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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

Of course, the next step after Step 9 would be "Obey".

Early seasons of Sesame Street on DVD now come with warnings that they should not be viewed by children. Here's Sesame Street, S01E01.[1] There are kids outside doing things without adult supervision!

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9NUiHCr9Cs

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Are you referring to this warning?

“This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures,” the warning reads. “These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversations to create a more inclusive future together.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/entertainment-a...

That's about the Muppets Show, not Sesame Street.

Ah gotcha, I didn't realize they were different shows. Did a little more digging, and here's the warning on Sesame Street: "These early Sesame Street episodes are intended for grownups and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child"

It sounds like it's about things that are no longer considered safe for kids, compared to the 60s:

>"We wouldn't have children on the set riding without a bicycle helmet," Rollins Westin says.

> And what's that little girl doing with that man?

> "In the very first episode, Gordon takes a little girl's hand who he's just met on the street, befriends her and takes her into his home to give her ice cream," Rollins Westin said. "That's something we wouldn't do on the show today."

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sesame-street-for-adults-only/

> Early seasons of Sesame Street on DVD now come with warnings that they should not be viewed by children

Do you have a video or screenshot of the warning?

"These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.” Why? Cookie Monster carries a pipe in one recurring parody—and then eats it. Oscar the Grouch is too grouchy and mean. And in the first episode, a grown man—Gordon—asks a little girl to come home with him for milk and cookies… and she does! [1]

[1] https://consumerist.com/2007/11/19/early-sesame-street-dvds-...

So it's got nothing to do with kids being outside unsupervised, but not wanting to encourage kids to stick random objects in their mouth or follow strangers home. As someone who went to the hospital as a child after sticking a pipe in their mouth, those seem like fair warnings.

Translation of "pipe", into European? Intrigued!

I assume Europeans call it pipe as well, a section of a cylindrical tube generally used to transport things like water. In my case, it was the plastic pipes of some toy my sister and I were using to pretend we were snorkeling, cut the roof of my mouth requiring stitches.

>>>> Cookie Monster carries a pipe in one recurring parody—and then eats it.

>> Translation of "pipe", into European? Intrigued!

> I assume Europeans call it pipe as well, a section of a cylindrical tube generally used to transport things like water.

In the context of the warning, I think it was talking specifically about a tobacco pipe (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_pipe), not a generic pipe used for liquid transport.

So it seems more of an issue of not wanting to model certain behaviors for young children that are now considered dangerous.

You're probably right. The idea that he would hold a tobacco pipe was so bizarre to me I assumed it was a regular pipe and they just didn't want even the possible miscommunication to be displayed.

> The idea that he would hold a tobacco pipe was so bizarre to me I assumed it was a regular pipe

I think the bit started as a spoof of a character that I assume held a pipe. It doesn't seem too bizarre to me, so they were being true to that. Holding a regular pipe would have been a non sequitur. When I grew up, smoking was definitely presented as bad, but I still got licorice tobacco pipes at a candy store on a couple occasions (e.g. https://economycandy.com/product/red-licorice-pipe/). It seems like now they don't want kids to even know what smoking is.

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