In early reporting all anybody knew was that there HAD been a bombing in Norway and a shooting at the youth camp. Yet that was all Laura Ingraham needed to state unequivocally that, “Two deadly terror attacks in Norway, in what appears to be the work, once again, of Muslim extremists,” and then to immediately jump to a pre-recorded Bill O'Reilly interview with the lawyer representing the Islamic Community Center in New York, which prominently featured O'Reilly bullying the man and insinuating that the Muslim people were to blame for 9-11.
We can wait until we are blue in the face for Ingraham, or Fox News, to apologize for their blatant hate mongering but it will never come. This was a purposeful decision to gin up more hatred toward Muslims, and as a byproduct keep Americans supporting the wars overseas which financially benefits Fox News, and which feeds Roger Ailes personal xenophobia concerning the Islamic people.
This morning I wrote:
And hidden in the shadows there can be no doubt that America has its version of an Anders Behring Breivik, just waiting in the wings for that last straw to snap his emotional camel's back, or perhaps for direction from a Right Wing radio host or Fox News talking head, to provide a clue as to which enemy he needs to place in his crosshairs.
Can there be any doubt who Fox News is actively attempting to place in those crosshairs?
And is that not exactly the kind of rhetoric which inspired Anders Behring Breivik to launch his devastating terrorist attack against his own people in the first place?
Breivik had talked admiringly online about conversations he had had with unnamed English Defence League members and the organisation Stop the Islamification of Europe (SIOE) over the success of provocative street actions leading to violence.
"I have on some occasions had discussions with SIOE and EDL and recommended them to use certain strategies," he wrote two years ago. "The tactics of the EDL are now to 'lure' an overreaction from the Jihad Youth/Extreme-Marxists, something they have succeeded in doing several times already."
In other words it appears that the promoters of terrorism that Laura Ingraham, and her bosses, are having such difficulty identifying, may in fact be found staring back at them from the mirror.
(H/T to Moral Low Ground.)
I actually think the real enemy of Fox News is anyone who isn't rightwing. Most Islamic terrorists could probably be described as very far right wing, as they seek to replace democracy with religious rule. Fox News just uses the fear of Muslims to gin up hate against liberals. They never just complain about terrorists, they have to throw in that liberals are terrorist sympathizers.
ReplyDeleteHave you noticed, if this had been an Islamic terrorist attack, FOX would have had 24/7 non stop coverage,with every racist,bigot,hate mongering "gnat" crawling out to appear on their shows.
ReplyDeleteI think they'll correct it. As skewed as Fox is, it still needs to maintain *some* semblance of credibility.
ReplyDeleteThey might just try and let the story fade, but I think they do that at some personal risk. Fox's viewership is already in decline, clearly the more intelligent viewers are already catching on...
let's hope that Fox goes down with Murdoch, they have been a stain on our democracy for far too long.
ReplyDeleteBut the saddest thing is that so many American'ts get their truth from Fox News!
ReplyDeleteMurdoch/Fox = World dominion
ReplyDeleteI wish the Fox advertisers would pull all their advertising.
Fox is so busted.
ReplyDeleteFox pays sarah for her opinion.
´Nuff said.
What a perfect distraction this awful event in Norway is from the Murdoch phone tapping scandals.
ReplyDeleteAlmost seems made to order...huge scandal requires a huge distraction.
Anybody who is in the business of telling you who to hate needs to be called out for this behavior. Unfortunately the fundamentalist and extremist members of many religions, many political leaders, and many media members of great influence (Faux News) do this ALL THE TIME. They keep people coming back or inspire people to support them because people like a nice dose of fear and adrenalin and hate, and these people feed it.
ReplyDeleteIt's all an appeal to the lower, animalistic emotions, and unfortunately, it puts asses in the theater seats -- or in the church pews - or creates consumers who will eagerly buy whatever you present them after you've hypnotized them with hours upon hours of fear (like with Faux.)
I think we're looking at a much larger rift in society than one that divides simplistically along religious or political lines. We're literally looking at an evolutionary jump point where people can either choose to continue living with their cold, "us versus them" reptilian brains or choose to live with their mammalian brain (nurturing, connecting with others, communing with living beings in a loving and warm-blooded way.)
Whenever we allow ourselves to get too alienated, disappointed, or angry, we run the risk of becoming reptiles - and so the challenge is to remain informed, righteously angry when it's appropriate and victims of abuse need protection, but also open and warm and hopeful.
Not an easy thing to do! It really takes a lot of energy, character, and focus to remain a positive and strong person when so much of society seems to be pulling people into the memes of hate, fear, prejudice, and worship of reptilian energies and arrogance.
Thanks again, Gryphen, for maintaining such a great balance in your writing - charging us up with much-needed truth so we can stay alert about important information, but also remaining a positive and bright force - not to mention a great humorist! You're a treasure.
Sadly even the Huffington Post went there in its first report on it. The comments were hateful and vengeful. We are targeting the wrong haters.
ReplyDeleteSadly, with NO correction from Fox we'll wait for the poll asking Americans who was responsible. I'm guessing about 22% think it was the work of Muslims. I'm guessing 50% think it was justified because he hates Muslims.
I'm also guessing if his defense team sets up a website to gather donations, the loyal followers of Sara may divert money from her PAC for a boost. Who knows, maybe we'll then get a FB post of Sara aiming her rifle with some heavily suggestive remark telling her flock she's right there with that dude, if only there were Muslims in AK she'd be firing and reloading. No Muslim prisoners for our Caribou in Cheif
Don't be fooled. Fox is so grateful for this interruption in the 24/7 coverage of Rupe, James and other Murdochians that they will be doing everything but streaking their sets to hold on to the topic.
ReplyDeleteYou know, since the news emperor is being shown to have no clothes, it may be that Rupe is streaking everywhere but Fox. Hmm!
Excellent commentary on this, Gryphen, but we have had our Anders at least once already; does the name Timothy McVeigh ring a bell?
ReplyDeleteI think if we started taking these people more seriously, investigating the many hatemongers out there who are getting away with fostering this climate of racism, fascism and violence, we might be able to carve some of the fear out of this country for the greater good.
Start enforcing hate crime laws already on the books.
Even my brother, who insists that schools allow mandatory Christian institutionalized prayers,insists that Muslims want to conquer the world.
ReplyDeleteHe conveniently forgets what Christian Europeans (who we are both descended from) have been doing for the last 1500 or so years, and what leaders of his own political party want, which is a forced conservative Old Testament based national religion.
It's so depressing that no matter what the facts are Fox continues to put their own spin on things and continues to hate monger.I had hoped that this scandal in Britain would spill over and mortally wound Fox here but to date that hasn't happened.One can only hope this right wing propaganda arm has to cease.
ReplyDeleteIt is time people started calling Islamist extremists exactly what they are: RIGHTWING Islamist extremists, who differ from rightwing Christianist extremists and rightwing Jewish extremists only in the number of prophets they believe God sent.
ReplyDeleteSt. Ronnie created and funded the Taliban and bin Laden to fight the commies because he recognized them as fellow travelers. They still are.
"Rightwing" extremists of any stamp are dangerous. This mindset brought us Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Papa and Baby Doc, Meir and Netanyaho, all the murdering fascists of Latin America, McVeigh, bin Laden, 9/11 (whoever the mastermind might have been) and now this nut, amongst so many others. These are people who believe the ends justifies the means, who believe that their religious beliefs should dictate how other people live, whose religious mindset enables them to identify anyone who disagrees with them as "evil" and therefore a just victim of extermination.
Popular culture has somehow removed the stigma from "rightwing" and allowed "liberal" to be turned into a term of abuse. It's time to turn the tables and call these nasty people exactly what they are: rightwing religious extremists. Time to replace the stigma on rightwing hate talk--before more innocents die.
Fox News needs to remember that news is about what happened, not what they suspect happened. Their reporters may as well be wearing bathrobes, turbans, and carry crystal-looking plastic balls with them. How stupid of them!
ReplyDeleteThere is evidence that the Norwegian killer was inspired by Pamela Geller, and that he commented frequently on her website atlasshrugs.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.examiner.com/humanist-in-national/right-wing-christian-fundamentalist-brings-terror-to-norway
Geller is an ardent fan of Palin and a member of the national Advisory Board of JewsforSarah.org.
http://sarahpalininformation.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/pamela-geller-defends-gov-palin-on-canada-tv/
http://jewsforsarah.com/?p=3234
Example of how well THE BIG LIE theory works:
ReplyDeleteI (shamefully) get some of my "news" from places as silly as the "headlines" posted on sites such as Yahoo email main page...and from that, "learned" that indeed, this Norway tragedy was caused by Muslim terrorists.
I'm glad I tuned in here, to see how it was that such misinformation made it there.
Anon 7:47 Exactly & Sarah Palin would be the first in line to say "Don't Retreat, Reload"
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 8:27 AM
ReplyDeleteFox pays Sarah for her opinion... of which Sarah gets her opinion from her advisers who she pays from SarahPAC.
What a SCAM all the way around!
Fox News is global. I was in Australia (I know this Rupert Murdoch country!) this winter and it is prominent there and in New Zealand. It is a travesty this "news" gins up the planet and the gullible and disenfranchised lather up in this racist crap.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times and Washington Post pulled the same nonsense. Glenn Greenwald writes about it today at Salon.
ReplyDelete9:05 you may suggest to your brother he study the spanish inquisition. And Fox news will never admit wrong doing for anything! Even when they are caught red handed.
ReplyDeleteThere wan't much that was correct in that report. Oslo is NOT where the Nobel prize ceremony is held. That would be Stockholm.
ReplyDeleteNotice that Herman Cain has been completely quiet on this.
ReplyDeleteGryphen -
ReplyDeleteTea Party/Koch/Americans for Prosperity - Connection to Oslo Terrorist - AFP President Spoke at Terrorist's Political Party Event in 2010:
@AlterNet AlterNet
Koch-Funded Tea Party Heavyweight Tim Phillips Spoke at Norweigan Killer's Political Party Event http://is.gd/qhKByW
This is the full link if short link in tweet doesn't work for you:
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/638969/koch-funded_tea_party_heavyweight_tim_phillips_spoke_at_norweigan_killer%27s_political_party_event
Let's see Fox try and spin this in that Fox was the leading advertiser of Tea Party/Koch
Ok everybody, let's tweet against Ingraham and Fox News. Tweet incessantly.
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me is that the 2nd largest shareholder of News Corp is a Muslim, an Arab prince. No real news outlet would come out and condemn this horrific act on Muslims without getting the facts first.
ReplyDeleteOf course it is the Muslims fault -by just existing - they are 2nd in the world religion and growing. Becoming a major 'threat' to Christianity, in their eyes.
ReplyDeleteNon-Christians (Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Taoism, Buddhism etc) didn't embrace the socalled X-tian faith from the time Jesus walked on earth. History is rife with attempts to convert others to Christianty. Through the centuries is an abysmal 'failure'. Now, rather than convert.... X-tians plan will be to legislate religion.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.
WOW, I just took a browse through the atlas shrugs website. I need to go take a shower now. The hate is so thick there. I just don't know how someone can go through life like that.
ReplyDeleteEspecially sad considering that the man was anti Muslim...
ReplyDeleteAs long as the television wing of the government, ie Fox News, keeps Americans hating Muslims the government can justify perpetrating 911. If all Americans liked Muslims the gov't might have some explaining to do regarding why we are in their countries killing so many of their innocent civilians.
ReplyDelete911 was a hoax perpetrated on the American people in order to make Muslims look like the bad guy. Then the US could swoop in and steal their oil and practice using all of our latest military technology.
Actually none other than The New Republic did the same thing and the time stamp on the story is almost immediate. In our house we call it the "Marty Peretz effect". That is not a compliment.
ReplyDelete8:49am
ReplyDeleteHuff Po is as much drivel as Fox News. Arianna is just another rich person wetting her panties at the thought of the tax cuts for the wealthy expiring.
I sensed it was a home-grown terrorist, just like I did when OK City was hit. I also remember the television media going right to Islam fanatics as the cause in OK City before McVeigh was caught. Same in Norway, fanned by the media. Reprehensible. More proof that the so-called MSM has been lazy and allowed itself to be controlled by evil people. There needs to be a news media outlet similar to The Guardian. I once foolishly thought that HuffPo would do that. How naive of me.
ReplyDelete@ 10:24. The Nobel Peace Prize is given in Oslo.
ReplyDeleteto: Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteThere wan't much that was correct in that report. Oslo is NOT where the Nobel prize ceremony is held. That would be Stockholm.
10:24 AM
.... The Nobel PEACE Prize is the only one of the five awards that is voted on by five Norwegians and the prize is given to the recipient(s) at the Oslo City Hall. The other four prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden.
Its past time that we have to do something about Fox News. Yelling "fire" in a crowded theater is not protected speech. They are doing much the same thing to many minds in this country. Their misinformation campaign is going to set someone off. Probably the most effective thing we can do is go after their advertisers. Congress will never do anything and the FCC seems to have disappeared.
ReplyDeleteThis comparison is a Bridge Too Far. I can't stand the woman, but linking her with the Norway terrorism is too big a stretch. She's not responsible for all the evil in the world, just some of it.
ReplyDeleteFox News is the face of terrorism.
ReplyDeleteThe disgusting, horrid irony is, the right wing Norway mass killer would be a Fox News fan.
ReplyDeleteWhy am I not shocked at Laura and the other news outlets that pick up the hate ball and run with it, without investigating further?
ReplyDeleteNorway doesn't believe in giving the death penalty, and this man faces only 21 years in prison, at the most.
I read some of the interests he had in a local paper. Fox News, Showtime's "Baxter" (about a serial killer who's a forensic examiner and knows how to get away with murder), and all sorts of anti muslim sites. Not just "Radical extremeist" muslims, but any and all muslims, just because they exist and believe in a different religion.
This must be such a welcomed deflection for fox news, because they's spent many hours of every day covering the Rupert Murdoch story in depth, (snark off).
I don't read Sarah trademark heathen's facebook account, has she refudiated this senseless act of hatred fueled killing of innocent people?