The other day I ran across a video of Fox News (which is really an oxymoron, when you think about it) folks dissing one of my heroes—the awesome Mr. Fred Rogers. Not only did they say that he was to blame for children growing up feeling as if they are “entitled” to everything and not working hard; they also flat out called him an evil man.

This is the same station that hails people who should be arrested for war crimes as heroes, calling one of the most generous, kind children’s rights advocates “evil.” Yes, we definitely know where your priorities are, Fox News.

How dare you. Not only are you sullying the name of one of America’s true heroes, you’re also attacking a dead man who cannot defend himself. Classy there! You’ve always been a low company—too low to be turned on in my household, for sure—but now you’re just despicable. And I don’t know how your “hosts” nor your “expert” can sleep at night. (And I use italics just the way we should use italics in the “News” part of your show—because they’re these words by your dubbing only, and not by the actual definitions of the words.)

Fred Rogers was one of the most amazing men on Earth. I’ve watched him testify before Congress for gentle, loving children’s programming and it brought me to tears. I watched him daily as a young child awake before my mother was and found him to be a steady, loving adult presence in my life. Indeed, he was the only unconditionally loving source of support for thousands of children, I am sure. And I grew up to be one of the most ambitious people you’ll ever meet—so ambitious, in fact, that I’ve had to be hospitalized because of health effects associated with “doing too much.” This, of course, is not a result of Rogers, but of my upbringing, education, my own ethics, and a multitude of factors—just as every person’s life is a unique hybrid of their own experiences.

Blaming one television show is very convenient, but highly erroneous and malicious. Rather than giving parents, the media in general, the education system that rewards kids for failing and gives them trophies for losing while simultaneously telling them they are not good enough unless they do X,Y, and Z, and every experience a child has—let’s blame a single gentle TV show for simply telling children they are special.

I’ve read many reports about how the Baby Boomer generation, not wanting their children to suffer as they did as children, gave in to their children’s wants and desires as often as possible, creating a spoiled generation that feels “entitled.” Whether or not this is true, I’m not sure; I’ve certainly worked with such “entitled” people and found them to be a pain to work with, sure, but most of them are not from my generation—the Fred Rogers generation of the ‘80s—but younger, of the Barney/ Power Rangers/ etc. generation of the ‘90s. Should we blame Barney and Power Rangers, then? Perhaps the most empowering thing would be to blame no one and start valuing people for who they are rather than for what they do, properly train people on the job, give them a good education, and stop blaming the one man who provided love to so many who experienced little of it to begin with. Redefining our definition of “success” would also be helpful; as my new favorite quotation from D. Orr goes, “The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. it needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the word habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as our culture has defined it.”

Not that Fox News would support that kind of success.

Thank you, Mr. Rogers, for bringing your message into my home during my childhood. I will continue your legacy by brining it into my own home for my child as well.