# "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!" -- Bad for Kids? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744 "2012-10-24T17:50:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/21 "2012-10-24T20:08:13Z")
> [@Shark\_Sandwich](#): > > I think it can instill trust issues in children who are aspiring to become professional kickers in the NFL. Only if the NFL goes coed. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/22 "2012-10-25T16:00:28Z")
What always affected me was Linus sitting in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin, who never came. I think it’s a good lesson that not everything in life that you want or believe in will happen. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/23 "2012-10-25T16:05:33Z")
Kids are tough, as my little girl grows up I’ve been getting things for her I had when I was young and it astounds me how messed up a lot of it is. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/24 "2012-10-25T17:49:16Z")
Every year I think “I can’t believe Linus stayed out all night and his parents didn’t notice!” ---
**Author:** ![timid1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@timid1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timid1)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/25 "2012-10-25T18:10:31Z")
And then there is the jazz music. We all know what that leads to. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/26 "2012-10-25T18:14:06Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > That’s the claim of one Dad on the internet: > > [Parents: Parenting News & Advice for Moms and Dads - TODAY.com | TODAY](http://moms.today.com/_news/2012/10/24/14631085-are-charlie-brown-and-the-peanuts-gang-too-mean-for-todays-kids-good-grief?lite) That guy is a blockhead. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/27 "2012-10-25T18:16:56Z")
A few years ago I wanted to rent this show on VHS. I asked the clerk at the video store if they had it. “What’s the title?”, he asked. “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”, I said. So he typed that in. “The Great Pumpkin Charly Brown.” “No, ‘IT’S the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.’” “That’s what I put, ‘The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.’” “No, it’s ‘IT’S the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.’” “OK, ‘IT’S IT’S the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.’” After a while of this silly dance, he concluded that they didn’t have it. (And he’d never heard of it, and sort of disbelieved that it was a real title.) I did better by looking in the stacks. I think I found it under horror. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/28 "2012-10-25T18:18:20Z")
> [@timid1](#): > > And then there is the jazz music. We all know what that leads to. Early rock & roll? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/29 "2012-10-25T19:11:00Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Snoopy’s WWI flying ace scene used to upset me when I was a kid. I had forgotten all about that until my 4 year old nephew reacted in the same way to it last year. When I first saw it, I could never quite understand why the kids were having a Halloween party in a ruined house in no-man’s-land. (The difference between “reality” and “Snoopy’s imagination” apparently not being that obvious to a three year old.) ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/30 "2012-10-25T19:31:37Z")
Jeez, and I thought this would be about whether Peanuts is veiled Christian propaganda, or any of the other things that’re actually wrong with it. Not this crap. Seriously, if kids can’t call eachother blockheads while that’s still the meanest word they know, we’re all royally screwed. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/31 "2012-10-25T19:49:08Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Cyber-Dad is missing the point: kids \*are \*cruel, they \*do \*bully, and kids already know that. Or ,as Chesterton put it: "The timidity of the child or the savage is entirely reasonable; they are alarmed at this world, because this world is a very alarming place. They dislike being alone because it is verily and indeed an awful idea to be alone. Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon. " ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/32 "2012-10-25T20:07:01Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Who the hell gives out rocks for halloween? In fact, there may have been a time when Charlie Brown got more candy on Halloween than any real person; there have been a number of stories over the years about how newspapers and TV stations get sent candy from kids who felt sorry for him. (The same happened with valentines every February, although this was more newspaper-based, as, while Charlie Brown not getting valentines was pretty much an annual thing, there was only one TV show - and it was one of the later ones - where this happened.) > [@](#): > > Why doesn’t Charlie Brown run up and kick Lucy in the ribs? Actually, Lucy did let Charlie Brown try to kick the ball once; IIRC, Charlie Brown kicked her hand. (This doesn’t include the TV special _It’s Magic, Charlie Brown_ (which, from what I heard, was done without Schulz’s blessing) when he did it after Snoopy turned him invisible.) Also, near the end of the run, Rerun said he would hold the ball, but they never show the kick, and Rerun refused to tell Lucy whether or not he pulled the ball away. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/33 "2012-10-25T20:20:23Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Why doesn’t Charlie Brown run up and kick Lucy in the ribs? This comment must not be allowed to stand without a reference to [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maHTo-4AW9Y). ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/34 "2012-10-25T22:04:07Z")
> [@Imago](#): > > Jeez, and I thought this would be about whether Peanuts is veiled Christian propaganda, or any of the other things that’re actually wrong with it. Not this crap. Seriously, if kids can’t call eachother blockheads while that’s still the meanest word they know, we’re all royally screwed. The reason why we’re seeing complaints like the one mentioned in the OP is because we’re in an era of helicopter parents who are determined to swoop in and protect their precious snowflakes against _anything_ that might warp or corrupt their fragile little minds. I thought my parents were pretty vigilent regarding what I saw on TV and what I did when I went outside but today I’m not sure if some of the things they allowed me to do wouldn’t arouse the suspicion of CPS. And, for the record, I’ve seen “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” countless times and there’s nothing in it that can be considered “veiled Christian propaganda.” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/35 "2012-10-25T22:09:25Z")
That guys is such a blockhead! [Obligatory XKCD reference.](http://xkcd.com/386/) ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/36 "2012-10-25T22:56:38Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > When I first saw it, I could never quite understand why the kids were having a Halloween party in a ruined house in no-man’s-land. > > (The difference between “reality” and “Snoopy’s imagination” apparently not being that obvious to a three year old.) I never got that as a kid, either. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744/37 "2012-10-26T01:38:05Z")
Faggot, gay, cunt, bitch, asshole… sure. But _blockhead_? My kids will be hearing none of _that_! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-bad-for-kids/638744.md?page=1)