Even Sesame Street has surrounded to the all-encompassing malaise of politically-correct, valueless liberalism.

Sesame Street is adding to its cast a muppet who is HIV-positive.

In September 2002 it added to its cast of muppets a female character who is HIV-positive. Segments including this new muppet will air only in South Africa (where the show is called Takalani Sesame -- takalani means "be happy" in the Tshivenda language), but it is possible that eventually this character will appear in shows broadcast to the other eight nations that air Sesame Street.

The South African character has been named Kami and will be a female mustard-colored furry Muppet who likes nature, telling stories and collecting stuff. Kami is a "monster Muppet" like Grover or Elmo, the least human-like of the Sesame cast, said Joel Schneider, vice president of Sesame Workshop. The muppet will associate freely with the show's other characters as a way to fight stereotypes about people with the virus, said Yvonne Kgame of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

"We know that she'll be lively, alert, friendly, outgoing, and HIV-positive," said Schneider, who in July 2002 announced the character to delegates attending the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona. "It's about instilling positive attitudes toward people who are HIV-infected," Kgame said.

Hell, I'm all about education and I certainly remember how Sesame Street has provided layered, surprisingly rich education to children for decades, unlike today's modern crop of soulless, mercantilist, stuffed-toy-pushing Nickelodeon crap, but this is ridiculous....
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