Random Musing While Watching Sesame Street

To start somewhere: Ezra loves Sesame Street. We watch it occasionally, and for the most part have no problem if the TV is on, tuning into Sesame Street. During a show this morning, they had an Oscar The Grouch bit about him being unwilling to help others….and it got me to thinking. I wonder if there has ever been a study/paper/research project done on the correlation between a generation growing up watching Oscar and his friends (dirty, grumpy, selfish, mean….homeless) and the adult stereotypes about the homeless population – being afraid of the ‘dirt’, ‘grumpiness’, ‘selfishness’, or ‘meanness’. Perhaps the creators of Sesame Street caught on to this by pointing out that “Oscar the Grouch is not homeless.” (?!) They also have phased out his role in the show to a rare appearance. But I remain curious about the impact on the adult psyche of that aforementioned generation (us).