...MUPPETS WITH AIDS(HIV-POS)?

REUTERS/SESAME STREET WORKSHOP ^ | 7-15-02/? | UNKNOWN

[LUTHERSLAIR]

FOUND BY LUTHERSLAIR

[LUTHERSLAIR]

I MAY BE SOMEWHAT IGNORANT AND MAYBE EVEN A LITTLE NAIVE,BUT ARE PRE-ADOLECENT CHILDREN REALLY ENGAGING IN HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITIES AND I.V. DRUG USE, TO WIT: MAKING A "MUPPET" A SPOKESPERSON? I FOUND THIS STORY ON STRANGE COSMOS.COM

[Fred Mertz]

I hope their show goes down the tubes where it belongs.

[antivenom]

Where is the "OBESE" muppet and the "DIABETIC" muppet...hell we have more of those "real world" cases on the earth than HIV infected "children"!

[Severa]

From what I've read this Muppet will be shown on the Sesame Street show that is aired in South Africa, a decision hasn't been made yet on whether it'll be shown in the United States.

Also, HIV can be spread through blood transfusion as well (albeit a lower risk of occurance in the US but maybe not in poorer countries) and also in the case of kids, it happens either during birth or breastfeeding.

[Severa]

Sesame Street to Introduce HIV-Positive Muppet

July 11

— By Bernie Woodall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sesame Street will soon introduce its first HIV-positive Muppet character to children of South Africa, where one in nine people have the virus that can lead to AIDS.

The upbeat female Muppet will join "Takalani Sesame" on Sept. 30 for its third season on the South African Broadcasting Corp.

The character -- which has yet to have a name or final color or form -- will travel to many if not all of the eight other nations that air versions of the educational children's show that began in the United States in 1969, said Joel Schneider, vice president and senior adviser to the Sesame Street Workshop.

Schneider said talks are under way to introduce an HIV-positive character to U.S. viewers.

Schneider announced the new character this week at the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, where he spoke by telephone on Thursday.

"This character will be fully a part of the community," Schneider said. "She will have high self-esteem. Women are often stigmatized about HIV and we are providing a good role model as to how to deal with one's situation and how to interact with the community."

The program is aimed at children from 3 to 7 and the messages delivered by the new character will be "appropriate," said Schneider, meaning that there will be no explicit mention of sex.

"Not every show will deal explicitly with HIV/AIDS," Schneider said. "We want to show that here is an HIV-positive member of our community who you can touch and interact with.

"We will be very careful to fashion our messages so they are appropriate to the age group. What do I do when I cut my finger? What do I do when you cut your finger? That sort of thing."

"Takalani Sesame" will be the second children's show in South Africa to have an HIV-positive character. But it is believed to be the first among shows designed for preschoolers, said Beatrice Chow, spokeswoman for the Sesame Street Workshop in New York. ,p> In some parts of South Africa, 40 percent of women of child-bearing age are infected with HIV, and in 2000, about 40 percent of adult deaths in South Africa were attributed to AIDS, according to the State Department.

Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[geege]

Next.......a taliban muppet

[LUTHERSLAIR]

...IT WAS ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK AT THE 14th INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE IN BARCELONA, SPAIN...."TAKALANI SESAME", WHICH IS SOUTH AFRICA'S VERSION OF OUR SESAME STREET, BUT I GUARANTEE YOU ONE THING, WE'RE NEXT...HEY SESAME STREET, WHICH MUPPET ARE YOU GOING TO "SACRIFICE" FOR "THEIR CAUSE?"

[RoughDobermann]

Please stop yelling.

[airedale]

In South Africa it's a heterosexual disease. It has nothing to do with anal sex. either . Prostitution is rampant. The country is also so poor that they have been forced for years reused needles for regular medical medications not drugs. Both of these facts apply to pretty much all over the African continent. As a result the kids get HIV at birth because their mothers were infected either by heterosexual intercourse or because they were injected for some other medical condition with a needle that was contaminated during it’s 20 to 50 uses (yes those numbers are accurate for a few years ago.) and sterilization of the needles is slipshod or otherwise incomplete/ineffective. The kids who are born without the HIV virus often picked it up during their childhood inoculations due to the reuse of the needles.

[FormerLurker]

Will it also suffer syphillis and gonoreah? Maybe a little chlamydia and genital herpes for extra effect?

[Darth Sidious]

They need an attention-deficit Muppet. Ritalin could then underwrite the show.

[N. Theknow]

Today's Sesame Street is brought to you by the letter Q, the number one and lubricated Trojans.

[Paul Atreides]

Where is the conservative straight white male muppet? If there is anyone in need of understanding and compassion...

[LUTHERSLAIR]

I REALIZE ALL THE RHETORIC ABOUT AIDS BEING A DISEASE THAT WILL ATTACK AT WILL...AND HOW POOR THESE OTHER NATIONS ARE, BUT WHAT DOES POVERTY HAVE TO DO WITH AN "HIV-POS" MUPPET ON SESAME STREET.(I HAVE TO ADD THIS:"THEY" CAN'T USE "CLEAN" NEEDLES AT THE HOSPITALS, THEY CAN'T DO C-SECTIONS TO THE HIV-POS MOTHERS-TO-BE, THEY CAN'T EAT? THEY ARE POORER THAN CRAP, BUT THEY CAN ALL AFFORD A T.V. TO WATCH A "DILAPIDATED" MUPPET,WHO IS ON HIS DEATH-BED, INNEVITABLY DYING FROM THE EFFECTS OF "H.I.V.")...INCREMENTALISM, PEOPLE, WAKE UP...THEY ARE DEFLECTING THE REAL ISSUE...

[LUTHERSLAIR]

I REALIZE ALL THE RHETORIC ABOUT AIDS BEING A DISEASE THAT WILL ATTACK AT WILL...AND HOW POOR THESE OTHER NATIONS ARE, BUT WHAT DOES POVERTY HAVE TO DO WITH AN "HIV-POS" MUPPET ON SESAME STREET.(I HAVE TO ADD THIS:"THEY" CAN'T USE "CLEAN" NEEDLES AT THE HOSPITALS, THEY CAN'T DO C-SECTIONS TO THE HIV-POS MOTHERS-TO-BE, THEY CAN'T EAT? THEY ARE POORER THAN CRAP, BUT THEY CAN ALL AFFORD A T.V. TO WATCH A "DILAPIDATED" MUPPET,WHO IS ON HIS DEATH-BED, INNEVITABLY DYING FROM THE EFFECTS OF "H.I.V.")...INCREMENTALISM, PEOPLE, WAKE UP...THEY ARE DEFLECTING THE REAL ISSUE...

[jgrubbs]

turn off your CAPS!