'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer' Promotes Bullying, George Giuliani Says

Santa Claus doesn't just drop off presents for kids -- he also encourages the soul-crushing of generation after generation of Christmas-reveling children. Or says one author, at least.

Appearing on Fox News, author and special ed professor George Giuliani asserted that St. Nick's behavior in the classic stop motion cartoon, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is tantamount to bullying, and sends a wrong message to children watching the family favorite. As such, he's written a new book, "No More Bullies at the North Pole," which re-tells the story of the triumphant reindeer.

"Santa has ten policies that are very unfair, and Mrs. Claus sets out to correct those policies, and what you just saw, where Rudolph is being treated very very badly, and that should never happen," Guiliani said.

When challenged with the idea that Rudolph is overcoming and proving bullies wrong, Guiliani was unreleting.

"What they're doing to him is to say that Comet is the coach, and Comet is saying to the children, don't ever play with this reindeer ever again," he said. "And he tells him to go home and he bullies him and he mocks him. That should never happen."

Comedian Brad Stine was not amused -- nor was he a fan of glowing noses.

This of course comes after Fox went after the Muppets for being communists, proving no kids' show is safe.

Comments

[edejan]

07:48 PM on 12/11/2011

Don't these overly PC people realize that tales told to young children are supposed to teach them a lesson? This great little movie teaches kids to overcome bullying, to respect themselves and their unique abilities, and to do the right thing and succeed in the end. Do they want to change the story so that Rudolph never has a problem and therefore doesn't learn anything, or that adults solve his problem for him and not enriching his self-confidence. Bullying is a part of growing up and, sure kids need protection from it. But not protection from tales teaching them how to contextualize it.

[Y Woodman Brown]

08:10 PM on 12/10/2011

Children aren't stupid.

Humans actually learn better by figuring things out than by being told, being given the answer. In Rudolph children are given an opportunity to figure-out that the bullying is wrong, is mean and unhelpful.

This is accomplished by the bullying coach. Children see that he is mean, they feel that. The story is set-up such that Rudolph is the sympathetic character.

Thus, when Rudolph is picked-on, they feel empathy for him--especially to the extent that they also have been singled-out as being different and picked-on, Thus they already don't like that coach and his uncalled for behavior.

Further, a lovely girl reindeer likes Rudolph. She is a sweet character which children like. She sees beyond Rudolph's red nose into the genuinely good personality that he is. She supports and encourages Rudolph--this is a big tip to children that the coach is very wrong, that different is special in the eyes of decency and that we shouldn't let discouragement or bullying get us down.

Then, of course, through the story Rudolph proves himself to be brave in the face of frightful situations, a natural humble leader and very capable in spite of his initial unsteadiness.

Thus, the lesson this man is looking for is taught--not directly, via didactic prose such as his book, but indirectly by portraying a real life problem of bullying and illustrating both how to over-come that as well as the hurt it can cause another.

[butchcliff]

06:54 AM on 12/10/2011

Did fox not have anyone else to slag this week? Leave Santa alone. Accusation is ridiculous

[ME623]

06:41 AM on 12/08/2011

I think when a person gets this deep into the "hidden" meanings in a cartoon, or a muppet, THEY HAVE WAAAAAAY TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS!!!!! Who really cares? Rudolph is 1 of my fav Christmas Cartoons, and I will continue to watch it every year, along with all the others.

[Redhunteur]

04:28 AM on 12/08/2011

Funny how I knew this story revolved around them before I clicked on it. I think I may have discovered that I'm psychic! All hail my powers!

Seriously, fox complaining about bullies is like Mildred Ratched complaining about her quality of health care.

[lvdragonlady]

11:36 PM on 12/07/2011

IT does NOT promote bullying, BUT shows that it can happen to anyone, anywhere.
Darn, the people just scare me sometimes.

[chaapai]

11:16 PM on 12/07/2011

Special Ed and Fox News! That about sums it up.

[William Quinn]

07:45 PM on 12/07/2011

Awww...were the idiots over at faux news not hugged enough when they were children, is this the reason they now attack all the kid shows.

[clabberty]

05:21 PM on 12/07/2011

who are these bahstrds who hate our Christmas? Lumps of coal all around. We'll need a convoy of coal carriers for Faux alone.

[shawnepink]

01:57 PM on 12/07/2011

Sum this up in one word? STUPID!

[calipally]

01:55 PM on 12/07/2011

Interestingly, Fox has been steadily losing market share. I guess people are getting tired of the constant stream of BS, lies, and right-wing nut propaganda.

[shatner99]

01:38 PM on 12/07/2011

I know some other big groups that bully females, homosexuals, and nonbelievers–as a matter of policy. By groups I mean cults.

[Redhunteur]

04:27 AM on 12/08/2011

Yep. Like the cult of Fox News!

[shatner99]

04:06 PM on 12/08/2011

that's one such group

[CSKAP]

01:07 PM on 12/07/2011

When we start the conversation about the “War on Christmas” this is the real beginning.
Santa is a commie for giving gifts to all the children, the Muppets are Commies, The teletubbies are gay.
Really, Fox “News”
Yet they praise cartoon characters like Trump and Gingrich.

[Tone67]

01:07 PM on 12/07/2011

i get it between this story and the muppets the other day, Fox news hates kids.

[Andman0121]

01:03 PM on 12/07/2011

Honestly, is there anything this network will NOT cry about? It's getting ridiculous anymore.