We’ve already lost the skirmish on the battlefield of Courtesy. Congressional representatives call the President a liar from the floor of Congress while the President is speaking. Dr Laura goes on a racist rant that makes Rush and Beck look like amateurs. Radio talk show hosts and cable “entertainment-news” show commentators call the President everything from a Socialist to a Stalinist, from a raving liberal to a fascist, from Mao to Hitler. Tea Party members shout down politicians at town hall meetings, some backing up their rhetoric with a piece strapped to the hip; a rifle in one hand and a misspelled home-made sign in the other.
The next battle is most likely already lost and could mean a lost cultural and economic war. The battle already raging in the jungles of the media is the fight for Truth. This skirmish has its roots in a court case that took place in Florida a few years ago. Two Fox News investigative journalists did an expose of Monsanto and hormones in milk. Their bosses made them edit the piece 22 times, until the report was a complete lie. The reporters balked, lost their jobs and sued Fox. The first trial ended in their favor with the jury awarding a very hefty settlement. The ruling was overturned on appeal with the court saying that Fox news had no obligation to tell the truth and that the reporters were insubordinate for not going along with the lie. It stands that way today.
Now, the combination of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and the Senate’s refusal to pass a disclosure requirement for money donated to political candidates threatens the truth of our democracy. Corporations like Fox (which is half-owned by a Saudi Arabian gajallionaire oil thug who believes in a Taliban-like Sharia law) can now dump as much money as they want to into any political campaign they feel like and they don’t have to disclose how much money or which campaign they gave the money. Corporations can lie, they can give as much as they want to any political candidate and campaign that they want. People get in trouble, sometimes lots of trouble, for lying and people do have to disclose how much and to whom they’ve given political money. In fact, people have limits on the political money the can give and if they go over those limits, they go to jail. Somehow, this does not pass the smell test, like the blind man in the fish market.
The lies about President Obama would be funny, except that so many people believe them. According to a recent poll, one fifth of the country believes he is a Muslim. The researchers did not ask how the interviewees felt about Muslims or the President. And that’s beside the point. The point is that 20% of the country believes the lies (or at least this one) that are put out by right wing groups, organizations, think tanks, and media outlets. Lies that began before his election. Not regular lies but hateful lies. And I bet more than 20% of Americans believe some of the other lies of Fox News et al.
It began, in the mainstream media, with the Birther movement. He wasn’t born here. Where’s his birth certificate? A friend of mine sends me anti-Obama screeds from time to time, usually from some ersatz website or manically paranoid blog. The President has been called everything from a sodomite to a power grabbing racist, from a doped-out party-goer to a fascist corporate-loving anti-Christ. Obviously, not much there to be taken seriously but some folks do.
My favorite new lie is the one about a mosque being built at Ground Zero. For one it is not a mosque. It is a community center based on the example of YM & YWCAs. It does have a place to pray but so do YMCAs & YWCAs. Further more, it is not at Ground Zero, it's a few blocks away. AND, there is already a mosque at Ground Zero built soon after 9/11. What? Did they slip it in and disguise it with a hologram? How did that get past us? IT HAPPENED DURING THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. And just like a lot of the problems we face and argue about germinated during Regan and grew like a honey suckle vine through Bush, Clinton, Bush and entangled this country in all its lies. Sonny Bush, relegated to putting the nearly final nails in the American coffin, as always, just couldn't get the job done. So, there are still battles these folks want to engage in.
Fox News (that hurts to write) continues to be caught in it's lies, small to large, innocuous to inflammatory. The most recent stand out being the flap over Ms. Sherrod of the Ag department. Sure, everything on the video is true but it was edited and manipulated to the point of presenting the exact opposite point of view than the one she was actually conveying. But where are the lies rooted and why do people believe them? I believe the lies are rooted in hate, both the telling and the believing of the lies. Maybe the lying Tea Partiers and bloated talk show hosts are just getting extra media attention, which may be amplifying the hatred; but still it seems particularly vile and I believe reinforced by the media. And, of course, hatred is usually rooted in ignorance. It's one thing to be vile and truthful, quite another to be vile and lying. One is merely rude; the other extremely rude, insanely propagandized and dangerously intrusive. But I won't say something as rude as, "Goebbels woulda been proud." My mama raised a gentleman.
No comments:
Post a Comment