Nietzsche described the fundamental drive of humans as “the will to power” but what is power? Power theory is among the most debated topics in sociology.

In my opinion, Fred Rogers wins the Dominance game (a zero sum power game) by not playing. The typical power game is to seek power over/against others through competition or dominance. Fred Rogers shared power to/with others by means of partnership or nurturance. These contrasting strategies are often stereotyped as ‘hard’ and ‘soft’, masculine and feminine. The reality is they are just different game theoretic strategies that one can employ. However I believe that latter form to be more effective in the long run.

(not intending to be preachy, it’s what I have to contribute)

Sometimes I think it would be really cool to see Mr. Rogers completely hulk out just for the sheer novelty of it, but it’s probably for the best that he passed away with his “world’s calmest man” cred intact.

There has been something that had happened in his studio and kids in the area were invited in to help with getting the set remade again. Everything is made of papermache and chicken wire, and once the form was made, it was easy for kids to dip the paper wads into the ‘sauce’ and stick it in the wire, while others were painting different parts of the set.

Mr. Rogers was there talking to all the kids, telling us the secrets of Makebelieve Land, letting us know none of it was real, but that that shouldn’t keep us from believing in the truth of what he was teaching. Gentle gentle man and EXACTLY the way he was on the show. Mr. McFeely was there too (he actually told us his real name, but I don’t remember), and he was just as cool as he was on the show too.

All in all, meeting him reminds me that there are good people still in this world…and occasionally with the crap I have to see, I need this. If there is anything authentic on television, it was him….

They don’t have him in Australia. I vote Mr. Humphrey B. Bear as the kid’s TV icon of niceness for Australia. Until ’96 when they changed the damn song. Then I got bitter.

Anyway, sorry for being off-topic. I’ll make a mental note to YouTube this Rogers fellow.

I can’t imagine any reason I’d watch the show once I passed the target age group, but I’ve never heard of anybody claiming Fred Rogers was anything other than the loving, gentle, caring man he appeared to be.

I’m so glad I had him in my formative years, rather than whatever commercially-driven childrens’ programming they have now.

I only learned about his championing of fair use later, but it doesn’t surprise me in the least. After all, sharing is good.

Anyways, thanks for doing this.

Also, I want his train!