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Jo Jo from Jerz has a heartfelt tribute to Public Broadcasting that is a must-read, must-see [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-21
JOJOFROM JERZ, proprietor of Are You F’ng Kidding Me? has a must-read about Public Broadcasting — how it saved her, and what Republican efforts to kill it are going to mean for us going forward.
She grew up in a home where her mother had abandoned the family, leaving her stressed and fearful at a young age. Struggling to make sense of a frightening world, she was left without the support young children need, left without the love and care she needed that a dysfunctional family could not provide.
But she did find a lifeline.
What the GOP fears most isn’t a budget issue—it’s a generation raised to care.
..That’s where I found sanctuary. In the glow of PBS—my secret refuge. Big Bird was there, impossibly tall and bright, never too busy or too tired to listen. Snuffy, gentle and soft-spoken, made me believe that even invisible friends could be real and loyal. Bert and Ernie’s laughter was a balm, their silly arguments a reminder that love didn’t have to be perfect to be real. Cookie Monster was chaos and sweetness, a whirlwind of joy. Maria, Gordon, Luis—they were kind, steady adults who smiled like they meant it. People who stayed. And Mr. Rogers—oh, Mr. Rogers—he was the first grown-up who seemed to understand what it was to be small and frightened. He looked right into the camera, into my rec-room, into my heart, and told me it was okay to feel how I felt. He named the feelings I was too afraid to speak. He made space for sadness and anger and fear, and somehow, that made them less heavy. He made me believe, if only for a moment, that I was worth loving just as I was—a trembling, broken little bird. I didn’t know what to do with the mad that I felt. I didn’t know what to do with the sadness. The uncertainty. The volatility I had always known. The whole wide world felt oh so wrong to me. I didn’t know how to make sense of it—but Mr. Rogers was there. There to help me when I needed it most. He didn’t just greet me. He welcomed me. He stepped through the door, changed his shoes, and made the ordinary feel holy. He told me it was okay to be scared. That my feelings mattered—and by extension, that I mattered...
Read The Whole Thing. Pass it on.
We are now living under a regime that seems determined to roll back every good thing accomplished in the last two centuries, one where “the cruelty is the point” seems to be their only principle. JOJO includes a video from the Seneca Project that shows what we have now have had taken away from us in the middle of the night, because a nation of better people would never allow what Republicans are doing to us — and they fear “the better angels of our nature”.
Here’s what Michelle Kinney, the writer, narrator and editor of this incredible Seneca Project video said: “Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street helped shape a generation. They helped us to believe in kindness, imagination, and empathy. Our video isn’t just about funding cuts—it’s an expression of our sorrow, watching our country abandon its values. Mr. Rogers told us to look for the helpers. As grown ups — we became them.”
This must not stand. Again — read the whole thing and share it.
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