I would like to give thanks to Dominion Voting Systems for pursuing this lawsuit. Love the illumination. But maybe they're not asking for enough moolah? The damage is beyond quantification.
Indeed! The anchors of Fox News are complicit in the murders that occurred as a result of the January 6th insurrection. Dominion should ask for enough money to put Fox News out of business.
Describing the actions of Trump, Fox and the MAGA Republicans as the "Big Lie" feels incomplete and toothless. The email water cooler confessions expose an active collusion and conspiracy to deceive the listening public and defraud our democratic process. Rather than the "Big Lie", they are committing the "Big Cheat".
Trump and Fox are falsely yelling "fire" in the movie theater, solely to retain power, influence, and greed. Fox has betrayed the public trust and actively disrupted our civil order and social tranquility. Is there not some criminal responsibility here??
Totally agree. There should be some kind of criminal accountability here that pertains to outright, intentional and persistent lying. But our legal machinery in America makes this almost impossible. Irresponsible executives are always shielded by the corporation and the corporate owners are shielded by "i didn't know they were doing that" in the pure Trumpian fashion of deniability and letting others take the rap (i.e. Michael Cohen and Weisselberg. In the meantime, an echo of Kafka if there ever was one, my beloved state of California takes the absurd position in the water wars that it has rock solid, century-old legal rights to its share of the Colorado River, now dwindling to the size of a creek. A scoundrel's last refuge is the law. Tocqueville warned us that a rampant democracy will doom itself if it can't control its worst excesses. Anarchy will be the result. Well, don't look now!
This is capitalist depravity. The stratospheric wealth of faux-news corporate owners and their sycophantic mouthpieces is so extreme that personal honor means absolutely nothing. The sole message they broadcast: Personal honor means absolutely nothing.
Sorry I disagree because for years they have been thriving under ground and exposure of Fox talent and others hypocrisies bring it into light and maybe the Big Lie will be exposed for the Bigger Lies.
Fox News is a direct result of Ronald Reagan eliminating the Fair Doctrine. In the name of free speech under the First Amendment. What he did was, instead, open the path to a malevolent force that purposefully ill informs the public in an effort to ascertain unbridled power and theocratic rule based on misappropriating the Constitution.
Something similar to The Fairness Doctrine needs to be created for all media and those holding political office or running for political office. What is so disheartening for me is the number of Americans who watch and believe trash like Fox and the others. Is there something missing in their ability to think? What attracts them to programs like Fox, Limbaugh, et al? They seem so unreachable with truth.
Tom Nichols had a good piece on this in the Atlantic Daily on Friday. I've lost a lot of respect for the Ivy League Law Schools based on the anti-legal behavior of some of their graduates.
The goal at these elite law schools is not to uphold the constitution or legal ethics. It's to create a persuasive argument regardless of it's basis in truth and conscience.
Hence the loss of respect, both for the schools and the presumed professionals that they produce. As a fish rots from the head down, this will eventually poison the entire legal professional.
If only that were an answer. Unfortunately, many, including members of my family, are highly educated. Is it some defect? Some DNA abnormality? Something lacking in their cognitive skills? There is something that differentiates beyond education. I understand those born into poverty or abuse or those who have fallen through the cracks in the social strata. But, they are not the whole picture.
There was a study done years ago of the brain functioning of people who leaned conservative and those who leaned progressive. Findings involved significant differences in brain chemistry, hormones, synapse firings. (Not very responsible of me to cite this study without providing sources. I’ll see if I can’t find references.)
This is from the highly regarded PLOS ONE journal, but there are updated studies and recent polls and news articles out there as well. Try search terms such as “research on brains of conservatives v. liberals.”
Fascinating. In some ways comforting, in other ways … not!
“Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans” (I tried to copy and paste the list of researchers and authors, but the task was beyond my Saturday morning effort level.)
I doubt blood type would have anything to do with it.
Conservatives are more prone to feeling disgust than liberals. (Which likely means liberals have better sex lives than conservatives.) (I think I read this in one of Jonathan Haidt's books, and probably elsewhere as well. And I definitely fit the mould.)
from the abstract of the PLOS ONE article provided by SLWeston (PA):
Here, we explore differences in brain function in liberals and conservatives by matching publicly-available voter records to 82 subjects who performed a risk-taking task during functional imaging. Although the risk-taking behavior of Democrats (liberals) and Republicans (conservatives) did not differ, their brain activity did. Democrats showed significantly greater activity in the left insula, while Republicans showed significantly greater activity in the right amygdala. In fact, a two parameter model of partisanship based on amygdala and insula activations yields a better fitting model of partisanship than a well-established model based on parental socialization of party identification long thought to be one of the core findings of political science.
from googling:
Liberals: "the left insula was associated with both the affective-perceptual and cognitive-evaluative forms of empathy. The role of the insula in empathy and social cognition has been confirmed in lesion studies."
Conservatives: The right amygdala is more strongly associated with negative emotions such as fear and sadness
I just looked up Jonathan Haidt's work, recalling his study of conservatives and liberal value rankings. Overall, he found that liberals are more open to new experiences. Also a standout is that loyalty and authority rank much higher among conservatives. He work is worth revisiting if one would like to better understand our differences.
I wonder the same thing. My parents were very conservative (& racist) and watched Fox in their later years. Somehow 4 out of 5 siblings have progressive political views. I have no idea why some are open to new information and some are not.
From my experience of Systemic Constellations I would say children often carry the burdens of their parents, in loyalty and with love. If one sibling is taking up this misanthropic attitude, he/she is keeping the parents belonging to the family, and making the other siblings free to develop their own lives. In a family constellation I would imagine the representatives of the parents could say "Thank your for carrying this burden for us, but now you are free to go into your own life". The representatives of the other siblings could also express their gratitude for the one who made it possible for them to be free, at the cost of his/her own freedom to develop.
Good point and people like DeSantis and Cruz were Ivy League educated but for them it’s an act to get elected for others intellect is overcome by rage and anger and insecurities which makes them except what rational folks will not acknowledge
This is accurate. Please take the time to listen to Lisa Sharon Harper interview Michael Emerson on this podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freedom-road-podcast/id1342811935?i=1000591962731. He is a well know and respected sociologist who has done a representative and comprehensive study, with surveys, interviews, and focus groups, etc. about Christianity in America. His new book is due to come out this year. His conclusion is that for many white Christians, Whiteness itself has become the religion. Their allegiance is not to Christianity, but to a religion of whiteness. Fox has tapped into that exact thing. And they stoke it.
Without any awareness of the fact that Jesus was a dark-skinned semitic man. As were his mother, Mary, his earthly father, Joseph, & all 12 of his disciples.
The attraction is Fox represents owning the Libs regardless of facts. It like your favorite football team player using an illegal move not called by the referee that hurts your opponent. It makes you feel good as long as it doesn’t happen to your team
Yes. My husband and I just were just saying that it is the chance to ¨stick it to those of us they think are living the good life,¨ because we believe equality for everyone, in opportunity for everyone, in liberty for everyone, in a rich life for everyone. The idea that ´liberal¨ has become a negative in their lexicon is a tragedy for their lives and the lives of their families. I truly believe that there are different species in the present human family. They are the old in beliefs and actions while others are moving forward into a higher state of being.
I always knew a friend and her husband - she Cal Berkeley grad, he Princeton and Stanford MBA - were conservative Republicans, very much in the vein of the Bushes. We worked around that in our friendship with ease. He worked for Romney at Bain and was his 2012 finance chair here in CA and very good friend. The family even spent the 2000 Winter Olympics at Mitt’s house in Park City. After TGF’s election, I just assumed that they were Never Trumpers. We lost touch after about 2017. Well...fast forward to 2022. I found out through a mutual friend that they have disavowed Mitt to the point of calling him a traitor, and are true and ardent supporters of TFG. These are not uneducated people. They are also very wealthy and they put their money where their politics are. Somewhere along the way, perhaps by summering in MT for years with other staunch Republicans?, they drank the kool aid and now are a part of the movement that is anathema to me. That they adhere to the grievances, distortions, and flat out lies that are endemic of today’s GOP is disturbing and sad for me.
I do think that while generalizations can be made about the traits of conservatives vs liberals, it's probably a mistake to try to fit every example into the mould. These H. sapiens brains are, after all, the most complex machines we know.
Because, for them, the end justifies the means regardless of the depravity of their position. Somehow their 'greater good' is so absolute they justify the collateral damage in their wake.
Sad. 'They/them' refers to the deliberate actors and the most fervent among them.
Watching Tucker is always like watching a SNL skit, but the sad part is I know people who fall for it hook, line and sinker. I hope Fox pays astronomical damages.
I would love to see Fox go bankrupt; it may be the only way we'll ever get their nasty lies off cable and begin to heal the damage Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes have inflicted on this country. And all that damage was caused in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. How sad is that?
It wasn't long ago that Fox *admitted in court* that its broadcast and its broadcast personalities are "entertainment" not news and "no reasonable person" could take what they say seriously. That did nothing to diminish their antics or their influence. I'm not sure these revelations will be any more effective in limiting their influence among the already influenced.
Gailee, I write because I fear the potentially devastating consequences of perceiving MAGA Republicans as “a different breed…” In my view, the outcome of future elections could land primarily on how effectively Biden and Democratic leadership manage the upheaval much of the GOP feasts on. Democrats need to lead in this moment when GOP far-right extremists are fueling hate and division. As I wrote to Stephen Berg, Democrats have to go where the trouble is in this country, the trouble the GOP extremists are stoking, the trouble such extremists are making worse. Democrats must go there and meet with the people who doubt that Democrats care about the wreckage of their dreams and show they can work on legitimate issues and grievances.
Nothing to do with Republican/Democrat, although the difference is hugely manifested now. I think globally and not within U.S. borders. The Spanish government has just announced support of LGBTQ youth and time off for working women during their ¨time of the month, ¨ while these rights are being taken away or are in danger of being denied in the U.S., which is supposed to be the leader of democracy around the world. There is a sickness, a darkness in a country where governors are demanding girls show proof of their periods. Where mass shootings are more and more frequent. No other country in the advanced western world slaughters children and one another like the U.S. That Americans of both parties or independents or those not interested don't take a massive stand against the NRA. There are despots and authoritarian governments around the world with people willing to rise up (Ukraine) for their democracy. With our founding fathers, a seed of something so amazing and special was planted in the soil of ¨America,¨ but while some continue to move forward for the rights of all by caring for that seed, more are determined to drown it in a lethal concoction of lies, hatred, bigotry, and isms. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world that have been under the fists of dictators, the seeds have been planted, and many are rising up for a country and government American citizens (yes, mostly white) have enjoyed for so long that they have no knowledge of anything else. It is a tragic irony. Books taken from shelves. Rights being taken away. Making it more difficult to vote. If you were to ask someone what country are these things happening in, few would say the U.S. But they are. As those rights are slowly being won in other parts of the world.
Gailee, I write to clarify, while I agree with much of what you stated, that the words “a different breed of human,” indicating persons of a different stock, implied, at least to me, a level of othering, wherein trying to find out what the real problems were would be futile. Hence, my reason for commenting and offering an alternate view.
Moreover, I would note, while we are witnessing examples of increasing democratization throughout parts of the world, we also are witnessing its opposite in Turkey, in Poland, in Hungary, in the Philippines… wherein the end of democracy didn’t come in an instant, but arrived slowly like twilight, presumably because not enough people were paying attention.
There is another subset of folks who pay no attention to politics or justice. In this regard they are agnostic to those issues vs being unkind or cruel.
And they will have a rude awakening when they find that their easy lives and freedoms have been taken from them because they let others fight for their rights, and it just wasn't enough to keep the barbarians from crashing through the gates of their agnostic lives.
While I would love to be wrong, I expect that the impulse of most Fox viewers, who have committed time and energy to developing particular thought patterns, will be to block the contradictions between public performance and private communiques and resist having to question, alter, or, God forbid, reject ways of thinking or acting they perceive have served them well.
Not all and the few who “ wake up” are welcomed back into our fold. It’s funny the people who mostly support Fox are the same people who Democrats are helping in so many ways to have a better quality of life.
Stephen, Earlier this month (Feb. 7th), you wrote, “The Democrats don’t have the equivalent of a Fox News and all the right-wing media behind them…”. I replied that Democrats have to go where the trouble is in this country, the trouble the GOP extremists are stoking, the trouble such extremists are making worse. Democrats must go there and meet with the people who doubt that Democrats care about the wreckage of their dreams and show they can work on legitimate issues and grievances.
Theoretically you are correct but what we all don’t get is that millions of people believe or need to believe what Fox and other media outlets are expounding on because it fills a need they have and stokes the rage and hatred that is a part of who they are. They don’t t want to discuss this or the facts. Trump was an unknown entity in 2015 and 2016 and in 2020 he was well known and soundly rejected. We must through the polls eliminate those enablers one at a time and the Marjorie Taylor Greene’s of the world actually represent to many what is wrong with the Republican Party.
Stephen, While your points are well-taken, our heads are in entirely different places. As I see it, our nation is as deeply divided as I can remember. Our country is at a crisis point, locked in an existential conflict over race, over identity, and over culture. Our democracy is in trouble, and it’s not the Russian’s fault; it’s ours. We are the ones killing it.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I do know, while no single leader can safe a democracy, without a leader the people, overall, can trust, no democracy can be saved. Seeing that when one side opens its mouth, the other half hears only lies, maybe we’ve all been part of the problem. Either way, this impasse not only is unacceptable, but also unlikely to change any time soon.
Still, something must change. Maybe as more of us become acutely aware that democracies now die when we’re not paying attention and that the end rarely comes in an instant but arrives slowly like twilight, perhaps then enough of us, under the auspices of trustworthy leadership, will be moved to make a promise, an American promise to each other, that instead of scorching the earth between us we will try every day to bring the country together.
Barbara very thoughtful comments. I use to feel the way you do but Heather Cox Richardson introduced me to historians who traced the history of democracy in this country and I found out other generations had threats against our democracy and they survived. There was a divided country about slavery, WWII, integration, Vietnam and the Holocaust and other situations but at the end of the day democracy survived because the people wanted it more than the alternative and they came together for the common good of all the people and we survived. Democracy is not perfect, it’s fragile and it is always under constant attack but those attacking it have no viable and acceptable replacement. A politician will not unite this country because too many other channels of communication will drown out the the messages so at the end of the day it will take a generational change and a demographic shift to a non white majority to see the changes we all want. Average voting age is getting younger as is new members of Congress and there future will be dependent on how well they manage climate change , technology and our global economy and water. I am optimistic but also realistic that it will continue to be a struggle and frightening at times:
IMHO, the root of this insanity is that Fox has to appease shareholders & always show a profit - regardless of the truth. If Fox didn't experience a massive drop in viewership over the 'true' Dominion story, there wouldn't have been a reason to lie. The corporate structure in our world demands profit forever!!!! That is insane & killings us all & nurturing those who are vulnerable to fear & anger (prob due to a combination of biology & adverse experiences). Corporations have more freedoms than ordinary citizens & they are killing us!!!! It is overwhelming to consider what it would take to fix this but, for starters, undue Citizens United, bring back the Fairness Doctrine,
& nationalize cable(yeah right, keep dreaming) & reinstate the Voting Rights Act. Then let
Senator Warren & friends figure out how to level the playing field between corporations & citizens & precious & vulnerable & finite:
From practicing law for forty years, I am having no trouble conjuring up theories of wrongful death by the victims of the Big election lies. And maybe add in the personal harms to those whose lives were turned upside down. Maybe we can nickname the legal dance as the Alex Jones Financial Shuffle.
Also, maybe Fox’s Covid lies? How many Fox viewers might still be alive if Fox hosts (all vaxxed themselves) had reported truthfully about vaccine and mask use efficacy?
Your correct. Maybe if Dominion wins their suit someone will file a class action suit against Fox but it would be hard to prove. The Alex Jone’s of the world need to be held accountable
Funny but as you know breaking the law and getting tried and convicted are miles apart. The court of public opinion is the only court that impacts voters.
Fox’s entire “name” is Fox News and Entertainment. It is on their incorporation papers. I don’t watch them so am not sure they still do this, but their logo was “FOX NEWS and entertainment” with the last 2 words in very tiny print, so the Fox News part was what you noticed. They consider it our fault that we don’t read their name correctly, and they believe they are similar to other magazine type shows such as Good Morning America or The Talk. Again, it is our fault if we take what is produced on their show as fact and news. They believe they are blameless. Sorry, but I can’t remember where I learned this over a decade ago. Perhaps Rachel Maddow or Amy Goodman. The woman dug out their incorporation papers, and more, and carefully read everything to figure this out.
As for the FCC, Biden has been trying to get, I believe, Gigi Sohn confirmed as FCC chair for quite a while, which would give that commission a Democratic majority. And of course Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to stop her nomination. It is a Senate confirmation, so House not involved. You can read more about it in the Salon article by Rae Hodge: https://salon.com/2023/02/16/a-major-injustice-is-being-done-bidens-fcc-nominee-faces-dark-money-homophobic-smears/
Close to 2/3rds of Fox "News" total revenue comes from NON-VIEWERS who pay for it because it is a part of their cable or streaming TV package. Spectrum TV customers have an a la carte TV package option that gets them out of paying for Fox, but even if you don't have Spectrum, you have options. Read about them here: https://www.stopdisinformation.org/fnftv Want to bear witness in person to Fox's depravity? There's will be a Feb. 28th TruthOverFox protest in NYC and DC...write here if you want to get help to organize one where you live: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdyet8awwO1e3uyHB3u1kJcH3-NebDqLKTUOsjfuEaErN5Qnw/viewform
Getting the a la carte Spectrum package is how I stopped paying for Fox to continue its poisoning of hearts and minds broadcasting. I am one with my vote and wallet, and I use both to voice my values. While my cynicism prevents me from thinking there will be any consequences to Fox Propaganda Corp, my optimism remains on the lookout for Dominion's ability to bankrupt their butts.
That's great if you don't have a streaming TV package including news channels...If you have Youtube TV or Hulu + Live TV, you are getting Fox "News" too!
Unfortunately, efforts to force companies to do this has not worked. Maine tried to pass a law to force companies to offer a la carte TV packages (on the basis consumers could not afford current packages) and had to back down in the face of federal court actions that found merit in the argument for the 1st amendment rights of telecommunications companies to determine the content of packages -- yet another abuse of our constitution to afford more rights to corporations than to people.
I would like to give thanks to Dominion Voting Systems for pursuing this lawsuit. Love the illumination. But maybe they're not asking for enough moolah? The damage is beyond quantification.
And I always give thanks for Robert Hubbell.
Indeed! The anchors of Fox News are complicit in the murders that occurred as a result of the January 6th insurrection. Dominion should ask for enough money to put Fox News out of business.
Describing the actions of Trump, Fox and the MAGA Republicans as the "Big Lie" feels incomplete and toothless. The email water cooler confessions expose an active collusion and conspiracy to deceive the listening public and defraud our democratic process. Rather than the "Big Lie", they are committing the "Big Cheat".
Trump and Fox are falsely yelling "fire" in the movie theater, solely to retain power, influence, and greed. Fox has betrayed the public trust and actively disrupted our civil order and social tranquility. Is there not some criminal responsibility here??
Totally agree. There should be some kind of criminal accountability here that pertains to outright, intentional and persistent lying. But our legal machinery in America makes this almost impossible. Irresponsible executives are always shielded by the corporation and the corporate owners are shielded by "i didn't know they were doing that" in the pure Trumpian fashion of deniability and letting others take the rap (i.e. Michael Cohen and Weisselberg. In the meantime, an echo of Kafka if there ever was one, my beloved state of California takes the absurd position in the water wars that it has rock solid, century-old legal rights to its share of the Colorado River, now dwindling to the size of a creek. A scoundrel's last refuge is the law. Tocqueville warned us that a rampant democracy will doom itself if it can't control its worst excesses. Anarchy will be the result. Well, don't look now!
Well said. We appear at a critical point to reckon with our excesses.
This is capitalist depravity. The stratospheric wealth of faux-news corporate owners and their sycophantic mouthpieces is so extreme that personal honor means absolutely nothing. The sole message they broadcast: Personal honor means absolutely nothing.
Exactly, supposed to be beyond the pale, but the scam has been at full throttle for decades, with no brakes in sight.
Sorry I disagree because for years they have been thriving under ground and exposure of Fox talent and others hypocrisies bring it into light and maybe the Big Lie will be exposed for the Bigger Lies.
Talent????
Generic term.
Fox News is a direct result of Ronald Reagan eliminating the Fair Doctrine. In the name of free speech under the First Amendment. What he did was, instead, open the path to a malevolent force that purposefully ill informs the public in an effort to ascertain unbridled power and theocratic rule based on misappropriating the Constitution.
Something similar to The Fairness Doctrine needs to be created for all media and those holding political office or running for political office. What is so disheartening for me is the number of Americans who watch and believe trash like Fox and the others. Is there something missing in their ability to think? What attracts them to programs like Fox, Limbaugh, et al? They seem so unreachable with truth.
Poor education and racism I feel are the reasons people are drawn to Fox News.
Snared plenty of educated too. So did Hitler
Tom Nichols had a good piece on this in the Atlantic Daily on Friday. I've lost a lot of respect for the Ivy League Law Schools based on the anti-legal behavior of some of their graduates.
The goal at these elite law schools is not to uphold the constitution or legal ethics. It's to create a persuasive argument regardless of it's basis in truth and conscience.
Hence the loss of respect, both for the schools and the presumed professionals that they produce. As a fish rots from the head down, this will eventually poison the entire legal professional.
If only that were an answer. Unfortunately, many, including members of my family, are highly educated. Is it some defect? Some DNA abnormality? Something lacking in their cognitive skills? There is something that differentiates beyond education. I understand those born into poverty or abuse or those who have fallen through the cracks in the social strata. But, they are not the whole picture.
There was a study done years ago of the brain functioning of people who leaned conservative and those who leaned progressive. Findings involved significant differences in brain chemistry, hormones, synapse firings. (Not very responsible of me to cite this study without providing sources. I’ll see if I can’t find references.)
Reading about it was eye-opening.
I hope you can find it! This is exactly what I have been wanting to find. I was also wondering if blood type plays any significance.
This is from the highly regarded PLOS ONE journal, but there are updated studies and recent polls and news articles out there as well. Try search terms such as “research on brains of conservatives v. liberals.”
Fascinating. In some ways comforting, in other ways … not!
Published: February 13, 2013
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0052970
OPEN ACCESS PEER-REVIEWED
RESEARCH ARTICLE
“Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans” (I tried to copy and paste the list of researchers and authors, but the task was beyond my Saturday morning effort level.)
Thank you!
I doubt blood type would have anything to do with it.
Conservatives are more prone to feeling disgust than liberals. (Which likely means liberals have better sex lives than conservatives.) (I think I read this in one of Jonathan Haidt's books, and probably elsewhere as well. And I definitely fit the mould.)
from the abstract of the PLOS ONE article provided by SLWeston (PA):
Here, we explore differences in brain function in liberals and conservatives by matching publicly-available voter records to 82 subjects who performed a risk-taking task during functional imaging. Although the risk-taking behavior of Democrats (liberals) and Republicans (conservatives) did not differ, their brain activity did. Democrats showed significantly greater activity in the left insula, while Republicans showed significantly greater activity in the right amygdala. In fact, a two parameter model of partisanship based on amygdala and insula activations yields a better fitting model of partisanship than a well-established model based on parental socialization of party identification long thought to be one of the core findings of political science.
from googling:
Liberals: "the left insula was associated with both the affective-perceptual and cognitive-evaluative forms of empathy. The role of the insula in empathy and social cognition has been confirmed in lesion studies."
Conservatives: The right amygdala is more strongly associated with negative emotions such as fear and sadness
I just looked up Jonathan Haidt's work, recalling his study of conservatives and liberal value rankings. Overall, he found that liberals are more open to new experiences. Also a standout is that loyalty and authority rank much higher among conservatives. He work is worth revisiting if one would like to better understand our differences.
Please find the definition of 'conservative' in these studies as well; and the distinction between 'conservative' and 'revolutionary nostalgia'.
I wonder the same thing. My parents were very conservative (& racist) and watched Fox in their later years. Somehow 4 out of 5 siblings have progressive political views. I have no idea why some are open to new information and some are not.
The ¨why some are open to new information and some are not,¨ is my curiosity and fascination.
From my experience of Systemic Constellations I would say children often carry the burdens of their parents, in loyalty and with love. If one sibling is taking up this misanthropic attitude, he/she is keeping the parents belonging to the family, and making the other siblings free to develop their own lives. In a family constellation I would imagine the representatives of the parents could say "Thank your for carrying this burden for us, but now you are free to go into your own life". The representatives of the other siblings could also express their gratitude for the one who made it possible for them to be free, at the cost of his/her own freedom to develop.
Interesting. I'll read about this as I've no knowledge of theories or history of this practice.
Good point and people like DeSantis and Cruz were Ivy League educated but for them it’s an act to get elected for others intellect is overcome by rage and anger and insecurities which makes them except what rational folks will not acknowledge
Racism plays a big part for those who have an education. They don't want to "share" and see anyone (esp. with brown skin) do better than them.
I agree.
I find that very hard to believe.
It’s a generational issue handed down over many centuries
Religion requires faith and somehow Fox and others have tapped into whatever inside a brain triggers faith.
This is accurate. Please take the time to listen to Lisa Sharon Harper interview Michael Emerson on this podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freedom-road-podcast/id1342811935?i=1000591962731. He is a well know and respected sociologist who has done a representative and comprehensive study, with surveys, interviews, and focus groups, etc. about Christianity in America. His new book is due to come out this year. His conclusion is that for many white Christians, Whiteness itself has become the religion. Their allegiance is not to Christianity, but to a religion of whiteness. Fox has tapped into that exact thing. And they stoke it.
A “religion of whiteness”.
Without any awareness of the fact that Jesus was a dark-skinned semitic man. As were his mother, Mary, his earthly father, Joseph, & all 12 of his disciples.
Exactly. Which is why it is so important for them to have artistic representations of Jesus as a white man (entirely contrary to reality).
Posey. Well done.
Laura Ingram adorned with her 4-way cross.
They are, they found a home with greed and Machiavelli
The attraction is Fox represents owning the Libs regardless of facts. It like your favorite football team player using an illegal move not called by the referee that hurts your opponent. It makes you feel good as long as it doesn’t happen to your team
Yes. My husband and I just were just saying that it is the chance to ¨stick it to those of us they think are living the good life,¨ because we believe equality for everyone, in opportunity for everyone, in liberty for everyone, in a rich life for everyone. The idea that ´liberal¨ has become a negative in their lexicon is a tragedy for their lives and the lives of their families. I truly believe that there are different species in the present human family. They are the old in beliefs and actions while others are moving forward into a higher state of being.
Well said.
I always knew a friend and her husband - she Cal Berkeley grad, he Princeton and Stanford MBA - were conservative Republicans, very much in the vein of the Bushes. We worked around that in our friendship with ease. He worked for Romney at Bain and was his 2012 finance chair here in CA and very good friend. The family even spent the 2000 Winter Olympics at Mitt’s house in Park City. After TGF’s election, I just assumed that they were Never Trumpers. We lost touch after about 2017. Well...fast forward to 2022. I found out through a mutual friend that they have disavowed Mitt to the point of calling him a traitor, and are true and ardent supporters of TFG. These are not uneducated people. They are also very wealthy and they put their money where their politics are. Somewhere along the way, perhaps by summering in MT for years with other staunch Republicans?, they drank the kool aid and now are a part of the movement that is anathema to me. That they adhere to the grievances, distortions, and flat out lies that are endemic of today’s GOP is disturbing and sad for me.
That is a weird story.
I do think that while generalizations can be made about the traits of conservatives vs liberals, it's probably a mistake to try to fit every example into the mould. These H. sapiens brains are, after all, the most complex machines we know.
Because, for them, the end justifies the means regardless of the depravity of their position. Somehow their 'greater good' is so absolute they justify the collateral damage in their wake.
Sad. 'They/them' refers to the deliberate actors and the most fervent among them.
Watching Tucker is always like watching a SNL skit, but the sad part is I know people who fall for it hook, line and sinker. I hope Fox pays astronomical damages.
I would love to see Fox go bankrupt; it may be the only way we'll ever get their nasty lies off cable and begin to heal the damage Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes have inflicted on this country. And all that damage was caused in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. How sad is that?
The problem is that Fox followers will turn to Newsmax, which is just as bad or worse in my opinion
Or they will declare all of the revealed information as “fake news”.
If Fox goes bankrupt, Newsmax is likely to rein in its worst impulses, lest they be sued into bankruptcy.
My brother-in-law is one of those people. Even his wife, now an Independent (was a Repub) can’t stand it when he watches Fox.
It wasn't long ago that Fox *admitted in court* that its broadcast and its broadcast personalities are "entertainment" not news and "no reasonable person" could take what they say seriously. That did nothing to diminish their antics or their influence. I'm not sure these revelations will be any more effective in limiting their influence among the already influenced.
I agree with you. It is a different breed of human.
Gailee, I write because I fear the potentially devastating consequences of perceiving MAGA Republicans as “a different breed…” In my view, the outcome of future elections could land primarily on how effectively Biden and Democratic leadership manage the upheaval much of the GOP feasts on. Democrats need to lead in this moment when GOP far-right extremists are fueling hate and division. As I wrote to Stephen Berg, Democrats have to go where the trouble is in this country, the trouble the GOP extremists are stoking, the trouble such extremists are making worse. Democrats must go there and meet with the people who doubt that Democrats care about the wreckage of their dreams and show they can work on legitimate issues and grievances.
Nothing to do with Republican/Democrat, although the difference is hugely manifested now. I think globally and not within U.S. borders. The Spanish government has just announced support of LGBTQ youth and time off for working women during their ¨time of the month, ¨ while these rights are being taken away or are in danger of being denied in the U.S., which is supposed to be the leader of democracy around the world. There is a sickness, a darkness in a country where governors are demanding girls show proof of their periods. Where mass shootings are more and more frequent. No other country in the advanced western world slaughters children and one another like the U.S. That Americans of both parties or independents or those not interested don't take a massive stand against the NRA. There are despots and authoritarian governments around the world with people willing to rise up (Ukraine) for their democracy. With our founding fathers, a seed of something so amazing and special was planted in the soil of ¨America,¨ but while some continue to move forward for the rights of all by caring for that seed, more are determined to drown it in a lethal concoction of lies, hatred, bigotry, and isms. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world that have been under the fists of dictators, the seeds have been planted, and many are rising up for a country and government American citizens (yes, mostly white) have enjoyed for so long that they have no knowledge of anything else. It is a tragic irony. Books taken from shelves. Rights being taken away. Making it more difficult to vote. If you were to ask someone what country are these things happening in, few would say the U.S. But they are. As those rights are slowly being won in other parts of the world.
Gailee, I write to clarify, while I agree with much of what you stated, that the words “a different breed of human,” indicating persons of a different stock, implied, at least to me, a level of othering, wherein trying to find out what the real problems were would be futile. Hence, my reason for commenting and offering an alternate view.
Moreover, I would note, while we are witnessing examples of increasing democratization throughout parts of the world, we also are witnessing its opposite in Turkey, in Poland, in Hungary, in the Philippines… wherein the end of democracy didn’t come in an instant, but arrived slowly like twilight, presumably because not enough people were paying attention.
I absolutely agree with ¨slowly like twilight,¨ which is happening in the U.S..
There is another subset of folks who pay no attention to politics or justice. In this regard they are agnostic to those issues vs being unkind or cruel.
And they will have a rude awakening when they find that their easy lives and freedoms have been taken from them because they let others fight for their rights, and it just wasn't enough to keep the barbarians from crashing through the gates of their agnostic lives.
Gailee, I imagine you can tell from my reply to you that both of us hold precisely the same view.
Where is the FCC? This is a conspiracy and cannot continue to exist as a News entity in the face of this disclosure. It's about time...
Am I wrong to see a direct connection from Fox News to the three new Republican members of the House who fabricated their resumes?
Fox, the Murdochs, and Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society all are conducting these lies and liars.
While I would love to be wrong, I expect that the impulse of most Fox viewers, who have committed time and energy to developing particular thought patterns, will be to block the contradictions between public performance and private communiques and resist having to question, alter, or, God forbid, reject ways of thinking or acting they perceive have served them well.
Not all and the few who “ wake up” are welcomed back into our fold. It’s funny the people who mostly support Fox are the same people who Democrats are helping in so many ways to have a better quality of life.
Stephen, Earlier this month (Feb. 7th), you wrote, “The Democrats don’t have the equivalent of a Fox News and all the right-wing media behind them…”. I replied that Democrats have to go where the trouble is in this country, the trouble the GOP extremists are stoking, the trouble such extremists are making worse. Democrats must go there and meet with the people who doubt that Democrats care about the wreckage of their dreams and show they can work on legitimate issues and grievances.
Theoretically you are correct but what we all don’t get is that millions of people believe or need to believe what Fox and other media outlets are expounding on because it fills a need they have and stokes the rage and hatred that is a part of who they are. They don’t t want to discuss this or the facts. Trump was an unknown entity in 2015 and 2016 and in 2020 he was well known and soundly rejected. We must through the polls eliminate those enablers one at a time and the Marjorie Taylor Greene’s of the world actually represent to many what is wrong with the Republican Party.
Stephen, While your points are well-taken, our heads are in entirely different places. As I see it, our nation is as deeply divided as I can remember. Our country is at a crisis point, locked in an existential conflict over race, over identity, and over culture. Our democracy is in trouble, and it’s not the Russian’s fault; it’s ours. We are the ones killing it.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I do know, while no single leader can safe a democracy, without a leader the people, overall, can trust, no democracy can be saved. Seeing that when one side opens its mouth, the other half hears only lies, maybe we’ve all been part of the problem. Either way, this impasse not only is unacceptable, but also unlikely to change any time soon.
Still, something must change. Maybe as more of us become acutely aware that democracies now die when we’re not paying attention and that the end rarely comes in an instant but arrives slowly like twilight, perhaps then enough of us, under the auspices of trustworthy leadership, will be moved to make a promise, an American promise to each other, that instead of scorching the earth between us we will try every day to bring the country together.
Barbara very thoughtful comments. I use to feel the way you do but Heather Cox Richardson introduced me to historians who traced the history of democracy in this country and I found out other generations had threats against our democracy and they survived. There was a divided country about slavery, WWII, integration, Vietnam and the Holocaust and other situations but at the end of the day democracy survived because the people wanted it more than the alternative and they came together for the common good of all the people and we survived. Democracy is not perfect, it’s fragile and it is always under constant attack but those attacking it have no viable and acceptable replacement. A politician will not unite this country because too many other channels of communication will drown out the the messages so at the end of the day it will take a generational change and a demographic shift to a non white majority to see the changes we all want. Average voting age is getting younger as is new members of Congress and there future will be dependent on how well they manage climate change , technology and our global economy and water. I am optimistic but also realistic that it will continue to be a struggle and frightening at times:
IMHO, the root of this insanity is that Fox has to appease shareholders & always show a profit - regardless of the truth. If Fox didn't experience a massive drop in viewership over the 'true' Dominion story, there wouldn't have been a reason to lie. The corporate structure in our world demands profit forever!!!! That is insane & killings us all & nurturing those who are vulnerable to fear & anger (prob due to a combination of biology & adverse experiences). Corporations have more freedoms than ordinary citizens & they are killing us!!!! It is overwhelming to consider what it would take to fix this but, for starters, undue Citizens United, bring back the Fairness Doctrine,
& nationalize cable(yeah right, keep dreaming) & reinstate the Voting Rights Act. Then let
Senator Warren & friends figure out how to level the playing field between corporations & citizens & precious & vulnerable & finite:
Nature/Earth. SIgh.....
I would argue that in 2015 Trump was not an unknown, he was a popular TV persona. His politics were unknown.
His public persona was known but not his real self and character
Agree
From practicing law for forty years, I am having no trouble conjuring up theories of wrongful death by the victims of the Big election lies. And maybe add in the personal harms to those whose lives were turned upside down. Maybe we can nickname the legal dance as the Alex Jones Financial Shuffle.
Also, maybe Fox’s Covid lies? How many Fox viewers might still be alive if Fox hosts (all vaxxed themselves) had reported truthfully about vaccine and mask use efficacy?
Your correct. Maybe if Dominion wins their suit someone will file a class action suit against Fox but it would be hard to prove. The Alex Jone’s of the world need to be held accountable
Funny but as you know breaking the law and getting tried and convicted are miles apart. The court of public opinion is the only court that impacts voters.
I am considering civil actions, where the standard of proof for liability is much lower.
I'd very much like to see FOX forced to remove "News" from their trade name.
When they won the lawsuit saying they were “entertainment,” it should have happened then.
Yes. Because, as far as I can discern, there are still lots of people out there who think they are getting news when they tune into FOX.
Fox’s entire “name” is Fox News and Entertainment. It is on their incorporation papers. I don’t watch them so am not sure they still do this, but their logo was “FOX NEWS and entertainment” with the last 2 words in very tiny print, so the Fox News part was what you noticed. They consider it our fault that we don’t read their name correctly, and they believe they are similar to other magazine type shows such as Good Morning America or The Talk. Again, it is our fault if we take what is produced on their show as fact and news. They believe they are blameless. Sorry, but I can’t remember where I learned this over a decade ago. Perhaps Rachel Maddow or Amy Goodman. The woman dug out their incorporation papers, and more, and carefully read everything to figure this out.
As for the FCC, Biden has been trying to get, I believe, Gigi Sohn confirmed as FCC chair for quite a while, which would give that commission a Democratic majority. And of course Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to stop her nomination. It is a Senate confirmation, so House not involved. You can read more about it in the Salon article by Rae Hodge: https://salon.com/2023/02/16/a-major-injustice-is-being-done-bidens-fcc-nominee-faces-dark-money-homophobic-smears/
This is an incredible contribution to the thread. Hope many more people read it
Close to 2/3rds of Fox "News" total revenue comes from NON-VIEWERS who pay for it because it is a part of their cable or streaming TV package. Spectrum TV customers have an a la carte TV package option that gets them out of paying for Fox, but even if you don't have Spectrum, you have options. Read about them here: https://www.stopdisinformation.org/fnftv Want to bear witness in person to Fox's depravity? There's will be a Feb. 28th TruthOverFox protest in NYC and DC...write here if you want to get help to organize one where you live: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdyet8awwO1e3uyHB3u1kJcH3-NebDqLKTUOsjfuEaErN5Qnw/viewform
Getting the a la carte Spectrum package is how I stopped paying for Fox to continue its poisoning of hearts and minds broadcasting. I am one with my vote and wallet, and I use both to voice my values. While my cynicism prevents me from thinking there will be any consequences to Fox Propaganda Corp, my optimism remains on the lookout for Dominion's ability to bankrupt their butts.
I agree. I cut the cable tv cord years ago, only stream now.
That's great if you don't have a streaming TV package including news channels...If you have Youtube TV or Hulu + Live TV, you are getting Fox "News" too!
I don't use those channels either.
Yes! Been saying for years one solution is to force Fox to unbundle from basic cable tv packages.
Unfortunately, efforts to force companies to do this has not worked. Maine tried to pass a law to force companies to offer a la carte TV packages (on the basis consumers could not afford current packages) and had to back down in the face of federal court actions that found merit in the argument for the 1st amendment rights of telecommunications companies to determine the content of packages -- yet another abuse of our constitution to afford more rights to corporations than to people.
Best news of the week. I don’t think any of these people will age well.
Boycott sponsors of Fox Spews here: trueUSA.org
Been doing that for years
What a tangled web they weave when first they practice to deceive.
Outstanding analysis as always! Thank you!!
Fox feeds a hunger we have as humans for the Colosseum. Fox won't go away, but Dominion shows it for what it is, a spectacle to make money and fame.