Fox & Friends is a show that just exudes white privilege. So perhaps that's why Elisabeth Hasselbeck got her dander up about how a college course, with the words "race theory" and "the problem of whiteness" in its title, is just another example of how keeping it real is, for Fox, part of "The Trouble With Schools."
Fox & Friends, as the mouthpiece for the radical right, promotes their view that public education is a bastion of Marxist, atheist, and gay indoctrination. Fox & Friends is also the mouthpiece for white America. (The only minority host that I can come up with is Kelly Wright, an African-American who occasionally hosts some Fox & Friends week-end shows.) So it wasn't surprising that an indignant Elisabeth Hasselbeck would provide some indignant whitesplaining about how a college course about racism is just the worst thing evah!
This morning, A smirking Hasselbeck began,: "If you think you'd heard it all, about what's going on at our nation's universities, think again." She cited, as her Exhibit A, an Arizona State University course titled “Studies in American Literature/Culture: U.S. Race Theory & the Problem of Whiteness." (She almost shouted "problem of whiteness"). Making sure that the requisite harassment and death threats occur, she provided the name and photograph of the offending professor. She then introduced her guest, ASU Student Lauren Clark, a correspondent for Campus Reform, a right wing group which is popular on Fox because of its dedication to ferreting out examples of librul campus bias.
A visibly upset Hasselbeck provided a description of the course which includes Marxist words like "post-colonialist" and "feminist." Clark claimed that the required readings "show a disturbing trend" that is "pointing to all white people as the root cause of social injustices for this country." Hasselbeck scowled as Clark (who apparently has not taken the course) said that this course is "causing more problems than it does solutions." Hasselbeck read the titles of these anti-white, radical tomes a couple of which could have been describing Fox News: "The Possessive Investment in Whiteness" and "Everyday Language of White Racism."
Hasselbeck, who doesn't seem to understand that blacks were not responsible for creating racist and sexist institutions, asked what the reaction would be if the course was titled the problem with blackness or the problem with being female. (Oh, snap!) Clark expressed disappointment that her school would offer this course which, she claimed, "suggests that an entire race is the problem." There was rich irony when Clark, on a network devoted to race baiting, whined about how the course foments "racial tension." Hasselbeck quipped that it's "quite unfair, and wrong and pointed." They chyron framed the propaganda in three short bursts: "Questionable Course," "Crass Class," "They're Teaching What?"
Hasselbeck, in asking what "message" is being sent to Clark, "as a student," provided Clark with the opportunity for more scripted propaganda about how "this isn't an isolated event" because Campus Reform is "tracking" this stuff which is everywhere on those evil, librul campuses. She cited examples, from Campus Reform's crack research team, of anti-white bias including, OMG, a workshop on white privilege done on MLK day - all of which point to this "over-arcing problem." Hasselbeck: "it seems to be one at your university."
Isn't Ms. Clark just so white, right wing, and perky - the perfect replacement for an aging Hasselbeck. But seriously, talk about "unfair, wrong, and pointed." Fox - America's Newsroom - white America, that is!
Addendum - Unlike Fox News, Talking Points Memo got a statement from ASU.
"This course uses literature and rhetoric to look at how stories shape people’s understandings and experiences of race. It encourages students to examine how people talk about – or avoid talking about – race in the contemporary United States. This is an interdisciplinary course, so students will draw on history, literature, speeches and cultural changes – from scholarly texts to humor. The class is designed to empower students to confront the difficult and often thorny issues that surround us today and reach thoughtful conclusions rather than display gut reactions. A university is an academic environment where we discuss and debate a wide array of viewpoints."
"Wide array of viewpoints" - not on Fox & Friends!