Going to the Doctor (Mr. Rogers' First Experience)

Rating:
Summary: Scathing Assault on Corporate U.S. Health Care
Review: I was only 3 years old when my parents set me down in front of the TV set to see the man I knew as Mister Rogers. It wasn't until I found this literary work that I understood their desire to expose me to Fred Rogers. Between the ages of 3 and 6, I was able to comprehend Mr. Rogers on an asthetic infantile level, but too young to grasp his biting satirical spitfire that raided contemporary America. Like cartoonists Charles Schulz (Peanuts) and Jay Ward (Rocky & Bullwinkle), Mr. Rogers brilliantly utilized societal settings to tell stories that children can enjoy on their level, and grown-ups could enjoy on a satrical level.

"Going to the Doctor" takes us from the one-dimensional neighborhood (the neighborhood we saw on TV, I now understand, was the socio-symbolic setting that expoused Spinozist thought that, in 1960s Guajardian circles, was in its infancy)into the doctor's office. What I find fascinating is that Rogers prophetically portrays a "new century" health care system in the guise of a child visiting the doctor for the first time. The child is us; a society that fears the inevitable breakdown of security as we know it. The chilling detail is shown in the end of the book, when the child goes home believing he is cured, all is well, and the doctor is a nice man who wants to help. The security is the shame we all refuse to see: that the Doctor (the patriarchial supraneural mark of the government) is not Dad, but Big Brother, relieving our spasms, yet relievinng the contents of our wallet at the same time.

I highly recommend this book for children of all ages. Though a child may not see through the apparition behind the story, perhaps he or she will subliminally "get" the message.