NYT's Charles Blow: Fox has "exploited" New Black Panthers story
July 19, 2010 8:56 am ET
From the July 19 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
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The Government cannot and should not bring FOX down. Only the real News Media can expose and discredit this phony "News" Network. If they don't, what little credibility the Free Press has left will evaporate, consumed in an endless they-said/they-said circle jerk.
It's up to the media and people with common sense to go to the next step which is: "oh, it's just Fox Noise."
Unfortunately, there is a little "swiftboating" going on here. The Tea Party people are taking the NAACP's strongest attributes and attempting to use those against the NAACP itself; the way John Kerry's opponents used his excellent service record to "prove" Kerry wasn't a hero.
That's true. Unfortunately, too many Americans aren't really paying attention. They can name the suitors on Omarosa's Ultimate Merger, but haven't a clue who their Senators are.
To them, FOX is just another News Network, no better, no worse. They hear the FOXbot talking points repeated by their friends, and assume it must be true. Then they go vote out of fear and ignorance, against their economic best interest.
Fortunately, the majority of folks don't have this glitch, right or left.
I do see an element of political ideology on the part of Fox. Fox has primed its viewers to a certain worldview that is continually being reinforced without much in the way of honesty, balance or rebuttal. Fox viewers have come to expect or even enjoy seeing their beliefs continually reinforced and their frustration and outrage continually stoked.
They have been told to expect radical ghetto politics to dominate Obama and victimize them. the psychological part is not just that they trust the good guys as authority figures but they have invested emotionally and intellectually in a world view that takes a lot of delusional feedback to be maintained.
For example, why do the Tea Parties conveniently overlook the role of conservative politics in enabling corporate exploitation of our government and economy? Instead the rage is directed at government and incumbents. As authoritarian followers they have been trained to empower the authoritarians even when it is not in their best interest to do so.
The political partisanship that causes people to ignore reality is toxic to our nation. FoxNews has allowed that to happen more and more often.
If there was actual, provable voter intimidation then those offenders should be prosecuted...but that's a determination that only the prosecutors can make. Otherwise, the cost of our freedom is to tolerate expressions of opinions that we find abhorrent.
Where was Faux 2 years ago when this happened? They supposedly filmed it, correct? Why didn't they make it a huge issue on that day? Doesn't it seem a little (a lot) suspicious that all this racism talk is happening across the Fauxhole right before the midterms - this issue, the "Glenda wants to rewrite MLK history, etc.?
Why didn't Faux give the teabaggers who held up racist signs, who stood outside the Capital, being egged on by CONGRESSMEN holding up supportive signs, spitting on our African American congressman media coverage and their outrage?
The agenda and double standard hypocrisy that is part of the daily political soap opera of the Faux network needs to be addressed. If the FCC won't do it, why won't the other networks take it on and expose the truth?
I bet a little investigative reporting could expose ALOT.
You know who said this? Yep, the guy with the stick. It's funny, the same folks who are believing that Obama somehow gave this jackass a break because Holder took a default judgment against him in a case that the former administration's DOJ filed . . . they are holding him up as a hero for saying the above quote. I wonder if any of these folks are experiencing any cognitive dissonance.
This just gives FOX an excuse to repeatedly show footage of scary black men looking... scary. They know there isn't a real story here... and that's not the point, anyway.