Fred Rogers is the subject of a documentary
and a biopic starring Tom Hanks, both out later this year. Though most
Americans assume he’s a national treasure, he’s widely loathed by
conservatives who center him in their myth of “participation trophy”
culture.
I remember one columnist describing him as a saccharine man whose
job was to help the education industry tell stupid children they were
special—one of the more enduring impressions I got of American
conservatives after moving here in the 2000s. (Another: turning on the
radio to hear someone muttering, barely in control of his rage, about
how much be hates bisexuals, intoning the word “hate” over and over. At
first I thought it was a theatrical performance, a character in a radio
play, but it turned out to be The Michael Reagan Show.)
Anyway, here’s Fox and Friends complaining that young people are
entitled and useless because Fred Rogers stressed the importance of love
and its absense in their lives. The veneer of mirth makes it seem
ironic, humorous even, but even that has a stone-cold purpose, as
explained here by a less moderate right-winger, Andrew Anglin:
