Review of Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018) by Shpostal — 11 Jul 2018

I never watched "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" as a kid. I knew though he was an extraordinary man, full of love for children and frankly mankind and was determined to get the message across to as many kids as possible that they were loved, unique, and capable of anything they wanted to achieve.

But it went deeper than that. As "Won't You Be My Neighbor" superbly shows us, he didn't ignore the ugly things in life with his beloved audience - he discussed horrifying events like war, the RFK assassination and other societal ills in a manner that kids would understand, knowing as many of us fail to recall or acknowledge ourselves that kids are a lot smarter and more aware of the world around them than we think.

I know as a kid myself I was interested in the news. I knew people, including schoolmates and other "friends" could be meaner than hell, and now with the benefit of 57 years of life realize the meanest, most bullying and stupid kids were frankly mirror images of stupid, mean bullying parents, and were victims of terrible upbringing.

Many had to deal with divorce - Rogers covered that on one show, too - sexual and mental abuse and yet parents were woefully out of synch with them and had no earthly clue what their worlds were really like because in so many cases, they were too selfish, stupid and indifferent toward their children, if not criminal in extreme cases.

This documentary is brilliant in its exploring the life of one of the kindest people to have ever existed. Everything about Fred Rogers was genuine - the real deal. After initial resistance after finding out a character on the show was gay, he nonetheless realized he must love and tolerate that person and all people if he or anybody else ever expected to receive the same respect.

It's a very touching documentary. In this world of extreme hate and senseless violence no message of his love and drive to recognize the good in all of us this movie could not have come at a better time.

But at films' end, there is a short bit of demonstrators at his funeral in 2003 accusing him of being gay (he was not), and tolerating the LGBT community. FOX News, which is truly the bastion of hate and idiocy disguising itself as a news channel, even stooped to call him evil and criticized Rogers for telling kids that they were fine just as they were and to be happy with their lives.

What the morons at FOX News failed to understand, or refused to so they could be their unnecessarily cruel selves is that without encouragement and belief in one's talents and abilities nobody can succeed, and they accused him of not telling kids to expect to have to work hard to get anywhere.

That is **** Rogers never implied anything of the kind, and was starting where we all should, with love, compassion and real respect for children, who are, after all, little humans. FOX News of course is psychopathic in its dealings with the country and fosters hate, encourages stupidity and denigrates all decency wherever it confronts it.

Rogers was mortified after 9-11, and made a few public service statements, but was sick and wouldn't be able to do any more programs. It is hoped that people who still believe that kindness, intelligence and the will to do good will see this excellent film bio and come away inspired, moved, and more determined than ever to combat hate and stupidity, as we must do in the name of decency.

Fred Rogers is a hero, and must be recognized as such and never forgotten.