The Horrors of Cartoon Shows

Like any child, I grew up on cartoons. Saturday morning was almost a holy day to me (certainly more than the day that follows it). Looking back I can’t believe it was so easy for me to wake up early on a weekend with only the promise of colorful television programming. Now while I feel that I grew up rather well rounded (hold your criticisms), looking back at the programs I grew up on, I am surprised I didn’t end up more messed up. While the child in me saw worlds of wonder and entertainment, the adult in me realizes I was exposed to some of the worst crimes of inhumanity ever.

The Flinstones shows a world where humans and dinosaurs live together. Not only does this show promote an idea of creationism (dinosaurs were extinct a good 65 million years before humans walked the earth), it also depicts a world in which mankind have enslaved all the animals. There are no wild beasts roaming the Flinstone world. Every animal is used as some form of tool or device. True, humans in the real world use animals for servitude, but in the Flinstones’ world those animals can talk and display sentience (“eh, it’s a living”). Essentially the Flinstones’ world condones slavery and animal abuse.

Then of course there is something far more insidious like Disney’s The Gummi Bears. Basically the entire Gummi bear clan is a group of alcoholics, even the young children. The bears use the magical properties of “Gummi Berry Juice”, which is an obvious substitute for wine. To further prove the analogy, whenever a human drinks the juice in the show they gain super human strength. If anyone has witnessed an alcoholic on a rage attack you can see the similarities. And since the Gummi Bears make this concoction themselves it is also encouraging the making of moonshine as opposed to legal alcohol.

There are also shows that depict the cruelty of mankind to children who should not be exposed to such concepts until they are old enough to understand them. The Jetsons shows a world decimated by pollution. The Pound Puppies shows neglected pets. Ducktales teaches children to place accumulation of wealth over anything else. GI Joe and Transformers introduced more than a few children to the concept of war and armed conflict. I certainly do not believe in coddling children but it feels like parents have ignored the perfectly innocent packaging that many of these programs have been presented in.

Children are extremely impressionable and not likely to question the realities they are presented from entertainment. It is an observable fact that children who were raised watching the Three Stooges at some point tried to perform the same dangerous stunts presented to them. While this behavior is usually corrected by the negative reinforcement of extreme pain, no such negative reinforcement exists for the other examples presented. In fact the horror is that it portrays the above subjects in a lighthearted manner.

"What's the worst that could happen?"

While I do not adhere to the belief that a child’s behavior can be affected by TV (despite making the opposite argument in this blog entry) there certainly must be a few children who did not necessarily feel negative about drinking after seeing Gummi Bears. Who thought animal cruelty is okay from the Flinstones. And any number of other shows that warped their young little minds. I’m sure Challenge of the Super Friends could be blamed for any number of my negative behaviors. Marv and Wendy set a bad example.