Open 'Sesame Street'!

Admit it: If you're like most adults, you can't help but snicker every time 'Sesame Street' is mentioned. I know it's been the case for me ever since I was just barely too old for the long-running children's TV show.

I'm guffawing uncontrollably about it right now!

So why not have 'Sesame Street' Wednesdays? We need another gimmick like the weekend gum commercials.

Not everything related to 'Sesame Street' is uproarious. Some of it is deadly serious - but it's presented in a humorous way, because it's the ol' Ses, after all.

Recently I found this old 'Sesame Street' segment on YouPube, which I can almost guarantee would never be shown nowadays:



I remember that sketch from when I was growing up in the '70s. It's a cartoon about a spoiled bully (who bears a vague resemblance to Kearney on 'The Simpsons') stealing a baseball from some kids, and one of the victims of this theft going after him with a dog.

Don't count on that segment being up on YouTube forever. Apparently, YouTube pulled it once before because some fartpipe complained that it was too violent. Evidently, a sketch that was suitable for a children's show 30 years ago is now considered too much for a website viewed by adults and teenagers.

But skits like this are what 'Sesame Street' ought to still be showing today. The clip has several good lessons. One is the obvious: Don't appease bullies. Be firm instead. Another lesson of this piece is to think things through before acting. Another true lesson is that bullies are cowards.

If a clip like this was made today, the victim's thought balloon with the ice cream cone would probably be his ultimate course of action. That's what it would be if they wanted it shown in Kentucky schools, where they try to teach kids to appease aggressors instead of fighting back. (Fighting back against bullies is like a capital offense in Kentucky's so-called education system these days.)

Kids are brainwashed with so much appeasement crap nowadays that they're going to be miserable by the time they're 12. America's bully appeasement curriculum is a reason all the anger builds up for years - and we've all seen how that ends up.

We have to return to the America of 30 years ago. We simply must. We're raising too many kids who are browbeaten into not fighting back. This is one of the key reasons bullying is out of control in America's schools and communities.