Star (as in popular TV culture) Wars: Episode XXIV—The Revenge of the Rutabaga

I would briefly like to comment on Alison Sulentic’s thoughtful response to Rob’s post about the Veggie Tales program and the network’s insistence that the reference to God’s love be deleted as a condition for the episode to be broadcast. I understand and appreciate Alison’s point about the underlying themes still being conveyed notwithstanding the censorship, but that does not eliminate the fact that the network pressured the program’s creators into deleting the reference to God’s love. And, that is censorship pure and simple.

I have never seen the show (my apologies to Rob's brother), but I am grateful for the liberty to improvise the following scene for a future episode of Veggie Tales: Charlie Cucumber and Roberta Rutabaga are engaged in an intense debate on the merits of natural law versus utilitarianism. During the debate, Charlie, the devoted utilitarian, has a sneezing fit, and Roberta, the committed natural law proponent, sympathetically exclaims, “God bless you, Charlie!” Would the network object to broadcasting this as well? I wonder.

In the meantime, our damsel in distress still dangles dangerously from her cross. Interestingly the same network that banned the God reference in Veggie Tales has reportedly found Madonna’s mock crucifixion acceptable for prime-time (versus Saturday morning) airing scheduled for this November.    RJA sj