Why do we mock Fred Rogers and other good men?
There is something threatening about a sincere and compassionate man.
As a sensitive young child afraid of everything, I needed Fred Rogers like a burn needs salve. As my mother put it, “His show was always safe for you. I never had to worry about you becoming confused or upset by what you saw on it.” Since almost everything confused and upset me, this was vitally important. Rogers, though, understood what it meant to speak so a child could understand. He combined this skill with an apparently sincere compassion for not only children, but all people.
His presence in my young life was a one of pure joy and calm. Why, then, did I delight in making him the butt of so many jokes when I got older? Why does he inspire so much mockery?
I was far from the only one to make fun of him. Some more famous examples are Saturday Night Live’s “Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood” and the well-known Johnny Carson skit with Carson as Rogers. It was — and still is — easy to satirize him. Rogers was so unlike most people in his demeanor, speech, and vision. He was kind and sincere, which made him at least appear to be an easy target, particularly to people who associated meanness with being an adult, and so mistook Rogers for being child-like.
