Growing Hope Against Hunger

Drtooth

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Why oh why can't they make a Special called "Elmo and his Sesame Street friends beat the living tar out of a soul-less CEO that keeps putting us in the situations we have to make specials about?"
 

CherryPizza

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With its sequel "Elmo and his Sesame Street friends pee themselves laughing at the inane ramblings of right-wing commentators in response to their last special"
 

Drtooth

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With its sequel "Elmo and his Sesame Street friends pee themselves laughing at the inane ramblings of right-wing commentators in response to their last special"
I still think the recession episode should have had a character named Trash Limbaugh whine about how horrible sharing and looking out for one and other is, and have Elmo walk over and say "Why the heck does America STILL listen to you?"
 

D'Snowth

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Why oh why can't they make a Special called "Elmo and his Sesame Street friends beat the living tar out of a soul-less CEO that keeps putting us in the situations we have to make specials about?"
Yes, SST sure has been cranking outa lot of these primetime specials as of late, haven't they?

I'll tell ya what, I've had to accompany my mom to a few of these food pantries before, and it was fricken humiliating and embarrassing, mainly because there were so many people and families there who were a lot worse off than we were... some of those families were also homeless, so it's like we didn't even really have a right to be there, or at least I didn't think so...
 

CherryPizza

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I'll tell ya what, I've had to accompany my mom to a few of these food pantries before, and it was fricken humiliating and embarrassing, mainly because there were so many people and families there who were a lot worse off than we were... it's like we didn't even really have a right to be there
There are a number of food vans and other such services here in Australia that become such a lifestyle choice for people. The Hare Krishnas serve their free food on a nightly basis in the 'arty' area of Sydney, but it is never stipulated that it's for poor people. When I was at university, I made a habit out of visiting charity vans in town at night time, and even though I did need a feed at times, it did feel slightly wrong, even though there was always plenty for everyone. They had such a regular crowd with its own cliques, though, and even on days when people were better off than they were on others, they would not miss that social event.

It is such a double-edged sword, since it is good that these services give people somewhere to belong, but many get so comfortable with them that they wouldn't consider the option of eventually not needing them.
 

Drtooth

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Yes, SST sure has been cranking outa lot of these primetime specials as of late, haven't they?
I dunno about you, while I give SW credit, I'm sick of them having to use Elmo to explain why life sucks in this crappy millennium.

I tried VERY hard to watch the recession episode and all I got out of the actual human true stories was "I got laid off because the upperclass twit CEO blew their profits buying favors and trying to get an even bigger paycheck he didn't deserve." I didn't bother with the war ones, and while I give them credit for telling kids about what's happening with their parents, I don't like the insinuation that Elmo's father or Rosita's father were fighting over there. I don't think Jim would have been happy about that.

Still, this thing's going to be hard to watch. All I can think of are stories about parents having to work crappy low paying jobs day and night and still are unable to feed their families, people who were laid off and never recovered because Mr. CEO wanted another beach house he's never going to use, and various other sad stories with the vague "it might get better if you wait a LONG time" ending.

Seriously... corporations ARE people... very nasty, despicable people with no morals or scruples who would push their mothers in front of a bus for a passing guffaw, but people nonetheless. :ouch:

And DON'T get me started on Wal*Mart's PR and Tax write off sponsorship.
 

D'Snowth

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I'm sick of them having to use Elmo to explain why life sucks in this crappy millennium.
Well, what do you expect? I mean, we live in a time where "Elmo sells"... really, I mean we all know that's the reason why Elmo's plastered on SST products, even if he has little or no involvement, because they're afraid if kids don't see Elmo, the products won't sell... like that Sesame Street Christmas Carol DVD years ago: the story was about Oscar, Elmo was only featured in flashback clips, yet Elmo's plastered on the cover in front of Oscar... matter of fact, Elmo's BIGGER than Oscar on the cover.

I guess they figure with these specials, if there's no Elmo in the foreground, kids aren't going to want to watch, and therefore, parents won't be able to watch with them, and take the messages they're trying to get across.

Admittedly, I have missed out on some of the more recent specials, but I have heard they were good... I'm just not sure of how effective they'll be... that war special's been out what a couple of years now? Any progress made on the war effort since then? Not really. Are people going to benefit from this special? Probably only because the political fatcats are too busy feuding with each other rather than actually helping the economy that people HAVE to turn to these food pantries to eat, because less and less money is going into their pockets, resulting in less and less trips to the grocery store to buy food to feed themselves with... that's the only benefit I see from this special, yes it will raise awareness of food pantries and such, but I doubt it's actually going to improve the situation.
 

Drtooth

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I guess they figure with these specials, if there's no Elmo in the foreground, kids aren't going to want to watch, and therefore, parents won't be able to watch with them, and take the messages they're trying to get across.
That's not my point. My point is all this terrible stuff is going around and it has to all the sudden be Sesame Workshop and Elmo's job to comfort children when no one else is making the effort. I'm more annoyed that they HAVE to make these specials if anything.

Admittedly, I have missed out on some of the more recent specials, but I have heard they were good... I'm just not sure of how effective they'll be... that war special's been out what a couple of years now? Any progress made on the war effort since then? Not really. Are people going to benefit from this special? Probably only because the political fatcats are too busy feuding with each other rather than actually helping the economy that people HAVE to turn to these food pantries to eat, because less and less money is going into their pockets, resulting in less and less trips to the grocery store to buy food to feed themselves with... that's the only benefit I see from this special, yes it will raise awareness of food pantries and such, but I doubt it's actually going to improve the situation.
I could go on about how ineffective the government is, that we have to chose between weak and draconian, and how the big corporations are run by imbeciles too blinded by their own gluttony they don't realize or care they're going to wind up destroying themselves...

But the fact that Wal*Mart is a sponsor of this really gets to me. I mean, sure, it's nothing but a PR stunt to put on a press release and a tax write off... that I get. But what REALLY gets me is when these companies come out and basically say "You know what makes America great? in times of adversity they come together, help each other out, pull themselves up by the bootstraps," then say "We refuse to hire anyone until we get an even bigger tax cut." Poor people can't have welfare or government help but the big Conglom-O's are on corporate welfare and bigger cheats than anyone out there. All this money could go to funding the under funded soup kitchens, creating temporary construction jobs that can help these families out, even extending unemployment. But no, it goes to making sure CEO's get huge bonuses when they drive the company to the skirts of bankruptcy for a job "well done."

Capitalism is SUPPOSED to be a symbiotic relationship. The lower classes buy goods and services from the upper classes, and in turn, those upper classes hire the lower class so they can get money to buy stuff... the rich profit from the poor, the poor benefit from the rich. Now we got these gluttonous nimrods that are trying to cut out the middle man and get as much money as possible, and it's hurting them in the long run because no one's buying anything. No one's getting hired, less money both sides get. They don't save all that much.
 

CherryPizza

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It's the same way that Barney allegedly encourages kids to use their imaginations, as long as their imagination lets them see the same overgrown prehistoric eunuch following the same bad choreography and droning the same platitudes as all the other kids 'imagine'. Now Elmo's noble cause is to help kids understand the issues that affect them... from the point of view of the perpetrators of these issues. I have never seen any of the specials, since they don't air here in Australia, but from the bits that I've heard I can only wonder if they are aimed at the children whose innocence needs to be cryogenically frozen or the adults who'll spoonfeed them the corporate propaganda.

Elmo can hold up a few brightly-cloured letters and in some small way teach the young'uns to read... if only there was someone to teach them to read between the lines.
 
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