It must of been a slow news day for FOX when news anchor, Eric Bolling, of “Follow the Money” accused the newest Muppet movie of brainwashing our nation’s children against capitalism.
Bolling and guests didn’t take to kindly to the portrayal of “The Muppets” villain, Tex Richman, a wealthy oil baron whose goal was to tear down the old Muppet studios to make room for an oil field. Bolling argued that by depicting a successful businessman as evil, the liberal media was once again trying to plants seeds of anti-capitalism in our children’s heads.
Bolling asked, “What’s actually going on there? Is liberal Hollywood using class warfare to brainwash our kids?” To which guest Dan Gainor replied, “They’ve been doing it for decades. Hollywood, they hate the oil industry, they hate corporate America.”
It was at this point I realized that the conservative media was afraid of a couple of fuzzy felt puppets. Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy singing and dancing was striking more fear into conservatives than former GOP candidate Herman Cain was when he was running for president. It was absurd that a conversation such as this took place on a nationally televised political talk show.
First off, Bolling and guests seemed to ignore the fact that the greedy businessman is one of Hollywood’s most over-used archetypal antagonists of all-time, having been depicted in scores of other films. To finally get upset over vilifying oil companies seemed like a stretch by Bolling and his guests. It was an attempt to scare their conservative viewers from taking their children to see the film.
Also, there have been many times when oil businesses and corporate America have been as greedy and evil as their Hollywood counterparts. There is still debate today over cleaning up and restoring the damage from the BP oil spill as well as the Exxon Valdez from back in 1991. Loopholes discovered by these real-life villains have taken some of the liability away from their oil companies who created these disasters.
Lastly, it’s safe to say that most of the U.S. doesn’t hold oil companies and the rest of corporate America in the highest regard right now. With the Occupy Movement sweeping the nation, America is getting fed up with these greedy businessmen. The 99 percent would side with the Muppets in this case.
Once again, FOX finds away to make a big deal out of something as innocent as a children’s movie. If anything, the Muppets teach children better morals than any oil baron ever could. I really wish that FOX would stop broadcasting these frivolous news stories and focus their time on something more newsworthy.
Chasen Doerr is a senior journalism major and contributing writer for the Daily 49er.
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