After the church massacre last week Fox News has circled around the acknowledged reason for the shootings: racism. They have shown themselves incapable of calling a spade a spade. They seem so determined it's hard not to wonder about their agenda driving their extremely poor reporting. I'm starting to think this is also tied in with the republican candidates' overall reactions as well. They, too, were scrambling for another reason why the shootings happened other than racism. With the election next year and Fox News being so influential and at least partly controlling when it comes to the candidates, they cannot talk straight or tell what is known as fact.
I'm disturbed by this because I'm so disturbed at the number of Americans that watch Fox News and believe what they say then reiterate this false information as if it's their own viewpoint. I am also bothered that these same viewers of Fox News seem never to be curious or skeptical about the news/information they are viewing or listening to and that they don't question it or do their own research.
As they blatantly disregard the reason spurring the massacre, racism, my last issue with Fox News is that they seem to almost revel in the attention they receive from critics, non-viewers, and especially other media/news outlets. They act, as a whole and individually, like children soaking up the attention whether good or bad. As we all know their priority is certainly not journalistic integrity. The bottom line is the more I find myself fired up at their antics and tactics, along with so many other people, the more they seem to thrive.
I can't finish without touching on Fox News and their ridiculous comments and rhetoric concerning Obama having said "nigger," on a podcast. Fox News acts as if he said it in the context of anger, or just blurting it out, trying to spin it for its audience so their viewers once again have their narrow, skewed opinion. Clearly, they don't want their viewers to hear the comment in its entirety otherwise they might determine for themselves that the use of the word nigger made sense when placing it contextually.
(On a side note, Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy wrote a book titled, "Nigger." It discussed this history of the word and how it has changed over time. It also discussed how the use of the word is different coming from a black person than from a white person. And it's also mentioned how when said by a white person, depending on the situation, the use of the word can be considered "fighting words" or inciting, referencing terms not protected by the First Amendment.)
