Dexter's Lab Tackled Heightism back in the 90s

Great find, Cole!

I interpret this as a complete lack of awareness about how being short affects boys. After the initial bullying scene, the bulk of the episode was about the
"humorous" means Dexter goes to just to try to be taller. The moral, if we're going to call it a moral, is that kids are silly for focusing on arbitrary matters. As we know, height is far from an arbitrary matter, even early-on in school. Being short is presented as a "temporary cosmetic inconvenience that kids will eventually grow out of" which is why the Mom rambles-on about his growth spurt instead of addressing the bullying that Dexter receives. As a matter of fact, the bullying and the Mom ignoring it by talking about growth spurts were the most realistic parts of the episode. However, those were just background noise in-order for the producers to make a story about a boy who wants to be taller by any means necessary. In the end, they made the eye-rolling conclusion that being short is just like any other characteristic that is "different." When Dexter becomes a tall douchebag, everyone ignores him, which is completely ridiculous because all of us know about tall guys and their "physical presence." I think the writers thought that a boy striving to be taller would be a humorous scenario, and since most boys "grow out of" being short, it wouldn't be a big deal for them to cover this topic. However, in the event that boys who weren't going to grow saw the episode, they thought, "Who the fuck cares what they think? It's not like being short impacts their lives that significantly?" We know this is wrong, but this is just the things people are indoctrinated to believe about us. They have to believe that our height has no bearing on us or they'd have to question their own thoughts and actions, and that's the last thing they want to do.