by Barbara Powell /
Rupert Murdoch has admitted that Fox News’ 2020 election “fraud” claims were indeed a fraud. Rupert and his loyal Fox frauds were happy to perpetuate those lies. Now Murdoch says, gee, maybe we shouldn’t have, but we did. Serial liar Alex Jones proudly did his part. People died. Our constitutional republic almost went down with them.
And Fox continues to lie about the lies.
Fox’s favorite half of the population are those who have trouble discerning facts from fact-free propaganda. “I love the uneducated!” said the Son of Christ, serial liar, lifelong con artist and fearless leader of the republican party.
Indeed they do love themselves some uneducated rabble. Even in the face of mountains of evidence debunking much of their reporting, the Fox sleeps well at night. Secure in its certainty that viewers will believe whatever is fed to them. Easy peasy.
And so they fell for it. Viewers could have asked the other half of the population. We would have explained it. We’d be happy to provide the evidence and facts. Any time. We’re here for them.
But that one half of the US population, they prefer whatever Fox is serving.
Fox News was launched on October 7, 1996. Murdoch, its founder, and CEO Roger Ailes never intended to report facts or news. Fox was designed from the ground up, to, in Ailes own words, “pick the next president.” That translates to bamboozling the nation’s most bamboozableable.
And they have honed their craft so craftily that they have succeeded wildly. They know where the buttons are. They know how to push them. Truth is the enemy of the republican party and its propaganda arm, Fox News.
“Divide and Conquer" is the title of Ailes’ biography. The title also reflects Fox News’ stated goal. If you have any question about the invalidity of Fox as a “news” source, please watch this biography and get back to me.
Since 2015, I’ve been on a mission to research and understand republicans and Fox viewers. I’ve developed a composite of The Fox Viewer based on what is now eight years of direct debate, discussion and discovery.
I started my republican experiment in the name of educating myself. I hoped and expected to learn the republican perspective; to include core values, policies espoused, proposed solutions to issues foreign and domestic, theories of governing that they believe in, and how they came to believe as they do.
I assumed this is what would happen. I expected it.
Eight years later I’m here to report that I did not learn republican values, perspectives, theories of governing, positions on issues or possible solutions.
I’m going to tell you what I learned instead.
Before I met and came to know The Fox Viewer, I had not paid much attention to Fox News or other right-wing propagandists. I assumed that republicans had values, policies, solutions and a platform.
I was wrong on all counts.
Starting at a basic level, if you point out to a Fox viewer that he is being bamboozled, the go-to response is “CNN is worse!” Try this yourself on your local Fox viewing friends. They have been fed and swallowed this line so many times they are shocked when it doesn’t reach you. After all, it always works on them. They are genuinely confused.
As a seeker of truth, my response is simple: Show me. Pull a couple of CNN YouTube vids, or a handful of articles that mislead or lie. It’s easy to convince me — just show me. I am eager to learn. CNN lies constantly, goes the meme, so why would this be difficult?
I have said or typed this challenge to republican voters far and wide over the past several years. Some are friends in real life; some strangers on various social media. Not one of them has ever provided any evidence of their claim. Not one even tried.
My request befuddles them because “everyone knows” that CNN lies to the libtards. No Fox viewer has ever considered questioning that assertion. The Fox is aware of this tendency in its audience. They use “everyone knows” as a go-to source because their viewers swallow it whole without question.
No matter how egregious the behavior, lie or crime, on “their side” it’s all perfectly fine as long as someone else on “the other side” is “doing it too” or “is worse.” This is the logic of an eight-year-old and Fox normalizes this behavior in adults. Adults who confidently parrot these claims to anyone who will listen as if these assertions are credible defenses of “their side’s” despicable behavior.
Enter Marjorie TG and L Boebert. These 14-year-olds in stilettos were recently overheard screaming at each other in the Congressional ladies’ room. One stormed out, the other yelling playground taunts at her back.
It’s not a mystery that it has come to this. Fox has been training its audience to think and behave like children for 27 years. Children are easier to control. And it’s not just the ones in Congress. Fox lures its viewers into this childlike state because children focused on bullying the “other side” are far less threatening than informed adults armed with knowledge of the constitution, current events and history.
On the right, there is nothing more frightening than an educated, informed constituency demanding their rights.
Which segues to the next great republican initiative: dismantling public education. It all fits together so nicely. Who said they don’t have any values?
It is factually true that the republican platform currently consists of preventing democrats from passing anything at all, no matter whether they agree with it or not; and owning libs with taunts and cheers for “their side.” Keeping the Foxies misinformed, confused and constantly indignant about anything the “other side” has done. Easy peasy.
Your tax dollars support this effort. You are providing Marjorie TG with healthcare, a large salary and a pension. While she and her fellow republicans shame you for wanting that for yourself or the rest of America. I will repeat that for emphasis. We are paying for their healthcare while they tell us that good people want to pay for their own healthcare. Do they think we’re stupid? Are we?
When I ask republicans what their solutions are for issues or what their vision is for the future, they fall silent. I recently asked a Foxie republican friend what issues he’s concerned about. He listed these: identity politics, open borders, insecure energy, fiscal insanity. Direct quote.
I asked him what he meant by “open borders.” I know I don’t espouse anything like “open borders” and I don’t know anyone who does. I wanted to know what specifically he meant.
I pointed out that t***p increased the deficit by 25% — more than any president in history. I asked if he was referring to that when he says “fiscal insanity”? I also pointed him to an article citing the fact that historically, economic indicators are always better when there is a democrat in the white house. I asked him how he would explain this phenomenon. I provided a link to an article outlining these facts.
I asked him if his tendency to consider republicans who get away with crimes as a “win” for “his side.” Is this what he means by “identity politics”?
No response to this day. I don’t believe those buzzwords are ever explained to the Fox audience. I believe that is ok fine with the Fox audience. Those buzzwords are spewed at the viewers to keep them indignant about the libtards, which prompts the viewers to spew them at me, which prompts me to ask what they mean. Which prompts the Fox viewer to retreat, leaving me with nothing but buzzwords and crickets.
This phenomenon is observed by others like me online. The disappearing republican Fox viewer. It’s a thing. We’ve discussed it.
As thinking Americans who understand the dangers of propagandists who bamboozle the electorate, we are charged with calling this out. I used to be quiet and respectful of others’ opinions but I’ve changed. These are desperate times. My opinion is that lying to people and calling it “news” is a shitty thing to do. And I’m on a mission to tell everyone I can possibly tell.
I care more about my country than hurting the feelings of people too lazy to take an interest in issues and current events. I will shame them for being purposely uninformed. I will shame them for following propagandists instead of doing the work to find the truth. Effort is required to care about and seek truth, and that’s a basic requirement for a functioning democracy.
Fox makes it easy for the lazy to simply join its comfortable tribe and swallow its comfortable lies; to the detriment of our Capitol building and everything it stands for.
I’m committed to calling this out whenever I see it. I might lose friends. I might be uncomfortable. I will be judged. And then I will yell it louder. I won’t give up the constitutional republic so easily. I hope you will join me.
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Barbara Powell is a published humorist, web content provider and copywriter based in Lakewood, Colorado. Her weekly column was syndicated across two local newspapers for several years, and her humor has been published in the Denver Post.
With degrees in Information Systems and Advertising design she enjoyed more than a decade working for tech startups as a web developer, content provider and designer. Originally from Washington, DC, she headed west for the California Dream at age 27. While living in Los Angeles, she worked a stint at Della Femina McNamee Advertising while studying comedy improv with the Groundlings. It was an adventure. She is currently employed in the natural grocery sector as a database analyst.