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Does ‘Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer’ Promote Bullying?

December 6, 2011 9:29 PM
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(Credit: "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer")

(Credit: “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”)

John Shumway

Reporting John Shumway

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Holiday Season, Local, News, Syndicated Local, Watch + Listen
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Does a Christmas classic send the wrong message?

A Long Island University professor says “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” promotes bullying.

There’s even a book about it called “No More Bullies on the North Pole.”

Dr. Paul Friday, head of Shadyside Psychological Services, has heard the conclusions of Long Island University Professor George Giuliani’s that the 1964 film about Rudolph’s tribulations amounts to classic bullying.

Millions of viewers have reviewed the evidence. So, was Rudolph bullied?

“What they do to him is bullying especially what they’re teaching the kids now as big as it is in the schools, but yes, he was definitely bullied,” Audra Bamford said.

“We just watched it the other night and I was telling my kids that’s not how we treat our friends,” Ronette Hillenbrand added.

“No I don’t think he’s being bullied,” Dr. Friday said. “I think the problem lies with Santa. He’s just not hugging this poor defenseless thing.”

Professor Giuliani says the message that Rudolph’s uniqueness must have a useful purpose for Rudolph to be accepted is the wrong message for our children.

“I think our society perhaps has really gone one couch too far,” Dr. Friday said. “I think the idea that you can take something as innocent and as nice as ‘Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer’ and pull some kind of psychological or sociological pathology and place it on there – I think this guy has too much time on his hands.”

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View Comments
  • Brian Stutsman

    I wasted a minute on this story that I will never get back. :D

    • Brian Putzman

      i wasted a second reading your comment now will never get back :(

      • ChickenMan

        I wasted 30 seconds reading both comments, but it’s OK. I was only working.

      • Mayor Stupidstal

        I says Ruldolph is bad franco harris is bad and criminals should pick the police officers….its great being a kid running a city..

    • Ornley Gumfudgen

      Ya thank that’s bad? What about th thousands of minds this poor excuse for human excrement has wasted?

    • JTW

      How ridiculous. Some people need to just stop. I’m not in any way supporting true bullying, but this is just way over the top.

  • Idiot Wind

    Over 40 years kids have been watching and NOW it sends the wrong message????? This guy is a crackpot and KD its foolish for putting this krap on the air

    • Windy

      I think he’s onto something we have only gotten meaner to each other since the movie came out. -sac

      I thought being P.C. was supposed to make everyone play nice. Seems to me that it’s only made us meaner.

      • shame shame

        what about Cinderella.. she was kept in a cellar. feed with Rats. not alowed to go out with her man.. cleaned while the others made fun of her and more.. I mean it is in all the movies.. WHY WHY WHY!!>

    • Chris

      Bullying is what our government officials do when the pass these nanny laws to promote wellness and safety and trample freedoms. That’s bulling.

    • I LOVE RUDOLPH!

      Amen Brother!

    • Eddi Ali Faz Faisal, Esq.

      The Professor is right, we need more Fatwas regarding reading material:
      may i suggest “Ahmed the one armed Cattle Bugger” or the Classic “7 days Lopping off Heads in Dungistan”.

  • Dave

    This whole anti-bullying thing is a giant racket. Nearly every person I know including myself has been bullied some way in their life and they never once tried to kill themselves. In fact it helps a lot of people grow stronger and able to stand up to them.

    Of course wimpy baby liberals would go out of their way to promote anti-bullying.

    • Sheena

      What is worse is the losers that come on message boards and use ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING as a platform for political attack. Go F yourself, Dave.

      • Thatstellinhim

        You go Sheena!

      • Dave

        Truth hurts doesn’t it? Look at the facts. The people who start these insane anti-bullying campaigns are liberals.

      • Mark F.

        Wow! What lovely language from a “so-called” lady.

      • Yo Pimp

        Sheena, get yo fat ass back on the street.

      • Bob

        Grow a thick skin and a solid spine. If you’re worrying about words hurting you by someone and you’re cry about it, you’re a wuss, Sheena.

      • Mac

        There you go…Upset liberals using the “F” word . Is that the extent of
        their vocabulary.

      • Windy

        Great argument from a liberal. Once frustration mounts, their true intellect comes out.

      • demsvoteblindly

        Sheena… something tells me you end up having to F yourself a lot… Don’t wish onto others just cause your life is a failure. ;)

      • Herr Stig

        Something you won’t have to worry about, Sheena.

      • Smitty

        Go back to the jungle where you came from, Sheena.

      • Sonny Crockett

        Hey Sheena, Everything the left does is political. Politicizing the culture allows them to indoctrinate kids and clueless adults like you. Use your brain and develop your own ideas and opinions. Stop being a misguided and naive lemming for the left.

    • FeelLuckyPunk

      The best anti-bullying method is the one developed by Smith & Wesson :-)

      • Fightlike aMan

        I prefer the two developed way before that – Right and left knuckles

    • twinsister52

      I could not agree more! You can’t prevent everything wrong that happens in one’s life; if you could no one would need backbones!

      • James

        Our society is going to be completely lacking in backbones with the “sheltering” and “coddling” we are promoting. Look at OWS and its mimic movements. They were nothing more than temper tantrums from kids who didn’t get their way. Life is hard, you deal with it and grow stronger. That’s a message we don’t send anymore. The new message is quite the opposite.

      • demsvoteblindly

        The message now is everyone gets a trophy, no one is a loser… then they get into the real world and have no clue how to handle failure. OWS showed us how that worked out.

    • JByrd42

      Way to go Dave. Finally someone with the balls to tell it like it is. I was bullied along with my fiends back when I was 12. Our fathers told us to all gang up on the bully and he would stop bullying us. We did and he never bothered us again. It made all five of us stronger and more confident. I’m tired of the wussification of America.

    • Brad

      That’s becasue the Big Gov’t liberal politicians want to soften us up so we won’t fight back when they want to bully us!

    • dr michael

      I agree, well said

  • Mark Klingensmith

    stop this movie was 47 years ago…. what a crack pot and kdka wasted there time must of been a slow news day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Liz

    Why can’t people take the positive and not the negative from this story? After all, Rudolph was the hero in the end. I think that most children understand how it made Rudolph feel to be made fun of.

    • george

      That’s the problem. We can’t have the victims of bullying triumph over the people doing the bullying. Wasn’t there a story just a few days ago about a kid who was suspended from school because he fought back?

      • demsvoteblindly

        George, you are correct. That boy kicked the bully between the legs and now he is being charged with sexual harrassment…

      • demsvoteblindly

        Just to add to my last comment… that boy was 7 yrs old that kicked his bully between the legs and is now being charged with sexual harrassment…

        http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/12/02/7-year-old-accused-of-possible-sexual-harassment-for-kicking-boy-in-groin/

      • Tammy

        George, funny about the fighting back…My 15 year old put up with bullying for 3 months, we and the school kept talking her through it, “Don’t let it get to you” “Ignore her she will get tired and go away” well she didn’t and my kid hit back giving her 6 stitches and a broken eye socket, Charged with felony aggravated assault, locked up in juvie 30 days now on ankle bracelet at least till court Jan 18th 2012…1000.00 to the state for her stay in juvie, 360.00 per month for gps ankle bracelet and 2800.00 later for the attorney…I wish she was just suspended from school…You think this stopped this other girl? Not yet!!!!

  • TODD

    TODAY PEOPLE HAVE TO MUCH TIME ON THERE HANDS. WHAT A ASS!!!!!!

    • Toad

      “I think this guy has too much time on his hands”. He said GUY not a PEOPLE. Big difference. You’re the @ ss for the miss-quote.

  • Ramona Barnhart

    OMG really. what a bunch of loosers we have runnig off at the mouth I remember watching this and afterwards feeling good and laughing. why do idiots ruin a good thing from the past god get real

    • Marbran

      Yeah! Like those idiotic people who can’t spell ‘losers.’

      • Steven S.

        Or how about those idiots that don’t know when to use the word “misspell” but instead attack someone and claim that they “can’t spell” something when clearly – as evidenced by the letters used in the incorrect spelling by the subject – it is quite apparent that they could spell correctly had they done so. So clearly , asserting that the subject “can’t spell” the word is an idiotic postulation. Of course I stand corrected if you (Marban) are aware of some type of genetic predisposition suffered by Ramona that specifically manifests itself by causing her to double-up on her Os. Otherwise, your an idiot.

      • Steven S.

        I left you a typo – so you have the opportunity to call me an idiot – find it yet? The good news is that if you do find it there is a good chance that you are actually up a few notches to “imbecile”. Good Luck!!!

  • bruceUSA

    County council just voted a 21% increase on property taxes. OK let’s talk about bullies!!!!! Stupid Democrats and this is good will to those on fixed incomes??? Right in time for Merry Christmas. What a nice gift.

    • Spruce Bruce

      I agree that this tax increase sucks. But what sucks more are your hateful posts, BruceUSA. You are the bully. Lump people into groups and stereotype them and then cut them down to deflect your own ignorance. You often tell people to leave the country because they dont agree with you. Who are you? Who do you think you are? I’ll tell you what you are: a feeble, ugly, impotent, coward of a man from what I can see. Turn off the FoxNews and do something constructive with your kids.

      • tax payer

        ah the fox news bashing. love it typical liberal with no sense of reality.

      • John Deaux

        Please reach behind yourself and pull your pink panites out of your buttcrack,,,, it’s making you cranky.

  • AUDREY

    RUDOLPH? Detrimental to children???!!!!! OK Let’s look at this . Yes, I suppose in today’s terms, we could say Rudolph was “bullied” by the other deer. But the lesson he teaches is so beneficial to children. Yes, he’s sad and yes, he may even cry. But he doesn’t commit suicide; he doesn’t turn to drugs or alcohol; he carries on to become number ONE. What a lesson that is !!! Is RUDOLPH detrimental —– I don’t THINK so !!!

    • rjligier

      ROFLMAO

      “But he doesn’t commit suicide; he doesn’t turn to drugs or alcohol; he carries on to become number ONE. What a lesson that is !!! Is RUDOLPH detrimental —– I don’t THINK so !!!

      ROFLMAO

  • DOTTIE

    DOTTIE
    MY KIDS GREW UP WITH RUDOLPH. THEY LOVED THAT STORY. WHAT’S WRONG WITH PEOPLE TODAY. NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN PICK ON RUDOLPH? I WOULD’NT WANT THIS GUY TEACHING MY KIDS
    12/6/2011

  • lek

    I thought it taught us to accept others no matter what.

  • thomas2436

    The NY doctor’s conclusion of having a uniqueness is a real world objective to nurture budding prospects to be accepted in their future job market. Rudolph got the lead position because he was qualified, just like Ben has a useful arm and Heinz has purposeful hands.

  • tom

    show this movie to a child that is different may it be physical or other and i am sure they will get the message . being different is what makes you special

    • George Carlin

      just dont call a child “different”. Its condescending and they wont respect you. Just call them what they are and don’t hold back

    • Jerry

      But if you’re special, you ride the short bus. Everything is so twisted these days

  • DENNIS

    CHILDREN CAN TAKE AWAY THE PHILOSPHY ” EVEN THOUGH YOUR DIFFERENT, IT DOESN’T ME YOU CAN’T BE ACCEPTED FOR WHAT YOU ARE”. WISH I COULD SAY THE SAME IN THE WORK PLACE. MAYBE MORE ADULTS NEED TO WATCH RUDOLPH.

  • Hermie the Elf

    Remember what the sentry “Charlie in the Box” said, “Nobody wants to be a Chaaarrrrliieeee in the box!”

  • WENDY

    OH PLEASE, HOW COULD KDKA EVEN RUN THIS STORY. DOES IT EVER END WITH THIS KIND OF STUPIIDTY. WHAT NEXT??? IS IT GOING TO BE SNOW WHITE WAS A PROSTITUTE BECAUSE SHE HUNG OUT WITH 7 DWARFS?????

    • rjligier

      ROFLMAO

      Wendy, you and Audrey have singlehandedly destroyed the ideology of liberalism

      ROFLMAO

    • Boo Hoo!

      Don’t forget: Frosty the Snowman condones the murder of defenseless snowmen and Santa Claus is coming to town advocates committing misdemeanors!!! Also, the Grinch: we have burglary coupled with cruelty to animals!!

      • LEK

        LOL thats good!

  • Marty Griffin

    We beat up the kid who wanted to be a dentist and now we have to pay HIM

  • deborah cintron

    what the f–k, this is a christmas classic, leave it alone, its a tradition to me and my family, this world is turning into a bunch of psycho nutjobs who need to pratice what they believe in their own homes and leave the rest of us alone merry christmas to you and yours, yeah thats right i said MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

    • Mugshot

      How dare you! I’m really offended by that! (just kidding of course, but I’ll bet Dr.Giuliani is)

  • Ernest P. Worrel

    Oh boy, yet another notch in the belt of the “Everybody Wins” generation. I had bullies in school. I got tired of it and joined the wrestling team. The next time one tried to beat me up I sent him to Passavant for some stitches. I strongly believe that I was the last generation that actually was held accountable and knew that there were winners and losers. We didn’t get 13th place trophies at wrestling tournaments. You were 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. After that it was try again next year. We need to understand that not everything is handed to us. If you don’t like your current situation, pick yourself up like Rudolph did and do something about it.

  • shark

    Right now I am ordering Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer dvd as well as other christmas shows as I am sure the minority will win and the media will not show these shows due to the “nature content”. What happen to the little drummer boy? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! or is that Bullying if you don’t have a Happy New Year?

    • Chris

      There’s the answer.
      BUY RUDOLPH ON DVD!
      Make those sales go up, up, up thanks to this invertebrate crackpot. It’s our civic duty.

  • http://worldduh.com/2011/12/07/does-rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer-promote-bullying/ Does ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ promote bullying? « Bizarre World News

    [...] (KDKA/CBS Pittsburgh) – Does a Christmas classic send the wrong message (See video [...]

  • Ernest P. Worrel

    Yet another notch in the, “Everybody Wins” generation. I was bullied in school, so I joined the wrestling team. The next bully that tried to beat me up got a trip to Passavant for some stitches. There was no 13th place trophy at the wrestling tournaments. You either got 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. After that it was better luck next year. You learned to improve your skills to do better. You didn’t settle for average. I strongly believe I was the last generation that was raised to be self sufficient and ready to work hard. Life is hard, if it was easy it wouldn’t be worth living. You learn to savor success because of previous failure. Rudolph wasn’t praised for being mediocre. He took pain and adversity and made something of himself.

    • Tina G.

      AMEN Ernest!

  • Moe

    I watch the 3 Stooges Christmas every year and still smack my brother in the face

  • Tom

    It must have been a slow news day for KDKA to even consider giving this crackpot air time. Time to look for a news director with a some common sense, guys. Really1

  • Tina G

    Rudolph may have been bullied, but, he overcame it and was named the lead for Santa’s sleigh… The whole point to the progam. It doesn’t promote bullying it educates children about bullying and how to rise above it. Get over it, people. This quack has way too much time on his hands to be writing a book about Rudolph’s plight in life… Its a classic Christmas program!

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