SURREAL-IZMS

first spongebob, now buster.
bugs bunny better watch out
1. The only thing I'm intolerant of is intolerance. The small-mindedness of people is offensive enough but when it gets elevated to national policy, it's time to get seriously concerned.

"Our" (I use that word loosely) new Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings, denounced a PBS children's show for implicitly promoting a "lifestyle" that some parents might deem objectionable. The show is PBS' "Postcards From Buster" where a cartoon rabbit (that'd be Buster) visits different places around the country and teaches children about everything from Native American dances to surfing in Florida.

So...on a yet-to-be-aired episode, Buster visits Vermont (people's gaydar should already be beeping) and learns all about maple sugaring. No problem there - BUT, the family that owns the maple trees happens to be headed by a lesbian couple. Mind you - the episode is not about them at all, it's about how to get sugar from maple trees. But the fact that they appear in the episode was enough for Spellings to chastise PBS and "coincidentally" (we're not really buying that), PBS leadership decided to shelve the episode out of concerns that some parents may object.

It's come to this (actually, it came to this a long time ago) but you don't even have to be advocating for queer-ness. You merely have to point out that it exists and that's enough to be offensive. Let's just restate that again:

Simply acknowledging that gay people exist and form families is offensive to certain segments of society.

I'd chastise PBS more but considering that the Dept. of Education dropped about $100,000,000 on funding the larger program that "Buster" falls under, I can appreciate that they're in a bind around this. It's a grand, grim irony that the most open-minded sources of knowledge (such as public television) are often times made to bend to partisan political will yet private media (Fox News anyone?) is just as insidious. It's that proverbial rock and a hard place, you know?

In the meantime though, the Bush administration's extremist conservatism is really not shy about flying their flag. They're not remotely trying to build consensus or promote tolerance. It's either their way or no way.

2. A suicidal 25 year old decides to end his life by parking his truck on railroad tracks. Then, before the train hits, he changes his mind, gets out and then watches two trains collide and derail, killing 10. If this guy wanted to kill himself before, he's really going to wish he did it now.

I don't mean to sound insensitive but how much you want to bet a future Law and Order episode is going to reference this. It's practically tailor-made for one of those "ripped from the headlines" episodes.

3. Ok, finally, something lighter. There's a parody Dipset song by the Dickset, called "The Family", that's floating around. What's really hilarious and brilliant about this song is how it shows that there's a thin line b/t how Cam'ron raps and how this faux-Killa parodies Cam's rhymes. A very thin line. I've played this for a few folks and they asked, "wait, this isn't Cam?"