Date: Thursday, May 30, 1996 7:39PM

Subject: cartoons

Shooby Dooby Doo... My, how those words take me back. Back to a time when it was all right to love each other, a time we could frolic in peace, a time when Saturday morning cartoons were worth watching all damn morning. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed a definite shift in power in the realm of children's entertainment? Once upon a time we would actively choose Electric Company in the stead of tripe. Now one must have explosions, cute furry critters whose home has been destroyed by capitalist swine, no morals but the one they must present separately else one might think it is actually a part of the show, happy nice people who make fun of those who are different, a flying thunderkick, and no death. When I would watch Starblazers or Robotech, when a character died, I did not think of it as a cartoon being written out of the show, but as the death of good person whose death was not in vain, but for a greater purpose. Now the fact that I saw it as death is not a bad thing. When my Papa Coy passed, I was better equipped to deal with the trauma because I was not sheltered from reality like the moral right wanted me to be. I was smart enough to know the difference between real and pretend death, but could use the parallels to guide me in my life. Now that a guy can use an ejection seat in a helicopter, fly through the blades unscathed and survive; or no matter how much of your ZEO crystal has run out, Zargon will save you; the kids have a sense of immortality. This is wrong. A child should know that death is real and happens to anyone. Otherwise they would grow up doing and taking what they want, because nothing bad can really happen to them. Twelve year old rapists. Five year old murderers. The death of childhood is not upon us. It passed us by. Never forget, and try to share your toys. ciao