If Moon Was Cookie

Have you heard the latest? They're taking the cookie, or is it the monster, out of Cookie Monster. This column, though problematic in predictable ways, lays out some reasonable arguments for letting Cookie be Cookie. But one point that isn't made is how nobody ever worried about the effects on children of Cookie's less than perfect diction and grammar-- perhaps not the best example for our kids either, when all is said and done. Of course in a way it's reassuring that no schoolmarm scold has gone throwing the dictionary (or a very basic manual of English grammar) at Cookie. We can all agree that Cookie's idiosyncratic use of language is part of his charm. But, as Goldberg implies, so is his addiction!
What's next? Shall we put Falstaff on apple juice (OK, that's what the actor would drink anyway, but you get my point) in any production that might have youthful spectators, in order to finally end the scourge of drunk driving (and beer bellies)? From FDR's elegant cigarette holder to Cookie's reverie about the moon (if I'm not mistaken, he was glad it wasn't a cookie, because then he would have to eat it and couldn't look at it anymore), much that was grand in American culture was not supposed to be a model for ordinary people like you and me. It just made life more interesting, colorful and watchable. But times change, so Goodbye, Cookie. Ave atque vale.