A tale of two headlines
So, yesterday we learned this:
Fox News Devastated Over Arrest Of ACORN Pimp, Says The Story Probably Needs ‘A Lot Of Context’</a>
James O’Keefe on Fox and Friends Fox News has been one of the biggest supporters of James O’Keefe, who is infamous for dressing up as a pimp and videotaping ACORN staffers offering to help the supposed pimp and his prostitutes secure funding for a brothel. The network constantly replayed coverage from his operation. In September, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace named O’Keefe his “Power Player of the Week,” calling him an “undercover reporter” and a “fascinating character.”
Yesterday, the FBI arrested O’Keefe and three others – “charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony” – saying that they were plotting to wiretap Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office (D-LA). One of the other men, Robert Flanagan, is the son of William Flanagan, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. Two of the men “dressed as telephone company employees” and showed up to Landrieu’s New Orleans office, saying they had to “fix phone problems.”</em>
And we saw this:
Poll finds Americans trust Fox News more than any other network
“The only one getting a positive review is Fox News.”
An essay from a conservative media critic? A GOP blogger trumpeting the ratings of the allegedly “Fair and Balanced” news network?
Nope. A poll of 1,151 registered American voters, who were asked whether they trust each of the major television news networks. Ranking number one: Fox News Channel.</em>
People tend to gravitate toward things that reinforce their already existing beliefs, and avoid that which challenges them. Which is why you don’t see Howard Zinn or Noam Chomsky on cable news. They watch despite the fact that its proven, in the case of Fox, that the more you watch it, the less informed you become.
This isn’t by accident. I find it not surprising at all that Fox is ranked as “most trusted”, since the vast majority of the adults in this country have no clue as to what is done in their name or why. They like it that way. Since the installment of George Bush by a kangaroo court in 2000, people have grasped that reality is no longer an absolute, but rather something to which there is two sides.
Facts don’t have sides, which is why Fox rarely if ever shows them. If you got your news solely from Fox you are told to believe that our President – who is in bed with the largest banks and financial fatcats in the world- whom all apparently overlooked that he’s a socialist dedicated to destroying the capitalist system.
You “believe” that America has the greatest healthcare system in the world- not the 37th, as the facts show. And at Fox’s urging, you’ll march in the streets to maintain business as usual for the insurance companies- the same companies that raised your premiums, slashed your coverage, and refused to honor a valid contract when it became unprofitable.
You listen as Glenn Beck spouts insane nonsense of fascism and sinister plots involving ACORN, but absolutely refuse to ponder that our government attacked us on 9/11, or that Israel is practicing terrorism and genocide in Palestine- with your taxes.
What Fox is doing by broadcasting the propaganda of its corporate masters is creating a national mythology. Who cares if it falls apart at the merest examination, that’s its built on bald faced lies and unprovable innuendo, as long as we all wink and accept that its fiction, that fiction will protect us.
When in fact, its going to kill us. Our nation is a gutted shell of used to be, it’s bones picked clean by Wall Street, in cahoots with the War Party (D or R, makes absolutely no difference), deficit spending its way into second-class nation status. We spend more on “defense” than the entire rest of the world, yet we sit in fear around the TV when supposedly some jackass lights his underwear on fire on a plane. Not that it happened remotely as reported, of course, but that doesn’t matter- what matters is, instead of looking at why someone would want to hurt us, we turn into frightened victims and rush to anyone who can sing us a soothing homily of bullshit and myth that reinforces our mistaken notion that America is exceptional, alone among the nations of the world in receiving gods grace, and that is why “they hate us”.
I read this book in high school. I imagine that after a passage of time, people will view Fox news in much the same way- a fabric of lies about people who never existed, created to explain a cruel and unforgiving world to a frighten populace.
The only question is, how long will that passage of time be?
