The Criminality Of Peter Rabbit

I was going to write about something that happened today but something as I sit here has caught my interest.

The wee man is watching, on children's TV, a new version of Peter Rabbit, which by the way has an awful theme song. Peter Rabbit  has of course been a favourite of children for years but if you get away from the fuzzy bunnies you realise that Peter and his friends are thieves. Dirty stinking thieves. All they need is a balaclava and a 'swag' bag.

But despite their thievery ways they are seen as heroes and are the goodies. In an age of austerity Mr McGregor is a farmer trying to make a living and those bloody rabbits come back again and again to eat his livelihood. If I was Mr McGregor I would be investing in sentry guns and a better builder who will build me better pens for my crops and maybe a bird of prey.

If you watch children's TV regularly you quickly notice that all the shows are essentially the same and are promoting the same values. Be good to your friends, don't be selfish, always respect your elders, never fart in public etc etc etc. What we're going to end up having though is a world full of kids who are all goody-two-shoes. No one wants that do they? Who would you knowingly judge your child against eh? You've all said it (delete as applicable) "He/She is much worse than our lovely son/daughter so we can feel better."

Now I'm not saying that we need to suddenly create a load of children's TV where the characters run a muck being public nuisances while smoking Malboro Reds and drinking White Lighting. But the shows we watch are beginning to grate on me. One show on in the morning is called Everything's Rosie and is awful, just awful. There are time I shout at the TV saying "EVERTHING'S NOT F***ING ROSIE!!!" It is also the owner of perhaps the worst and most annoying theme song in the history of TV and stays in your head ALL DAY! Both me and The Chancellor spend days singing it until the point where we would be happy to strangle each other just for silence. Where's the 'Off' button?

jpr