un célèbre peintre italien du XVIIè siècle (dont le nom m'échappe) qui fut recherché par la "police" pontificale after he had killed one if not two persons.

Puisque tu as lu l'essai Of Women, you will have noticed that what he writes about the fate of women forced into prostitution isn't that "ugly"...

Anonyme a dit…

Instead of calling them beautiful, there would be more warrant for describing women as the un-aesthetic sex. Neither for music, nor for poetry, nor for fine art, have they really and truly any sense or susceptibility; it is a mere mockery if they make a pretence of it in order to assist their endeavor to please

~Schopenhauer

So Schopenhauer feels that women's desire to please is why they are inferior to men?

Anonyme a dit…

Had you Polanski in mind?

It was myself who I had in mind.

Anonyme a dit…

Puisque tu as lu l'essai Of Women, you will have noticed that what he writes about the fate of women forced into prostitution isn't that "ugly"...

One would hope that any reasonable person would not feel positive about women being forced into prositituion. Being against such a thing is not the same as being a feminist.

Anonyme a dit…

Flocon,

I like that we feel comfortable enough with one another to speak our minds, both of us. ☺

Flocon a dit…

Had you Polanski in mind?

"It was myself who I had in mind."

Did you drug and rape an innocent teenager? shock! shock! shock!

---------

This text by Schopy isn't worth discussing.

He certainly wasn't much of a feminist but how many feminists were there in the world by then?

Even now, not all women are feminist.

Anonyme a dit…

He certainly wasn't much of a feminist but how many feminists were there in the world by then?

Even now, not all women are feminist.


You're right. Sexist and racist comments that no one would dare make today were quite common back then.

We've come along way baby.

Ned Ludd a dit…

Another person I may have mentioned earlier is Victoria Woodhull, who ran for President in the 19th century, was the first woman stockbroker and many other things that shocked right-thinking people of the period.

Woodhull

Woodhullspeech

Flocon a dit…

Ned,

"Another person I may have mentioned earlier is Victoria Woodhull"

Yes, I remember you did.

I came accross the name of an English feminist in the early XIXth century the other day, unfortunately I didn't memorize her name.

Prior to Victoria Woodhull lived Sojourner truth.

Now I don't know if they ever met?