When I was growing up we had Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Whenever he opened the door and said, “Hello neighbor,” it was as if he projected a ray of kindness into your home.

During the difficult times I experienced in my childhood, I learned to throw my mind into a place that was separate from reality. I became absorbed in books, television shows, and film. Often, the shared experiences I had of watching a show created more enduring memories than the actual events of my life.

As I got older, I pretended to be tough and some part of me wanted to reject Mr. Rogers. But there has never been a time in my life that I saw his smiling face and I didn’t feel a sense of overwhelming comfort. Children have a greater perception of authenticity, and there was never any signal that Fred Rodgers was anything other than an example of sincere and overwhelming kindness.

Today, we live in an era of screaming shock jock influencers. These are almost universally horrid men who flash predatory grins and spend as much time shilling testosterone supplements as sharing any content. What comfort do men like these provide if a child manages to crawl away from an abusive situation to seek some approximation of affection from the media?

When I was growing up, we had Fred Rodgers to tell us we mattered. Who tells that to the children of today?

What’s wrong with our country?

The closest example I can think of is Bluey. Bluey is an animated television series about a family of dogs. I am friends with the local librarian, and he said that when they offered a Bluey day, it caused a sensation.

That, to me, indicates that there is a need out there for the literature of kindness. Our children hunger for it, and even the adults in our society could probably do with the occasional reminder that “they matter.”

But, unfortunately, we don’t have it. Bluey is an Australian show. At some point, perhaps we should ask ourselves what is so corrupt about the United States of America that we can’t even bother to develop or fund programming that helps marginalized kids get through a tough day?

There’s unlimited money for hate programming though

We live in an era where there are various organizations that send slick young men to college campuses to try and tell young women they’d be better off getting married than continue their studies.

My mother has often remarked on how it feels as if society is moving backwards. When she was in college, men used to come up to her and say, “I suppose you’re after your ‘Mrs.’ degree.” The normalized and deplorable perspective was that women had no other value than to become the spouses/servants of men.

A lot of money is being spent to bring that ideology back to the forefront.

In the shows I watched growing up, there were plenty of examples of women studying to become doctors, lawyers, and chemists. Producers were always deliberate in pushing a message of equality.

Today, the majority of the public calls that “woke nonsense” and they become offended at the sight of it. People write to television stations to get the programming cancelled. They elect politicians who cut funding for public broadcasting and education.

Where does the hate money come from?

In the United States, the general population has been indoctrinated to see wealthy people as superior. There’s little discussion about how this attitude is white supremacy indoctrination. The fact is, it’s unscientific to assume a rich man acquired his wealth through his intelligence and work ethic.

In fact, it’s just as likely that he got that money by lying, cheating, murdering, and stealing.

There’s nothing wrong with reserving your opinion until you’ve made further inquiry. However, our society also indoctrinates its young to believe it’s impolite to ask. If you doubt the origin of the money, you are “jealous” at best and a “social deviant” at worst.

“Why do you hate America?” people ask. But at the same time nobody is ever expected to show any receipts.

All you have to do is look around at the landscape of talentless young men who seem to never run out of funding as long as they scream their racist and misogynistic trash.

Maybe we do in fact owe it to our children to reconsider the value of preaching hate over kindness?

The general public is tired of hate

There’s a reason that so many families are canceling their streaming services. There’s a reason that a Friday night trip to the movies is no longer a beloved tradition. There’s a reason that major publishers never make any money on the books they release.

It’s all toxic.

The American public hasn’t yet put a name to its longing, but they’re getting closer and closer. The fact is, everybody knows that this social ideology is unsustainable. Even in 1999’s The Matrix, a character casually mentions that everybody knows something is wrong. The public knows something is wrong, but we haven’t yet put our finger on it.

The answer is the lack of kindness.

At some point, we have to wake up and stop believing everything we’re told. We have to stop assuming that shock jock influencers are paid because of their talent instead of through some nefarious network committed to hate indoctrination. Let’s follow the money trail and see where the funds are actually coming from.

Let’s demand less John Wick and more Bluey. Let’s stop wallowing in hatred and instead choose to celebrate love.

I’ve always believed that the stories we tell to each other determine our reality. It’s time to start funding stories that celebrate kindness. I knew I needed it even when I was thirteen and I tried to act tough. Today, we all need kindness perhaps more than ever before.

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