Empathy, Imagination, and Other Dangerous Values Ms. Rachel is Teaching America’s Kids | popgeeks.com
Though I don’t have any children of my own, it is a little known fact that I am the World’s Greatest Guncle. (Gay uncle, for those of you not lucky enough to have one.) I know this to be true because one time while working at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, I took my older sister and her kids into the parks for free, where in an overwhelming landslide (2 “yea” votes, 0 “nay,” 0 abstentions) I was told in no uncertain terms that I was the best uncle ever.
To quote the legendary Mo Heart, “Facts are facts.”
The Manufactured Threat to America’s Children
So when I heard there was a new threat to the children of the United States of America, despite my niece and nephew being adults now, my “guncle alerts” began wailing. What could it possibly be? Measles, long being considered an easily-treatable disease, now spreading across the nation due to the nation’s foremost brainworm condo and his anti-vax crusade? Maybe it’s the decimation of programs designed to make sure children have access to medical teams and healthy food options regardless of their parent’s income? How about the crippling of an entire Cabinet-level department by its own director with the explicit purpose of educating and empowering the next generation of America?
No. That threat to our nation’s children is none other than Ms. Rachel.
Hide yo kids. Hide yo… well, no, probably just the kids. Or, you know, don’t, if you have more than five reasonably-functioning brain cells.
When I first read the New York Post headline “The left keeps coming after our kids – now via YouTube’s Ms. Rachel,” my initial thought was how poorly capitalization rules were enforced, and I lamented that there was no such institution, perhaps a Cabinet-level department, in which future writers could be educated on how to properly write. My following thought was, “Oh, The Onion, you’ve done it again, you satirical rapscallions, you.” But upon further thought (as I am capable of doing) I realized that The Onion trolls many things, but it would never, never, stoop so low as to make a mockery out of headline capitalization.
Examining the Claims Against Ms. Rachel
A deeper dive revealed this headline to belong to one Bethany Mandel, a self-described “homeschooling mother of six based in Washington, DC.” She is the co-author of Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation, which I’m sure is the buzz of the soccer moms’ bake sale table. At least the title of her book was properly capitalized.
I clicked it. I probably shouldn’t have, but I’m a mystery novel reader. You can’t just set me up with lurid suspects and not give me the grisly crime scene details. So I aimed to find out what perverse deception this Ms. Rachel was up to – if that was her real name.
“Ms. Rachel” is the moniker adopted by YouTuber and children’s entertainer Rachel Griffin Accurso (so it is her real name… or is it…). Her “Songs for Littles” video series aimed at infants and toddlers has gained widespread fame, with her videos boasting in the neighborhood of 10.2 billion views. Billion. More people are trying Ms. Rachel than trying The Try Guys, who currently hold a meager, paltry even, 8.5 billion views. How common. This is what happens when you let the hunky and smart Eugene Lee Yang go.
But Ms. Rachel doesn’t need an attractive brainy guy for her content; it resonates with children all over the internet as she shares lessons on letters, numbers, colors, shapes, animals, and music. But Ms. Rachel’s content doesn’t stop at facts, as she also embraces social concepts and ideas, such as sharing, using your imagination, empathy, and acceptance.
Of course, that’s where conservatives have a conniption.
Embrace a World that Uplifts All Children or Cling to Fear-Driven Narratives?
Specifically, Mandel points to three “egregious” examples of “woke” in her piece. Mandel first points out an episode where “a castmate — dressed androgynously, with multiple facial piercings — subtly introduced a non-binary puppet character: ‘Their name is Patches.’”
Not sure where the castmate’s appearance has to do with the price of tea in China. If that’s the real issue at hand, we never would have had the Hellraiser franchise (Pinhead – no I’m not at all sorry for that reference) and Saturday Night Live would have shut down after Julia Sweeney introduced Pat. Ostensibly, the issue has to do with a puppet who utilizes “they/them” pronouns and presents in a non-binary manner.
As a child of the 1980s, I don’t understand how anyone can be hurt by androgyny these days. Two words: Boy George. I also don’t understand how the right can still be disturbed by pronouns. After all, the ever-present “They” is the boogeyman that threatens truth, justice, and the American way, according to the right-wing echo chamber.
Mandel also takes umbrage with the fact that Ms. Rachel made TikTok content saying “Happy Pride.” Mandel’s takeaway: “If you’re uncomfortable with a children’s entertainer expressing political views on sexuality, you just don’t have love in your heart.”
Equating “Happy Pride” as a political view on sexuality is about as logical as saying “Happy Taco Tuesday” is a political view on geoculinary tradition. First of all, Taco Tuesday (and its older sister, Margarita Monday) is a damn delight and I won’t accept any slander against it, nor will I stand for slander against someone who is simply wishing those who celebrate a happy celebration. Does Mandel get on her high horse when someone says “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Tax Day,” or “Happy January 6?” (Obviously that’s a joke. Tax Day is never happy.)
Mandel makes one more accusation, which she actually contradicts while in the process of making it. Per her piece:
For 12 days after the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, Ms. Rachel remained silent.
Not until Oct. 19, when Israel was beginning its Gaza invasion, did she post a video, crooning, “Safe, safe, safe . . . all children deserve to be safe.”.
She didn’t spare a word for the dozens of children held hostage by Hamas at that moment.
Since then, she’s regularly posted Hamas-aligned talking points about the number of children killed and complaints about meager aid shipments.
“Please practice the golden rule and do what you would want someone to do for you,” she lectured.
What, exactly, would any other country do while 59 of its citizens are still being held hostage?
I’m not Ms. Rachel, obviously, but my guess would be not drag in children on either side of the conflict who damn sure didn’t pull any triggers because they’re f**king children.
It boggles the mind that Mandel, who, for what it’s worth, doesn’t appear to be dumb – the Jewish Telegraphic Agency included her in their list of “50 Jews Everyone Should Follow on Twitter” in 2019 – would fail to understand the meaning of the word “all.” As defined by Merriam-Webster, “all” means “the entirety of” or “every member.” Hence, when Ms. Rachel sings “all children deserve to be safe,” that includes children on both sides of the conflict, who, may I remind all parties involved, most likely didn’t want their lives to be torn apart by war.
Of course, there’s the sinister Option B, that Mandel disagrees, and thinks that children in Gaza do not deserve to be safe. But what kind of monster would wish for the endangerment of any child?
With all this lunacy espoused by Mandel (and presumably endorsed by the New York Post) causing my head to reel, I tried dismissing it as another right-wing whackadoodle suckling at Trump’s teat. In fact, I would even go as far as saying it was top-shelf delulu; as the majority of Americans watched the economy plummet faster than the “Cliffhangers” Yodely Guy falling off the mountain on The Price Is Right (seriously, $50 for Yahtzee?) Mandel wrote on X, “I see next to nobody defending the tariffs.
I do not understand it. I do not have the mental bandwidth or tbh the desire to try. Eventually my husband will get frustrated and forcefully explain it to me. What I need to know right now is what stocks are on sale?”
Mandel, however, made a critical misstep. In the introduction of her piece, she waxes nostalgic about a certain children’s entertainer many people in our generation grew up with, who “didn’t just explain the world as it was; he showed us what it could be,” Mandel explained.
“Fred Rogers helped raise two entire generations of Americans with a gentle, nonpartisan and uncontroversial moral compass grounded in common sense.”
Understanding the True Legacy of Children’s Educators
Here lies what ancient Greek theatre would define as Mandel’s hamartia – her “fatal flaw.” She invoked the name of the man who might literally be the most perfect mortal to ever exist: Mister Rogers.
The comparison makes itself: Fred McFeely Rogers was the gifted mind behind the beloved children’s show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, much like Ms. Rachel is the mind behind “Songs for Littles.” Every day between February 19, 1968 to August 31, 2001 was a beautiful day in the Neighborhood as Mister Rogers taught about numbers, letters, shapes, and even higher-level concepts for children like cooking or occupations. But while related shows like Sesame Street and The Electric Company taught more about facts, Mister Rogers taught us how to be decent people.
Not only was this evident in his “real world” segments, but also in the Land of Make-Believe. In one episode, King Friday XIII learned how important using respectful language was and how it made people feel good. Another time, the younger citizens of Make-Believe learned that being a friend wasn’t always easy and required understanding and empathy, but the effort put into a friendship was always rewarding.
And when Daniel Striped Tiger feared he was unloved because he felt left out, everyone from the gentle Henrietta Pussycat (meow meow meow) to the ornery Lady Elaine Fairchild to even the ruler of the Land of Make-Believe, the aforementioned King Friday XIII came to Daniel with a clear message: you are wonderful, you are loved, and you are an important part of people’s lives.
And while the real-world segments were influential in their owzn right – the famous 1969 wading pool scene with Officer Clements was groundbreaking due to parts of the nation being stuck in ancient mindsets of segregation – it was the Make-Believe segments that really stuck with “viewers like me,” for the Land of Make-Believe was a creation fueled by the power of imagination, and imagination in turn was fueled by our internal beliefs.
Kindness, manners, inclusion, caring, safety, love… Fred Rogers made those values a core part of who we as children were, and who we became as adults.
The Crux of the Debate: Values or Politics?
And thus, we turn to the crux of the issue at hand. On one hand, Fred Rogers, a loving soul who teaches values that make the world a better place. On the other, Bethany Mandel, who recoils at the word “their,” would rather people not feel good about their identities, and doesn’t support the idea that all children deserve to be spared the horrors of war.
It boils down to this: you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Either Ms. Rachel teaches children values that make the world a better place, regardless of their parents’ political leanings, or Mister Rogers was also a leftist pinko commie bastard. Personally, I’d like to think that the world could use less social ladders and more friendship bracelets. Less exclusion, more inclusion. Less shaming and pointing fingers, more love and support. These things make the world better.
Of course, there’s always the sinister Option B, and MAGA Republicans are simply cruel, heartless jerks. But you won’t hear me say that. I was taught some basic meow meow manners.
