It’s not unusual these days to walk into a bar, restaurant, or public office and see FOX “News” playing on a TV. Participating companies and organizations facilitate an endless stream of conservative, often extreme right-wing perspectives. The Right wants as much of the general public exposed to their “fair and (keep it on this channel) balanced” political commentary as possible. They figure the more they can convince people that President Obama is a “thug” and Hillary Clinton is a “shill” and Democrats are all “filthy stinking liberals,” the better chances Republicans have of brainwashing, winning elections, and thus creating laws that benefit the rich and control the poor. But it’s not only the general public that the right-wing media is infiltrating. The U.S. military is also a target and they are drenched.
Filmmaker, director, and documentarian Jen Senko has been exploring the intentional use of right-wing propaganda for years. In her latest film, The Brainwashing of My Dad, narrated with filmmaker, actor and activist Matthew Modine, Senko writes about her father, who was drastically transformed from a kind, happy-go-lucky Democrat — to an angry, racist, misogynistic Republican. The conversion gradually took place after the family moved, and her dad took a job that required a long solo commute to work. One of the few things available to break up the monotony along the stretch of highway was AM Talk Radio. He began listing to Bob Grant and eventually graduated to Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, now endearingly known as The Hate Parade.
The theatrical release of The Brainwashing of My Dad debuted this past March and features interviews with media experts like Noam Chomsky, Jeff Cohen, George Lakoff, Frank Luntz and many others share their experiences and/or insight with the radical Right. Here is the 85-second official trailer of The Brainwashing of My Dad.
Many who saw the film had very strong reactions. Aaron was one of those people. A United States Air Force veteran, he served from 2002 until 2006 doing two tours in Iraq. Jen Senko interviewed Aaron on Skype. Below is the transcript of the interview followed by the video. Either is well worth the read/view.
Senko: When you were there, tell me about one of your experiences. When did you first notice that FOX News was playing on the bases?
Aaron: Well, I, I noticed , you know, after I got out of basic training and went into tech training and stuff and then got to my first duty base which was Dallas Air Force base in Texas. I noticed there that in every place that there was a TV that was displayed in public was on FOX news. So it was--that was pretty much the channel it had to be on. Everyone kind of knew that.
When I moved, my wife at the time had decided that we didn’t want to live on base, we wanted to live off base. And so in the military when you are going to move off base, you have to get what is called BAH which stands for Basic Allowance for Housing. And basically the military will pay for you know, your housing needs and stuff like that. So, I had to go to the accounting office to get all that stuff set up. And I was sitting in the waiting room in the accounting office there, and they were playing FOX news in one of the TVs in the waiting room. And I got up and went over to change it to something else. And the lady, she was probably a senior airman she wasn’t an officer she was an NCO and she had stopped me and told me you can’t change the channel because I’ll get in trouble.
And that was about the extent. When I started kind of wondering, “Why is this? Why is every TV on news?” I guess, they call it news. But it was FOX News. But to them it’s just news. So any kind of duty base I’ve been to or any other kind of military base I’ve been to, is the same. They were all on FOX news. And um, I saw The Brainwashing of My Dad and it’s strange because I started to wonder if they are going to touch on this, the FOX News being played in the military thing, and of course, I reached out. And much to my surprise it was something that they didn’t know. They were shocked to find out that all these military TVs were on FOX news.
Just to check myself to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind or anything, I called a buddy of mine who is still in the military and currently serving in Florida, and asked him about it, you know. And he confirmed that even now, still, ‘course I was out in 2006, 9 years later he confirmed that um, the TVs are still on FOX News. He said, you know when I asked him, he thought it was a silly question because “you know what channel it’s on, it’s FOX News”
Senko: So, is it overseas as well? Are there bases overseas that have televisions
Aaron: It’s hard for me to say about overseas because I don’t specifically remember about the televisions, what channels they were on because during my time overseas we didn’t spend a whole lot of time sitting around a TV. If there was a TV around a common area then they were probably playing video games on them or something. They didn’t—you didn’t have to worry about commanders and people like walking in when you were overseas, it was kind of a different world over there. So I don’t remember specifically if there were um—
Senko: Did you ever hear Rush Limbaugh being played on any military base?
I remember, um, I remember Rush being kind of present, a lot of people—what we had to do was whenever we had to go out and maintain the work on the aircraft and things like that, we had to ride around in a work truck that had a radio in it. And some of the older guys would put on talk radio and stuff like that but as far as that being a requirement, then I don’t know anything about that.
Um, well, you know so, post 9/11, not too long after 9/11 I kind of decided since they were ramping up the war drums there that you know, I would do my duty and go serve my country so I did that.
Right, right. What made you join the military to begin with?
Got sucked in. To the hype, you know?
After it’s all said and done, there were a lot of questions. A lot of “What am I doing here? What is this really all about?” A LOT of that kind of centered around what happened to WTC7 cause I have yet to talk to anybody that can answer that question.
Senko: What’s that? Oh! World Trade Center 7.
Aaron: World Trade Center 7 like why did that fall. Cause there were no planes that hit it, but it fell as well. So, of course there are a lot of conspiracy theories and stuff like that and you know, I tried to avoid that kind of stuff. For myself, I was always kind of skeptical about things. So when I was in-when I was serving in the military, it was easy for me to not really listen too much to what was going on with FOX news and stuff. Even the guys, they would talk about it and stuff like that but it’s not a secret that most military people are conservative and they hate Obama.
And I was reading, just as a side note. Military people are subject to a different, you know, law than civilians are. And they call it the UCMJ. Stands for the Uniform Code of Military Justice. And under the UCMJ, there are what they call articles which is punishment for doing something. And there is an article, I believe it is 88, that says something to the effect of “Officers and people saying things about the president and things like that.” And you know, when I was in it was George W. Bush, nobody was saying anything bad about George W. Bush but I thought it was, to be honest, kind of bizarre. Because I got out of the military and of course Obama comes in and everything. I guess I remember, it was around about maybe 2010 when I started noticing that the rhetoric on FOX news in particular but also just kind of in general, started to not corroborate truth.
This is about the same time I started noticing that some of my military buddies that were still in were going on social media and saying “Fuck Obama” and “He’s ruining our country.” Just all this stuff that simply wasn’t true. Then I started kind of wondering you know, and I actually approached one of them and I said, “Listen, how is it they you are going on social media and completely, in writing verbally disrespecting and holding contention to the president of the United States? I said “Don’t you realize that that’s punishable under the law?” And he said, “Nobody cares, nobody cares, everybody’s doing it any way.”
And he and I started going back and forth about my views about President Obama and his views about hating Obama, and we ended up not being friends anymore over it. Which is – you know we started overseas together and something as simple as having a disagreement during political discourse, you know growing up--
Senko: That’s usually a very strong bond between military people-
Aaron: Yeah but to me, I never noticed or thought that a time where gentleman could have a discussion about their political views or things like that would end, a complete dissolution of a relationship.
You know, when I was growing up, first of all, you didn’t talk politics but if you did, you have a disagreement and then everything would be fine the next day. But for some reason or that exit polls were shown highly in favor of the republican. And that people who were voting for Obama were afraid to even admit that they were voting for him because they knew that the Republican and the conservative backlash would be pretty serious.
If someone voting for Obama and they tell another Obama supporter, “I voted for Obama.” That’s fine or whatever. No big deal.
But in these days, for some reason if it’s a conservative or if it’s a republican they make it their life’s mission to make your job miserable, to boycott your business, and they just take it to these extreme levels. I read a story of a woman who ran over her husband with an SUV in a mall parking lot because he told her that he voted for Obama. And I’m wondering, you know. First of all, I know for a fact that these televisions that are on these military bases are currently as we speak, turned into FOX News. And they are on 24 hours a day. I also know that most military personnel are conservative and they hate Obama and they spout out this rhetoric that is exactly what is coming from FOX news. So my question is--I don’t watch it. I don’t have it in my house, I don’t look at it, I try to avoid it, I don’t listen to talk radio, none of that stuff. And my question is “How much of an affect is having FOX news on these televisions in these military bases, how much of an affect does it have on military personnel?
Not to mention that our military is non-discrimination, we have people from all different cultures, races, religions, all over the country going into these situations and I’m thinking about people who aren’t Christians, and what about people who come from more liberal homes that want to serve their country and do these things? Why should they be exposed to this rhetoric? Why should they have to wait in this waiting room and listen to this hatred and this anti-Muslim and anti-gay rhetoric and this um—sorry I’m getting a bit worked up (laughs)
You know, I had to sit there under circumstances and just have to put up with it, you know. Because when you are in the military, you don’t want to be the odd one out. You don’t want to be the guy—who isn’t going with the flow, isn’t going with the group. So in a lot of cases, you have to sit there and listen to these talk all this bull shit that you know isn’t true. You just have to go along with it and in my feelings for the Islamic individual or the Islamic individual or the people of different sexual preferences or religions and all that, having to sit there in the utmost discomfort and have to listen to this stuff because they don’t want to be singled out. They don’t want to have any going against the grain sort of stuff.
Senko: Yeah, it’s called groupthink.
Aaron: Yeah, but to me is it a coincidence that FOX News is played on every television in every military base that I’ve ever been to in the states? Is it a coincidence that FOX News is being played and the voting record of military personnel? Is that a coincidence? And I don’t think it is.
Senko: I don’t think it is either.
Aaron: If these televisions are on and they’re on FOX News 24 hours a day, if it’s on at a low volume, you know it’s getting in there. Because you spend 8-12 sometimes 14 hours a day at your job on these military bases and you might not be directly looking at it, but it’s back there and it’s going on and it’s just constant. And I refuse to believe that – for me I don’t consider myself to be brainwashed by it so for me, whenever I encounter somebody who starts in with “Obama is ruining this country.” And they start saying things like that, “liberal media” then I automatically know. I know this person is brainwashed.
And to their credit, If I say to them “Hey, you know you’re brainwashed because you are talking all about this stuff” Well, then they start right back in with “Well you are the one that’s brainwashed. You’re the one that needs to get on board with America” And all this stupid bull shit. To me, I guess because it was around 2010 I started noticing that they were amping up the rhetoric, uhh, and I see it a lot today on social media and things like that, where people will re-spin things or parrot things that they’ve seen on TV and sort of repeat this stuff. And I’m this point where I don’t have to use Snopes anymore because I already know that it’s not true. You know?
Senko: Right.
Aaron: Whenever I found out that the courts ruled under FOX’s favor that they are under no obligation to tell the truth. To me, that was it. That was the end of news. That was the end of any real journalism. And the beginning I guess of a Brave New World, you know in my opinion because like I said, I know what Bush’s approval rating was whenever he was leading office. And his approval rating now is almost 60%. I know that Reagan was responsible for the Iran-Contra. I know about the Iran-Contra, now post 2008/2009, with Obama all of a sudden Reagan is this big hero and he’s one of the greatest presidents that ever lived. And I’m saying, “Where the hell is all this coming from?” Where is it coming from?! How can someone say that Reagan was a great president when he armed the Iranians? And when you say something like that to some of these people when they are talking about how great Reagan was and you say “Well what about the Iran-Contra?” They just turn violent. Lets face it. By just speaking out with you on this Skype I got a little bit nervous about it, you know. People are going to see this, they know who I am. And it could negatively affect my work status, my business, cause I don’t know what these people are capable of. I’ve seen what they do and they blacklist people. There’s a propaganda machine that’s getting people on board with voting against their own best interest. I mean, who doesn’t want their own free healthcare? It’s ridiculous to me. Like why, if you hand someone some free healthcare, why are they saying “Fuck that. I don’t want that free healthcare, get that shit out of my face. That Obama is the worst shit to have ever happen in the world.” And I’m like, wow you know Hitler was pretty bad. You know, Genghis Khan was pretty bad. Obama is, if you look at what he’s done, and what he’s gotten through despite having to fight the battles that he’s had to fight with conservatives, he’s been pretty great.
And so, for people to blindly just spout out that he’s ruining our country and honestly believe it without checking any facts, without reading anything at all. It has to be coming from their television or their radio or something. It has to be coming from somewhere because to have so many people on board with the consensus that he’s the worst and that he’s terrible, and they all exhibit the same traits, they are all fact resistant, if you send them an article to read they simple won’t do it, they have common terms like I said, “liberal media,” they refer to the Affordable Care Act as “Obama Care”. They use these terms, these buzz words, and to me I don’t hear those anywhere else except on Fox News and Fox media.
Senko: Let me ask you something. You said that the military has its own set of laws, wouldn’t it still be against freedom of speech if you are suppose to—If they say you have to have the channel on Fox News, wouldn’t that be against some law even in the military?
Under the USMJ you sacrifice a lot of your constitutional rights because they say that you are making a sacrifice protecting the citizens of the United States. And you give up a lot of those rights. You give up freedom of speech in the military. You can’t just say whatever you want. But as far as—I think a distinction should be made that if there is such a directive like that that exists, televisions have to be on “news” as a general blanket statement. Well I can tell you that these TVs aren’t on MSNBC, okay, they aren’t on CNN they are on FOX News.
And I think part of the issue is that people are under the impression that FOX News is news.
Senko: Right. Wouldn’t that still be against some military law that there’s a directive? Isn’t that depriving someone of their rights or free speech?
Aaron: Well, no. Because honestly, I think what happened was they say that TVs have to be on news that it’s kind of something that is a professionalism type thing where they don’t want it to be on HBO or nudity or anything. The TVs have cable but the TVs are all on FOX News because the directive is you can’t be watching just anything you want. But what I’m saying is, that to the military personnel, there is no distinction of FOX News being a mechanism of propaganda and news. So whenever somebody—it’s been going on for so long and has been there for so many years, when someone says “turn on the news.” They turn it on FOX News; it’s automatic, because that’s the news. They don’t see that it’s propaganda, they don’t think that it’s—they genuinely believe that what they are being told is real and accurate and fair and balanced and all that bull shit.
So as far as freedom of speech is concerned, your going against a system that even if you did approach somebody and go “Hey, this isn’t news, you need to put it on CNN.” They would be like what the hell are you talking about, it’s Fox News, it’s news.
Yes, it’s news. Are you crazy or something?
Senko: Because it has news in the title. It could be at least called “Fox: Political Talk”, it should not be labeled news.
Aaron: Well there in lies the problem. Because if someone were to raise the question of changing the channel of Fox News they would immediately—because so many people have been exposed to it for so many years they would look at you like “What are you saying? You don’t like Fox news? You have a problem with Fox News”
Senko: You’re un-American because you don’t like it.
Aaron: And then it just keeps snowballing from there. So I just kept my head down, did my time and then got out.
Here is the video of Jen Senko’s interview with a U.S. Veteran.
Many thanks to Jen Senko for her endless dedication to exposing the truth and for sharing her
Campaign Action
interview with Aaron. The more we bring awareness to the general public about the corruption behind the right-wing hate machine, the faster we can address and hopefully attenuate the spoon-fed lies and propaganda being sold to Americans, giving us the likes of a Donald Trump presidential nominee.
The Brainwashing of My Dad is an informative and fascinating documentary — a must see to better understand some of the Right Wing shit storm we’re seeing today. The DVD / Blu-ray was officially released August 23rd and is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Best Buy and other online retailers. It is region-free so European viewers would be able to view it as well.