New at Reason

Julian Sanchez | June 24, 2005

Jacob Sullum argues it's time to kick Big Bird and Elmo off the dole.

Comments

|6.24.05 @ 10:10AM|#

..but..but..you're saying that we should kill Big Bird! We were lucky enough to have him as kids. Why not today's generation, you selfish, heartless bastard!! Fuck you in the heart!

Adam|6.24.05 @ 10:15AM|#

good work whoever dug up the big bird picture..

|6.24.05 @ 10:47AM|#

I remember as a kid seeing Tom Baker or whoever sitting in on a fund drive and saying "Doctor Who fans are the biggest supporters of Public Television". From then on I assumed that PBS arranged their programming to suit the people who donated the most. I couldn't help but notice that all of Sunday evening was devoted to Doctor Who and similar stuff. It seemed like an interesting blend of "public" and "Market". What happened with that?

|6.24.05 @ 10:53AM|#

not entirely true that gubmint doesn't interfere w/ private broadcasters

think Janet Jackson's nasty boobie

I'm sure there was some behind the scenes pressure from the white house when Bill Maher got canned for his statements

I see your point overall, though.

|6.24.05 @ 11:34AM|#

Back in the late 70s, my local PBS station, OETA, introduced me to weird British stuff like Doctor Who, The Prisoner, and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Today, cable and satellite, and for that matter, videos and dvds, make so much more accessible to the public. Competition works--allow the competition to flourish and public television is completely irrelevant and unnecessary. What did the FCC ever do to foster choice?

|6.24.05 @ 12:00PM|#

I am in total agreement with Jacob on this. The money spent on public broadcasting is hardly a drop in the bucket compared to the massive wads of cash the Bush administration has been throwing away, but if we are going to exercise some kind of fiscal restraint, we have to start somewhere. Slaughtering a sacred cow like public broadcasting is probably the best place to begin.

As pointed out in the article, the money given to public broadcasting ultimately makes up a very small portion of what they get annually. They can make up for that on their own without having to cut too many corners. And the people on the left need to stop freaking out about the new head honcho at PBS; just because he's a Republican does not mean that the network is going to become some propaganda machine like Fox News.

Would be kinda funny, though, to have a show where Neil Cavuto and garbage-can occupant Oscar the Grouch debated welfare...

|6.24.05 @ 12:28PM|#

The legislation defeated yesterday that Jacob refers to was a mixed bag. If I'm reading it correctly, it reduced appropriations to a number of gov't agencies, but just said that public TV couldn't be touched at this point.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d109:29:./temp/~bde8y4::

I'll also point out that Ron Paul voted aye. Not that I'm a fan of subsidizing Snuffaluffagus, just pointing out that it seemed to be only a small part of what they were voting on.

|6.24.05 @ 1:51PM|#

At certain times and in response to certain problems, a modicum of violence must be introduced into political life.

I believe that this is that issue.

Can it be moral that Snuffalugus and other muppets live almost entirely on the tax dollars paid--at gunpoint--by hardworking waitresses, cab-drivers, and exotic dancers? No.

Snuffalufagus and Oscar the Grouch are thieves and their campaign of plunder--to say nothing of their reign of terror--must be arrested at once.

Violence is the only answer.

The next time you see an oversized muppet in the street, commence an assault of the most vicious brutality. Muster all your strength for this endeavor. Collect friends and weapons and dispatch your fury post haste.

Whether it's Big Bird or the infamous Cookie Monster, hit 'em with brick, sticks; throw shit at 'em. They're pussies; they ain't gonna do nothing back.

The time has come to take a stand. The tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

No mercy for the parasite puppets. Pummel them until they no longer bleed or move.

No amount of retribution can adequately do justice in return for the untold misery these muppets have precipitated since America began funding public broadcasting almost 40 years ago.

|6.24.05 @ 1:51PM|#

This is the libertarian version of removing mention of God from public buildings. It may be technically correct, but let us please spend effort in more important areas.

|6.24.05 @ 2:20PM|#

They can kill Big Bird, they can kill Elmo. Shit, they can even kill Bill Moyers for all I care, but if they touch so much as one hair on KEXP, there will be hell to pay...

|6.24.05 @ 3:19PM|#

I love the photo of Big Bird flipping the bird.

c: Your post of June 24, 2005 01:51 PM isn't exactly John Galt's three-hour speech in Atlas Shrugged, but comes close, in its passion and stirringness.

("Stirringness"?)

|6.24.05 @ 3:53PM|#

c,

Your post is very well written! In fact, it reminds me, in the passion and the voice, of P.J. O'Rourke. It sounds just like him. Are you sure that you're not ol' P.J.? :)

Lazlo|6.24.05 @ 4:07PM|#

The next time you see an oversized muppet in the street, commence an assault of the most vicious brutality. Muster all your strength for this endeavor. Collect friends and weapons and dispatch your fury post haste.

For the sake of your own safety and that of those around you, please be sure to first check and make sure it's not Yoda.

|6.24.05 @ 5:16PM|#

OMG - I routinely turn my pictures off in my browser; I just saw the pic of Big Bird and almost spit my coffee out...

|6.24.05 @ 7:58PM|#

For the sake of your own safety and that of those around you, please be sure to first check and make sure it's not Yoda.

Yoda: "Mmmmmm.... Lay a can of smack down on your ass, I shall. Who be your daddy? Who be your daddy?"

Luke Skywalker: "I thought it was Darth Vader!"

Yoda: Rhetorically I was speaking, you twit.

|6.25.05 @ 1:08AM|#

Jason,
I agree that relatively speaking, public radio and TV are small potatoes. All the same, for me they're a very good example of the idea most people have that "I don't like the way the market provides good X (whatever it may be), therefore the government should subsidize the production of good X in a way I do like." Public radio and TV might be a good starting point for convincing people that the government does not need to subsidize stuff just because you want it. NPR and PBS are things most people know, and they don't lend themselves to but-people-would starve-and-die-if-the-government-doesn't-fund-this type arguments. If people can be convinced that the sun would rise tomorrow if we did not have publicly funded radio and TV, maybe they'll be open to persuasion on other fronts. It's not much, but maybe it's a start.

|6.27.05 @ 12:47AM|#

The content of private TV and radio is so intellectually stimulating that I just can't imagine why anybody thinks we need PBS. Shows like "Do you Want to Be a Millionaire" and all the stuff on CNN challenge us without taxing our attention spans. all the commericals give us a chance to digest the information and be entertained at the same time. Ditec commericals promote fiscal responsibility, but it's our choice. Look at what the market has done for restaurants. Anybody can afford a nutritious Big Mac. For the sake of our intellectual development, kill PBS before it kills us with boring in-depth documentaries.

|6.27.05 @ 5:49PM|#

"Miriam" or "Melissa"

If you're going to use multiple names to put vapid exuses for debate into topics days after they wind down, make sure you change the email address you're posting as, to.