It really hits different to know that this was only about 56 years ago. Societal change happens extremely slowly.
this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025
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And we are unfortunately vulnerable to regression. It's sad to think that if Mr Rogers was around today his show would probably be attached to an executive order to have his funding cut.
I don't know if a similar show would be influential in today's media market. Not just because it would be considered "woke" by half the population, but because the content would be like watching paint dry for a lot of kids.
I think a big part of learning empathy is wrapped up in learning how to be patient, and how to appreciate someone's company enough to allot them your time and attention. I just don't think people value patience very much anymore and wonder if our media reflects that or it's vice versa.
I know! I'm in my 40s and queer, I'm always stunned by how different young people's attitudes are to lgbt now.
We need 100,000 more Mr. Rogers in the world. 1,000,000 more.
...so this is some real pedantic shit I'm about to do here, and I apologize in advance, but that's the wrong picture. François Clemmons was on the show between 1968 and 1993. The original episode where they share a pool aired in 1969, and both men were much younger. The picture above is from Clemmons final appearance on the show in 1993, titled "Love," where they again share a foot pool. I know this because my toddler has become Mr. Rogers obsessed and I've seen the 1993 episode 3 dozen times in the last month.
Also, is this a meme?
Fair point, but that's a question for the mods. If you want some obscure Mr. Rogers facts though, or theories on the Daniel Tiger timeline, I'm your guy.
I'd love some obscure facts about Mr. Rogers.
I grew up with him.
Mr. Rogers really wanted to encourage children's imaginations, but he didn't want them to confuse fantasy and reality. That's why there's such a strong delineation between his house and the Neighborhood of Make Believe. He also did more than one, "behind the scenes," episode to show the neighborhood wasn't real, and even mentioned on occasion that his, "house," was just his, "television house," where he would visit with the viewer, not his real house where he lived (which explains why he leaves at the end of every episode). When Big Bird was set to do a crossover episode, Rogers initially wanted the puppeteer to remove the costume and show children how it worked. The puppeteer didn't want to destroy Big Bird for children, so they compromised by only having Big Bird visit the Neighborhood of Make Believe. However, there are two regular characters (Handyman Negri and Mr. McFeely) who appear in both the Neighborhood of Make Believe and the Mr Rogers house, which potentially blurs the line between real and make believe.
Isn't it amazing that 'not lying to children' somehow seems kinda radical?
True, but to be fair, if I'd been watching Mr. Rogers as a kid and Big Bird showed up, ripped his own head off, and revealed a middle-aged man hiding inside, I probably would have been traumatized.
True, but Mr. Rogers would probably know how to do it properly so that you'd be at ease.
I think he could do it, but I think it might have unforseen knock on effects. I used to work for Disney, and even as an adult if you're not actively preparing for it, it can be a bit jarring the first time you run into Goofy headless at the smokers table. And I was one of those kids that, even on my first trip to Disney I knew it was someone in a costume, so I couldn't tell you if anything would be lost for some kids, maybe it's like Santa? And Disney pretty actively discourages cast members from talking about this stuff - "what if a five year old is in earshot" and "don't ruin the magic", they taught euphemisms like "close personal friends with [character]" if you, say, wanted to talk about your friend who is close personal friends with Tinkerbell. And for as much of a soulless company as they are, Disney (at least 15 years ago) actively cared about crafting an experience in their parks, there is so much detail that people don't realize is going on. Not acknowledging headless Goofy is part of that.
Being honest to kids is still probably more important than whatever bit of magic we all lose by doing so.
We need a motherfucking army of Mr Rogers and we need to airdrop them into every neighborhood in America.
In case they meet resistance, I strongly feel they should also have lightsabers.
"Two dudes chilling in a hot tub, two feet apart cause they're not racist."
Would have been nice if one of them didn't have to be a cop.
Technically that was a calculated movement of it's time. They wanted a black character in a role that spoke to an easy childhood concept of authority to imply that power dynamically having black people in a dominant respected role in social spaces is a normal thing one doesn't need to get upset over. Hence the whole friendly cop thing.
They were aware through the gay black actor they had in the role that police was something minority communities had issues with but the hope at the time was that more diversity in the force would be a solve. It's naive from a modern standpoint but they did try.
It was sad that they purposefully kept the gay part of the actor's identity under wraps. They knew they were asking him to do something harmful by keeping his private life strictly secret but the actor agreed that he was doing something he deemed worth the sacrifice.
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Almost exactly 56 years ago when Senators were cutting PBS budgets because they don't understand the importance of childhood education and mental health
Oh trust me, they do understand the importance of education. That's why they cut funding.
How can children get a well-rounded education without walls of ads?
The image misses part of the story. He was a character on the show, officer Clemmons, and wasn't just on this episode. And what's more, he was gay and Fred Rogers knew and accepted him for it at a time that that was uncommon. This image makes it seem like a single random act of impersonal kindness but it was much more than that.
Lovely interview with (Officer) Francois Clemmons. Clemmons grew up during civil rights unrest and was firehosed and beaten by cops and did not want to play one on TV. I don't know if making kids less scared of cops was a good thing or not, but I know Mr. Rogers' heart was in the right place.
The song at the end is the one Clemmons sang while they were hanging out in the pool the second time they did this scene 20 years after the first one: "There are many ways to say I love you." In this one Mr. Rogers dried Officer Clemmons' feet as they were getting out of the pool.
There’s a rapper named prof that did a pretty spot on Mr Roger’s imitation in one of his videos. They included a different take on this scene, but I had no idea that they were referencing an actual Mr Roger’s video with that part until just now.
Classic Mr. Rogers story that when you dig deeper, it's even more wholesome than initially presented.
Also better that he just played a cop, instead of actually being one
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Your reminder that Fox News hated Mister Rogers and everything he believed.
That’s when you know you’re winning.
That segregation, was that in the entire USA? How was it introduced for the entire USA when the North fought for the freedom of the black population?
The idea of "equal but separate" that ran from post-US civil war up the US civil rights movement will tell you as to why.
Don't get it twisted. There were plenty of people who were against slavery but still deeply racist. There was a big movement among abolitionists to send all the black folks back to Africa. That's how Liberia was founded.
Yep, a lot of folks were racist and just pro-union.
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Because the leaders of the confederate were allowed to live
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