Only Idiots Think ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ is Racist
You may have seen the ‘Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Criticized as Racist’ article, circulating on social media over the holidays. Then again, if you don’t follow conservative news channels or sites that specialize in ‘what’s trending’, you may have missed this bit of idiotic, and dishonest, clickbait.
In an expertly crafted (albeit completely fabricated) news story, a clickbait artist at Fox News wrote about ‘Critics slamming Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ as racist. The only problem was, that there weren’t any real critics complaining about the Peanuts special, (just a couple confused people on twitter) and Fox News made the whole thing up because they knew their base would eat it up on Thanksgiving weekend. It was a ploy to get less than intelligent right-wing fans to make fun of ‘libs’ and overly sensitive ‘social justice warriors’, and it worked, the made-up story reached millions over the holiday weekend.
http://https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews/posts/10157586125291336
The article’s opening line is “your a racist Charlie Brown”.
When Fox writes, ‘Critics are slamming ABC’s “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” for seating its only black character, Franklin, alone and in a rickety lawn chair,’ they are referencing a tweet by a random twitter user (not a journalist, critic, or academic) just a guy named Vic from Mississippi, who clearly never watched the special he’s ‘criticizing’:
If you really watched you would know franklin was the special guest giving him a special chair and place so everyone can see him
— SaNaaya??? (@queensanaaya) November 22, 2018
Anyone who actually watched the program would realize that indeed, Franklin, is the guest of honor, the whole point of the 1970’s special is inclusion. This is not a some kind of racist episode, and anyone who says it is, is either confused or gas-lighting. The other ‘ciritic’ Fox referenced in its article was someone who was being sarcastic about it, and has since deleted their account. The only journalist that tweeted about it was making joke, and clearly states he was making a joke.
Just a joke, not a battle. Happy Thanksgiving.
— Terry Big Blue Brown™️ (@TBrown_80) November 22, 2018
There are thousands of comments on the Fox News posts by people on both sides, who also did not watch the program in question. But these days, not being informed of the facts doesn’t preclude you from spouting an opinion in the comments. This post is a great example of everything that is wrong with journalism and social media these days. But instead of removing the article, Fox simply removed the authors credit. Why? Because they don’t want anyone to have to take responsibility for their lie. They just want the clicks, without the accountability. So the ‘Charlie Brown’ article that has now been read by millions of people, has no author (it’s now written anonymously)…Published by an organization that calls itself a ‘News Network’.
As what usually happens, the ‘what’s trending’ sites (who do not employ journalists, but rather employ small armies of marketers) flipped the story so that they could ride the SEO wave (and get their clicks) thus helping spread the lie further and further.
VIDEO: Is “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” RACIST? Scene Goes VIRAL on Social Media
An editor over at Fox must have realized how misleading and poorly sourced the article was, but they did not remove or apologize for content, they left it up. Why? Because it gets clicks, and clicks mean money. The truth is obviously secondary to getting their clicks. Millions of people will now continue to read, comment, and fight over a lie, so that Fox can make an extra buck.
With every misleading “News Article’ like this, we edge a step closer to the complete collapse the news industry as whole. Happy Holidays America.
