Politically Correct Children

It was recently announced that the popular children's show, Sesame Street, will feature an HIV-positive character. Apparently the character will first air in South Africa, where HIV/AIDS is a big problem, and then it may air in America and Australia and elsewhere.

While Sub-Saharan Africa does have a big problem with AIDS, is it wise to be targeting children at such a very young age? The average age of a Sesame Street watcher is 2 to 4 years old. Surely this is way too young to be exposed to such complex adult problems as AIDS.

We do not expose such young children to other adult worries, like the drug problem, the war on terror, or heart attacks. Why destroy our children's innocence? Why cannot we let children be children? They are not ready - mentally or emotionally - for such issues.

And if Sesame Street does feature the character, just how will he be presented? What will he say? How much detail about AIDS will be given? The truth is, HIV/AIDS is mainly a life-style based disease. If you reduce the number of people who behave in certain ways, you reduce the incidence of the disease. Here in Australia over 85 per cent of HIV/AIDS cases are due to male homosexual activity or intravenous drug use. If you curtail those activities, you greatly reduce the spread of AIDS.

And if you are sexually abstinent until marriage, faithful within marriage, and not an intravenous drug user, you have almost a zero chance of contracting the disease.

Moreover, there are plenty of other killers in the world: stroke, cancer, etc. Will Sesame Street feature characters with these problems? Why ignore diseases that kill many more people in favor of a Politically Correct disease?

It is noteworthy that African countries that emphasise abstinence and seek to curtail sexual promiscuity have much lower incidences of HIV. But again we do not expect Sesame Street to run this line. Instead it will run the diversity and tolerance line. The real message will be that we should embrace all lifestyles, and make no judgments about a person's sexuality.

This is simply a recipe for disaster. If certain behaviors are responsible for public health crises, then we should do all we can to dissuade people from such bahaviours. And governments do this all the time. They believe that cigarette smoking is dangerous, so they do all they can to discourage the behaviour. So too with drink driving.

Sexual promiscuity in all forms, including homosexuality, is a dangerous high-risk behaviour. Governments and TV shows should not encourage such behaviour, They should seek to lessen it, not create a climate to allow more of it.

Family Update, September-October 2002, p. 8