The Muppets Take Conservatism? Economist, Please.

The Economist is working my last nerve. After debating if women have it “immeasurably better” than they used to and the rise of “female power,” they’ve turned their attention to the political persuasions of the Muppets.

Yes, I know, much of it is a joke.

For example, Muppet universe is not circumscribed by class. One principal, Oscar the Grouch, lives in a trash can. Although the show does not explicitly consider the issue of gay marriage, some muppets, notably Bert and Ernie, have formed domestic partnerships. The show casts in with empiricism over faith: Beaker and Dr Bunsen are warmly if satirically represented, and there is no preacher muppet who corresponds to these two muppets of science. […]

However, the Muppets are temperamentally conservative. While they value education, for example, their interest in the subject is implicitly linked to their desire for children to adopt the norms of bourgeois society, and thereby to take their place as productive citizens.

Whatever. The Muppets don’t have time for politics. They’re busy:

1. Playing Jazz

2. Rocking with Rita Moreno (and pissing her off)

3. Having Drum Battles with Harry Belafonte

4. Lamenting About Women

Rowlf: I finish work, go home, read a book, have a couple of beers, take myself for a walk and go to bed. […]Stay away from women, that’s my motto.

Kermit: But I can’t.

Rowlf: Neither can I. That’s my trouble.

(Man, when I got older, this song took on a whole other meaning – thanks a lot Jim Henson!)

5. Channeling Gloria Gaynor…