The mainstream U.S. media has two standards for describing the motives for mass killings depending on whether the killer is a Muslim or a white man, with “terrorism” usually ascribed to the former and some personality disorder explaining the latter — rather than noting, say, an affinity for watching Fox News, says Mike Lofgren.
By Mike Lofgren
When John Russell “Rusty” Houser killed two people and wounded nine at a movie theater in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 23, the response was predictable. Governor Piyush “Bobby” Jindal rushed to the scene and pronounced his sorrowful and complete bafflement and a rote “in our thoughts and prayers” homily in lieu of any concrete policy proposal.
“Now is not the time” for such a policy discussion, said Jindal, as if there were ever a good time for craven politicians actually to do their job. Louisiana’s two senators, David Vitter and Bill Cassidy, released statements announcing that they were praying for the victims. Media editorials offered their standard quota of “something must be done” arm waving, knowing full well that if a couple of dozen massacred elementary school kids at Sandy Hook can’t distract Washington’s political class from its 24/7 fundraising and assiduous non-coordinating with super PACs, nothing will.
Fox News CEO Roger Ailes.
Within hours of the shooting a meme flew around, probably started by the police investigating the crime. Houser was a “deranged drifter,” and the media dutifully parroted the phrase. “Drifter” is a fairly rare term these days; we last recall it in common discourse during the 1970s, approximately the same time hitchhiking transformed from penniless young people seeing the country to something dangerous and creepy.
The term was resurrected for the Houser case. A deranged person who commits murder may have a motive, but it is likely to be a senseless one about which no larger social lessons can be drawn; a drifter is by definition adrift from society and its norms. We can only give a collective shrug.
Contrast that with any such incident involving Muslims as perpetrators and concrete ideological motives are instantly ascribed, usually accompanied by calls for increased vigilance, stepped up internal surveillance, and, from some quarters, demands that a foreign country be bombed. Such crimes are invariably described as terrorism. Terrorism, which has an official government definition, was not the word authorities used in describing the Houser case.
The media did not give us the full story. The Washington Post did a piece on Houser which certainly pegged him as a highly unpleasant nut case, but aside from a couple of brief references to his extreme political views, the reader would likely come away with a sense of wonderment that an unstable and vitriolic kook with a felony record managed to pass a firearms background check. The full story is more alarming and more instructive.
The Southern Poverty Law Center researched Houser’s online activity and other details of his life and concluded that he was quite active in expressing extreme right-wing views. His online fingerprints revealed a political profile firmly anchored in every imagined grievance Fox News and right-wing talk radios have tried to cultivate for decades: dislike of foreigners, blacks, Obama, liberals, abortion, the government, government spending, the welfare state, and so on. As is common among right-wingers, he expressed a liking for That Old Time Religion as practiced by America’s most obnoxious religious nuts.
A Tweet of his said the following: “The Westboro Baptist Church may be the last real church in America [members not brainwashed].” Houser reportedly may have attacked the theater because the movie presented feminist themes and its writer, who was also its lead actress, was Jewish.
Further, Houser posted on the comments page of the website of Golden Dawn, the Greek neo-Nazi political party. He also espoused an admiration for Hitler: “Hitler accomplished far more than any other,” he commented on usmessageboard.com.
And he was not just a drifter all his adult life who was merely given to angry rants on message boards. He once attended law school (although he did not graduate), and even was a substitute host on a Columbus, Georgia television talk show, where he advocated violence against abortion providers.
Houser had definitely washed up on the farthest shore of politics. But surely none of this has anything to do with “responsible” conservatism, or even self-described “hard-core conservatives,” right? Just read the message boards at some of the “hard-core conservative” web sites, though, and you will see similar stuff. Get a few beers into a hard-core conservative, and once in a while what he says about Hitler will surprise you.
Fundamentalist Christian web sites are full of commenters advocating violence against doctors who provide abortions. Donald Trump, presently leading the Republican presidential candidate polls, does not say anything about immigration that Houser could not have said. Houser also favorably mentioned “The Bell Curve,” a book on race and IQ by the conservative author Charles Murray, an American Enterprise Institute “scholar” and sometime contributor to foxnews.com.
Moving from crazy political views to violence is, of course, a huge step. But the Fox News Effect has already been shown to have done its job in converting the nonpolitical to rabid, obsessed partisans.
I have talked with documentary filmmaker Jen Senko, the subject of a 2013 article, “Fox News and Talk Radio Brainwashed My Dad.” She told me that she had interviewed numerous people lamenting that once their father (it’s frequently elderly or near-elderly fathers) started watching Fox News or listening to talk radio, they became seething cauldrons of grievances who in some cases ended up hating their own children and grandchildren. These were previously normal, well-adjusted adults who might have been apolitical or held politically moderate views.
What about society’s misfits, people who already started out perpetually belligerent, resentful, and borderline mentally ill? Fifty years ago, they might have gotten into loud and pointless arguments in bars over whether the Packers or the Cowboys were the better team. In the larger society, they were isolated and written off as kooks.
But now, with 30 years of operant conditioning by the right-wing media-entertainment complex, their inchoate anger has been focused, honed, and brought to a fever pitch. Those voices in their heads aren’t paranoid delusions because, after all, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage and everybody else they listen to on radio and TV say the same thing!
And since the propagandists of the media-entertainment complex tell them not to trust any other sources of news, the constant reinforcement and self-isolation push them to further and further extremes. If the Stanford Prison Experiment can turn ostensibly ordinary people into torturers, it is hardly implausible that a 24/7 propaganda barrage by professional fear-mongers could drive psychically fragile cranks over the edge.
As everyone knows, the Fox News demographic skews old, and it is the same with audiences of right-wing radio bloviators. Is it significant that while the great majority of mass killers are young males, some barely out of their teens, Houser was 59?
Walter Eugene Litteral, the accused ringleader of a bizarre plot to mass murder American soldiers, is 50 (Litteral and his accomplices were believers in “black helicopter” conspiracies, a lunacy that is assiduously fostered by right-wing media personalities like Alex Jones and reported by Fox News in a faux even-handed manner as something that might possibly true).
James von Brunn, the white supremacist who perpetrated a politically motivated killing in Washington, D.C., in 2009, was 88! We have uncovered only episodic examples here, but there would seem to be an opportunity for further research into whether violent right-wing offenders in this country skew older than perpetrators of similar, nonpolitical crimes, and how much the culprits were influenced by the Fox News Effect.
In 1944, Vice President Henry A. Wallace was quoted in the New York Times as saying: ”The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information.”
So is Roger Ailes, Fox News’ longtime president, an accessory to Houser’s murders? No. But given that Ailes and his right-wing media allies have hijacked the ideology of one of our two major parties, and that Fox News is attempting to pre-select the field of Republican candidates in a format reminiscent of Jerry Springer, Ailes’s malign influence should not be underestimated.
As someone who has been poisoning the well of public discourse going back more than 45 years to his early days as Richard Nixon’s media dirty trickster, Ailes cannot stand around acting like an innocent when some of those who have drunk the water he has tainted go crazy.
Mike Lofgren is a former congressional staff member who served on both the House and Senate budget committees. His book about Congress, The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted, appeared in paperback on August 27, 2013. His new book, The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government, will be published in January 2016.
>>>>>Another catalyst for the appearance of Self-Organized Criticality was the convergence of Sarah Palin and Barack Obama. Palin’s powerful outcry, “Let’s take our country bask !!†was A National Shoutout to “Original Americans.†Obama was the Dismal Antithesis<<<<<
Palin's call for "Real Americans" birthed an entire new wing of the GOP, the rabid, disruptive Tea Party. In that sense, though she didn't win the election that year, her Imprint on US political policy is enormous.
Mr Obama has endured a starkly obstructive presidency as the Dismal Antithesis. He could never fit the profile of an Original or Real American by reason of his pure Black African father and White Liberal mother.
The fissure of "racial equality" that lay beneath the surface for years is now a gaping divide on a chaotic edge. — The "healers" of the past, those who spoke truth-to-power have been murdered by assassination. I ask, with saddened heart, where are we headed???
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – What is a real American? As opposed to an unreal American, a fake American, an un-American American or an anti-American American.
Are real Americans a minority in this richly diverse country of 300 million? You might well come to that conclusion if you believe the definitions publicly provided by several Republicans, including Sarah Palin, the vice presidential candidate, and conservative radio and TV talk show hosts.
“We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit and these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation,†Palin told a campaign rally in North Carolina in mid-October.
http://www.blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/files/2008/10/realamerica-oct28-w-21.gif
CORRECTION
http:/blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/files/2008/10/realamerica-oct28-w-21.gif
The power of Propaganda for Israel to wreak havoc on the Mid-East through it’s US Proxy is described in the link below. Without the propaganda, through pro-Zionist “US news outlets”, supporting Israel’s war crime agenda at Americas expense, it would be much more difficult if not impossible for Zionists to control US politicians for the sake of Israel’s wars — and the world would be a more peaceful place today.
“The Centerpiece of US Foreign Policy Struggle”
The Conference of 52 Presidents of the Major American (sic) Jewish Organizations and the US-Iran Nuclear Agreement
by James Petras / August 12th, 2015
http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/08/the-centerpiece-of-us-foreign-policy-struggle/#more-59441
“The basic question for all Americans is whether we will act as an independent, sovereign country pursuing peace through diplomacy, as we currently see unfolding with Iran and Cuba, or a submissive military instrument, directed by Israel’s proxies hell-bent on destroying America for Israel.”
art, do you honestly feel this way. If your answer is yes, then tell us what turned you towards having this hate for blacks and Muslims. I’m curious to what makes you tick. We have all had run ins with someone, at sometime, in someplace, but to hate a whole race, or ethnicity…really art??
You need to relax and smell the roses, art. I’m sure you are more than likely a decent person, but seriously art how did you become so angry at a whole group of certain people?
Joe, I been trying to figure out what makes people tick for quite some time. Of course, like in everything, we’re all a little different. But generally speaking, I think the biggest influence on making bad decisions and just having an undue negative sentiment would be propaganda. With out propaganda deceiving and manipulating peoples minds, at least some of the most egregious violations would not be taking place.
Without the propaganda, many who’ve been tricked into supporting something because of propaganda, would not support it otherwise and this would affect the sentiment of at least some of those who don’t think for themselves.
One thing that I think that falls into the message of propaganda is our obsession with cable TV which is full of commercials and loaded with the mainstream media. I cut cable a few years back now and I believe that I think more for myself now. When I watch TV it is more Netflix which is free of commercials and absent of our news. I did buy an antenna but it has a limited amount of channels and I only watch it for a certain amount of time where I largely avoid our local news and instead search for news online – such as Consortium News. Now I am also not saying that TV Shows or Movies on Netflix is free of propaganda (especially since there is a close relationship between Hollywood and the CIA) because that would be a lie but I have a lot more control over the propaganda to choose what I want to watch when I want to watch it. This is my experience anyway – what do you think?
I think you’re correct with all of that Joe L. There is much more subtle propaganda coming out of our televisions than the average person is aware of. Ultimately this works it’s way into our national collective psyche and sentiment on any issue in the US, Canada, Europe and around the globe.
As we’ve seen since 9/11, propaganda can be a most destructive force with the complete destruction of Iraq as a prime example — a million lives lost and millions more displaced because of all the manipulative “news coverage” regarding Saddam Hussein’s non-existent WMD’s and his plans to use them in a follow up attack to compliment his non existent involvement with Al Quaeda and the 9/11 attacks — and all of that to launch by deception, through the pro-Zionist media, the 1990’s neocon/Zionist PNAC war plans for the Greater Middle East.
The news media and television networks are criminally involved by intentionally promoting war crimes, state sponsored terrorism, hate crimes and various shades of racism as a routine practice. They also promote corporate welfare, corporate impunity and what is in reality corporate fascism as it’s being increasingly imposed on the US public and the world in general.
This propaganda has permeated our national pastimes as well. If I’m not mistaken they, not so subtlety, flew some military jets over the Superbowl last year? That wouldn’t be offensive to me until considering our military has been used in the illegal invasions of foreign lands while our cabal of politicians, bankers, media moguls and various other corporate interests all stand to benefit personally while the world bleeds from their criminal collusion.
Joe, I’m not sure why but my response posted below as a new post while I intended it to be in response to yours here.
Joe, My response to your comment posted below as a new comment while I thought I had hit the reply button here.
Mark I believe you are right. Also, I might add how lots of people thrive on ‘Sound Bites’. You Mark apparently delve into a news story. With all your knowledge of a story you may just be the one to change some people’s mines. Remember, you know the issue inside and out, so you have a big advantage. Don’t argue. Instead persuade. Use some diplomacy. Anything will be cool, as long it’s kept to be a discussion. If for example the subject is Iran, because you know how crazy those Iranian’s are! Well counter with Ronald Reagan’s ‘Iran-Contra’ arms selling deal. BTW, this operation was successfully done through Israel. In fact this is the very best site to gain such knowledge on that subject, thanks to Robert Parry. I digress … I think you know what I am talking about, so I will leave it there. Plus Mark thanks for the reply to my comment. Now I just hope art is doing well too.
Joe, I fully admit it is difficult at times to be objective when responding to some of these uninformed comments and especially those intentionally misleading comments otherwise known as propaganda.
But in all fairness, some of those commenting are victims of propaganda themselves and uncomprehending of the fact they are now acting as a tool and unwitting agent for the originators of whatever lies and BS they may be parroting. And you are correct in that honey will persuade more to see the truth than vinegar.
The truth in these matters, if it could be understood by even a slim majority, would do wonders for this world. I’m not a promoter or adherent to organized religion but do believe there are some universal truths in the Bible and other religious texts, one of which references the truth being the light and being good, as opposed to keeping the truth hidden and in the dark because of what are (almost always) sinister or criminal intentions.
The ying and the yang, the good and the bad, the timeless and forever struggle to try and be better and do better than we currently are — the battle goes on to affect the world in a positive way for those that find it worth fighting.
Like you, I’m thankful for Mr. Parry’s dedication and integrity concerning these matters. Even the stories and perspectives a person doesn’t agree with, provide an opportunity to influence someone else’s thinking with valid arguments.
Carry on Joe, it’s always good to see your contributions here!
We have a glitch in the system here as my responses to comments are posting as new comments…
I agree totally with Houser’s dislike of 5 and possibly 6(if by foreigners he meant illegals)on his list(blacks and liberals-what liberals excepted.?)Am I 3/4s terrorist?
It’s not right wing to dislike terrible things for America,And quoting those Zionist SPLC dividers leaves me cold.
The guy was a mental patient?right?Violence is apple pie in America.It must have seemed like a good deed to the wacko.
Not current on comedians today;What’s Amy Shu(o)mers schtick?Could that be a motive by the guy?Can’t ask him,the dead tell no tales,at least for public consumption.
Chuck Shumer’s cousin.Is she a traitor too?I wouldn’t bet against it.
>>>>>>>those Washington Wonks who claimed, during the Bush Presidency, that “They Created Realityâ€. — Remember that?<<<<<<<
Politics in an age of fantasy
In the autumn of 2004, Ron Suskind recounted a conversation between himself and an unnamed senior adviser to the president:
The aide said that guys like me were “in what we call the reality-based community,†which he defined as people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernable reality.â€
I nodded and murmured something about Enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,†he continued. “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create reality. And while you are studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we’ll act again creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.â€
http://www.turbulance.org.uk/turbulance-1/politics-in-an-age-of-fantasy/
Our social structures are being pushed into “self-organized criticality.” Nonsense seems to have the loudest mouth which also increases as a low (or high?) frequency Irritant.
“Social Order” is moving toward that Edge of Chaos, pushed by the MSM and those Washington Wonks who claimed, during the Bush Presidency, that “They Created Reality”. — Remember that?
Regime Change, (formerly coup ‘d etat) via the Soft Power hocus- pocus of “civil revolution” is reportedly the establishment of a democratic government and the majority of Americans swallow the hoax without question.
Behavioral Science rules and Behavioral Scientists are the magicians behind the curtain of social media manipulation. We’ve become so fragmented and alienated in the variegated number of Causes important to us as divergent people groups within America. The Rodney King woeful, plaintive query, “Can’t we, can’t we all get just along?” has long since had it’s answer.
I’m afraid the answer came before the question when Margret Thatcher proclaimed “There’s no such thing as society!” She and Reagan actuated their political machinations that have led us to the brink of AUTHORITARIANISM. A comment above mentioned the dismantling of The Fairness Doctrine —- yep, that was a very key stroke in the evolution of self-organized criticality. Another piercing stroke against Civil Society was Reagan’s idiotic mantra “Government is not the solution, Government is the problem.” Only witless lemmings cannot recognize that “smaller Gov’t” leads to the punishing control of Command Authority. — it’s already here in infancy – but will surly grow as more and more demonstrations and larger rebellions occur- added to by more violent face-offs between ideological opponents. We teeter on the Edge of Chaos. We have No Foundation for a National Unity and it appears some kind of Marshal Law Looms within the next 15 years?
Another catalyst for the appearance of Self-Organized Criticality was the convergence of Sarah Palin and Barack Obama. Palin’s powerful outcry, “Let’s take our country bask !!” was A National Shoutout to “Original Americans.” Obama was the Dismal Antithesis and we’ve been on the move to an Edge of Chaos ever since.
Lincoln’s wise words reverberate loudly and clearly in this moment of US history,
“A NATION DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND.”
Like so many of Ronald Reagan’s policies, having the FCC eliminate ‘The Fairness Doctrine’ effectively moved the US toward fascism.
The signicance of Reagan’s policies cannot be overstated — especially in regards to propagandizing the public which opened the door to fascist manipulation of the public — thereby denying us the right to make informed decisions as a true democracy.
If judged by his actions and not his words, Reagan was both an absolute liar and hypocrite with few equals in the destruction of US democracy and middle class America.
Your comment, ” propagandizing the public which opened the door to fascist manipulation of the public” applies to the majority of the people, but to people who have discernment, intelligence and the time to visit numerous internet sites can judge all that they see and come to their own truthful conclusion. It’s not all that difficult to see through all the “garbage” and figure out what are facts and what are propaganda statements. There are more than enough opposing sites available to get a true picture of reality. But most people won’t take the time and effort to do commonsense thinking.
Of course the Internet might have been in its infancy in Reagan’s time but certainly was not a public forum.
If we were lucky, 25% of the population would be critical thinkers with the ability to wade through the available facts and propaganda to determine the likely truth in any matter that’s heavily propagandized and still be able to determine a logical and reasonable way forward — this fact again leaves the door wide open for public manipulation.
Propaganda is so effective when the government and mass media essentially collude to misinform the public, that in 2010 or 2011, more than 50% of US citizens still believed Saddam Hussein had WMD’s at the time of the illegal 2003 invasion and some still believe it today.
Also to consider is the affect of non government and non mass media professional propagandists that are on the internet forums, manipulating the public to believe falsehoods to the highest degree they can achieve.
Search ((( Israel paid propagandists ))) for info on what may be the world’s largest group of professional liars and manipulators in this respect.
Thank heavens for the Internet…we don’t need the MSM!
I actually just browsed over an article from 2012 which shows that a show like the “Daily Show” is actually more informative on Domestic and Foreign Issues then pretty much the entire mainstream media in the US. Though, as Consortium News has pointed out about funding for “independent and social media” by organizations such as USAID and the Open Society, we still need to be very careful about all media that we engorge ourselves with (as Robert Parry points out about “independent” blogger, Elliot Higgins of Bellingcat). We need to always question…
The media has indeed become the message – of the hard right. In the old days of a more geographically diverse media – TV/radio, and print – with a fairness doctrine, opinions could vary widely, but there were more chances to address them. With the perverse level of consolidation in broadcast media, a much more monolithic message is presented. I have some extremely conservative relatives; once in a while, a chain email will be sent to me. A few times, I’ve actually tried to address some of the material, but the responses were so openly hostile as to be frightening. If any comment is sent, it only goes to my relative; whatever the issue was, the relative will acknowledge the clarification, but end with something like, “that’s why the Muslims are taking over.” Chain email recipients seldom look into the items or issues raised. They just cackle and hit ‘send to all”.
For me, the whole thing about “Muslims” this, “terrorist” that is such a load of crap. I wonder if these people ever bother to look at the “fact” that they stand a better chance of dying in their bathtub, dying by being struck by lightning, dying from a shark attack, dying from cancer, dying from a heart attack, dying in a car accident etc.… but it is the same old ploy to make everyone afraid, and hateful, so that the government can justify attacking whomever they wish – it sure made the dropping of the atomic bombs a lot more palatable (look at what the US and Canada did to the Japanese, a dark stain on both our histories).
Yeah, I think it is that overall ignorance of why people cannot understand “why they hate us” and are gullible enough to believe that “they hate us for our freedom” which is completely irrespective of a history of coups and wars. I can only imagine how I would feel if my country had its’ democracy removed and I was placed under a brutal dictator simply for another countries economic interests – I can honestly say that I would hate that country to no end for what it did to my family and I (maybe even burning flags and denouncing that country).
I think this just is an example of how people actually know less about the world with the more mainstream media that they watch. In essence our mainstream media is promoting ignorance…
The movers and shakers and policy makers (mostly jewish) appeal to the limbic brain aka lizard brain through MSM…..Left wing ,right wing, hawks and doves, coke or pepsi . It’s a sick game to control the masses emotionally…And the really sick thing is these folk own both sides of the conflict and laugh all the way to the banks they own
I don’t believe that during the rest of my lifetime that a great awakening will happen where fascists will give up their convictions that theirs is the “natural” political system and turn against Fox News. I’m sorry that I have been unable to reverse the virulent growth of hatred and greed in the world, but I take some consolation in the fact that WWII not only failed in that regard (contrary to what we’ve been told) but actually strengthened fascism both during it and in the aftermath. What kind of disaster will it take to humiliate the arrogant masters of all life on earth? Lacking such a disaster, I can see a future where life on earth is hell for all except a small number of superior humans who control everything including the number of humans allowed to live on the planet. Democracy will be a thing of the past, to be laughed about occasionally at parties on floating communities of the ruling sect.
Okay, while I hear my liberal (mostly young people) friends talk about attending a Bernie Sanders rally, I hear my conservative (mostly older people) scream, ‘we need a revolution’. Honestly, maybe besides Ailes the Trumpster is to be held liable for something since now my right wing nut friends are knee slapping and giving each other high fives over the Donald’s rants. Sadly, this is what our news and celebrity media has brought us to. We don’t just get the news anymore, we get 24/7 opinion slanted comments. These cable news pundit commenters remind me of the old school yard provocateurs who never used their fist in their own fight, but who never hesitated to egg on a fight between two other opponents who didn’t see eye to eye. It is though these provocateurs need to see blood in order to entertain their empty souls. I just wish our news media were more focused on just simply reporting the news. Today when you watch the news (FOX, CNN, even MSNBC) listen to how often the news anchor switches from the news to the opinion of that news story. There is no objective slant, only their agenda is sold to their audience continually all day and all night. These so called news networks never report an alternative view of a situation. Although you can always count on these hacks to sell you on a war or a terrorist plot if there is a Muslim involved. While there is no wiggle room on the subject of abortion, there is no problem bombing a family in Yeman. This somehow makes sense, since these morons haven’t a clue to where Yeman even is. They truly believe that the Israeli Palestian problem started back some 1200 years ago. Don’t even bring up Truman and 1948, because they will tell you Truman had to support the Zionist in order to fight communism. Although many of them are somewhat confused to if Netanyahu should have spoke to our U.S. Congress they hate Obama even more…plus they hate the cartoon obstructionist Muslim with a passion. It’s because of them crazy Muslims these hardworking Americans need to take their shoes off in the TSA line at the airport. There you go, their right and the rest of the world can go to hell…that is the American way. Thank you Roger you have made America whole!
Mr. Tedesky, I enjoyed your comment and it has a very potent and correct central thesis. But if you think CNN or MSNBC – who have actually a slant but more toward the middle than not – are the equivalent of the far-right extremist lying hatemongering Fox News, then you need to look a lot more closely at all three. No disrespect, sir, but one of those three is NOT like the other two.
Larry you are right. FOX is the most extreme. Although, MSNBC and CNN have disappointed me in many ways of late. The reporting by the American press regarding Ukraine to my dislike has been very hawkish. It would not be so bad if just once our U.S. News agents were to at least report a Putin speech in it’s entirety. Instead they all feel fine doing the Putin bashing, that they do. Again, you are right, there is no one like FOX news when it comes to stirring up the hate. Take care Larry.
I too have been disappointed in our media at reporting on both Syria and Ukraine. With all of the Putin bashing that we are seeing seems to harken back to the Cold War and is more based on emotion then actual fact or history. It amazes me that we in the western world can throw stones at Putin for annexing Crimea, which was Russia 61 years ago, without firing a shot where the people of Crimea are actually happy to be Russian again and supposed constant Russian invasions totally ignoring the fact of the Ukrainian government sending its’ military against ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine. Look at all of the animosity for what Putin is supposedly doing meanwhile totally ignoring NATO expansion to Russian borders.
Like I said previously could you imagine if Putin was dropping bombs in 7 countries, with covert operations in 75 countries, and somewhere around 1,000 military bases worldwide claiming that he had the right to kill anyone, anywhere, anytime and that Russia/Russians were exceptional? How the hell can our governments, and media, throw stones at Russia – anyone who even has an marginal intellect can see the sheer hypocrisy of it all. I am still amazed at the smoke and mirrors of the Victoria Nuland phone call by focussing on “F*** the EU” instead of “midwifing this thing” and “Yats is our guy”. Also, with MH-17, it amazes me that no fingers are pointing at the Ukrainian Government for not shutting down the airspace of a war zone – to me this is where the real fault lies (which it seems that some of the German families are rightfully suing the Ukrainian Government). The reporting just seems like a circus, a farce, for the ignorant…
“a” marginal intellect…
Joe L don’t forget the Ukraine traffic control changed MH17’s flight plan. The creeps instructed that plane to head into that pathway. Where’s Carlos? Just plain evil, but maybe this could be considered exceptional.
You are correct that the brainwashing at Fox news operates at a different level of vitriol than the other brainwashing channels.
Even so, anyone who watches US media and thinks they know anything other than what their corporatist masters want them to know has been brainwashed into ignoring that their country is a terrorist military empire destroying democracies externally and internally.
“U.S. corporations were determined to exploit Indonesia for their own profits, whereas Sukarno was busy protecting the wealth of his country for the people by expropriating all foreign holdings. With the corporation-friendly Dutch out of the picture thanks to Kennedy’s diplomacy, Sukarno could now block foreign control of West Irian resources as well.[232] From the ruling standpoint of corporate profits and Cold War ideology, it was clear Sukarno had to go.” …James W Douglas, ‘JFK the Unspeakable: Why He Died, Why It Matters’
& no, this isn’t the only book I have read lately, just love quoting from it.
GA, I thought the clip from James W Douglas kind of fit what you are pointing out with your comment here. What’s ours is ours what’s theirs is ours as well. Write that down, and don’t forget it …. Now, that’s what I call exceptional! (Sarcasm for laughter effect)
Joe Tedesky… though here in Canada our news is much less animated then what we can see in the US, it is still portraying a point of view largely inline with our government. I was watching the news a few weeks back, CTV news, and the first report was about the “Muslim” man who attacked the military base in the US killing 4 and he was immediately described as a “terrorist” (even though it was said that he was not connected with anyone). The next story right after that one was about James Holmes who shot up that movie theatre in the US a few years back where he killed 12 people and injured 70 people and they described him as a “shooter”. So it is apparent that almost purposefully our media using language, double-speak, to support the government line. In my mind both of these men are either “terrorists” or “shooters” but of course when we have governments who try to sanitize the torture that they partake in as “enhanced interrogation” or have politicians who call to rename french fries “freedom fries” then it is not surprising to the level of stupidity that we are living in today.
Joe L like I have said many times before, I’m putting my money on the current generation of young people who are now growing up. My grandchildren (& I have lots of them) seem to see through the MSM propaganda better than most adults seem to be able to do. Maybe it’s the JohnStewart effect. My hope is that this younger generation may become our Calvary to the rescue. This is unless between college and their being accepted into the business world they don’t become corrupted by their overlords. I enjoy reading your comments Joe L.
I too count on the young to mend the many fences we older generations have wrought with our self-congratulatory and biased prejudices. Everyone should have the opportunity to spend some time abroad to realize why we may be feared but not particularly liked.
I also agree that Victoria Nuland and her ilk do more damage to our American reputation than our often ignorant foreign policy. She was particularly egregious interpreting the Ukrainian situation. We had agreed not to impinge on Russia’s borders but that was exactly what we did…and then tried to excoriate the Russians for not welcoming us as we threatened their supporters in Crimea.
Theodora Crawford, thanks for the reply. At this time I have instructed the grandchildren to read Kennedy’s American University Speech. This is pretty much what I do then hope for the best. I hope you are enjoying your family, and if your like me you are hoping for the best results. I know this, in today’s America the young college student is being greeted into adult life with a heavy burden of college student debt. Let’s hope this turns these young people on to their someday bringing Wall Street to it’s knees. Let us hope our young people change our campaign finance laws to the good. Let’s rally them on to once and for all get our U.S. military spending into line with us having a reasonable defensive army, and that’s it. Maybe one day this new generation will be able to implement a world wide health care system, that treats all mankind.
Actually, Ailes is culpable. It’s the same culpability that emanates from shouting “fire” in a theater. As part of the “leaderless resistance” strategy, American fascists have successfully instigated terrorism while maintaining the appearance of having clean hands. Come on, America, you can’t support Ukrainian Nazis abroad, then pretend to be, “Shocked, shocked to learn that right-wing loonies are running amok in America”.
Paul Joseph Goebbels, would be proud of Roger. Now, let it go! (insert laugh track here)