Frenzy in the family

So Rick Mercer wrote an interesting blog on Darryl Reid: The Right Guy for the Job, divulging Reid's connections with Focus on Family. Focus on family is a particular American conservative Christian group that allegedly exposed SpongeBob for being gay. This lead me into a whirlwind frenzy researching *exactly* what happened nearly two years ago. What happened, and why would affiliation to the organization be harmful to one's political career? Was it all media frenzy that blew things out of proportion?

This site encapsulates the events of the controversy: Cartoon Madness

Dr. Dobson, founder of Focus on Family, wrote a letter in response to the media frenzy. Dr. Dobson describes the We are Family Foundation responsible for producing and distributing the Spongebob DVD's to American elementary schools as a pro-homosexuality group, and that they are depicting SpongeBob as gay, in efforts of inculcating homosexuality into the minds of our children.

Dobson accuses the We are Family Foundation for removing online material on homosexuality, since the controversy began. Apparently, the material in question is being denounced by both the We are Family Foundation and the Focus on Family organization. Dobson describes the material as "loaded" and "nonsense." I have quoted Dobson's quote in my Nov 6 blog entry.

I checked the We are Family Foundation website to reseach what they stand for, what they believe in. And, honestly, it is a pretty benign website. If they had a hidden ideology to advance, i would say it's buried quite deeply, and would require some convoluted analyses for excavation. I'm thinking somewere along the lines of building American Imperial Legacy. Their site is not controversial, and honestly quite uninteresting.

As "Cartoon Madness" points out, it seems that Dr. Dobson has mistaken the We are Family Foundation for We are Family, an organization that lends support to young homosexuals. The style and content of Dr. Dobson's quoted material seems to actually fit in with We are family mission statement.

So it was all a misunderstanding:
--Focus on Family is not targeting SpongeBob for being gay, as the media has ascertained.
--We are Family Foundation is not disseminating homosexual lifestyle choices to American elementary schools, as the Dobson crew has ascertained.

Because Dr. Dobson knocked on the wrong website, he has attracted A LOT of negative media attention to both groups. Everyone thinks the Focus on Family group is obsessed with gay sex, for pondering the sexuality of cartoon characters. Everyone thinks that the We are Family Foundation have a hidden agenda to advance. Revealing the conflict as a result of a misunderstanding is not so glamourous. So the media had never paid too much attention to the resolution.

Hee... so now the reputations of both Family groups are tarnished. hohohoHO!!

Funny that the We are Family Foundation and the Focus on Family organization are *more-or-less* on the same boat, in the same family. Misunderstandings happen in families. But it was a good misunderstanding--one that reveals the tension in battle for our children's unformed minds and futures. And I could not agree more that capturing children's education and children's imagination are tantamount to the dissemination of any and every ideological agenda.

But this is where the problem for me begins. What planet am I living on, since I *more-or-less* agree with those materials? Actually, it is not that I agree or disagree with those quotes. I don't think there is anything controversial about these definitions. They reveal the meanings behind the words--meanings and implications that are often overlooked and need to be divulged. Everytime we use any word, we must be careful to know exactly what we are saying and implicating.

Anyway, here is actually a worthwhile critique of the SpongeBob DVDs, written by Ethics Scoreboard.