Mr. Rogers was an "evil man" per Fox News.

[thistlechaser]

Mr. Rogers was evil and ruined a whole generation of kids. Fox News says so.

I couldn't even watch that whole clip, Fox News turns my stomach.

Comments

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

What a bunch of, pardon my French, shit. We couldn't make it through the whole clip either.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*snerks* Yes.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Haha, this is hilarious.

Oh my god, thank you for posting this, I've got my laugh today.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Watching it more I like the guy who clearly took the whole this as a big joke: "Mr. Rogers, evil genius! Muwahahahaaa"

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

As a well-informed conservative, I (and most others) take Fox News as a big joke about 99% of the time.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Too many conservatives I know think Fox is the only unbiased news source around... *facepalm*

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Welcome! :D

[iniadelphinae.livejournal.com]

Can't watch the clip since it's on Youtube, and I'm at work. I think I don't need to see that, though.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

The title really says it all, yeah. You're probably better off not having to watch it.

Hmmm...

[unarider.livejournal.com]

I actually did watch the whole clip, and although it's hard to tell, I really do think they're being facetious when they refer to Mr. Rogers as evil (however, I won't rule out the possibility that I'm making that assumption, because, well, given the subject matter, how could they not be?). After talking about all the studies implicating Mr. Rogers in the ruin of a generation, they bring in a blond bimbo of a psychiatrist (Dr. Witkin) at the very end, who says it ain't so.

I actually find the issue they're discussing (no matter how retardedly) kind of interesting, because it's one that comes up fairly often for me. I'm working on a combined Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and School Psychology, and we spend a lot of class time tossing around questions like why it might be that, despite the Flynn Effect (i.e., IQ increases with each new generation), achievement scores seem to be going down. Along with curricular changes and other external factors, one thing that's earned a lot of discussion time has been decreased motivation/more of a sense of entitlement in students (and whether that's a result of the "everyone's a winner" mentality that's been perpetuated in a number of different ways and contexts).

So, while I don't think that the issue brought up in the clip is one that holds no implicit truth or fails to raise explicit discussion in the scientific community, I do think it's ridiculous to point at Mr. Rogers as the sole reason behind the phenomenon (which is what the report states professors at various universities have been finding in studies they've conducted). Also, I find it hard to believe that anyone doing a study at a Research One institution wouldn't be laughed out of town for doing so (anything published in a reputable journal is first submitted to a rigorous peer review process). What I think is happening is that the researchers in question are referencing Mr. Rogers as a single instance of (or even a figurehead for) a cultural phenomenon that goes far beyond his isolated example.

And, as usual, stupid news anchors are interpreting the articles too literally.

I have just proven to myself that I will dissect ANYTHING far too extensively in my attempts to procrastinate from writing papers.

Re: Hmmm...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I actually find the issue they're discussing (no matter how retardedly) kind of interesting

Agreed. Their initial idea was interesting, and I found myself almost agreeing with them (*gasp!* With Fox News! End of the world!), until they went off the deep end.

Good luck with your papers! :D