For those of us in our early 30s...(US centric)

[ahartman]

I wish these were still on TV - we'd hear less "ain't" and "fixin' to go" and "I didnt' do nothing".

http://genxtvland.simplenet.com/SchoolHouseRock/index-hi.shtml

Even though I hadn't heard them for years, I could still sing most of them word for word!

For those of you outside the States, these little cartoons would play on Saturday mornings (as commercials) and after school. It's how a lot of us learned history and grammar.

[Helevitia]

"I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill..." Ahh, the good ol' days btw-I'm only 28, not quite 30 yet. I remember these shows as young as 6(1978).

Dave

[Joel]

Hey!!!! I'm 40 and I remember those. School House Rock. Conjuction, Juction, whats your function...

Joel

[Himself]

Luckily, not being in the US, I could avoid the odd spotting of the US propaganda machine, kiddy version. Lot's of US anthem and flags around, what was that about?

I find most moral oriented cartoons to be preachy and boring, screw the "Care Bears", give me Spiderman. God bless the censors. Imagine exposing kids to any sort of data outside of the corporate politically correct bubble that all kids must be enclosed in. Exposure to ideas seems to be evil, yet the same folks are against human cloning. All you really need is cloning and cartoons being fed to kids in their sleep for a brave new world.


[This message has been edited by Himself (edited 11 August 2000).]

[Pneumatic]

I remember those very fondly. Who can hear the word "conjunction" without humming "conjunction jucntion, what's your function"?

Himself, I hope you are kidding about the "propaganda" thing. We are just proud of our fine country. You won't find a more diverse place (nationality and ideas) on earth. Besides, the only good thing to come out of Canada was Rush. So don't start comparing countries.


[This message has been edited by Kindness! (edited 11 August 2000).]

[Himself]

Perhaps you are proud of your country in part because you are exposed to a lot of flag waving.

[Joel]

And what is wrong with being proud of our country?

Joel

[ahartman]

Himself, that is one of the best pieces of trolling I've seen in a while. Funniest part is that even with the smileys, they didn't get it.

Unless of course you weren't kidding...

Can you imagine what the Canadian verison of of grammar rock would be?

There are proper parts of speaking
Like nouns and verbs they say
One often overlooked part of speech
is the word called 'eh?'

hehe I crack myself up!

[Pneumatic]

ahartman, set that to a catchy beat and a bit of 70's animation and I think you will have a hit!
BTW, I knew it was "trolling" (that's why I casted out a line of my own).

[DuRaNgO]

how to spell Canada:

C eh? N eh? D eh?

and yes, I'm Canadian

[Himself]

My first comment was just me speaking my mind, the second was a bit of obvious trolling, I mean it's rather easy to get Americans rallying to the flag. Oops, there I go again.

Anyway, enough of that, my intent was to spark some debate on the content of those cartoons. It just stuck me while watching those US cartoons that they went overboard in selling nationalism. It was extreme, every 5 seconds, bang!, it wasn't part of any story, just a blatant ad for the US, nothing subtle about it. I'm not saying it's wrong, just that it smacks of something deliberate rather than spontaneous on the part of the people who made them. More about creating or reinforcing something than expressing something. I mean even the cartoons about Captain America and the whole super pro US army stance was something I'd expect to see in China. It seemed like there was some political hand in enforcing "Good Wholesome American Values" in there.

There's a much stronger regional mind set in this country I think, which is more natural seeming to me. About the only Candian ads I've seen in my entire life have been for a brand of beer here. It seems to me that Americans have a lot more identity wrapped up in where they are from than folks from Canada. If it's not playoff season in some sport there is more self interest than nationalism in your typical Candian, IMO.

Whether or not you think nationalism is a good thing or not is something else.

Just my thoughts for the day.

[Pneumatic]

There is no reason to advertise Americanism to Americans. It isn't like we are flooding the world-wide market with them. Besides, they aren't ads, they are just the theme of certain things. We already live here so we don't need ads, and the people that don't like it are free to leave. But, instead there are HOARDS of people risking their lives to live here. People are binding 2 boards together to float here from Cuba. There is a reason for that. This is the land of opportunity so if we do a little flag waving every now and then it isn't out of some need to press our views on others. It is because we are quite proud to live in such a great nation. Maybe you should wonder more about why your country DOESN'T feel the pride that Americans feel.




[This message has been edited by Kindness! (edited 12 August 2000).]

[Joel]

Amen Kindness!!!

Joel

[Brian R.]

Probably Canadians feel less nationalistic and more a part of the world community.

[HollyBerri]

I have to admit that "History Rock" is the only reason I can recite (well, sing, actually ) the Preamble to the Constitution.

In fact, I almost bought a few of the CDs when I was shopping just before I moved, but I had to pass them by. It hurt, though .

Btw, did I miss all this "three cheers for the red, white and blue" stuff in my Bugs Bunny or something? Most of the "Rock" series was unrelated to anything that could be considered nationalist (Grammar Rock, Multiplication Rock) and History Rock was.... errr, history, which seems to at least have some benefit of the doubt in its favor.

I mean, I'd be the last one to say that history isn't biased, but let's face it, a 60-second jingle for small children is no place to introduce the contradictions and the complexity of historical events.

Wasn't there a Geography Rock too? I think it was after my time; otherwise I might not have had to watch "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego" to try to learn it....

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Holly