Ah, those wicked Teletubbies!

Those of you who wish a more intelligent overview of how I feel about nonsensical efforts to 'protect our children' may find enlightenment in a previous post entitled Decency, Thy Name is Legion." My mind is too boggled by today's headlines, about a protest in Poland that Teletubbies are 'promoting a homosexual lifestyle,' for me to be at my creative peak.

I am pleased to say that my exposure to Teletubbies has been quite limited. I daresay that those who watch this programming, which is aimed at those who are not old enough to talk, are not pondering the intricacies of sexual orientation at the moment. Indeed, they are at about the stage of development, as far as matters sensual are concerned, where they will cry when they are hungry without yet being able to identify that it is hunger that is making them cry.

My inclination is that those who are heading this campaign in Poland are at about the intellectual level of those who are of an age to watch Teletubbies. (If my readers will forgive an irresistible, dreadful pun to follow...) I think, first off, they need instruction in the construction of logical arguments, and the recognition of how predicates are definite. (For example, God is Love does not mean Love is God.) With satellite television and the Internet presenting so many images daily, perhaps our Polish friends mistakenly thought "One who carries a handbag must be a queen."

Though this is not directly related to the controversial programming, I had a thought prompted by an e-mail I received last week. (When one has one's own domain, one often receives massive amounts of spam, but also serious enquiries about one's essays. This e-mail was from someone who must have noticed my interest in Christianity but not in, for example, Chaucer and the courtly love tradition.) The writer assumed I'd like to join some campaign to protest against the lack of 'clean entertainment.'

I shall never be accused of any lack of propriety, and have no taste for the pornographic. However, my love for the arts, literature, theatre, opera, poetry, etc., makes me well aware that the surest indication that an 'artistic' work will be abysmal is the tag that it is 'for the whole family.' I'm not the first to say that good art reflects truth. If one has to make all characters 'role models,' with role models apparently being asexual adults who would cringe at the sight of a glass of wine and whose artistic expression is limited to playing hymns on the piano with one finger, and has to avoid the weakness and complexity of human nature, there is no truth, much less art.

Just this weekend, I did a bit of unwinding and reread Susan Howatch's "Absolute Truths." (I love her Church of England series - in fact, it's better theology than one can find on shelves so designated, let alone most novels.) Charles, the character who is the main focus in this volume, is a dedicated bishop and theologian, whose faith and values are undeniable, but he falls into such messes as do most of us when we are faced with conflict, bereavement, and fear. Though there is nothing remotely pornographic in this book (and in fact no explicit description of sex at all), there is one incident of Charles' having sex with a woman he does not know well - an incident more tragic than 'shocking,' because it shows the depths of despair and sorrow he is feeling from his wife's recent death. As with the other books in the Church of England series, the theme is redemption - and there is no turning the head to the sort of awareness that one is in a muddle which leads one to embrace the need for a Redeemer.

So, one could not even write a strong story of redemption and dedication to Christ, of forgiveness and healing, in this model. (For the record, most sins in this world are not related to sex - but those concerned 'for the whole family' turn from any sign of adults being other than perfect. I suppose they are so terrified that their children will come under bad influences that they want to maintain the fiction that they themselves are perfect.)

The Teletubbies nonsense is hardly unique. There are enough Internet sites which would make one think Walt Disney was the prime corrupter of youth; that the Proctor and Gamble logo of the man in the moon was demonic; etc., etc., that I can see bizarre undercurrents of fear. Now, fear in itself can be quite valuable - members of a fire brigade would be goners the first day on the job did they not have a natural fear of fire. But distorted fear makes one see goblins that do not exist, and then burn with fury towards those who supposedly created them.