More "Indoctrination" Paranoia: Fox Attacks Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

by Todd Gregory/Media Matters

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.

The first, Dobbs said, is an animated film called The Secret World of Arrietty, and the second is Universal Pictures' computer-animated version of the 1971 Dr. Seuss classic The Lorax.

The graphic that aired during a clip of the movie declared, " 'Lorax' Movie Pushes Anti-Industry Message":

Dobbs found the message of these two movies reminiscent of President Obama's recent speeches on taxes. For support, he played clips of Obama, complete with an "Indoctrinating Our Children" graphic:

Dobbs then said, "The president's liberal friends in Hollywood [are] targeting a younger demographic using animated movies to sell their agenda to children."

As Dobbs asked his panel about "this sort of insidious nonsense from Hollywood," the graphic read, "Tree-Hugging Dr. Seuss Character Featured In New Universal Movie":

The position that Fox is ultimately espousing when it whips up this paranoia is that any pro-environment lesson for kids is a form of "indoctrination." Fox reacts in a different manner when people deliver conservative messages to young people.

Inevitable: Fox hires Lou Dobbs

by Ben Dimiero & Eric Hananoki This afternoon, Fox Business Network announced it has hired former CNN host Lou Dobbs to host a show on their network. The LA Times reported: Just about a year to the day that he left CNN, Lou Dobbs is returning to cable news, this time as host of his own show on News Corp.'s Fox Business Network. Fox Business Network is expected to announce that it has signed Dobbs as early as Wednesday afternoon. It's the latest high-profile hire for the cable network, which launched a little over three years ago and is in 57 million homes. Although that is far fewer homes than its chief rival, CNBC, Fox Business last week managed to beat CNBC on election night, both in viewers and the key adults 25-54 demographic. Dobbs left CNN after repeatedly embarrassing the network by dabbling in absurd conspiracy theories about President Obama's birth certificate. Dobbs also caused friction at the network due to his years-long, falsehood ridden crusade against illegal immigration. So, Dobbs is heading to Fox, where they apparently aren't bothered by such things. (He has already been popping up on Fox News in recent months to misinform their viewers about immigration.) Dobbs' hiring might not be welcomed by everyone at Fox News. Fox News host Geraldo Rivera has repeatedly criticized Dobbs for his "slander" against Hispanics. He has also publicly spoken against Fox News hiring Dobbs. Dobbs, in turn, has called Rivera a "cowardly liar" and "annoying." Following Dobbs' departure from CNN, Fox Business anchor Liz Claman wrote on Twitter, "Was with Geraldo and his wife Erica last night when news of Lou Dobbs quitting CNN hit. Clearly Geraldo won that battle." On Glenn Beck's radio program in October 2009, Fox Business host John Stossel said of conservative rhetoric on immigration: "If it means the Lou Dobbs-kind of rants about immigrants wrecking America, I don't subscribe to that. I think immigrants by and large do good things for America." Dobbs, in turn, has lashed out at Stossel. Of course, Dobbs is not the first host to find a comfortable home on Fox Business after leaving their previous place of employment under controversial circumstances. After MSNBC fired Don Imus for his comments about the Rutgers Womens' Basketball team, Fox Business brought him on board.

Dobbs Brushes Off Blame For Inspiring Rise In Right-Wing Anti-Immigrant Extremism

By Andrea Nill

Explaining the alarming rise in extremist group activity in 2009, Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) pinned some blame on former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, Fox News host Glenn Beck, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK). Dobbs hit back at the group by referring to Potok as “paranoid.” ABC News reports:

Potok cited talk-show host Glenn Beck for stoking fears that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is running concentration camps, former CNN host Lou Dobbs for incurring fears about supposed Mexican plots to take over the southwestern U.S., Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., for making statements about secret political reeducation camps, and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin for referring to Obama “death panels” during the health care debate. Bachmann and Beck are also cited by name in the SPLC’s report, but Dobbs and Palin are not.

“These people help to bring completely groundless conspiracy theories from the margins into the mainstream,” said Potok. In a phone interview, Dobbs scoffed at the report. “It’s sad that Mr. Potok insists upon maintaining his paranoia, and I hope that he recovers.” “Beyond that, I have nothing to say about the man,” said Dobbs.

SPLC isn’t the only group that has accused Dobbs of fueling a rise in anti-immigrant hate. Last June, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund released a report that revealed a close correlation between the increasingly volatile immigration debate and a growing number of hate crimes against Latinos and “perceived immigrants.” The report specifically cited Dobbs’ “shrill anti-immigration reform commentaries.” When Dobbs was still on air, Media Matters wrote that Dobbs, along with Beck and Bill O’Reilly, served a “steady diet of fear, anger, and resentment on the topic of illegal immigration.” Dobbs was described as “the one most obsessed with the topic” and was accused of having “hosted some of the most radical immigration opponents, offering them a national platform to disseminate extremist views.” While campaigning in 2008, Obama himself accused Dobbs of “ginning things up” to such an extent that hate crimes against Latinos soared.

Dobbs’ fiery rhetoric has also been directed at opposing the Obama administration. Soon after his departure from CNN, Dobbs announced on his radio show that if health care reform comes close to passing, “we’re going to have to do something quite different” and advised his listeners to “protest physically and visibly in the streets.” Last year, Dobbs also dismissed a report released by the Department of Homeland Security warning about a rise in right-wing extremism as a document similar to those produced in China under Mao Zedong’s oppressive rule.

M.C.L comment: Let the great right wing back peddling begin, idiots like Beck,Palin, Dobbs and Bachmann love to incite these people for their own political or ideological purpose. And once these people act out in violence people like Beck or Dobbs will simply guide their followers to the closet speeding Greyhound bus and let the bus steam rolls them and act like they didn't know where these people get these ideas from even though if check these people viewing or listening habits you see where they get their ideas from.

Example remember when that shooter in Tennessee shot up that church he viewed as liberal? In his letter he wrote the reason he did was he wanted to kill every Democrat in Washington and every one listed in Bernie Goldberg's book. The Holocaust museum was big fan of Glenn Beck and the far right wing web site Free Republic, the guy who shot and killed those police officers in Pennsylvania was also a Glenn Beck fanboy. And according to Lou Dobbs if it snow 10 feet somewhere it was because there were too many illegal Mexicans.