Another world
I had the occasion to spend some time in a waiting room yesterday where the TV on the wall was tuned into Fox & Friends, at a volume impossible to ignore. It was an education.
In the bizarro world of Fox, the top story was not the theft and eventual crash of a commerical turboprop from SeaTac Airport, an incident that in my mind raised all sorts of questions about how secure are aircraft on the ground.
No, the Fox focus it was the admittedly appalling run of violence on the streets of Chicago. But instead of focusing on how it happens (lots of guns coming across state lines from Indiana) it took direct aim at the policies of Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Separately, one-time Fox superstar Bill O’Reilly blogged to his minions a day earlier:
The political players in Chicago are largely cowards, just like most of the German population was during The Third Reich. I mean really, death is death, whether it’s on the South Side or in Dachau.
This was accompanied by a picture of Emanuel, an observant Jew. We report, you decide on whether this is a dog whistle or a bullhorn.
But back to F&F. Over the course of the hour I was treated to consecutive stories about Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton. I admit I was paying more attention to the condition of my shoes at this point and don’t recall the details.
But my ears perked up again when Steve Doofus, er, Doocey, promoted an upcoming piece about the “fake news” ganging up to attack President Trump with a day of editorials defending freedom of press.
And shortly thereafter appeared one Howard Carr, a Boston Herald columnist who these days churns out little else other than anti-Globe screeds. True to form, his appearance was Howie’s greatest hits about the bow-tied bum kissers.
Finally, another person in the room asked if the station could be changed. I was ready to hold a parade in her honor and she opted for Trump’s bete noire, CNN.
In the course of the hour or so on Fox & Friends I never heard anyone with an opinion remotely different from the state media talking points. Perhaps that’s because no one chooses to waste their time.
But back on CNN I was again “enlightened” by Rudy Giuliani’s latest twist of his own words on Trump’s conversation (or at this point, no conversation) with James Comey about Michael Flynn.
I did hear the name Nancy Pelosi come up, in an interview with one of the Democratic congressional primary winners who have pledged not to vote for her as Speaker. The interviewer repeatedly pressed the candidate to provide a non-talking points answer.
My Fox & Friends experience was truly enlightening. It reminds you of the basic concept of propaganda as expressed by Jospeh Goebbels that if you repeat the same thing over and over again people accept it as truth. Even if it is not.
It also reminded why Fox & Friends may be popular with many farmers. It provides ample supplies of fertilizer.
