THE POLITICAL CORRECTNESS OF CARTOONS

In the words of Chris Rice, I am far from being a "cartoonmaniac" other than enjoying the latest movies from Pixar on the big screen. I used to really enjoy cartoons, the humor and even the satirical look at life, all the way up until my college days. But I guess adult life and all the responsibilities thereof forced me to put my cartoon-viewing days behind me.

A few years ago we adopted a little girl, and I got really excited. Here was my chance to watch cartoons again! I could always blame it on her and never let on that I secretly enjoyed them. So, when we finally got cable tv and found out that we got the cartoon network, we quickly turned the tv to that channel. But, after scanning the shows that were on the channel, as well as the sampling now offered on Saturday mornings by the networks and on the speciality channels, such as Nickelodeon, I can say that I was less than impressed. Gone were the Flintstones, Scooby Doo, and the Smurfs. In their place were the disrespectful children of the Rugrats, the questionable content of the Japanese-influenced cartoons, and the shows produced simply to sell a product. This is not mentioning the extremely raunchy MTV offering, "South Park."

So, we swore off all tv cartoons, not watching them myself or allowing our daughter to watch them. Instead, we turned our attention to the inspirational cartoons that were found at our local Christian bookstore, most notably the Veggie Tales series. These cartoons (actually computer-generated) featured vegetables as the main characters and had stories that were either Bible stories or had a biblical world-view. Excellent writing with a sharp wit and engaging characters. Still one of my favorite cartoons of all time.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I was flipping through the tv this week and found out that NBC was offering Veggie Tales on Saturday morning as part of its Saturday cartoon line-up. Not only was this a quality show, but it was a Christian, Bible-based show. I was excited that millions of children in the US were now going to be given the opportunity to be exposed to Christianity and to a biblical world-view and good morals through this show. But then I found out that NBC was bowing to the world of political correctness and were mandating that the shows be edited to remove non-historical references to God and the Bible (Surprisingly, MSNBC was the one who broke the story). According to this article, NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks said, “Our goal is to reach as broad an audience as possible with these positive messages while being careful not to advocate any one religious point of view.” In essence, NBC is removing the one thing that made the show appealing and that was, for the most part, the reason for its enormous popularity in the past.

What is it about political correctness that allows networks to edit out "offensive" material that talks about God and the Bible but that allows it to broadcast questionable material such as foul language and rude behavior on cartoons created for children? What is so correct about censuring the Creator? For years, we have seen political correctness try to smother our religion, our beliefs, and our moral precepts in this country while the media continues to produce objectionable material with questionable language, sexual situations, and other immoral points-of-view. When it starts affecting even the cartoons that our kids watch, perhaps its time for Christians to act. What can be done? Other than prayer, I don't know. But I do know this -- I may not be a "cartoonmaniac" but I am a Jesus-freak, and I am planning on voicing my concern with NBC.