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Move Over Jon Stewart, Fox News Declares War on SpongeBob
Fox News has a new enemy. Today’s Fox and Friends devoted multiple segments to attacking SpongeBob SquarePants for telling kids the truth about global warming.
In the first clip Gretchen Carlson complains that SpongeBob didn’t tell the kids that global warming is a, “disputed fact.”
Fox and Friends saved their venom for the second attack:
Gretchen Carlson said, “Well we all know that SpongeBob is popular with kids and for the life of me I still keep trying to figure out why. My kids watch limited TV, but every time they choose that show, I’m like why. Anyway, it’s hard to even follow sometimes. Maybe that will be a good thing because SpongeBob is talking a lot about global warming and he is only looking at from one point of view.”
After a SpongeBob clip, hatchet man Steve Doocy went to work, “Ok, so what happened July 20, the Department of Education invited a bunch of DC kids in and they had this festivity and they handed out these particular Nickelodeon books where clearly Nickelodeon is pushing a global warming agenda, and while there’s no disputing the fact that the Earth is getting a little warmer the big question is, is it manmade or is it just one of those gigantic climactic phases you know phases that were going? For a while we’re cold and then we get warmer and then we colder and then we get warmer. Which one is it? The science on both sides, there are a lot of scientists who say it’s this, others say it’s that.”
Fox News griped that SpongeBob presented global warming as fact, when in their eyes it is an unproven theory.
Here is the full SpongeBob short:
What Fox News showed viewers was a 6 year old short which debuted on TBS in 2005, but what they were really talking about was a book SpongeBob Goes Green: An Earth Friendly Adventure which came out in 2009. Even though the Fox and Friends crew was discussing a book, they never mentioned the fact that the SpongeBob short isn’t part of the television show. FNC was sending the message that their viewers shouldn’t let their kids watch that liberal propagandist SpongeBob, who also happens to be ratings juggernaut that has more viewers per episode than any Fox News program.
Scientists aren’t divided on whether or global warming is manmade. A 2009 poll of earth scientists found that 82% of them believe that human activity has been a significant factor in changing mean global temperatures. 97% of climatologists agreed that human activity is a significant factor in global temperatures, but only 47% of petroleum geologists believed that human activity was a large factor.
It is not too surprising that those who scientists who are employed by the oil industry would doubt the validity of global warming. The petroleum industry, business groups, and conservative think tanks, all of which have a financial interest in denying global warming has been churning out their propaganda for almost 20 years.
In response to SpongeBob, the Fox and Friends spouted almost verbatim the big business talking points. The biggest fallacy of all is that the two positions on global warming deserve equal consideration. The science leaves no doubt that global warming is real and manmade.
For daring side with science on global warming six years ago, SpongeBob is now an enemy of Fox News. The sad thing is that the SpongeBob short contained more factual information about global warming than the subsequent Fox News’ denial.
If viewers really want to be informed, maybe they should turn off Fox News, and turn on SpongeBob.
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45 Responses to Move Over Jon Stewart, Fox News Declares War on SpongeBob
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shel3364
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 2:07 pm
Going after SpongeBob? Sounds like Fox and Friend(s) has finally figured out their own weight class.
They should never attempt to venture out of it again
Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Fortunately, the people watching Sponge Bob are smarter than the people watching FOX News
Ashley
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 12:45 am
Ha ha! Zing!
Sandy
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 2:39 pm
I’m still chuckling over the fact that Gretchen finds a cartoon hard to follow…and yet she is allowed to comment? Scary…
I like to tune into Foxnews for the current episode of the Twilight Zone – always something totally unbelieveable, and you have to wonder how they manage to make those comments with a straight face.
nswfm
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Well, she went to Standford. What does that tell you?
Kinda like OJ and USC.
Hawker40
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 5:10 pm
She went to school on a football scholarship?
jeremy clarkson
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 9:06 pm
Hey idiot, it’s Stanford, not Standford.
imax
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 9:39 pm
you must have gone to stanford.
DannyEastVillage
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 7:16 am
Calm down, Jeremy. Save the rancor for those outside your household.
Aaron
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 3:03 pm
It is a freakin cartoon!! I do like the episode when Spongebob says to Mrs. Crabs (after she doesn’t pass him on his driving test), “Hey Mrs. Crabs, see you next tuesday”.
Mandy
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 1:29 am
*Puff
FTFW
Aaron
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 9:55 am
Woops, that is right she never married Mr. Crabs they just dated.
Sally
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 3:53 pm
I suppose if SpongeBob said that God created the universe in seven days, with no mention of evolution, they would be over the moon with praise. Or how about this: black children were better off as slaves because they were in a two parent family then. Or, illegal immigrants are voting daily in America. I mean, why stop at global warming…
Interesting that this crew is so worried about presenting both sides of an issue….when does FOX ever present two sides…they can’t even present the truth.
mike
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 5:14 pm
They only present lies. That’s their gig. Their viewers are so stupid they don’t even know they’re being lied to. Brainwashed tea party racists living off of medicare and screaming about global warming and sponge bob.
johnydeath13
Aug. 5th, 2011 at 11:15 pm
The tea party are not republicans or conservitivs, they represent mstly independents. I believ you mean conservitive “racists living off of medicare and screaming about global warming and sponge bob.”
Shiva (Moderator)
Aug. 5th, 2011 at 11:38 pm
The tea bags are republicans. Right now the tea bags are not faring well with independents. Independents main idea of politics is not gun ownership but fair politics.
Seniors live on medicare and the bulk of the tea bags is seniors. Fortunately the bulk of seniors are NOT tea bags. Sorry, your attempt to make them look like Dems doesnt work
Joe
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Only talking about it from one point of view? Spongebob is a sea creature. There is only one view of global warming from that standpoint.
Mikeyhatesit
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 4:02 pm
“Give him forty lashes!” >cut to a close-up of a pair of eyes completely covered by thick eyelashes<
Cari
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 5:15 pm
LMAO!!!!!
mikeyhatesit
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 12:04 am
27.media.tumblr.com/tumbl...
AI
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 4:34 pm
“It is not too surprising that those who scientists who are employed by the oil industry would doubt the validity of global warming.”
Interesting that you should be skeptical about statements made by those who may or may not work for the oil industry, but find no reason to doubt statements made by climatologists -the very profession that stands to benefit most from global warming alarmism.
Shiva (Moderator)
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 4:40 pm
there is no such thing as global warming alarmism. There are differences in opinion on how it is occurring but there is no difference of opinion on the fact that it will occur. You need to read up. Climatologists stand to gain nothing by global warming except to continue doing what they have been doing and that is studying the progress of global warming
Offensensetivity
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Clearly, you are forgetting the powerful Climatology Corporate interests and their lobbyists’ powerful chokehold on Washington… er, Nickelodeon!
Shiva (Moderator)
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 10:30 pm
Clearly!
AI
Aug. 10th, 2011 at 8:23 am
Let’s say you are a climate scientist, which do you think will get you more funding and publicity: telling people that everything is hunky-dory, or presenting your data in such a way as to make people think the skies are falling?
Whose assumptions do the politicians like to use to create a sense of iminent danger in the public (thereby presenting themselves as the sage saviors that can slay the baby-eating CO2 dragon if they get elected one more term), and who do those same politicians invite to speak at UN climate conferences?
-And yet you only consider a discrediting conflict of interest on one side of the global warming argument?
Anyways, the theory of global warming is bollocks just like the global cooling alarm of the 80′s. And even if it turned out global warming was occurring, and that it’s caused by man, any money spent on or lost due to carbon-offsetting would be many times better spent on projects actually improving the lives of those who are worst off on this planet.
Shiva (Moderator)
Aug. 10th, 2011 at 9:32 am
Interesting you choose to tell people what their work should be. Global warming is not in dispute, the only people against it are republicans who dont want any regulation and corporations who could care less about you. Few scientists are in this for fame
AI
Aug. 10th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
“Interesting you choose to tell people what their work should be”
-How do I do that?
” Global warming is not in dispute, the only people against it are republicans who dont want any regulation and corporations who could care less about you.”
-Wrong. Global warming is highly disputed by sensible people from all over the political spectrum. Pinning global warming skepticism on ‘evil’ republicans and corporations, and therefore invalid, is a poor argument. Scientifically the global warming theory doesn’t hold water.
Look up “argumentum ad populum” and “appeal to spite”. Also consider familiarizing yourself with guys like ex bleeding-heart environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg. youtu.be/Dtbn9zBfJSs
john strutt
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Climatologists don’t benefit from the existence or non-existence of global warming. Research is funded to study the climate whatever the status, with no regard for possible results.
DannyEastVillage
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 7:17 am
Naive.
Shiva (Moderator)
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Gretchen Carlson has an opportunity to be a rose between two complete idiot’s. But she has chosen on a daily basis to be the third idiot.
And what is even stranger in a very stupid way we all know that the earth is getting warmer. Perhaps it is a cycle it really doesn’t matter. The fact is are we preparing for it? And the answer to that would be absolutely no. The only thing we are doing is burning more fossil fuels around the world and increasing the chances for more warming. And if we were preparing for it, Fox news would be right there telling everyone how foolish it is to prepare for it.
It’s really an honest to God pity the people’s noses don’t grow when they lie. Steve Doocy would have to do his job laying down with his nose in a sling from the ceiling.
unbelievable idiots
Lauren
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Sorry Mr. Easley. Opinions of scientists are one thing, and as much as Fox gets under everyone’s skin, if anyone can find one peer-reviewed, scholarly, scientific study/paper citing anthropogenic causes for global warming then Fox would need to air a correction. Unfortunately, they’re right this time.
Sarah Jones
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 5:05 pm
Yes, we all know how Fox is known for their corrections. LOL. “Democratic Governor Sanford was off cheating on his wife —” Every time a Republican does something bad, they get run with a “D”. Course, this matters not to their viewers, who apparently don’t know any better in the first place and certainly not after watching half an hour of the propaganda network for big oil and Koch whores.
Shiva (Moderator)
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 6:04 pm
They are not only not right, but Fox lies constantly without retraction. Watch Sean Hannity for one night.
mikeyhatesit
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 11:56 pm
Scientists don’t have “opinions”. Journalists shouldn’t either, but then again, I rarely see either of those types on FOXNews.
Anyone who says there is no correlation between the human technological revolution (from pre-historical agriculture to modern day industry) and climate change is about as off-base and ignorant as those who say evolution has “no evidence”, especially because “scientists dispute it.” Michael Behe, who is Creationism’s biggest expert, has had his Irreducibly Complex Mousetrap Hypothesis dismantled both in a Supreme Court setting, and in every major biology journal. On top of that, he misrepresented himself in order to be able to claim his work had been peer-reviewed. I would recommend to anyone interested in the manufactured controversy about evolution to take a gander at Project Steve.
That the East Anglia Climate Study had its emails hacked does in no way mean that the information is suspect. And it ignores the subsequent investigation that there was no academic malfeasance. The only thing that the scandal revealed is that the general public is woefully ignorant about basic science procedures, including the very foundation of all research: the scientific method. Scientists are human beings, too, and subject to the same petty high school behaviors that are seen in every supposedly ‘adult’ professional environment. Look at Clarence Thomas, Sarah Palin, or Mitch McConnel. And to be fair & balanced, let’s add Bill Clinton and Anthony Wiener.
To get to the levels they have in their respective fields, scientists don’t always have the best interpersonal skills. Saying that the East Anglia Data is disreputable because of personality conflicts is no better than saying all Christians are terrorists based on the activities of the Hutaree or Anders Breivik.
However, ‘theory, tricks, or falsifiable data’ mean different things in the academic world; in the internet age it means that other scientists have a shorter turnaround time to read papers and begin to set up the same experiments to ensure that the results are valid. As for finding peer-reviewed papers on the legitimacy of climate science, I am not going to do anyone’s homework for them. It only takes a little research, but I will not accused of directing someone’s search to sites that favor scientific accuracy over emotional arguments that favor religio-corporate agendas.
There are multiple falsehoods being spread about this situation, including “manipulated or suppressed” information, but this is quite simply incorrect. Scientists love nothing more than to prove each other wrong. While they may disagree on the finer points, even the empirical evidence recorded during one person’s lifetime should be enough to point out the facts. Feel free to prove me wrong, but FOXNews doesn’t deal in retractions, let alone facts- but that is just my opinion.
SiSu
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Here you go!
www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessmen...
dmx
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 5:11 pm
Finally: the Sponge Bob-Tinky Winky connection becomes clear! Surely this is a sign of The End Times!
catmanhunting
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 7:34 pm
closest thing to a smile i’ve had all day… it’s another “oh, wtf!!?” smile, but hey
Lou
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 8:02 pm
It must have been fun to write the phrase “In response to Spongebob….” Line of the day!
DannyEastVillage
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 7:23 am
What was Sponge-Bob’s gay connection? I can’t remember. I remember Tinky-Winky carried a purse, enraging poor Jerry Falwell (may his soul rest in everlasting perdition) but what did Sponge Bob do?
dmx
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Sponge Bob, Tinky-Winky and many other non-existent cartoon characters are ALL card-carrying members of The Illuminati, forcing their homosexualist, global warmingist, secular humanist, agenda-ist Agenda on our nation’s children in the Government-run schools–some as young as two years old! They are ALL under the control of their father, Satan.
Louish
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Remember that Simpsons episode where there was a calamity and life was ending on early, there were space ships for the “smart” people (they went to live on an other planet I think) and another ship for the not so smart that was sent into the sun.
Needless to say, I know which space ship I’d send the Fox crew too! (BTW, it’d be the second option!!!
Steve Kashmoney
Aug. 6th, 2011 at 11:10 pm
Did she say that sometimes Spongebob is hard to follow. That says it all about the intellectual abilities of Fox and Friends.
Paul
Aug. 7th, 2011 at 4:34 am
are they really going after a cartoon, well then why not go after the manga Yotsuba which also talks about global warming.