Bigger. Better. Spongier.

Well, considering I have mentioned the Spongebob controversy in both my MTS blog and my Faith in Faith blog, I suppose I should make a few comments here as well.

As of this writing, I am rather appalled with James Dobson and the Focus on the Family group. I have always respected Dobson and his group for working with families and people and helping them find Biblical solutions to their emotional strife. But whenever this group takes political stands, I cringe.

But the latest rant against Spongebob (which has been ratcheting up each day in the conservative blogs and talk radio) is beyond my threshold of ridiculousness. The actual controversy is not about the television show, though as more voices weigh in, th show and the characters are receiving quite a bit of attention.

I have seen dozens of Spongebob episodes. I understand why some members of the homosexual community latch onto Patrick as a symbol of acceptance of their worldview, but they do so by adding their text to the character, not drawing on the "gayness" of way he's portrayed in the cartoons. Patrick is a starfish, which means he has no gender or sexuality in the first place.

I see the failure to recognize that the homosexual textuality many people are concerned about as external to the text itself is a fundamental blow to American democracy. Removing texts that others reinterpret is a dangerous path to take. I mean, these same communities reinterpret Archie comics into homosexual texts. Should we next ban Archie from schools?

Potentially banning Spongebob from the classroom is not the end of free expression, but it's just a symbol to me of everything that's wrong with the way the political right approaches American life. These groups mounted political assaults on Disney (the company and specific titles and characters), the Smurfs, several comic books (including Superman specifically), Jar-Jar Binks, Barney, Winnie the Pooh, Harry Potter and now SpongeBob. And let's not forget how many times the Simpsons have come under fire.

If these texts do indeed contain subversive texts (the Simpsons certainly does, which is where the show crafts its humor), then I say so be it. Let people think about complex issues and try to grapple with why different people believe different things. Sanitizing our public world only makes us illiterate and unable to be hospitable to those who are different from us.

I think James Dobson is a good man. And that goes for many people in his circle. But I think stands like these undermine our democracy and restrict one of the very freedoms we founded this nation upon: free speech and expression.