10 Hilarious Right-Wing Freak-Outs Over Children's Cartoons

From AlterNet:

The right wing is hyper-paranoid that liberals have some secret power-cabal to shift the cultural politics of America (er, they confuse themselves for themselves), and therefore can find a bogeyman in anything. We’ve seen this plenty on the GOP campaign trail, with their attacks on, and fear of (broadly) women, gays and people of color. Sometimes they attack directly, but other times they find a strawman to mask their hate—contraception or marriage equality. But what happens when conservatives’ abject terror gets so ridiculous, paranoid and out-of-whack that the basic culture wars don’t do it for them anymore?

That’s when they start going after kids' shows.

More here.

Of course, this is to a great extent about conservative paranoia. I mean, paranoia is one of the main features of conservatism. Why do you think they're so into their guns? Why do you think the conservative version of God is all about wrath and anger instead of peace and love? Why do you think conservatives are united against things instead of for them? Conservatives are a terrified people who believe that enemies are in the woodwork just waiting to slit their fat throats. It is no wonder that they see malevolence in children's cartoons. They see malevolence everywhere.

But, more broadly, I also see this as evidence of the continuing conservative journey into fantasy and non-reality. Remember, these are people who now have open hostility toward science and rational inquiry. Conservatives don't believe in global warming, even though it is, at this point, a well established scientific fact. Nor do conservatives believe in evolution, which is an even more established scientific fact than global warming. Conservatives, many of them, at least, believe we found WMD in Iraq, that President Obama wasn't born in the United States, that cutting tax rates creates more tax revenue, and on and on and on.

And in order to maintain these impossible beliefs, conservatives have constructed complex and wild fantasy narratives and conspiracy theories explaining why they're right even though they're wrong. For instance, many conservatives actually believe that the reason the vast, vast majority of climate scientists assert that global warming is a fact is that they are part of a worldwide plot to bring more government money into their research institutions. That's right. It's not simply that conservatives believe the scientists are wrong; it's that they believe these tens of thousands of scientists are lying in order to bilk the government of tax dollars. And, for some reason, none of this veritable host of weathermen has gone on the record to talk about the conspiracy. Really, it's as good as aliens or Bigfoot. Impossible. But they believe it.

So, if conservatives are willing to go that far into fantasy land, to assert that football stadiums full of people are all in on a plot to defraud the planet so they can do more and better research, and that none of them, none at all, are talking about it, how can it be so weird that conservatives believe children's cartoon producers are in on a conspiracy to indoctrinate kids into homosexuality and communism? Okay sure, it's all weird. I'm just saying that, given the overall context, it's not at all surprising.

Disturbing, but not surprising.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$