The Saga of Spongebob

Unless you have been living in a cave the last few days you are aware of those wacky Christian Right nutjobs taking inexplicable swipes at the beloved cartoon character SpongeBob and the notion that we should all simply love and respect each other. What could possibly be wrong with that?

The answer, of course, is that the Mainstream Media has once again shown themselves to be completely inept in actually researching a story and attempting to behave as journalists. The reporting on this story has been little more than juvenile sneering and jeering from the sidelines while making no attempt to actually report what the story is about. Their lack of investigative and objective reporting is disgraceful as always, but perhaps not entirely unexpected. It has fallen instead to the world of bloggers, commentators and pundits to report what the media has chosen to bury, distort and ignore.

Despite the attempt by the his detractors to make this a Dr. Dobson vs. SpongeBob debate there is a little more to it than that. From the outset, let's be clear that this issue is not about objections to any specific cartoon characters. Instead, Dr. Dobson is concerned that these popular animated personalities are being exploited by an organization that's determined to promote the acceptance of homosexuality among our nation's youth. — Focus on the Family Website

So where would such an idea come from?

The We Are Family Foundation produced a guide entitled Writing for Change coupled with a 'gateway' video featuring a myriad of familiar and beloved puppet and cartoon characters singing a rather benign modern rendering of the song 'We Are Family.' The guide was published in partnership with the Oregon State University Difference, Power and Discrimination Program whose mission statement reads: "The DPD Program works to create a more inclusive curriculum that addresses issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other institutionalized systems of inequality. The Program provides faculty and staff with the training and resources needed to develop or modify comparative diversity courses."

A special DVD edition, accompanied by a teacher's guide, is slated to be distributed to 61,000 public and private elementary schools throughout the nation in a major push to encourage 'tolerance' and 'diversity.' "The lessons aim to put the video's themes of respect, understanding and appreciation of diversity into practice and are designed for pre-K through first grade audiences with additional teaching guidelines for grades two to six." — We Are Family Foundation website.

On the surface this appears to most people as a harmless version of the old Biblical standard of 'loving thy neighbor' and that is exactly what the producers of this propaganda video and accompanying teacher's guide want you to believe. The insidious nature and true motives of this campaign are not immediately obvious but are easily revealed for what they truly are.