America’s Right-Wing Propaganda Problem Might Be Terminal

Y'all should watch some Fox News. Really. Not just memes, quips and quick video grabs. It's hard to overstate what we're up against.

If you have some education in journalism and psychology, the propaganda isn't subtle at all. But how many people have taken classes like that?

If you think you're too smart to fall for Fox News, remember, lemmy is in no way a representative human cross section. If you're reading this you are far more likely to be educated, and far more likely to be above average IQ. Not trying to be snotty, but the uneducated and stupid usually don't find there way into spaces like this, or they don't stay.

Did you know that they rarely tell an outright lie? They'll let their guests do so, and leave it hanging unquestioned. But sometimes they do push back on bullshit! Just enough push back to lend an air of impartiality. One time at a round-table, one of the Fox guys YELLS out and slams the table, "Obama's a racist!" The other presenters looked at him like, "Uh, a bit much bro?" But no one said a word back at him.

Almost everything said is true. But it's painfully obvious how they inject bias. I was the high school paper co-editor, took a bit of journalism in college. It's really, really hard to write an article with zero bias. I'm trained to spot it. Give me 10-minutes of any given Fox news segment and I will shred it. How many people were trained like I was? Damned few, and that's how they get away with it, 1,000 tiny cuts that you won't even notice.

Google their presenters. Hot, young(ish) blondes and middle-aged white guys. The women are just old enough to not be taken for kids and the men are young enough to not look like geezers. A couple of token minorities sprinkled in to, again, appear impartial. Notice that the rare minority presenter get no real air time. It's obvious as hell once you see them all. Blondes and old guys.

They repeat what they want you to hear ad naseum. But sometimes it's reversed! During the Obama administration they said "Obama" so many times I wanted to fucking scream. They tossed a rare "President Obama", but it was otherwise, "Today Obama, Obama, OBAMA, Mr. Obama, OBAMOMAMMA, OBAMA..." After a week, I hated Obama.

Perhaps more telling is what they don't report. Guess where the news was non-existent to painfully thin on 01/06? Fox was in total damage control mode. Even Carlson was trying to call Trump to end it. Imagine the panic as thousands of right-wingers stormed the Capital of the United States of America. Imagine trying to spin that!

Remember the Snowden leaks and when we all found out the government was spying on us? This was headline news all over the planet. I was forced to watch Fox for a solid week. Not one single mention. Why not? Fuck I know, they could have pointed the finger directly at Obama. Anyone know?

There's plenty more, like the token Democrat who gets to speak, but doesn't get to the really hammer-down points vs. the better looking, better presenting Republican. It goes on and on, and it's worse than you think.