this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 18 hours ago

Remember, Mr Rogers was a good neighbor. He was also a marine scout sniper. He wouldn't have put up with the shit that's happening now.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago (4 children)

It really hits different to know that this was only about 56 years ago. Societal change happens extremely slowly.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 19 hours ago

And we are unfortunately vulnerable to regression. It's sad to think that if Mr Rogers was around today his show would probably be attached to an executive order to have his funding cut.

I don't know if a similar show would be influential in today's media market. Not just because it would be considered "woke" by half the population, but because the content would be like watching paint dry for a lot of kids.

I think a big part of learning empathy is wrapped up in learning how to be patient, and how to appreciate someone's company enough to allot them your time and attention. I just don't think people value patience very much anymore and wonder if our media reflects that or it's vice versa.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 16 hours ago

Just wait until you hear that the US fully repealed all laws penalizing sodomy (which included homosexual intercourse) between two consenting adults in 2003, when the Supreme Court declared that such laws were unconstitutional under the equal protection clause (Lawrence V Texas).

The progress in that regard was fortunately very quick. In 2009, first states started legalizing gay marriage, in 2013 SCOTUS decided that even gay pairs from states that banned gay marriage can receive benefits if they have a valid marriage license from a states that allowed it (US v Windsor), striking down the shameful Defense of Marriage Act, and in 2015, it was at last decided that the constitution protects gay marriage, making it legal in all states (Oberfeller et al V Hodges). In 2020, in an opinion paradoxically written by Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, the court decided that the protection guaranteed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applied to LGBTQ folks as well (Bostock V Clayton County).

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago

I know! I'm in my 40s and queer, I'm always stunned by how different young people's attitudes are to lgbt now.

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[–] [email protected] 89 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (13 children)

...so this is some real pedantic shit I'm about to do here, and I apologize in advance, but that's the wrong picture. François Clemmons was on the show between 1968 and 1993. The original episode where they share a pool aired in 1969, and both men were much younger. The picture above is from Clemmons final appearance on the show in 1993, titled "Love," where they again share a foot pool. I know this because my toddler has become Mr. Rogers obsessed and I've seen the 1993 episode 3 dozen times in the last month.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago

It is gloriously pedantic, and it's good to be specific! Thank you for the additional info. 🙂

1993 sounds about right, because I feel like I've seen it & it didn't feel like an old or retro episode (neither was I thinking, "Why is that black man sharing a foot pool with a white man?" But I think my parents carefully explained why this was significant, what racism was (/is), and I thought it was ridiculous. Because it is.).

That's a good obsession to have, raise them right. Mr. Rogers was a good role model with great messages.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 17 hours ago

*Me, a connoisseur of pedantry*: "Aww yes, that's the good stuff"

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago

We need 100,000 more Mr. Rogers in the world. 1,000,000 more.

[–] [email protected] 122 points 1 day ago (6 children)

The image misses part of the story. He was a character on the show, officer Clemmons, and wasn't just on this episode. And what's more, he was gay and Fred Rogers knew and accepted him for it at a time that that was uncommon. This image makes it seem like a single random act of impersonal kindness but it was much more than that.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lovely interview with (Officer) Francois Clemmons. Clemmons grew up during civil rights unrest and was firehosed and beaten by cops and did not want to play one on TV. I don't know if making kids less scared of cops was a good thing or not, but I know Mr. Rogers' heart was in the right place.

https://youtu.be/UD7Z-O7U33c

The song at the end is the one Clemmons sang while they were hanging out in the pool the second time they did this scene 20 years after the first one: "There are many ways to say I love you." In this one Mr. Rogers dried Officer Clemmons' feet as they were getting out of the pool.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago

There’s a rapper named prof that did a pretty spot on Mr Roger’s imitation in one of his videos. They included a different take on this scene, but I had no idea that they were referencing an actual Mr Roger’s video with that part until just now.

https://youtu.be/iDaUy4T7rVI

[–] pancakes 22 points 1 day ago

Classic Mr. Rogers story that when you dig deeper, it's even more wholesome than initially presented.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 day ago

Also better that he just played a cop, instead of actually being one

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 day ago (5 children)

"Two dudes chilling in a hot tub, two feet apart cause they're not racist."

[–] [email protected] 142 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Your reminder that Fox News hated Mister Rogers and everything he believed.

https://youtu.be/29lmR_357rA

[–] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago

Stolen from one of the top comments on this video, but it's a great comment I thought worth repeating here:

"Mr. Rogers didn't say that you deserve success and material gratification merely for being yourself. Rather, when a world obsessed with competition and material success beats down on your soul, his message was to remind you that you still had one."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago

Lol "Fox & Friends". More like "Murdoch's Monsters."

[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 day ago

That’s when you know you’re winning.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Almost exactly 56 years ago when Senators were cutting PBS budgets because they don't understand the importance of childhood education and mental health

https://youtu.be/fKy7ljRr0AA

[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh trust me, they do understand the importance of education. That's why they cut funding.

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 1 day ago (6 children)

it's funny. anyone who actually watched Mr Rogers should know what I'm about to say.

he didn't want everybody to be just like him. he wanted to inspire children to be better versions of themselves.

frankly, I'm not a nice person. never want to be, but I do try to be a good person.

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[–] [email protected] 79 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 105 points 2 days ago (15 children)

No need, he only played a cop on the show, his real occupation was singer, actor & lecturer.

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