The Meaning of SpongeBob

[housewolf]

Wow, read this article by David Neiwert, the left-blog-world's expert on fascism. This is an insightful piece, kind of long but a very good read.


The meaning of SpongeBob
Saturday, January 22, 2005

<snip>

Over at Focus on the Family's Website, this argument is made clearer:

Dr. Dobson is concerned that these popular animated personalities are being exploited by an organization that's determined to promote the acceptance of homosexuality among our nation's youth.


It's hard to say exactly which organization he's talking about. If you go over to the We Are Family Foundation -- the immediate object of Dobson's wrath -- it's pretty hard to find anything that even remotely mentions homosexuality. Moreover, if you click on the link to the "Tolerance Pledge" that Dobson says is the source of his allegation, you'll see that the pledge is actually the product of Tolerance.org, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In other words, Dobson appears to be attacking the SPLC by proxy. That should give people a little clearer picture of what we're really talking about here. Dobson isn't just condemning cartoon characters, he's attacking the basic concept of secular tolerance as a democratic cornerstone. That is, he's actively promoting the tolerance of intolerance.

<snip>

more...
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2005/01/meaning-of-spongebob.html

[coloradodem2005]

1. We can't have tolerance now can we?

That is just wrong. <sarcasm>

[sffreeways]

2. Really great article

The best part of the piece

This was driven home the other day on Michael Medved's afternoon talk show on our local right-wing talk shop, KTTH-AM. Medved was discussing the SpongeBob controversy, and defending Dobson (correctly) because much of the ensuing discussion micharacterized what Dobson actually said. However, it didn't seem to occur to Medved that what Dobson actually said was in truth far more troubling than the caricature of it -- that it was an attack not on SpongeBob but on the principles of tolerance and fair play.

That point was made, in a unintentional way, by one of his callers (from, evidently, the Seattle area). The caller accused Medved of not wanting to be upfront about what was really at work in the SpongeBob video -- namely, the secret conspiracy of Talmudic Judaism to destroy Christian America. The caller went on to cite a Portland anti-Semitic preacher named Rev. Ted Pike, whose work has earned plaudits from many other quarters of the white-supremacist universe. Pike's antipathy to hate-crime laws is noteworthy too, since it rests on arguments similar to those raised by Dobson in this case.

Medved dismissed the caller as a conspiracy theorist and moved on. Unfortunately but perhaps predictably, he did not pause to reflect on the similarity of the views of his caller -- whose beef was with Medved, who is Jewish (and thus part of the cover-up, you see), not Dobson -- and those of the people who are attacking Tolerance.org. Because those attacks are not solely against tolerance of gay people but tolerance as a principle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group that is promoting intolerance doesn't care that it's bigotry though, they know it is. They believe that their group won't be "next" so they don't care that embracing intolerance of one group will lead to intolerance of other groups. Too bad the message will go over their heads because as the author points out ultimately a democratic society depends on tolerance to survive. That is what they don't get.

[xchrom]

3. hi sffreeways, long time!

back to the conversatin at hand -- i appreciate the bloggers insight -- and yes it is an attack on tolerance.
lanfuage like this is extremely important -- the n.y. times liked to describe it as a ''soft target''.
being gay -- and this being an attack on gay people -- i was dismayed at the two words, soft and target.
if you are the one being targeted -- it's not so soft.
gay people already know -- there is violence beneath those words.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. I also think Dobson is objecting to the "song" of the video, "We

Are Family" for a couple of reasons.

1. It's the song used in the opening credits of "The Birdcage", the Mike Nichols version of "La Cage Aux Folles" featuring two gay men in a longterm relationship that resembles a marriage. It consistently shows humanity, tolerance, and acceptance of their lifestyle. This alone has to drive Dobson apeshit.

2. Unification of diverse groups into a whole is not good unless it's under the control of the fundamentalist Christians on their terms. Dobson and his ilk do not want thinking independent from their religious dogma, and further want the opposite of coming together, that is, disenfranchisement of coalitions that would challenge theirs. "We Are Family" does not mean Dobson's "family".

3. Like the Third Reich, Dobson & Co. want to control the youth for future "armies", not only for their purposes but for the political regime trying to control every aspect of a person's private and public life. They don't want children to have more tolerance than their folks or conversely, to continue the tolerant viewpoints of their dissident parents. Y'know the words: "Tomorrow belongs to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"

[Mudcat]

5. Interesting blog

The blogger to whom you linked argues, IMO, against violence against innocent persons in general, and against homosexuals in specific, then posits that his opponents are arguing in favor of violence against homosexuals.

Which, quite frankly, boggles the mind - yet there it is.

No doubt, if one were to ask an individual of the opposition in frank words "Do you believe it is acceptable to pound on a homosexual merely and solely because of their sexual preference?" then one would (should!) expect a negative answer.

Nonetheless, I believe the blogger's underlying assumptions are valid.

We live in very odd times, and I sincerely wish people would behave less brutish towards each other.

[SmokingJacket]

6. Yes -- these creeps hate tolerance -- ALL tolerance

Because, they believe, if you tolerate people who disagree with you, then you're admitting that MAYBE you're wrong.

If people you disagree with have equal footing with you, where's the advantange in your being right?

In their minds, tolerance is weak. It means not standing behind your beliefs. This way to fascicm, folks.

[Solly Mack]

7. You know how those types claim "all of Islam hates the west?"

Well, Dobson and his ilk really DO hate the west. Dobson, and those like him, always attack "democratic cornerstones" when they attack other things.

It's like the sock in the floor a couple fights about (stop putting your clothes in the floor - you're not my parent)

Well, it's never really the sock but something deeper and the sock is the excuse for them to vent about other anger hidden deep inside..without actually naming their real issue or real motive.

Dobson just uses the sock...or SpongeBob, in this case