YouTube’s Ms. Rachel and the leftists coming after – Latest News
Most dad and mom my age grew up believing that Mister Rogers was talking on to us in our dwelling rooms. He felt like a member of the household — a beloved one.
He didn’t simply clarify the world because it was; he confirmed us what it may very well be.
Fred Rogers helped raise two complete generations of Americans with a mild, nonpartisan and uncontroversial ethical compass grounded in common sense.
She’s the Mister Rogers of right now’s toddler set — however not like him, Ms. Rachel’s wildly widespread content material sneaks in invariably leftist political themes. YouTube/@msrachel
Today, many dad and mom see Ms. Rachel as the subsequent Mister Rogers — solely her viewers finds her not on PBS, however on digital media.
Back in the day, we needed to look forward to Mister Rogers’ scheduled airtime.
But Ms. Rachel’s “Songs for Littles” is out there on demand, round the clock, on each YouTube and Netflix.
Rachel Griffin Accurso’s super-sweet, sing-songy Ms. Rachel persona is a high YouTube draw, with over 14 million subscribers and more than 10 billion views.
That’s billion — with a “B.”
Her social-media feeds on Instagram and TikTok, the place she stays in character in her trademark pink headband, are adopted by tens of millions more.
She and a recurring forged of cheery co-stars train infants, toddlers and preschoolers about the ABCs, colours, feelings, animals and just about something she will be able to set to music.
She’s so widespread that when Drew Barrymore hosted Robert De Niro on her discuss show this week, she had Ms. Rachel document a customized video for the actor’s 2-year-old daughter — which went viral for its winking reference to “Taxi Driver.”
De Niro melted. “If there’s a problem with the baby and there’s a lot of unhappiness, put on Ms. Rachel,” he gushed.
“It just immediately goes away.”
But not like Mister Rogers, Ms. Rachel’s content material sneaks in political themes — invariably leftist ones.
In 2023 she put her followers in a time-out, briefly leaving social media when a mother objected to a Ms. Rachel video by which a castmate — dressed androgynously, with a number of facial piercings — subtly launched a non-binary puppet character: “Their name is Patches.”
Unlike Mister Rogers, her viewers isn’t on tv, however on digital media, as her YouTube channel has over 14 million subscribers, together with more than 10 billion views. YouTube/@msrachel
Since that controversy, some dad and mom have seen an uptick in political messaging in Ms. Rachel’s social-media posts.
Consider that 30% of youngsters ages 5 by means of 7 are utilizing TikTok — regardless of the platform’s 13-and-older coverage — and utilization amongst this weak group is surging.
Almost a quarter of youngsters on this demographic have a smartphone and more than three-quarters use a pill laptop. Younger youngsters use them, too.
Parents aren’t simply placing their youngsters in entrance of Ms. Rachel on YouTube, however on her social media as properly, the place the algorithm can keep entertaining them along with her content material.
“Happy Pride!” she exclaimed on TikTok final June, carrying a rainbow-striped shirt.
“I’m not chasing fame or views,” she mentioned. “I’m standing strong in love.”
Translation: If you’re uncomfortable with a youngsters’s entertainer expressing political beliefs on sexuality, you simply don’t have love in your coronary heart.
In latest weeks, she’s been more and more fixated on the warfare in Gaza.
For 12 days after the Oct. 7 terror assault on Israel, Ms. Rachel remained silent.
Not till Oct. 19, when Israel was starting its Gaza invasion, did she post a video, crooning, “Safe, safe, safe . . . all children deserve to be safe.”
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She didn’t spare a phrase for the dozens of youngsters held hostage by Hamas at that second.
Since then, she’s often posted Hamas-aligned speaking factors about the quantity of youngsters killed and complaints about meager support shipments.
“Please practice the golden rule and do what you would want someone to do for you,” she lectured.
What, precisely, would some other nation do whereas 59 of its residents are nonetheless being held hostage?
But for all her posts lamenting the plight of Gaza and videos of waving Gazan youngsters, there’s one conspicuous omission: the phrase Hamas, the terror group that ignited the warfare.
That’s a outstanding stage of avoidance for somebody who positions herself as a ethical information for teenagers simply studying their numbers and letters.
The Supreme Court subsequent month will hear a case filed by Maryland dad and mom who object to the sly political messaging their youngsters are experiencing of their public colleges.
An amicus temporary filed for the plaintiffs in Mahmoud vs. Taylor by the Manhattan Institute’s Ilya Shapiro explains, “Children are accustomed to accepting assertions put forth by an adult authority figure unquestioningly. They lack the critical-thinking skills to evaluate gender-theory views of sexual identity.”
Or, I might add, these adults’ views about an ongoing warfare.
Millions of us as soon as considered Mister Rogers as the final arbiter of kindness and goodness.
Today, tens of millions of youngsters see Ms. Rachel the identical method.
And that’s exactly why her more and more politicized online presence ought to concern dad and mom.
Ms. Rachel has a ethical compass — nevertheless it solely factors leftward.
If dad and mom invite her into their houses, they need to perceive that’s the direction by which she’s guiding their youngsters.
Bethany Mandel writes and podcasts at The Mom Wars and is a homeschooling mom of six in better Washington, DC.
