As I was browsing the internet today I came across a post by a friend, a video of Fox News doing what they do best, spouting nonsense. Let's watch shall we?
What you see here is just plain ridiculous. They make a very incoherent argument but I will try to lay their main points out there for you.
1) They believe these videos have a hidden liberal agenda.
2) Barack Obama is scary for saying we all need to pay our fair share.
3) They believe Hollywood is trying to corrupt our youth.
4) We are creating Occu-Toddlers
I'll address these 1 at a time
1) These videos have a hidden agenda
These movies have about as much of a hidden liberal agenda as The Muppets, so about none. At all. This should have been the end of the news story; in fact there is no story but they babble on, so I have to address it.
The two movies where clips are shown are of The Secret World of Arriety, a movie based on the 1952 book The Borrowers by Mary Norton, as well as The Lorax an adaptation of the 1971 book The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.
If you have never read either book here are quick plot summaries of both books (neither movie is out at the time of this post so I can only assume that they are closely based on the books)
The Borrowers is a book about a 4 inch tall family that lives in a house and borrows/takes small things that won't be missed that they need to survive.
Now initially I thought to myself so what? It's little people trying to survive I don't get their point. Then it dawned on me that they think the media is trying to sell the Occupy Wall Street theme of taking what they need. However this book wasn't written during the Occupy Wall Street movement, it was written as a FUN children's book in the 1950s so they're really making a big deal out of a non-issue. I'm sure if you were 4 inches tall and had no means of getting anything you'd take a piece of a cookie or something too.
The Lorax is a book about a funny little man who tries to convince the antagonist to stop cutting down trees, poluting the water and the air because if they don't stop, there will soon be nothing left.
This point I can see from a mile away. The darn liberals are trying to steal away our right to industry! How dare they say we can't have some pollution! They're trying to create hippies with this movie! Except for they ignore the fact that is staring them right in the face. It's a simple fact that if you exploit the world's resources to reckless abandon, you will destroy the environment. Has nothing to do with global warming or anything like that. The fact of the matter is if you cut down all the trees you affect the environment. The soil wears away with nothing to hold it together. If you dump shit in the river, the river turns to shit. Fish can't breathe shit, so they die. Same with the air. The book does dis on companies who pollute but for good reason! You can't just ruin the environment, there are consequences!
So fact of the matter: is there a liberal agenda? Well yes and no. I see no hidden message in The Secret World of Arrietty. As for The Lorax's message the Republicans have made it their goal to end regulation on industry and just let them do what they want. The Democrats obviously want regulation as it's common sense to not let industry rape the planet. So does the Lorax had a hidden liberal agenda. No it's not hidden nor is it even a complex issue. You pollute too much you kill the environment. Pretty simple message and true no matter what side you're on.
2) Barack Obama is scary for saying we all need to pay our fair share
They decide for some odd reason to splice in these clips of Obama saying over and over again fair share. I mean yeah he said that businesses and people need to pay fair taxes but it doesn't have anything to do with these videos. In fact they seem to try to present it like President Obama personally approved these movies and that he is behind some maniacal plot against our children.
3)Hollywood is trying corrupt our youth
This goes along with point number 1. There really isn't a liberal agenda. At all. In any way. But some quick fact checking also proved that The Secret World of Arrietty was produced by Studio Ghibli, a JAPAN based company. They made this movie in JAPAN. On top of that, the book The Borrowers was written by a British author. So all the spouting of Hollywood trying to corrupt our youth is garbage especially since this film isn't even coming from Hollywood or anywhere in the U.S. for that matter. Nice fact checking Fox News.. And as I mentioned above about The Lorax, I'll say it one more time anyone with half a brain knows that the more you pollute the more you can ruin the environment.
4) We are creating Occu-Toddlers
Another ridiculous claim. The first "reporter/commentator" comes up with this new amusing word and all the other "commentators" think it is so witty they have to use that word too. How awesome! I think by this point in the article anyone with common sense can see that no one is trying to indoctrinate kids and corrupt them (except maybe fundamentalist Christians, those people freak me the fuck out with kids spouting nonsense they don't understand). This is just a scare tactic used by Fox News to try to draw parents into their programming to be concerned about their kids. People have been waving the "Protect Our Children" banner for some while at anything that moves and it's gotten so ludicrous that any news story including kids "must" be taken seriously as a threat against our youth. Next thing you'll know they'll be spouting crap like are spoons safe for your kids? Someone somewhere claims spoons turned her child gay! Outrageous.
