Fox "News," which shall now until forever on this blog be referred to as "Fox" because, of course, there is precious little news on that program, has finally lost its collective mind.
On December 2, 2011, the Fox installment Follow The Money ran this segment, which lasted 7 minutes:
In response to Fox's charge that the new Muppet movie is brainwashing our children with dangerous liberal ideas about rich people being bad, the Muppets held a press conference on January 26. Yes. I just said that. The Muppets -- you know, those adorable funny fuzzy PUPPETS -- held a press conference to respond to Fox's allegations:
I have been sputtering about this all week to anyone who'll listen and somehow feel as though I've entered an LSD-inspired hallucination. Is Fox with its ultra-conservative agenda, the agenda that seems to instruct its media minions to use as frequently as possible buzzwords like "class warfare" and "liberal news bias" (the latter of which includes CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, Newsweek, various wire services and The New York Times) so desperate for a palatable Republican candidate that they are now lumping Kermit and Miss Piggy in with the current administration as those to blame for the so-called impending American leftist/socialist morally corrupt totalitarian regime? I suspect the answer to that question is yes, they are that desperate, just as I suspect it's no coincidence that Fox is taking potshots at little guy vs. big guy themes because the man most likely to win the Republican nomination also happens to be very rich and more than a tad out of touch with the aforementioned little guy.
It is not news that the right has for years pointed fingers at "liberal" Hollywood, and it's also not news that creative types -- ie, writers, artists, filmmakers, actors, and the like -- lean toward liberal thinking, such thinking characterized by a desire for workable social programs as opposed to elite greed. And yes, if we look at films over the years, those aimed at kids or not, there is a common theme toward the disenfranchised fighting back against "the man." Take 101 Dalmatians (1961), featuring Anita and Roger, regular folks who own a bunch of pretty dogs vs. Cruella De Vill, the rich lady lusting for a spotted coat. We also have Snow White (1937), a common gal battling against her wealthy stepmother the Queen. And of course, can anyone forget the venom spewing forth from Mr. Potter in It's A Wonderful Life (1946)? Mr. Potter who, without interference from poverty-stricken George Bailey, would have turned bucolic Bedford Falls into Sin City? This message of little guy going up against big-and-maybe-wealthy guy is as old as time, going back as far (and probably farther) as poverty-stricken Jesus taking on the Romans. But now that we have what Fox and its kin keep insisting is a socialist in the White House, it seems it's time to take aim at a frog and a wig-wearing pig who apparently are the latest culprits twisting the minds of our ill-fated children and causing them to become lazy welfare-lovin' food-stamp-orderin' rich-folk-hatin' communists.
Maybe Fox's next target should be Charles Dickens, who in 1843 painted a rather dark portrait of a rich fella beating up on the poor, a fella named Ebenezer Scrooge. In fact, that's a great idea since the Muppet Christmas Carol features Scrooge AND Kermit AND Miss Piggy, all of them no doubt in socialist kahoots. Go for it, Fox! You can save some ammunition and take down literature and puppets in one fell swoop, though I'd be careful about getting rid of all the bobbing marionettes: you might lose your jobs.
2 comments:
Homer, you lost me.
Sounds like he's got his priorities right.
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