This one spooked me, NEW MUPPET HAS HIV, NOW ALL MUPPET'S HAVE HIV
http://www.dailyhog.com/sesame.htm

I hope that you realize that this article is a joke. Yes, one muppet was introduced in Sesame Street in AFRICA. People here in the US have a big problem with that, but they don't realize that in Africa, 1 in 11 people are HIV +, or are born with AIDS. My statistics may not be 100% accurate but they are close. I was reading something else about this earlier.

Whereas in the US we may want to ignore this problem and pretend that it isn't happening, Africa is faced with the devestation of AIDS everyday! The introduction of an HIV+ muppet is an attempt to bring this trgedy out in the open.

~Priest~

I have to disagree with this, Priest.
Frist off I give BIG PROPS to the African version for introducing "Kami" the HIV puppet. It can only help to teach the children down there.

I can tell by your words this is a very passionate subject for you Priest and for that I give you props as well.

However we are a land based in "equality" in being so if we had an HIV muppet, then to be fair we would have to have an ADD muppet, Bipolar muppet, underage-unwed mother muppet and the list would go on and on.

It is not so much a matter of lacking education and ignoring the problems that there are but a matter of having so many muppets that a child who is not potty trained or literate is able to rattle off the symptom's of ADD.

I hope, one day, that "Kami" could come to the US for a special to help educate, but not be a permanant muppet to be fair to the rest of our Nation's growing problems.

I also find the fake article to be in bad taste, but to each their own when it comes to what they find funny.

Bad taste,

:: But as we're at it, I want Zodi, the diabetic puppet::

x-treem, I do agree with you. I should have said 'Whereas in the US SOME may want to ignore...'

I just think that sometimes as a society, we tend to take the "political correctness" too far. Also, what I meant by some may want to ignore the problem is that there are several types of people, "classes" of poeple who would rather believe that this isn't happening to them. That is can't happen to them. That it is only a problem for blacks, gays, and drug uses. But it's 2002 right now, and AIDS doesn't discriminate. There is a rising "class" of older people getting AIDS because they believed that it wasn't a problem within the elderly group.

I think that introducing "Kami" was a good thing, but I also agree with you that if you introduce one, you have to introduce the others. I think it's ultimately up to the parents to educate their children. It's hard to believe that even in 2002, there are adults who don't really understand what AIDS is or how you can/can't get it. And my opinion is because they are either uneducated about it, or because they don't believe it could happen to them.

~Priest~

EXACTLY! Effective education begins with effective parenting. So many partents did not have to deal with this in their generations - known as GRID when I was a youth- at the same time it will not go away by ignoring the problem.

Many parents keep their children in a sheltered Shangri-la world that when the chidren get out on their own they are the first to learn the harsh reality by getting it.

As time goes on there will be more and more diseases and without proper education, starting at home, it will spread like wild fire. We don't have the disease to blame but rather the uneducated.

Other parent's leave the eduction up to people like Magic Johnson on his video or movies like "And the Band Played On" to educate, guess what, not going to work.

We seem to be in the age of sueing and blaming rather than educating and curing, if this persists I am not looking foward to the next forty years of my life because of the thought of wide spread plauge like death that will occure from a multitude of disease that was swept under the carpet or labeled a black, brown, gay, druggie disease.

We as performers can do something about this live and in person to educate but first we ourselves need to be educated.

You're AOK in my book Priest. Take Care.

We can not change the world but we can make a dent in it.

Is it REALLY necessary to shove kami down childrens throats? As I see it, AIDS is a disease and an epedemic. We don't exploit A.D.D. or A.I.D.S. Then why have a puppet thats going to make me teach my kids about sex and drugs before I deam necessary. Why was Mr. Rogers and Sesame St. so huge of a success, they taught our children about the basics of life (the cops, dry cleaners, numbers, letters, words,and animals). Not sex smack and the such.

Just my opinion, but let me parent my child, not big brother!

As Preist had stated it is a killer epidemic in Africa, I think "Kami," will help to make the children aware of the problem down there in a way that parents might not be able too, it is comforting to a child to know that something that is "cute" and "fuzzy" knows what they are going through. Children tend to relate to the monsters better than a grown up.

Also Africa is a different culture, with a different set of values and standards, that could be another reason why they are bringing her in down there.

Also, I don't believe that "Kami" is being shoved down anyones throat. It's not like the entire Muppet Show now revolves around "Kami." I'm sure she will just be a recurring character. And I doubt her whole scenes will even revolve around the fact that she has AIDS. I think on a sunconcious level, she's just there for children in Africa to identify with.

Remember, it's harder for us in America, or elsewhere to understand the plight of the children in Africa living with AIDS. We may see this as a big deal.. The children may see this as "finally, someone just like me!" It may give them hope.

~p~