MAGA man called my show to say it's not about "29-year-olds playing video games in basement" but is about getting "illegals" off Medicaid. It's about neither.
I have often wondered how our founders put so much faith in free speech and a free press and I think figured it out. In their world they imagined seekers of truth might be wrong and will be corrected by others with more rational discussion and greater knowledge. It may sound silly but I don't think the idea of intentionally lying or spreading misinformation ever crossed their minds. Discussions designed to impart knowledge to get the facts right lose all meaning when intentional lying takes ahold. After all sophisticated brain washing techniques hadn't been discovered yet. America will never recover when lying dominates every conversation had with the right and I would say the day democracy was mortally wounded when Murdoch was welcomed with open arms by Reagan and Aiels. I'm 74 and the idea of any of the three major networks intentionally lying was unheard of with competition to get facts and the truth out their main goal. We will never get that back.
I'm the same age as you, Curmudgeon. I remember the trust and respect earned by the likes of Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Frank Reynolds, et al. I remember with clarity the night that the Vietnam War and a potential second Johnson administration ended when Cronkite delivered a brutal, unvarnished and truthful analysis of America's deadly folly in Southeast Asia. I remember the excitement and shared experience of watching Cronkite seated next to Arthur C. Clarke the night Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon. I also remember Spiro Agnew's pathetic screed about the "nabobs of negativism" when real journalists had the temerity to tell the truth about the malfeasance of Nixon. Those journalists were among the reasons I attended J-school, although I did not go into the news business, opting instead for the fantasyland of marketing communications. But I truly miss the days when Walter looked into the camera at the end of his broadcast and said "And that's the way it is..." Because you knew you could trust that that truly was the way it was. That's not the way it is anymore.
Exactly. The days of journalistic integrity are gone, Faux News presents “entertainment journalism” and Americans don’t know the difference. And magacons totally ignore Faux News paying almost a billion dollars to settle out of court.
I think what's hard to understand is their complete dismissal of facts and logic. You can lead someone to knowledge, but you can't make them think, and MAGA are so guillible and easily manipulated due to their massive ignorance, racism, bigotry and xenophobia. Plus many of them have already become used to others telling them what to think and how to live and what to believe through their churches, especially the Evangelicals. They have been trained to think questioning is a sin against God, and that science is evil. No wonder they have been so easy brainwash. They have never relied on logic or things making sense. They just hear and follow what they are told, and most are told the Left are evil and work for Satan. 🙄
So true Mark. I remember considering Journalism as a profession when I was finishing highschool. Journalists were held in high esteem as truth-seekers and where people could go for facts. There has always been yellow journalism, of course, but they were relegated to the tabloids at the supermarket. Now they've taken over, and the truth-seekers are posting in places like this. It's sad to see what has happened, and that so much propaganda has been able to reach/brainwash so many. Combined with the ignorance of so many, especially of history, and the very clear parallels to the 1930s Germany, it's frightening how hard it appears to be to make these people see that they are detached from reality. They used to believe and trust Walter Cronkite. Now, sadly, they believe and trust Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity, and Trump.
It’s super easy to lie if only 6 Billionaires control all the wires, airwaves, and pipes of information. If honest people understood the real goals and objectives sought by each founding principle of US Democracy, we would see, simply, the technology of the time did* control for lying. The authoritarian state ignores outcomes and corrupts structures, perverts true purpose. The 2 things the American fascist and colonial right did to destroy the Founding Principles of free responsible speech: 1. Destroy Citizen Education (R. Reagan 1982 Civics is out of the US Education System) and 2. Fail to secure the structural filter layer, Congress did not stop the monopolization of media.
The Founding Principles always work if We the People know and protect the scaffolding of our wonderful Democracy.
I also don't think they ever imagined and virtually an ENTIRE Party of policians would go along with a lying, corrupt, grifter of a POTUS. They knew some would be corrupt, but I think they assumed that the majority of politicians would be the guardrail, doing the right thing. The fact that almost every Republican goes along with Trump's lies, cruelty, and trampling on the Constitution is something they never could have imagined. It's a level of corruption that doesn't seem like it should be real... that so many would be so selfish, greedy, lacking in integrity and empathy, that they would essentially trade their humanity for power
Can we please, please stop calling it misinformation? It’s lies. That’s what it is. It’s fucking lies and I think we are being too kind. When we use the word misinformation or use the word disinformation. They are fucking lying..!
Misinformation, disinformation, lying, cheating, stealing. It’s getting stale, very stale and destructive to the nation. Precious heartbeats left in life, I won’t waste any of them watching Fox nor other far right liars club.
I wonder if all these 29YO basement dwellers would like to trim palm trees in 100+ degree heat, pick lettuce in 90+ fields, mow lawns, pave asphalt, wash dishes, wash cars, etc.? Maybe the GOP can send us its stash of these dudes since they’re destroying hard working families here.
The GOP creates scapegoats so they can hide their racism. Anyone with half a brain sees the racism behind it. Magats need simple answers to complex problems. The cult members and ass- kissers of the Cabinet bow and scrape to their orange master. Never thought there were this many racists in America. Was I ever wrong!!!!!!!!
"Waste, fraud & abuse" is the Right's New Big Lie. For years they've used the lie of "voter fraud" to pass restrictive and oppressive voting laws that mostly affect minorities all across the country. Now they're using their revised lie of "fraud, waste & abuse" to make drastic cuts to government agencies and programs that actually help people and save lives. All Republicans do is lie. The 2020 election and Dominion lawsuit proved that Fox News viewers want and demand to be lied to. Hell, lying to their viewers is Fox News's business model! Until that changes and their viewers actually want to hear the truth again, this country will continue its slide into authoritarianism. Maybe when they get hurt from all these cuts to Medicaid, NOAA, NWS, NIH & CDC, etc., they'll realize living in a Right-wing fantasy bubble harms them too. Not holding my breath though...
Notice how Gary emphasized "illegal aliens", because he's a racist. That's more of what it's about for him even though it isn't true. I'm sure he's fine with kicking legal citizens off Medicaid, though, especially if they are Black or Brown and aren't his son or daughter.
I have often wondered how our founders put so much faith in free speech and a free press and I think figured it out. In their world they imagined seekers of truth might be wrong and will be corrected by others with more rational discussion and greater knowledge. It may sound silly but I don't think the idea of intentionally lying or spreading misinformation ever crossed their minds. Discussions designed to impart knowledge to get the facts right lose all meaning when intentional lying takes ahold. After all sophisticated brain washing techniques hadn't been discovered yet. America will never recover when lying dominates every conversation had with the right and I would say the day democracy was mortally wounded when Murdoch was welcomed with open arms by Reagan and Aiels. I'm 74 and the idea of any of the three major networks intentionally lying was unheard of with competition to get facts and the truth out their main goal. We will never get that back.
I'm the same age as you, Curmudgeon. I remember the trust and respect earned by the likes of Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Frank Reynolds, et al. I remember with clarity the night that the Vietnam War and a potential second Johnson administration ended when Cronkite delivered a brutal, unvarnished and truthful analysis of America's deadly folly in Southeast Asia. I remember the excitement and shared experience of watching Cronkite seated next to Arthur C. Clarke the night Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon. I also remember Spiro Agnew's pathetic screed about the "nabobs of negativism" when real journalists had the temerity to tell the truth about the malfeasance of Nixon. Those journalists were among the reasons I attended J-school, although I did not go into the news business, opting instead for the fantasyland of marketing communications. But I truly miss the days when Walter looked into the camera at the end of his broadcast and said "And that's the way it is..." Because you knew you could trust that that truly was the way it was. That's not the way it is anymore.
Exactly. The days of journalistic integrity are gone, Faux News presents “entertainment journalism” and Americans don’t know the difference. And magacons totally ignore Faux News paying almost a billion dollars to settle out of court.
I think what's hard to understand is their complete dismissal of facts and logic. You can lead someone to knowledge, but you can't make them think, and MAGA are so guillible and easily manipulated due to their massive ignorance, racism, bigotry and xenophobia. Plus many of them have already become used to others telling them what to think and how to live and what to believe through their churches, especially the Evangelicals. They have been trained to think questioning is a sin against God, and that science is evil. No wonder they have been so easy brainwash. They have never relied on logic or things making sense. They just hear and follow what they are told, and most are told the Left are evil and work for Satan. 🙄
No critical thinking skills needed in maga world. Bigotry, racism, and hate consume the maga mind. Faux News has been democracy’s downfall.
So true Mark. I remember considering Journalism as a profession when I was finishing highschool. Journalists were held in high esteem as truth-seekers and where people could go for facts. There has always been yellow journalism, of course, but they were relegated to the tabloids at the supermarket. Now they've taken over, and the truth-seekers are posting in places like this. It's sad to see what has happened, and that so much propaganda has been able to reach/brainwash so many. Combined with the ignorance of so many, especially of history, and the very clear parallels to the 1930s Germany, it's frightening how hard it appears to be to make these people see that they are detached from reality. They used to believe and trust Walter Cronkite. Now, sadly, they believe and trust Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity, and Trump.
It’s super easy to lie if only 6 Billionaires control all the wires, airwaves, and pipes of information. If honest people understood the real goals and objectives sought by each founding principle of US Democracy, we would see, simply, the technology of the time did* control for lying. The authoritarian state ignores outcomes and corrupts structures, perverts true purpose. The 2 things the American fascist and colonial right did to destroy the Founding Principles of free responsible speech: 1. Destroy Citizen Education (R. Reagan 1982 Civics is out of the US Education System) and 2. Fail to secure the structural filter layer, Congress did not stop the monopolization of media.
The Founding Principles always work if We the People know and protect the scaffolding of our wonderful Democracy.
I also don't think they ever imagined and virtually an ENTIRE Party of policians would go along with a lying, corrupt, grifter of a POTUS. They knew some would be corrupt, but I think they assumed that the majority of politicians would be the guardrail, doing the right thing. The fact that almost every Republican goes along with Trump's lies, cruelty, and trampling on the Constitution is something they never could have imagined. It's a level of corruption that doesn't seem like it should be real... that so many would be so selfish, greedy, lacking in integrity and empathy, that they would essentially trade their humanity for power
The 29 year old able bodied man in the basement is this generation’s welfare queen driving a Cadillac. Both bullshit.
Can we please, please stop calling it misinformation? It’s lies. That’s what it is. It’s fucking lies and I think we are being too kind. When we use the word misinformation or use the word disinformation. They are fucking lying..!
Misinformation, disinformation, lying, cheating, stealing. It’s getting stale, very stale and destructive to the nation. Precious heartbeats left in life, I won’t waste any of them watching Fox nor other far right liars club.
I wonder if all these 29YO basement dwellers would like to trim palm trees in 100+ degree heat, pick lettuce in 90+ fields, mow lawns, pave asphalt, wash dishes, wash cars, etc.? Maybe the GOP can send us its stash of these dudes since they’re destroying hard working families here.
The GOP creates scapegoats so they can hide their racism. Anyone with half a brain sees the racism behind it. Magats need simple answers to complex problems. The cult members and ass- kissers of the Cabinet bow and scrape to their orange master. Never thought there were this many racists in America. Was I ever wrong!!!!!!!!
"Waste, fraud & abuse" is the Right's New Big Lie. For years they've used the lie of "voter fraud" to pass restrictive and oppressive voting laws that mostly affect minorities all across the country. Now they're using their revised lie of "fraud, waste & abuse" to make drastic cuts to government agencies and programs that actually help people and save lives. All Republicans do is lie. The 2020 election and Dominion lawsuit proved that Fox News viewers want and demand to be lied to. Hell, lying to their viewers is Fox News's business model! Until that changes and their viewers actually want to hear the truth again, this country will continue its slide into authoritarianism. Maybe when they get hurt from all these cuts to Medicaid, NOAA, NWS, NIH & CDC, etc., they'll realize living in a Right-wing fantasy bubble harms them too. Not holding my breath though...
Notice how Gary emphasized "illegal aliens", because he's a racist. That's more of what it's about for him even though it isn't true. I'm sure he's fine with kicking legal citizens off Medicaid, though, especially if they are Black or Brown and aren't his son or daughter.