Fox&Friends Discuss Liberal “Indoctrination” – Oh, The Irony!!!!
Reported by Priscilla - June 3, 2009 -
Now that Professor Larry Schweikart and his “Trouble with Textbooks” Fox road show have gone back to Ohio, Fox&Friends is continuing the right wing meme about the threat of “liberal indoctrination” with some new propaganda – “The trouble with schools.” Like the text book series, this is just as fair and balanced - Not!! The new series follows the standard operating procedure of the textbook series in that it provides just a one sided, right wing look at a topic that is in the forefront of the culture war for which Fox News is a defense contractor. Like the text book series, it uses the same old, same old chyrons which inform the viewers, in case they don’t get it, what the real deal is. And the deal is that evil liberals are taking over those evil “government” schools. And like the text book series, this is a yet another call to arms for the culture warriors to take up their pitchforks and storm the schools in yet another foray in a culture war that doesn’t seem to be going too well for the gang.
Steve Doocy (who sent his son to Villanova and not Liberty or Regent!) interviewed Rob Schilling, a conservative talk jock, who is upset about (drum roll, please) liberal visual material in a school in Virginia and which he wrote about on his blog. Doocy began the segment by showing “incriminating” photos (taken, one assumes, surreptitiously) of classroom material which consisted of bumper stickers with sayings like “defend the earth” and “create peace.” (The question of whether raping the earth and creating war are right wing family values is answered in Schilling’s blog post which claims that this kind of material is anti-Christian and anti-American. Schilling is also concerned that environmentalism is heathen Gaia worship so there you go!) After this egregious example of creeping socialism was shown, Doocy said, incredulously, that the “school stands by this stuff and says it’s not propaganda.” On cue, he asked his only guest, “I understand that’s a college town, a veeery leeeeft leaning area. What did you find in one middle school classroom?” Schilling replied that there is “passivist, United Nations, and far left ecology information that could be classified as indoctrination in a government middle school.” (“Government School” = right wing “newspeak” like “death tax, enhanced interrogation, and drive by media!) But what really frosted Schilling’s cookies was the Sarah Palin bingo poster! Schilling asserted that there is “no balance in the classroom” and claimed that he “evaluated this on the basis of the school policy which says there needs to be a balanced approach.” Doocy did read the school board statement about how they are confident that the teachers know how to separate their personal beliefs from their responsibilities as teachers. Schilling, a Republican and former member of the Charlottesville Town Council, said that this distressing material was not “Pro-America” and didn’t defend American sovereignty.” Today’s crop of chyrons: “Indoctrinating America’s Youth, Are Schools Pushing A Liberal Agenda?” “Indoctrinating Our Kids, Classroom Decorated With Liberal Imagery” and Liberal Learning Environment, Parent Captures Pics of Classrooms.”
Comment: Schilling also claims that conservative students would feel uncomfortable in this classroom and that local conservative parents come to him about their problems because they’re afraid to confront school officials who assert that these materials are acceptable. The school officials state that school standards require that students “analyze” political visuals and media in order to “review information for accuracy, separating fact from opinion.” (Something not practiced on Fox News!). Additionally, they say that the Palin Bingo card is “akin to a political cartoon.” According to the school principal, “The object is to teach kids to analyze speech to determine what’s a factual presentation and what’s not.” (Allow me to suggest that they watch Fox&Friends). Not noted by Schilling is that the teacher of this unruly class gave her students credit for participating in a local “tea party.” The bumper stickers, that Schilling is so upset about, are part of a project that asks students to create a visual display for a project (to be sold at a silent auction) that would reflect their vision of a better world based on information learned about citizenship and world issues. The students (not interviewed on Fox&Friends) who were allowed to select their own material are happy that they have some creative license. Now, that's downright seditious! Not noted by Schilling (nor were they photographed) were the other counterbalancing posters in other parts of the room.
But all kidding aside – Worshippers in a Tennessee Unitarian Church were murdered because the gunman hated liberals. He was an avid reader of Hannity and O’Reilly. Did the hateful rhetoric of right wing media motivate Jim D Adkisson to commit his heinous act? We don’t know. But what we do know is that words matter and the incendiary words on Fox could incite those who have predilections towards violence. Fox&Friends has been relentless in their message about liberal infiltration into the American educational system. America has seen too many shootings by too many crazed individuals. We hope that it has come to an end; but if there is another shooting, it could be the result of what was “learned” on Fox&Friends!
Sarah Palin Bingo here
