Tomorrow's Pioneers
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Tomorrow's Pioneers (رواد الغد Arabic romanization: Ruwād al-Ghad; also known as The Pioneers of Tomorrow) is a Palestinian "children's program" that has aired since April 13, 2007, on the Palestinian Hamas-affiliated television station, Al-Aqsa TV (مرئية الأقصى قناة الأقصى). The show features a young host, either a girl named Saraa Barhoum (in the earlier seasons) or an anonymous boy, and their co-host, a large, costumed character as they perform skits (or "scenes") and discuss life in Palestine in a talk show fashion with call-ins from children (typically of ages 9–13, with some as young as 3). Presented in a children's educational format similar to such shows as Sesame Street and Barney and Friends, Tomorrow's Pioneers has become extremely highly controversial because of its antisemitism, Islamic nationalist, anti-Americanism, and other anti-Western themes and content.
Sadly, it is now clear that the show is still ongoing, despite many lots of audiences formerly mentioning the cancellation until 2009.
Plot
The show follows a standard kids' show format with either Saraa Barhoum or the current male host and a costumed character as their co-host as they discuss life in Palestine in talk-show format and perform some skits, in addition to featuring call-ins from children ranging from the ages of 4 to 12.
Why It's A Pioneer of Hell
- The biggest thing to note about this absolute atrocity and pure evil that is Tomorrow's Pioneers is that it educates terrorism aimed at children. What doesn't help is that the show is funded by Hamas, the lead political group in the Gaza Strip. The show claims to be a "children's show", but because it teaches terrorism to children, it's incredibly hard to believe so and it's very wrong in its teachings as a result of this. Oh, and let's not forget that there's also even swearing (albeit mild), racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, Islamic supremacy/nationalism, anti-Americanism, and other anti-Western themes in this show, which makes it EVEN HARDER to believe that this show is targeted towards children. We're absolutely NOT kidding about all of this!
- The reason for all of this is possible because it was specifically made to make kids join Hamas and fight with Israel because "kids are great targets for it"
- Very sadly, just when a whole lot of audiences thought the show was canceled in 2009 and were happy about it, it was recently discovered by a YouTuber named Nick Crowley that the show is still airing, even after the 2010-2021 gap as of today, which is very unfortunate. Even though Saraa didn't return as the host in the most recent episodes, it still contains the same type and amount of propaganda the show was infamous for back then, which shows how Al-Aqsa TV refuses to listen to criticism.
- For some strange reason, Nahoul and Farfour return, despite being "dead" before (albeit Farfour is now portrayed as a dog instead of a mouse). Plus, some other costumed characters are just as unlikable as the original ones, such as a chicken named Karkour and a costume of a human boy.
- It portrays Americans, Israelis, Jews, and other Western people in an incredibly xenophobic and racist way. Heck, not even neutral countries like Mexico, Denmark, or Switzerland are safe from hate and racist portrayals.
- Even the characters' names are incredibly generic. For example, Assoud's name, which means “lion” in Arabic, can be terrifying sometimes since someone can say that it's consonant with the word "suicide" or another. In addition, no character has a proper, original name.
- It promotes child soldiers, terrorism, suicide bombers, and even martyrdom, all of which are extremely dark topics for a kids' show, and also shows how Hamas promotes the recruitment of followers, which is encouraging children to sacrifice their own lives solely for the sake of Palestine, Hamas and “The Pioneers of Tomorrow”, most likely referring to the children watching the show.
- In fact, it seems like it was made solely as a series of recruitment videos for Hamas
- The voice actor of Farfour is laughably awful, it's as if they hired a sick, elderly man to take the role and impersonate Mickey Mouse poorly.
- Nahoul's voice is even worse as if the actor playing him was purposely trying to make him sound ear-piercing which will quickly get on viewers nerves. Thankfully, Assoud's and Nassur's voices were a lot more tolerable to listen to (but that doesn't excuse the horrible things they've said and done).
- There are cheap, malevolent and racist rip-off versions of well-known and iconic characters from multiple animated shows such as Mickey Mouse and/or the Animaniacs being Farfour, Maya the Bee being Nahoul (although Nahoul is a male with Maya being a female), either Bugs Bunny or Roger Rabbit being Assoud, either Winnie the Pooh or Yogi Bear being Nassur, and possibly Foghorn Leghorn (from Looney Tunes) being Karkour.
- Hypocrisy: Despite The show's hostilities and dislike towards the US and its culture, they used Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny/Roger Rabbit, and Yogi Bear as the basis for their characters, even though they originate from the United States.
- However, it is possible Nahoul, Assoud, Nassur, and Karkour are not clear rip-offs of Maya the Bee, Bugs Bunny, Winnie the Pooh, Yogi Bear, or Foghorn Leghorn respectively and it may have been a coincidence. However, in Farfour's case, he looks exactly like Mickey Mouse, which even got the attention of Disney, who went after the show for using their trademark mascot without permission and as a way to promote terrorism. This also was likely one of the key reasons Diane Disney Miller condemned the show and its terrible teachings
- Also, as said previously, not only does Farfour look like Mickey, but he also even looks like the Animaniacs from the show of the same name.
- All of the five main costumed characters (those being Farfour, Nahoul (who is the worst in the show), Assoud, Nassur, and Karkour) are extremely unlikable, xenophobic, annoying, heartless, soulless, malevolent, and very manipulative characters to children in the audience to the point where they really should be in jail or even executed.
- Saraa Barhoum, while not as bad as the costumed characters, is no better, as she is emotionless and egotistical, and only serves to speak about the show's Hamas propaganda
- The first episode has Farfour getting scolded not because he was rooting for the Israelis, but because he spoke English. In that particular episode, Saraa and Hazim keep saying that it is "terrorist talk", even though English is spoken in and is a partially recognized foreign language in Palestine. It shows that everyone who speaks English is an enemy of the world.
- The "nursery rhymes" are propaganda songs that praise Hamas, which is another gimmick that teaches children about terrorism.
- One episode has Farfour and a child calling into the show to sing a song that's a poem about the joy of firing an AK-47. How much could this show manipulate children if not like this?
- The show has repetitive, poorly-written plots. In every episode, they glorify terrorism and martyrdom in different ways. In addition, there may be full of plot holes, such as the costumed characters having human families (see WIAPOH #14).
- The costumes used for the characters, especially for Farfour and the costumed human boy look absolutely horrendous and unintentionally creepy.
- There are tons of infamous, inappropriate, and controversial scenes in the show:
- Almost all of the costumed characters (sadly except Nassur for some reason) were killed off in a shockingly horrifying way at the finale of every season, and all of them are declared martyrs despite the atrocities they committed.
- There's an infamous and brutal scene in episode 105 (the season 1 finale), where an actor dressed as an Israeli government official beats Farfour to death (in a "kid's show" by the way) after the latter refuses to give him the documents his grandfather gave to him and proclaiming, "we are not the kind of people who sell our land to despicable terrorists", referring to the Israeli government. This scene is very shocking and disturbing to both Mickey Mouse fans and little kids.
- Even worse, Saraa showed no emotions when Farfour was being beaten to death on TV right in front of her. She even told the audience that Farfour was lost with feelings like nothing had happened.
- After transitioning to Saraa, the sound of Farfour screaming and the man yelling at him is repeated eight times, making it very annoying fast enough.
- Nahoul dies after becoming seriously ill and the Israeli authorities refuse to allow his family to take him to an Egyptian hospital for treatment. However, he somehow returns in later episodes, albeit with a different costume, which doesn't make any sense.
- What makes matters even worse is that, unlike Farfour's death, Saraa celebrates Nahoul's death by saying he was a martyr.
- Assoud dies in the hospital after the Israeli Air Force attacks his town during the Gaza War.
- There's an infamous and brutal scene in episode 105 (the season 1 finale), where an actor dressed as an Israeli government official beats Farfour to death (in a "kid's show" by the way) after the latter refuses to give him the documents his grandfather gave to him and proclaiming, "we are not the kind of people who sell our land to despicable terrorists", referring to the Israeli government. This scene is very shocking and disturbing to both Mickey Mouse fans and little kids.
- Apart from the death scenes and Hamas propaganda, there is an extremely controversial scene in which Nahoul is seen entering a Palestinian zoo where he proceeds to swing cats by their tails and throws rocks at lions complete with a laugh track (thankfully, this video has been taken down). Despite the scene being made for kids to teach them that you need to be kind to animals and not hurt them, it's still a really bad influence on them and is something that Eric Cartman from South Park would do.
- One of the darkest, most controversial scenes comes from Season 4, which features a musical reenactment of an actual suicide bombing carried out by Reem Riyashi, which killed 25 Palestinians. Reem was a mother of 2 or 3 children who had been recognized as a martyr by Hamas and the Al-Aqsa martyrs brigade. The scene is then followed by a child actress playing one of Reem’s children opening her mother’s drawer to find the explosives she used to carry out the bombing, giving the implication that she has no choice but to follow her mother’s footsteps. This is further evidenced in the next scene with one of her actual grandchildren wishing to become a Jihadist martyr when she gets older.
- In a scene from Season 3, Assoud is scolded by Saraa for trying to steal money from his grandfather. During that scene, a child calling into the show demands that Assoud have his hand cut off as punishment. Saraa agrees, but Assoud begs for them not to do so. Another caller suggests that they cut off one of his ears instead, and after once again begging for them not to do it, Assoud apologizes to Saraa, and he doesn’t get punished. Sure, Assoud did something bad that deserved his punishment, but mutilation/dismemberment of any kind would be way too cruel of a punishment for stealing money from someone!
- Almost all of the costumed characters (sadly except Nassur for some reason) were killed off in a shockingly horrifying way at the finale of every season, and all of them are declared martyrs despite the atrocities they committed.
- For some reason, the costumed characters have family members that are not even of the species the costumed character is, which shows laziness from the creators of the show.
- In the season 1 finale (which is the aforementioned episode in which Farfour dies), his grandfather, who dies of natural causes in it, appears alongside Farfour, but the grandfather is a human actor, instead of a mouse like the latter.
- The same thing happened in the season 2 finale, where Assoud is informed that Nahoul has died, leading to a lame plot twist where it is revealed that Assoud was Nahoul's brother, which is ridiculous due to it being impossible for a bee and a rabbit to be siblings in real life.
- Additionally, in the same episode, Nahoul and Assoud's family appears when they inform the latter about the former's death, and the character’s family members are humans instead of bees or rabbits, the same case that happened with Farfour's grandfather.
- Another example occurs in episode 202 when Nahoul takes Farfour's place as co-host of the show. However, it's revealed that Farfour was Nahoul and Assoud's cousin.
- In one scene from Season 3, Assoud sneaks into his grandfather’s room while he’s sleeping to steal money from him only to be confronted by Satan himself, to which he changes his mind. However, just like Farfour’s grandfather, Assoud’s grandfather is also shown as being a human instead of a rabbit
- In both Seasons 3 and 4, Assoud and Nassur have demanded that every single Jew must be killed, which is something on the levels that Adolf Hitler would have demanded.
- In one scene, Farfour cheated on his test and in a fit of tears, he claims that "the Jews destroyed his home and he left his books and notes there", which teaches children to blame Jews for everything. Heck, even Hazim and Saraa don't approve Farfour by saying that it's not an excuse for failing a test.
- Even despite all the atrocities this show had, it continued to air as proven above, which spread its horrible word of mouth even more.
- Hazim Al-Sha'arawi, the creator of the show who played Uncle Hazim in the first season, refused to take criticism, as he denied that his show was teaching evil and demanded the network not pull the show off the air, as explained in the response letter sent by the show’s director to the late Diane Disney Miller when she expressed her condemnations.
- In conclusion, this show is nothing more than terrorist propaganda in its purest form, AND IT SERIOUSLY SHOWS!
- This also gives the country of Palestine a bad name since it made people realize that it's an Axis country, which in reality is not because there can be terrorists in other countries like the United States and Israel. Not helping any is that Palestine is struggling in Gaza War, with Israel threatening to do genocide across the whole country.
- Not only that, it also gives the entire Middle East a bad name now due to the region being the home country for terrorists, when really, as hostile Middle Eastern people can be at times, even they wouldn't want to support terrorism in such a way! (especially considering what happened after the September 11 attacks).
- In addition, thanks to this show, Disney is siding with Israel as a result.
- This also gives the country of Palestine a bad name since it made people realize that it's an Axis country, which in reality is not because there can be terrorists in other countries like the United States and Israel. Not helping any is that Palestine is struggling in Gaza War, with Israel threatening to do genocide across the whole country.
Reception
Tomorrow's Pioneers was universally panned by critics and audiences alike, even holding an impressive 1/10 on IMDb at some point, then holding a 2.7/10 rating before being reverted back to a 1/10, which makes it the lowest rated show in IMDB history, and for good reasons. Many have considered this show to be the worst children's show ever made and also one of the worst shows ever made, even compared to other propaganda shows like Squirrel and Hedgehog. Criticisms concerning the content and methods employed in the broadcast of Tomorrow's Pioneers have come from a variety of sources. After its existence and what it was teaching were discovered, it was banned worldwide.
Israeli officials and critics from the Anti-Defamation League have denounced the program as incendiary and outrageous in content. Watchdog groups, Palestinian Media Watch, and MEMRI have described the show as "anti-Israeli", and PMW has commented on the show's "championing of violence, promotion of hatred of Israel and preaching about world Islamic supremacy." Within the Arabic community, critics have suggested that the show has the potential to introduce bias in children at an age when they are unable to properly differentiate between political viewpoints.
Walt Disney's last surviving child, Diane Disney Miller, who died on November 19, 2013, hated the show saying: "What we're dealing with here is pure evil and you can't ignore that." She further commented: "It's not just about Mickey, it's about indoctrinating children like this, teaching them to be evil. The world loves children, and this is just going against the grain of humanity."
Episodes With Pages
Trivia
- In response to the late Diane Disney Miller’s message about the show, she got a letter from Fathi Hamad, the director of Tomorrow's Pioneers, saying that Hazim Al-Sha'arawi denied that the show was teaching evil and demanded that the network not pull the show off the air.
- The makers of the show sugarcoated a story about the actor who portrayed Karkour and the second incarnation of Nahoul, who was assassinated in 2014 in a "random attack", claiming that Karkour was a very popular character among children in Palestine and that he was a friendly and innocent man, however, Karkour wasn't even appearing in episodes before the actor's death and it was soon discovered that he was a high profile member of Hamas and that his assassination was not a coincidence, instead, it was targeted towards him.
- The show seems to be still running. YouTuber Nick Crowley found clips of other, unknown seasons, including one running right now, with the co-host being a guy in the costume of a human boy with sunglasses. It still has the same messages as the original seasons.
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