Leave it to Lou Dobbs at Fox Business to come up with this: The new Universal Pictures animated film, “The Lorax,” based on a Dr. Seuss book, is apparently just liberal Hollywood anti-business anti-one-percent indoctrination of children.
You see, when you use animated characters to espouse the idea that trees and clean air and water are good, that’s indoctrination! The film, clearly, should have been “fair and balanced,” and espoused the benefits of no trees, no clean water, and no clean air. That’s what should have happened!
Dr. Seuss be damned!
(Memo to Lou Dobbs, who, at the age of 66, should know better: The Lorax was first published in 1971. It has nothing to do with President Obama or the Occupy Wall Street movement. But feel free to think that if you want to.)
Media Matters reports:
The Muppets. SpongeBob SquarePants. Dr. Seuss.
Beloved icons of childhood entertainment in America, or subtle forms of anti-business indoctrination that brainwash your kids into hating capitalism?
Thank goodness we have Fox to ask these questions.
Lou Dobbs sounded the alarm again tonight on his Fox Business show:
DOBBS: Now, an “Unmentionable” — a story you won’t hear anywhere in the liberal national media, or nearly all of the national liberal media. Hollywood is once again trying to indoctrinate our children. Two new films out this year, plainly with an agenda, plainly demonizing the so-called “1 percent” and espousing the virtue of green-energy policies, come what may.
Steve Benen at MaddowBlog adds:
It was pretty amusing in December to see Fox News invest some energy into targeting the Muppets. Eric Bolling, you’ll recall, actually went after Muppets twice, first accusing the movie of trying to “brainwash our kids” against capitalism, and then again soon after, insisting the Muppets are “terrible” for “demonizing” capitalism.
…
Perhaps the quintessential modern example was Jerry Falwell going after Tinky Winky the Teletubby, but that merely started a lengthy, larger campaign. One conservative group went after “Shrek.†Another targeted “Shark Tale.†James Dobson launched a broadside against SpongeBob SquarePants, while Fox News’ Neil Cavuto perceived “Happy Feet†as political propaganda. The “Harry Potter†series has been targeted any number of times by conservatives complaining about witchcraft, and the Christian Coalition targeted Twilight because “it’s just not normal for young people to idolize a vampire.â€
What’s actually not normal is having so many conservative adults perceive secret political messages in harmless fun for kids.
What’s not normal is the paranoia coming from the radical right. Because they’re the ones who are indoctrinating the children.
Can you imagine what the radical right might look like in 15 or 20 years, if this is what they’re doing now?
http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/flash/pl55.swf