The Daily Times

I’m going to start with something moderately controversial. Don’t go to Fox News for your movie reviews. I could go further, but I’ll leave it at that.

Eric Bolling, host of Fox Business News program “Follow the Money” said on that show recently the Muppets are trying to brainwash kids with evil socialist propaganda. “We’re teaching our kids class warfare. Where are we, Communist China?” Bolling said.

Um. Okay.

Bolling takes issue with Chris Cooper’s villain character being an oil tycoon. He wants to raze the decrepit Muppets Theater because he’s positive there’s oil beneath it. A classic cartoon trope: Tycoon/Baron/Mogul seeks Oil/Gold/Olive Oyl in unlikely place beloved by Puppet/Bunny/Popeye. Hijinks ensue.

Even though they just want the liberals to “leave little kids alone” it seems to me the Fox News crowd are the ones robbing kids of a childhood.

Children don’t need to know what socialism is, or what an oil tycoon is, for that matter. Kermit and company are’t pushing an agenda, they’re teaching kids that some things in life are more important than others.

The message of the Muppets is that friendship and family mean more than a building or the oil that may or may not be underneath it. Here’s what the characters learn in the most recent Muppets movie: Being together — becoming a closer family or faster friends, uniting for the common good — is far greater than being rich, famous or powerful.

That’s a traditional value, Mr. Bolling. It’s as American as it gets, and that value has been a staple of heartwarming holiday entertainments from “A Christmas Carol” to “Miracle on 34th Street” to “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Everything works out for the characters in these stories only after they realize what’s really important.

Despite what Fox News and others would have you believe, individualism is not a truly American value. What’s the famous quote attributed to Ben Franklin? “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

The founders of this nation understood instinctively that we need each other to survive. Nothing has changed in a nearly two and a half centuries of history. Americans need each other. We need our families and we need our friends. Beyond that we need the sense of community that defines the American spirit.

When I was in college, I remember the local pop music station suspending its regular programming and advertising schedule one weekend, around this time of year.

A local child had been diagnosed with a rare cancer. It was treatable, but the treatment was very expensive and the family’s insurance declined to pay. So station management held a weekend long drive to raise the money the family needed to save this child’s life.

There were no commercials. (I can’t imagine how much money the station lost in revenue that weekend.) Instead, the DJs broke into the music every couple of songs and repeated the appeal. Help save a child’s life. Every little bit helps.

That’s America, people.

In their way, the Muppets remind us of what America is, how great it can be. Togetherness, singleness of purpose and devotion to something greater than ourselves: that’s the message of the Muppets movie.

Perhaps the Fox News people could do with rousing chorus of “Mahna Mahna.”

Timothy Hankins is a musician, writer and contributor to Weekend. Contact him at (weekendcolumn@hnkns.com)

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