Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 10, 1993 TAG: 9311110409
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The most recent of these stories (Oct. 27 Associated Press story, ```I hate you, you hate me'; Barney finally hangs in tree'') reports of the Colonial Heights Jaycees Haunted Forest in which Barney was hung from a tree. What struck me as totally ironic is the fact that the president of the Jaycees is quoted as saying, ``We want to keep it so the little kids will like it.'' It seems to me that hanging a children's favorite TV personality is not exactly the ingredient called for to attract young children. Maybe I'm missing something!
Then there's the song (``I hate you, you hate me ... '') made up by adults as an expression of hatred for Barney. OK, so it's a joke. It's all in fun, right? To adults, it is. However (and let me state this as simply as I know how), we grown-ups know that Barney is not real - don't we? Our kids think Barney is real, just like Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, etc. They believe in Barney and learn from him about things such as sharing, helping, safety rules, personal health habits, etc. These are the same things that most parents try to teach their kids. So what's the big deal if a purple dinosaur wants to give us a hand?
Now to our lesson:
If our children's role models (parents, grandparents, teachers, community service organizations) hate Barney, our children will question whether what he teaches them is right or wrong.
By hanging Barney, we're showing our children that if we don't like something (or someone), it's OK to hang, shoot or kill it in some other way. (And we wonder why there are guns in schools.)
Let me remind you Barney-hating parents of this fact: Hey, you are the adults in the house. If you really dislike him that much, turn the TV off. (Your preschooler can probably show you where the on/off switch is.) Maybe if you gave your child the 30 minutes of quality time that Barney does each day, there wouldn't be a problem in the first place.
I'm not saying that all adults must like Barney. I'm saying that showing respect for other individuals, whether we agree with them or not, whether they are ``real'' or not, is one of the best lessons we can teach our children. We can only do that by being an example for them.
End of lesson.
DEBORAH M. WARREN
RADFORD
Outrage is not just a black thing
I'VE LISTENED to people's outrage to the Reginald Denny trial verdict. If these men were the ones who did this horrible, vicious beating, they should have received much stiffer judgments and be sent to jail for a long stay. Justice wasn't served!
To all white people in America who feel that justice wasn't served, now you know what it feels like to be black in America!
FRAN DELANEY
ROANOKE
Parents need to be involved
A YOUNG girl and a teen-age boy died unnecessarily recently. The reason for the deaths has been blamed on a cartoon called ``Beavis and Butt-head'' and a movie entitled ``The Program.'' Unfortunately, placing blame will not bring them back. Television or the big screen can have tremendous influence on children or adults. Sometimes fact and fiction become intermingled.
In the case of the young boy who started a fire and killed his sister, this is indeed a tragedy and something this child will live with for the rest of his life. Why was a 5-year-old watching this cartoon? How did the child get matches or a lighter to start a fire? Where were the parents or the baby sitter? Children can't be watched constantly, but somewhere in the time span the fire started and the time the trailer was gutted, someone should have been around.
In the incident where a teen-ager was killed and another seriously injured, why would two obviously intelligent teen-agers do something so stupid? Was the movie that compelling? Just because I see an actor shot and killed in one movie, and I see the same actor alive the next day, doesn't mean I can kill a person because I know he or she will be fine tomorrow!
I don't know all the facts in either case, but I do know the difference between right and wrong is taught in the home. Sometimes this lesson can be very difficult due to extenuating circumstances: single parent, peer pressure, etc.. However, children are just that - children! If parents don't take the time to get involved with their kids, more tragedies like these will occur.
In both cases, some responsibility lies with the makers of the shows and with the network and producers, but the biggest part lies in the home.
MICHAEL LUMPKIN
SALEM
Do not gloss over schools' problems
I WANT TO express my sincere appreciation for the unbiased reporting by staff writer Laura Williamson in her Oct. 10 news story, ``A school plagued by conflict within.'' Now that the Tota years are behind us, we may see more critical and questioning reporting on our school system. The news story presented both sides in a fair, balanced manner without the usual glossing over of the problems our school system has faced. The intelligent reader is able to draw his or her own conclusions from the facts reported.
Although teachers continue to be intimidated into anonymity, at least they were able to begin to reveal the devastating effects of poor management styles. I am encouraged to believe that E. Wayne Harris, the new superintendent, will welcome the voices of the citizens, parents, teachers and students of our city to critically examine current conditions and that he will make the changes, uncomfortable as they will be, to allow our system to move forward without the old baggage and alliances. The first step in that process is to truthfully and fairly represent what is going on in our schools at the present time.
DAVID C. BURROWS
ROANOKE
Gun lobby is alive and well
AFTER reading the election returns from Virginia, New Jersey and New York, I came to the conclusion that the Roanoke Times & World-News was wrong a few months ago. The National Rifle Association did not tuck its tail and run back to Washington. It's alive and very well. The people have spoken.
GEORGE W. BUSH SR.
ROANOKE
by CNB