News or propaganda?

The Field Negro education series continues.

Tonight we share a post from someone from the majority population who feels that he recently had a "eureka moment" about  one of the major news networks in this country.


"This is my first diary and its going to be long. I’ve been mulling over something that happened to me for almost a week now, I thought I’d become less angry and disappointed, but I just can’t get over it. Fox News is destroying my family. You think I’m exaggerating; I’m not. Watching their decline is like watching my own decline when I was an addict. Except this time the drug is propaganda and lies.
First, a little background is necessary. I come from a fairly typical, conservative, middle-class Protestant family. (How they got stuck with a progressive, pagan, recovering addict daughter is a mystery to us all!). My dad worked for the government for about 30 years, for everybody’s favorite big brother, the NSA. He took early retirement and has a pension for the rest of his life. My mom does real estate – still – and never worked a full-time job after the kids were born. Typical white, privileged family who don’t know how incredibly lucky they are.

My parents, nevertheless, were decent people. Typical conservatives: unintentionally selfish and unaware of their privilege, but not bad people at heart. They were casually racist in what I considered a passive, mostly harmless way – by which I mean they considered themselves superior to people of color, but in spite of that underlying belief, they treated others kindly. They still tended to meet each individual as an individual, regardless of the person’s race.

(As an aside, I don’t actually believe any racism is harmless. I only mean I considered the attitude just a vestige of their upbringing in the pre-civil rights era and it didn’t seem to prevent them from treating everyone fairly. They were never hateful to persons of color, they were just sort of semi-consciously "superior.”)

Sorry for the long back-story, but its important for context about what upset me so much.
The details of the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night below the orange Fox-scrambled brain:

Last week, I went over to my parent's house for dinner. It was the day of the Oregon school shooting. Fox News was on – Fox News is ALWAYS on.

I generally NEVER discuss politics with them anymore, not since the 2008 election, if I can possibly avoid it, because they have become more and more strident and less and less anchored in reality. But the tragedy of the Oregon shooting seemed uncontroversial to me so I made the mistake of saying, “It's so sad. Another school shooting. I read today it's the 45th mass shooting this year.”
Obama was on-screen giving his response at the time. And my father starts complaining that “he’s getting ready to say something bad, something about gun control.” And I'm surprised, I kind of sarcastically reply, “Yeah, and that's a CRAZY idea.” (Not terribly diplomatic of me).
My dad starts screaming, actually screaming, that “gun control won’t work because the criminals won’t follow the rules and will steal guns or buy them illegally.” That really irritated me after the 45th senseless shooting, so I replied, “I’ll bet you money this shooter legally acquired the gun he used.”

Well, that REALLY set him off. He starts screaming at the TV that he “hates that fucking n***r, he can't stand that man, he'd like to take a gun and shoot him in the head RIGHT NOW.”
Our president. Spoken by a lifelong civil servant.

I was speechless. Angry, disturbed, and very disappointed.

First of all, he’s not a gun person. He actually does own a gun - an antique rifle from my granddad. I don’t think that he’s ever shot a gun recreationally in his life. Secondly, my dad was never a yeller. Lastly, he worked for our government for 30 years, so expressing the desire to murder our democratically elected president, even hypothetically, seemed beyond the pale.

My mother chimes in that HER problem with him is that he’s a Muslim. Beyond the obvious fact that if you say you’re not a Muslim, you’re not (and how else could you prove it anyway?), it wouldn't matter if he was. I said to her “You have problem with him because you think he’s a bad president. It wouldn’t matter if he was Muslim if he was a good president, right?” – vainly trying to get her to base her objections on some kind of factual basis, however misguided.

She agrees, “Well, he’s not a good president!” I think we're getting somewhere here. I say, “OK! Then its NOT because he’s Muslim, its because you think he’s a bad president, right??”
“No, it’s because he’s a Muslim.” Well, alrighty then. Case closed.

The point of this long-winded rant is that THESE ARE NOT MY PARENTS. These are pod people. Hate-filled, fearful, bigoted, willfully ignorant pod people.

Their level of discourse, their understanding of the issues of the day has declined steadily over the years as they have watched Fox's daily propaganda. And their belief that they are the only ones who know the "real truth" has increased proportionately. Obviously, this has been exacerbated by a more virulent racism than I was aware of, but the tone of Fox “News” encourages and blesses latent racism and acts as a hothouse for it grow larger.

These are people who I used to have spirited but intelligent political discussions with. That’s gone now. Those people are gone.

In all other ways, they remain competent, functioning adults. My mom still works, they both are very computer-literate and active. Yet they believed that Dearborn, Michigan was under Sharia law. They believe that Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts for profit. They believe our President is a Kenyan Muslim Socialist.

Fox news IS propaganda, very dangerous propaganda. The harm it has done and continues to do cannot be overstated.

Thanks for listening. I just had to get this off my chest." [Source]

And I am glad that you did. I hope it helped.

*Pic from newscorpse.com

The wrong side of history.

Today is the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and white Americans like Tom Brokaw are still trying to figure out "how far we have come" on matters of race in this country.


Most Americans will tell you that we have come a long way, and that the country is nothing like it was 50 years ago. Most Americans.


I am sure that quite a few Americans wish that it could go back to the way it was. All this civil rights and political correctness talk is making hard for some people to cope. (BTW, it's called political correctness for a reason: because it's the correct thing to do.) The Civil Rights Act changed the laws, but sadly, it did not change the attitudes of many in the majority population, particularly conservatives who want to conserve this particular part of America's history.


Let's not forget that conservatives were against the Civil Rights movement (even though they will try very hard to rewrite history since they were on the wrong side of it) and their leaders at the time, like Barry Goldwater, spoke out strongly against the passing of the Civil Rights Act. They are still trying to twist historical truths today, and every time you see an article written about the republican party and Civil Rights, you will find a   conservative writing about the democratic party of old before white Southerners bolted for the other major political party.


 “It so happens that I am in agreement with the [anti-racial segregation] objectives of the Supreme Court as stated in the Brown decision,” writes Goldwater.  “I am not prepared, however, to impose that judgment of mine on the people of Mississippi or South Carolina. . . . That is their business, not mine.  I believe that the problem of race relations, like all social and cultural problems, is best handled by the people directly concerned . . . [and] should not be effected by engines of national power.” 


That is a stunning quote from the hero of the conservative movement.  But not surprising.


Ironically, the leaders of that movement are just as backwards on matters of race and civil rights in 2014. And a quote such as that from a current conservative member of congress, or tea party representative, would not even cause us to raise an eyebrow.


Finally, since we are speaking about conservatives, I want to talk about the black conservative sister who had her face painted white on a billboard, recently.


This was not cool. The sister should have a right to declare her political allegiance to whatever party she chooses.


"Glo Smith, an African-American Republican challenger for the House of Representatives, has been subjected to the unfortunate trend in which there are racist attacks on African-American Republicans. The Florida Republican candidate has had her campaign sign vandalized with white paint over her face. The incident occurred last week in her district. 


Her district is overwhelmingly comprised of Democratic voters via details of the area’s voter registration. According to the National Review publication on Monday, this vandalistic attack on Smith is the latest in a long line of incredibly racist attacks on African-American Republicans.


Beyond the whitewashed campaign sign, Smith – whose full name is Gloreatha Scurry-Smith - has said that many of her campaign signs have also been stolen. Last Tuesday, she was told of the racist defacement of her campaign sign. The costly signage to promote her candidacy for congress stands eight feet tall and four feet wide. The sign that was destroyed was placed in a very visible location for maximum exposure. The sign was on private property along Interstate 10 in Jacksonville, Florida. In the vandalism, it is apparent that the criminal vandalized the campaign property by spray painting white over Smith’s face. The work of the vandal was carefully calculated."


What a shame. I would like to personally contribute to help get a new billboard up as soon as possible for this poor conservative black sister.


If anyone reading this knows the aforementioned Ms. Smith or anyone in her campaign, please have them reach out to me.


I will send them a check in the mail as soon as possible.   











 


 

Standing by their man, and Justine thinks that AIDS is funny.

I see that conservatives are still busy defending the Duck Dynasty dude. Hmmm, I wonder why? Could it be that they have so much in common?

Anyway, I could care less what happens between that ignorant hillbilly and his employer, A&E. Obviously they have been good for each other, but now, to A&E, he has crossed a line. We will see.

Still, this is America; he has a right to his freedom of speech. But sadly for him, his employer has a right to can his ass in this type of situation as well.
Free speech sometimes has a price, just ask that Dixie Chicks, lady.

Finally, I am sure that conservatives will come to the defense of Justine Sacco as well.

In case you didn't know, Justine is an executive for an entertainment PR firm, and she found it necessary to show the world her ignorance via twitter.

"The communications director for media conglomerate IAC, which represents brands like OKCupid, is in trouble after publicly tweeting a racist “joke” that’s getting few — if any — laughs.

“Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” Justine Sacco tweeted Friday, apparently from London shortly before departing on a trip.
Sacco, who's represented brands also include Vimeo and CollegeHumor, was not immediately available for comment.

But the offending tweet disappeared late Friday night — which would be early Saturday morning in Africa. Just after midnight in New York, in fact, Sacco’s entire account vanished.

 

Racist, insensitive to AIDS, and just dripping with a sense of white privilege. 

I don't think that this woman will have a job with her current employer much longer, but judging from her looks and what is obviously between her ears; a gig over at FOX can't be too far behind. (I see you Megyn Kelly)

 

 

 

Time to work on your counterpunch.

So this "knock-out game" craze has white folks in a tizzy. The only people enjoying this are the little knuckle heads who show the videos of their Joe Frazier impression to their friends, and the honchos over at FOX News.

FOX loves it because there is an increase in viewership from the melanin challenged octogenarian set.

But on further review, this is nothing new here in America. Teens have been beating up on defenseless people and videotaping it for awhile now. But hey, they weren't always black, and the victims weren't always white, so this, in the eyes of those who suffer from "color aroused syndrome", is a bit different.

The knock-out game isn't always for sport, sometimes these hooligans just want your s**t.

Anyway, whether it's the "knock-out game" or "smack cam" (a lighter version), white conservatives and their wingnut friends have found the latest thing to b*t*h about in Obama's America. They didn't care when homeless people were getting the crap beaten out of them by out of control teens pre Barack Obama, but now, of course, it's different. *eyes rolling*

Here in Philly, whether you are black or white, you realize that whenever you are on these mean streets you just have to remain vigilant and work on your counterpunch.

Oh, and you can never forget to bob and weave.
 

They will take their tea with lots of milk.

So now that the tea party protests are behind us, conservatives are scrambling to try and figure out how to make it a springboard for a viable grass roots movement. You know, kind of like their arch enemy , "The One", used to propel himself to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Now let's be clear; in my humble opinion the tea party numbers were not impressive, a few thousand here, a few thousand there does not a "Million Man March" make. If you want to see numbers watch the crowd at one of "The One's" speeches leading up to the elections. Or the sea of humanity that greeted him in Europe. Now those numbers were impressive. The conservatives, of course, think otherwise, and they are calling on those who participated to keep fighting the good fight. (Oh they are getting ready to fight the good fight alright, unfortunately they believe that shit in the literal sense).

When you get a chance please look at the pictures of these tea protesters again. And if you can, please do me another solid: If you see a picture or video of one person of color at one of those rallies please send me a link. I am sure there must be one person. So if you spot one, it will be like a sighting of the rare atala butterfly, consider it a hell of a find and enjoy the moment.

Now I know that a grass roots movement doesn't have to be multicultural, but it would lend some legitimacy to it. Say what you want about his O ness, but he had all different types of people on board with his movement. There was black;white; brown; rich; poor; man; woman and all those in between. That was a real movement, and every group in A-murder-ca was caught up in it. It wasn't just for a certain shade of folks. Hell these tea parties looked more like vanilla milk shake parties to me. Sorry, no real movement for change in A-murder-ca can be effective if it's that homogeneous. That would only be possible in places like Japan or North Korea. Say what you want about us A-murder-cans we like to think of ourselves as inclusive, and we like to believe that we embrace diversity. Seeing that very pale protest reminded us of places that we don't want to revisit. It was kind of like watching television circa 1955, if you get my drift.

And for the record; I know that there are some folks working on getting us to the Japanese model right now, but thankfully, we are not at that place just yet. Sorry, I think us other folks are going to be around for awhile.

THIS JUST IN: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SAYS THAT ABORTION IS OKAY FOR CERTAIN GROUPS OF PEOPLE.

I kid I kid.

Why should we give that Negro our money? You know they like to just spend it.

I have to admit that like most A-murder-cans I don't like paying taxes, and as April 15th approaches I am reminded of just how much I dislike the entire process. I dislike it,but I understand that as a citizen I have an obligation to the country I live in to pay my fair share. (Which the last time I checked is a hell of a share, but who is complaining?)

I enjoy driving on the nice roads my tax dollars help to fund. I enjoy the security that my tax dollars help to provide for me. I enjoy the protections from poisons and other deadly products that could harm me. I enjoy the fact that veterans who serve my country can be taken care of. I like the fact that when I put my money in the bank it is insured. And I like the fact that most children who cannot afford it can get a free education. I could go on but you get the point: Taxes are painful for some of us, but they are necessary.

Which is why I don't understand this "Tea Party Protest" that the FAKE NEWS people and conservatives have been planning for a little over a month now. Yes folks, on tax day conservatives will be getting out their pitch forks and walking shoes, and if FAKE NEWS has their way they will be storming the White House. Ironically, the man who called for a "Tea Party" style revolt against the government and all their bailouts, is distancing himself from the very movement he seemed to have started. (Leave it to conservatives and FAKE NEWS to get an accidental idea and treat it like it's some kind of righteous cause.) But the clowns on the right are having none of it, the troops have been foaming at the mouth ever since his O ness took office and they need to vent.

I sense that history is repeating itself here. I mean back in the day the colonist didn't think it was fair to pay taxes to a government who they didn't believe represented them. They weren't being taxed by their government, they were being taxed by the British. These conservatives are no different, his O ness does not represent them, just look at the guy; he is the total opposite of everything they represent, so why pay taxes to his government? Funny, they didn't seem to mind paying their taxes to fund the two wars that the frat boy started. But hey, the frat boy didn't have a funny name and a.....well, tan.

So wingnut bloggers, reich wing talk radio and the FAKE NEWS people are organizing. They expect to have "Tax Day Tea Parties" in over 300 cities, and according to them the number is growing. Nothing like a little good old fashion revolution against the man to get that red state blood pumping.

I wish them luck, I really do. I hope they get a million people out there on April 15th to stick it to the man. I guess they will be flooding public parks and driving on public roads to get there. Not to mention all those public officials who will be out in force to protect them and make sure that everything goes as planned. I guess Rupert, Rush, Glen and Sean, are going to write checks to cover the costs of all that stuff. Oh wait, they can't do that, they are conservatives, they are supposed to keep their money. Whoops, looks like our tax dollars will be paying for that as well.

What a country.

Sorry Scooter

looks like you won't be getting that pardon. Oh well, I guess it's time for you to write that tell all book. Come on Scooter, throw us all a bone. Think about the huge advance you will get. You are still a felon, so you can kiss your law license good bye. --It's a shame, because I hear that you were a very good lawyer----So what are you going to do for an income? I have a few ideas: you could black mail Cheney, (he has lots of money to pay you), you could go back to Texas with the frat boy and help him raise funds for his presidential library, and you could try to get a job in D.C. with the help of your rich republican friends. But I am sure that none of those are options that you would be willing to consider. And I can't really say that I blame you; you want what they got out of the deal.

I know that conservatives are about to go into an apoplectic state over this, and how can you blame them? They begged and pleaded with the frat boy to pardon Scootter, and he gave them his ass to kiss. But I know why he is not pardoning Scooter. Think about it: with a presidential pardon and no chance of being prosecuted, old Scooter can't plead the 5th. So this is a brilliant political move by the frat boy, it keeps Scooter's mouth closed.

Anyway, I know one person who isn't pleased about the non pardon of Scooter.

"Scooter Libby is one of the most capable and honorable men I've ever known. He's been an outstanding public servant throughout his career. He was the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice, and I strongly believe that he deserved a presidential pardon. Obviously, I disagree with President Bush's decision."

I am sure he is "capable and honorable"Dick. And I am sure some of those capabilities went a long way in helping you to achieve your goals.