Honey I Shrunk My Brain

Sherry Mathieson

Bill Svelmoe
Yesterday at 12:14 PM ·
It’s all over the news today how Fox knew Trump’s election claims were lies, but promoted them anyway. Dozens of damning quotes from top executives and Fox’s biggest stars. Silence from Republicans.
A few questions.
1. What would be the response from the right today if this kind of material had been revealed about CNN? The howls of outrage would be incandescent. Trump’s phone would be flecked with spittle as his tiny fingers churned out his "truths” about how he’d been robbed. Fox would be 24/7 "CNN Revealed as Liars.” The subpoenas would be flying out of Jim Jordan’s office to haul in CNN execs to reveal how the media conspires against conservative voices. And you know what?! They would be absolutely right to be outraged. I would be too.
2. Stay with the CNN theme. What would be the internal response at CNN? There would be a complete house cleaning. From top executives to all the news personalities, all would be very quickly investigated and fired. Again, rightly so. Think of what happened to Chris Cuomo for doing far far less. This is the difference between a legitimate news outfit and Fox. At CNN, PBS, ABC, NBC, CBS, indeed any of the mainstream media sources conservatives love to hate, at any of them, everyone would be fired. There is a price for lying at real news stations. At Fox, there’ll be the lame defense of freedom of speech and freedom of the press even as their Boy Toy down in Florida tries to do away with both.
3. Now that we’ve peeked behind the curtain at Fox, imagine peeking behind the curtain in the Trump administration or in Kevin McCarthy’s office, or in Jim Jordan’s clown car. Would we find anything different? Is there any reason to believe, outside of Trump himself, that any of these people are more stupid than the Fox admins and stars? No. Which means they all also know they’re promoting bullshit and lies. They also simply know what the base wants, what they’ve led the base to believe, and so they keep shoveling the chum over the side. Well, they’re gonna need a bigger boat very soon.
4. So, the question we have to ask is, how did the conservative project become so corrupt? It’s been a long process, but the answer is that when you commit to dogma over truth, and you commit to viewing the other side as the enemy rather than as folks with different political views, then, when your dogma is shown to be false, your every instinct is to find ways to support the dogma. To win, you have to. You simply cannot face the truth. And very quickly, the ends begin to justify the means. And down that road is the loss of conscience. Eventually of self.
It began decades ago. We could begin almost anywhere. But for fun, let’s start with Joe McCarthy pulling fake lists out of his ass. He had no lists. But the dogma demanded the lie. Defeating the "enemy” demanded the lie.
We might continue with trickle down economics. Cut taxes on the wealthy, and the benefits will trickle down to all of us. Very quickly there was ample evidence that the dogma was false. But dogma won. To admit you were wrong meant acknowledging the other side was right. And that you simply cannot do.
The story continues through Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, George Bush, and finally to Donald Trump, for whom the idea of truth lost all definition. To follow where Trump led the base, Fox had to embrace the lie. And then the religious folk, the evangelicals, who claim to love the truth, were faced with the same dilemma. And they folded, if possible, even more quickly than Fox. Until the entire conservative ecosystem is buried so deep in lies and fantasy that to pursue truth and fact becomes a liberal project, the project of the enemy. With that door open, scoundrels like George Santos saunter in. And why shouldn’t they? Shame-free lying is the ticket to power in today’s conservative world.
I remember when a Michigan voter, during Republican Peter Meijer's first town hall after becoming one of the ten House Republicans to vote for impeachment, accused him of "betraying” his supporters.
How had he betrayed them?
He told them the truth.
Nancy Eardley, his constituent, ordered Meijer "to stop saying the election had not been stolen."
This is the legacy of Rush Limbaugh. Of Newt. Of Trump. Of Fox. Of white evangelicalism. An entire generation of conservatives who want to be lied to. And they will punish aggressively truth-tellers even as they pursue the lie.
We were often told that our mistake was to take Trump "literally." The Republican base, we were told, was savvier than us because they took him "seriously but not literally," while we took him "literally but not seriously."
Turns out that was terrible advice.
From Rush to FOX to Trump, we have seen time and time again that words matter.
From Rush to FOX to Trump, we have seen time and time again that the conservative base will choose the literal lie every time. The base hears the words. And believes them.
And literal lies have literal consequences. Just ask the dead, wounded, and jailed of January 6 …

Tim replies:

Satan is the father of lies, and apes an angel of light. This is proof thereof. It is a careful lie designed to create parity. The Left does this frequently.

First, Fox News was not a huge supporter of Donald Trump. There were some commentators who were but the organization itself was not. This author slyly confuses the two. When we talk of CNN we would name the commentators. Notice how he uses no specifics.

Fox reported the accusations. We report, you decide was and is their motto.

A few answers:

1. This is exactly what CNN has done repeatedly. Russian collusion, for instance. We have been treated time after time to scurrilous lies from the Left packaged as "news".

2. A house cleaning at CNN if caught? Where were the firings over the 'Covington Catholic school kids story? The Hunter Biden laptop "Russian Disinformation" lie?

How about Invermectin being called "horse dewormer"? How about attacks on people who thought alternatives to the vaccine were a good idea?

How about the lie that there was no fraud in the '20 election? It is coming out now there was quite a bit. What about the lie that we had an "insurrection" on January 6? Shoot; the author of this even continues the lie, mentioning the "dead" as if there wasn't only one dead - one of the protesters.

What about Jussie Smollett? "Hands up, don't shoot?" "Mostly peaceful protests?" Nooses in garages to hang black NASCAR drivers? CNN knew all these were damnable lies.

I could go on but the point is made. The fact is only now CNN is firing some people, and that because their ratings have dropped to absolute zero.

" Think of what happened to Chris Cuomo for doing far far less. " Cuomo was both a liar and a sexual predator. Accusations of sexual misconduct came after he was sacked. This author seems to forget Bill O'Reilley was canned at Fox for less. And Cuomo was actively subverting the news to protect his politician brother. This writer has to know that.

3. "Is there any reason to believe, outside of Trump himself, that any of these people are more stupid than the Fox admins and stars? No. Which means they all also know they’re promoting bullshit and lies." Promoting lies? Wich lies? That the election was tampered with? There were multiple examples of dubious vote activity. The courts are finally starting to admit it. https://redstate.com/stu-in-sd/2021/03/16/new-report-shows-significant-election-irregularities-in-many-states-n343947 The evidence has grown quite a bit since this article, I might add.

But, like, Trump big poopey head liar!

"but the answer is that when you commit to dogma over truth, and you commit to viewing the other side as the enemy rather than as folks with different political views"

???!!!

Who is it who claims men can be women just by wishing? Who is it who claims men can have periods, or get pregnant? Who is at odds with reality?

And who demonizes the opposition?

From the very beginning Donald Trump was called Hitler, a liar, etc. They set out to destroy him. NOT disagree with his views, but destroy him.

Anyone remember Richard Nixon? James Watts? Robert Bork? Clarence Thomas? I guess they never called Bush Hitler? Or went after Brett Kavanaugh? Or doxxed people who disagree with them? Anyone remember the doxxing of electors to force them to vote for Hillary Clinton? Anyone remember the rioits in Portland, or the attempt to seize the White House in a series of riots just months before the 2020 election?

The Left is an accuser, much like the Devil "he accuseth the bretheren day and night" and they accuse us of that which they themselves are guilty. it's projection.

When has the Left ever actually honestly debated the Right? They don't; they use tricks to clear the field. Like Barack Obama got most of his political opponents to resign before the elections, the Left uses censor filters on Facebook, on Twitter, Google, etc. They cannot have an honest, open debate because the facts are on our side and we win and they know it.

So now even Evangelical Christians do nothing but lie to stand with the Party? No; they stand with the Truth. It is the Left that believes reality is subjective and different for each person. The Right believes it is immutable and does not depend on how we feel. Again, this is nothing but projection.

"I remember when a Michigan voter, during Republican Peter Meijer's first town hall after becoming one of the ten House Republicans to vote for impeachment, accused him of "betraying” his supporters.
How had he betrayed them? "

How? They voted for Trump, and they knew there was no there there, no grounds for impeaching the President. How is that NOT betrayal?

And that "take Trump seriously but not literally" business is a fancy form of disinformation. These lying SOB's know full well Trump is often joking, as when he said "maybe the Russians can find Hillary's missing e-mails" and they accused him of asking the Russians to hack Hillary's server (another example of mainstream media lies, by the way, was their refusal to cover this story or take it seriously despite Hillary being under subpeona.) This author has to know this.

Lies DO have consequences. The lie that January 6 was anything more than a mild riot and self-guided Capitol tour (at the invitation of Capitol Police) is the Big Lie, and the people now jailed are political prisoners. He knows this too.

This man is a liar. I do not believe he isn't aware of the monstrous hypocrisy and dishonesty of this post.

As Joe Pesce says to the jury in his opening statement in the movie "My Cousin Vinny" - "everything that guy said was bullshit...thank you."

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:27 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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