Mr. Ratburn, We Hardly Knew Ye

News that I missed, courtesy of The Babylon Bee:

ARLINGTON, VA—In a controversial new episode of educational cartoon Arthur, PBS showed the eponymous character’s teacher, Mr. Ratburn, coming out as a conservative Christian.

The episode kicked off the show’s latest season. In an emotional ceremony that all the kids attend, Ratburn gets baptized at a local conservative Baptist church, publicly giving his life to the Lord Jesus. The children applaud for his decision, bravely coming out as a Christian in the public school system, and on a public television station no less.

“It just seemed like the natural next step for us as a kids’ show,” said one writer of the controversial episode. “Children get to see this man living out his truth in a hostile environment, even though he’ll probably lose his job and his reputation for this brave step.” Writers said they originally planned on having Mr. Ratburn come out as a gay man but wanted something that actually would go against the zeitgeist and take some real bravery for a public school teacher. “The gay thing would have worked, sure, but it’s a little cliche,” they said.

“There’s no real hostility there,” they added.

Go here to read the rest.  Nice try Bee, but everyone knows that the mission of the tax payer supported PBS has ever been to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted by affirming the prejudices of the well heeled chattering classes of the nation.   Offend their donor base, actually give them something challenging to think about?  What do you think PBS is, educational TV?