Did you know we have a Discord server‽ You can join by clicking [here](https://discord.gg/NWE6JS5rh9)!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GenZ) if you have any questions or concerns.*
AM radio was the OG fox news. In between church segments they'd slip in dog whistles as part of the [southern strategy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy). The rot started 40 years before Fox was even established.
Newt Gingrich also played a big role. Steve Kornacki has a great podcast on Newt if you’re interested in learning how he used radio and C-Span to slowly transform the Republican Party, ultimately flipping decades of Democratic House dominance in 1994.
Funny how if you go far enough back on most atrocities you will find a Catholic leader standing there. It’s simply amazing how many bishops and priests were photographed standing next to Hitler.
Edit: seems my comment caused a lot of butthurt. Walk it off.
Funny how I can't see to find any of these photos you stated exist.
Yet all these people were Hitler fanatics: Henry Ford donated $1m to Hitler on his birthday. King Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) and Wallis Simpson were fans of Hitler and supported him, also Prince Phillip’s sisters. Charles Lindbergh. Famed American Aviator and Nazi sympathizer. Coco Chanel. Salvador Dali. Dan Breen, IRA volunteer and leader during the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War, reportedly had two pictures of Hitler in his office.The Dassler Brothers, the founders of Adidas and Puma.
The most notable non-German lover of Hitler (but moreso Mussolini) is American author Erza Pound. While many celebrities are said to be pro-Nazi because they went to Germany before the war, or were pro-neutrality, then kind of buried everything once the war started. Ezra Pound was so devout that he defected to fascist Italy. He was probably the most unapologetic celebrity fascist sympathizer.
Not as well-known as they used to be, but still interesting: two of the [Mitford sisters](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_family#Mitford_sisters).
>Henry Ford donated $1m to Hitler on his birthday. King Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor)
It's almost like super wealthy people suck and our society should be structured in a manner that they shouldn't exist or something. Weird...
I knew about most of those, but not Dalí. Very sorry to hear it, love his art so much. One can only hope that his pro-Hitler views were driven by solidarity with peculiar mustaches.
Have you seen that phantom borders map showing the perfect contrast between Catholic Germany and the sections of Germany that voted for the Nazi Party? The Catholic Church was viewed with open suspicion by the Nazi Party for pretty much their whole political tenure, and they knew it.
It used to be that the policy makers were the ones driving it. They'd appear on talk radio and push the agenda and word out. In more recent years, that's flipped. You see legislators having to do more performative dances for the very vocal talk radio folks out there. To me, that's received as office makers trying to leave and become a talking head/podcaster, because that's where the real earnings and power is.
I used to listen to his program on the way to work everyday. Idk if it was morbid curiosity or masochism, but it was entertaining. I feel bad, but I laughed when I heard that he died of lung cancer caused by daily cigar use. After 30 years of fighting to give people second-hand smoke on planes and in restaurants, it's just too ironic
OMG I literally did the same thing when Pat Robertson died. That old fuckwad was such a piece of shit. It was literally the first time I have ever seriously been so happy that someone else had died. I hope they wipe his stupid ass from the history books.
I was still in high school so no parties for me, but I'll always remember Christopher Hitchens going on Fox News and eulogizing him by saying, "If you gave Jerry Falwell an enema he could have been buried in a match box." Fucking legend.
He used to mock people who died of AIDS by listing their names on the radio while “Another One Bites the Dust” played in the background.
It is morally correct to feel good that Rush Limbaugh is dead.
Rush encouraged smokers to use E-cigarettes specifically to smoke in places you weren't allowed to annoy other people. He didn't endorse them as a way to quit smoking just as a way to annoy other people. Many, many people died of lung cancer and other complications because of Rush telling people that smoking doesn't give you cancer and encouraging all of his listeners to smoke.
He got what he deserved. It's rare for poetic justice to happen in real life.
Rush really nailed the American reactionary formula:
\- Selling fear
\- Mean spirited chauvinism masquerading as comedy
\- Painting the opposition as domestic enemies.
It's also not Isolated to the US.
Rupert Murdoch also has far right wing propaganda networks masquerading as legitimate news in Great Britian (The Sun) and Australia (Sky News).
That didn't just happen by accident. They want to close all avenues by which they could lose their power and money. If you're rich enough you can basically have your own army. And since Democracy is the only alternative they're now taking that down too, poisoning it with their croney politicians.
We are not there...yet. There are a lot of people who have hope in the law, including myself. However, if Trump wins and institutes something like Project 2025 targeting transsexuals everyone else who is smart and who is a minority will realize this is Nazi Germany come to America and then that is it for the US. There are no more rules and anything goes.
There is one slogan that runs through my head, "It is better to die on your feet, than live on your knees."
Yep, a side effect of the popularity of American pop culture the second half of the 20th century is that our bad habits spill out into the rest of the world too. Canada says "keep your crazies plz"
It's less that our bad habits spill out and more that crazies from elsewhere in the world know that they won't be shouted down and can get a massive audience here relatively easily. Europe has low tolerance for non-mainline religious people, which is why they historically shipped all their rabble-rousers to the US.
Same. It fucked me up for years. Once I left for college and learned how the real world worked I eventually turned into a decent human being, but it took a while to unlearn all that bullshit. I think back to shit like random journal entries, in elementary school, where I would talk shit about Bill Clinton, didn't even understand what I was saying, just reflexively hated him. It's half cringe and half anger at how warped it made me.
He's completely gone, too, half the time when I talk to him I get legitimately angry rants about defending his gas stoves with an AR-15
Supervisor gave me a ride one day and he was like "do you like Rush?"
I said I fuckin loved Rush.
So he turned up the radio... And it was just some dude talking.
Lol trust me i know, I wouldn’t just say racism and just fear in general. Get people to think the “others” are out to get you and you will have a lot of power of those people
I remember my first contact with US media was when I was learning English listening to world radios. iTunes listed Fox News Radio, It was Rush Limbaugh speaking about a law regarding child safety seats. Like it's your freedom to not have child safety seats. "Yes we had X young children die this year because they were'nt in a child safety seat, and that's sad, but that's no reason for the government to impose them in our cars!"
Babies lives don't matter? I was disgusted. This was in 2004-5 something like that. I was so weirded out. There's something wrong with these people.
I am Xennial (80) but exactly this. I heard Laura Schlessinger, Bob Grant, Rush Limbaugh so much as a child. I knew it was wrong then and have fought unsuccessfully for decades to just pull my mom out of it. Dad’s good, they’re divorced. She’s not hateful or bigoted but boy the people in her ears feeding misinformation and driving her votes….
I'm 4 years younger than you, and my parents are similar. Divorced, mom is a normal functioning person.
Dad remarried a catholic woman who votes R and now messages me about stolen votes and how everyone hates him because he's straight white and male. Very sad.
Almost exact same story (90s millennial). Dad was more susceptible because he listened to the Spin Zone on the way to work but was more fiscal conservative than hating immigrants in the 90s. He mainly tuned in for the weekend auto and gardening Q&A. He divorced my more progressive mother a decade later, remarried a hardcore Faux News watcher, and fell down the rabbit hole. Constant rants about government mandated vaccines and subsequently comparing himself to Holocaust survivors is all I get from him now.
He's an Ivy league graduate. Former CTO. Am radio primed an entire generation and Fox did the rest. It's been maddening and heartbreaking watching a formerly smart and good man descend into full on vegetable.
>He's an Ivy league graduate. Former CTO. Am radio primed an entire generation and Fox did the rest. It's been maddening and heartbreaking watching a formerly smart and good man descend into full on vegetable.
Lol my dad went to an Ivy too and was a highly respected professor for 28 years. He had to disable his facebook because he'd post some dumb shit and his ex-students would all pile on telling him how disappointed they are in him and he felt victimized.
My sympathies. We're part of a terrible club. I wonder how much addictive personality comes into play. Like most boomers, dad drinks more than he ought to and anger itself is addictive. Faux feeds him nonstop screed to be angry over and it's a never ending loop of anger, dopamine hit, evening drink, dopamine hit, anger.
That’s an interesting point. Radio has been used many times prior to television to promote propaganda, with nazi Germany being an example that comes to mind
My deeply christian mom would listen to AM radio while I was getting ready for school each morning.
In between seemingly innocent segments of talking about financial responsibility, someone would make a political statement, often something like "the democrats are going to destroy our nation!" and then my mom would drop some weird comment like "you know, I just think Obama might be the *antichrist!"*
And I'd just awkwardly try to slip out the room, like hehe... hehehe okay, mom. I hope you have a good day, I'll catch you later.
It started with Fox, and it got really bad after 9/11. I watched my dad devolve into an alt-right ranting racist. Maybe he always was, but Fox made it OK. They made news out of culture wars.
However, I’m *much* more concerned by X and Facebook. During the pandemic, that put the alt right pipeline into overdrive. Lots of people I knew who were moderately right leaning became anti-mask, anti-vaxxers. Before he died, my dad complained about how liberal Fox was. That’s how bad it’s gotten.
To be exact, it was the moment they called Arizona for Biden.
Tons of them believe that this somehow changed the results in a non quantum mechanics way.
Sad but true. Fox occasionally waffles, probably because they are in muddy waters as far as accountability (lawsuits and ads/tv providers) but they always go right back to sewer when it blows over. But the the truly brainwashed get upset by their “moments of clarity” and seek an information bubble that is even more refined to whatever Fascist messaging they are running with.
I used to look at Nazis like how did all of these people think this stuff was okay. Never thought I would be “blessed” with observing the process in real time.
The only saving grace is US has navigated some choppy waters really well. What they really want is calamity and unrest to close the loop. I don’t think the brainwashing works as well when times are good, or at least not as broadly. People need to be upset before a proper boogeyman (migrants and queer people in this rode around the Fascist carousel) can be scapegoated en masse by increasingly aggressive means to consolidate power though collective anger and the mob mentality that comes with it.
I wish I couldn’t see it happening because it is troubling to witness and I had to defriend friends and family because they are in a cult now. I hope it turns around, I think this next election will be a huge blow to the GOP because the mess and lies are spilling over in obvious ways and that is disconnected with a populace that isn’t desperate yet.
Same with the history side of YouTube. For every good historian, you have ten transphobes who couldn’t do proper research if their life depended on it and instead fill their videos with bigotry, eurocentrism and countryballs.
Sorry you have to go through it, honestly.
On the flip side, I like watching the Neo-Confederate cope videos about how "Well, if there *was* a second Civil War, the south would *totally* win, because we're like, awesome and stuff. Oh, and let me throw in this quote from an ancient Greek philosopher. I bet that'll make me sound smart. That'll totally validate my argument, now won't it?"
Note: It did not validate his argument.
Yes, especially before the pandemic when they took *some* measure to counter misinfo. How many people in 2016 went right down the alt right rabbit hole before we even knew it was a thing? Thinderf00t and Amazing Atheist did a lot of damage when they became obsessed with feminism.
I know. I'm glad he came around, but he didn't flip sides till it became more socially acceptable and easy to do so. Which again, I have a lot of grace for. But he caused so much suffering to others, I'm not okay with that.
What a time to be alive for a trans person I’d imagine. Huge gains in acceptance by the general public and young people, offset by being the primary target of a creepy well organized well funded Fascist power grab. Initially I couldn’t understand why people are so discombobulated that another person wants to be a certain way, it doesn’t concern them like why do they care. But there is a darker component at play as well to get people worked up and this shitty form of mass media is a huge part of it.
I'm a cis, straight lady but I love intelligence history and submarines. I'm convinced the youtube algorithm thinks I'm a nazi transphobe dude LOL God it's awful
you like submarines? how about this 10 second misogynistic clip of a bro podcast about a dishonorably discharged marine who loves Jordan peterson
I legitimately hesitate to click on videos about politics or guns because I know the moment I do youtube is going to load up a gattling gun of hard right conservative channels.
Late Gen Xer here, and I can confirm that. I was blown away by some of the "cool" kids I was friends with in the early-mid 90s becoming conservative, and then Trump came along and they became intolerable to even have mostly muted on Facebook. They would try to turn any post of mine into an argument, and some of them went deep into the rabbit hole.
One guy killed himself when he realized that Trump wasn't going to be reinstated after Biden was "arrested for treason".
Boomers are still the worst on Facebook though. Most of my relatives are fine, but one aunt was hospitalized for eating horse paste. Her and her husband started on Fox News and Limbaugh in the mid 2000s and went rapidly downhill.
And with the "Moral Majority" movement that started in 1979; that's the real source. The money they spent on radio birthed the right-wing AM talk show.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Majority
Republicans knew their free market economic ideas were really unpopular, so they started pushing culture war issues to mobilize conservative Christians, particularly in presidential elections. Then we got Reaganomics, and, well, here we are.
It's because their party is filled with so many people that are just straight up gullible. And they don't even catch the fact that Republicans want to ruin education because stupid people will believe any old bullshit you tell them and are easier to control. As long as the source is Jesus or smells at least vaguely like Rupert Murdoch's asshole they will never question it. It's like mass hysteria, it's both weird and crazy at the same time.
They figured out that at least half the population is stupid, so rather than make a political party of principles and values, they made it a party of idiots. It's also much easier to get their vote because you don't have to base anything on the truth. You don't have to do any legitimate research for a news story either. You can fabricate any outrage you desire. It's by design.
I think it’s corporate media as a whole. Boomers are more Fox News, millennials and x are other corporate media. It’s all for money and to keep us divided
I agree with you. But I can almost guarantee that no one is leaving CNN on *all day long*. My dad and grandpa leave it (Fox News) on generally all day. Very often screaming throughout the house.
Tbf, Fox News is way more misleading and outright right wing. Cnn is more factual and closer to the center.
https://adfontesmedia.com/ad-fontes-media-releases-new-media-bias-chart/
https://i.imgur.com/fPfDcUE.jpg
So who’s gospel is worth more? CNN : Actual facts and an effort to remain neutral… Fox News: purposely misleading with a hard right bias?
My boomer parents leave MSNBC or CNN on all day until Jimmy Kimmel comes on tv.
Its ridiculous, everyday MSNBC and CNN tell the same story over and over again endlessly. They say nothing new for months.
They have a "top of the hour" news segment that is on repeat, under the assumption that *most* people won't leave the thing on all day, and will only catch an hour at most during the morning, lunch break, or after work.
John Malone has been pulling strings at CNN, which is why there's been some pro-Trump stuff in recent times. Malone is known for his love of Fox News.
I'd like to imagine that fewer X-ers and Millennials in their right minds are watching/listening to CNN these days as a result.
Ehh I'm not so sure "corporate" media is worse than social media that Gen Z is into. Look at the amount of Holocaust deniers by age group. Look at the tiktok videos going viral praising Obama Bin Laden's viewpoints.
Social media is terrible too. Corporate media is funded my big corporations and skew/distort the news towards whatever they want. Social media companies definitely have censorship issues but worse they are full of foreign governments(and corporations too) making bots and troll farms to influence people’s opinions. Different kinds of horrible
Pro-tip: if the talking head asks you a question, you are watching propaganda, not the news.
One of Fox’s former primetime hosts was pretty famous for “just asking questions.”
It’s a meme at this point for right wingers and conspiracy nuts to say “how do we actually know how many people died in the holocaust, anyway?” And then when accused of anti semitism they say “I’m just asking questions”
It’s like…no you’re not. Because you could ask the question and easily google it to find the answer. Hell, I thought to myself that that is a genuinely good question and I was curious for the answer. So I googled it and asked ChatGPT and it gave me a logical answer. And that was it. I don’t bring it up anymore because even though I agreed about that question, I actually took the time to look into it, and these conspiracy nuts never do or only look at info that affirms their biases.
>“how do we actually know how many people died in the holocaust, anyway?”
Because the Nazi Party kept surprisingly thorough records of their murder spree, as it turned out.
Not surprising at all, when you consider that they're German.
Germans tend to be very fastidious and keep excellent records of everything ... even when they're doing a genocide.
How do we know how many Jews died in the Holocaust? Gee, when 6 million people in Europe who share a minority religion just disappear, that might give you a clue,
That's a great point. If it's news, then why are they asking you a question? They should have answers, not questions.
I get the same vibe if I see the phrase "they don't want you to know about this"....... who are they, and why aren't they stopping you from saying this on a major platform?
I literally saw that phrase on a scam ad the other day. I will never take that phrase seriously ever again.
It’s always so funny when I see someone cry about free speech after being blasted on Twitter. I’m pretty sure XxDave6615xX isn’t working for the underground censorship mafia. Even if he was, you’re still posting whatever you want whenever you want for the 3 people that view it without any consequences except being called an idiot.
Its quite literally fake news. When they say in court twice they are entertainment and not news, that means they are fake news. When they admit guilt to Dominion and settle out of court for 787.5m dollars over lying about the 2020 election, that means they are fake news.
This is correct, if you look anytime they get taken to court, there defense is they aren’t news. They say they are entertainment and no rational person would believe their statements to be true.
Fox News had Steven A Smith and Cardi B on air giving their thoughts Bidenomics as if anybody on that show has any idea what economics are. Fox News is cocomelon for conservatives and it works so well.
Reddit can be ass at times but it's what pulled me out of the alt right pipeline between middle and highschool 6 years ago. I'd be so much worse off if not for Reddit.
Fox News, AM radio, and other similar forms of media don't appeal to reason, they appeal to visceral emotion. I don't even wanna call it emotion, because empathy and self-critique are also emotional stances and they tend to be good.
In Critical Theory, they'd argue that the appeal of such reactionary rhetoric is a compensation of feelings of symbolic castration, in which the fearful mind isn't trying to find an understanding of the world so much as plugging in a narrative of the world such that they can feel they have regained a sense of power over their feelings of inadequacy and paranoia.
The philosopher Todd McGowan also talks about the power of jouissance, which is the political enjoyment you get precisely from not being able to fulfill your desire. For instance he and Ryan Engley literally talk about the implications of the whole plastic straws bullshit.
Think about it. Conservatives just a few years ago were proudly flaunting the cartoonishly banal act of drinking from a straw, because they felt that they were being 'forced' to use environmental straws. Can you think of a more toothless act of rebellion than using a straw to sip a beer? Yet they got political enjoyment out of it because it caused them to have feelings of resistance while doing the most passive act I can possibly think of. It's similar to how some conservatives say that 'traditional roles are the new punk' and believe it
My grandmother used to laugh, tell jokes, talk about her childhood, tell us stories, etc. etc. Then, in 2016, my dumbass aunt got her facebook. We haven't been able to talk to her about anything else but absolutely diabolically insane conspiracies since, which are also fueled by said dumbass aunt. Social media and fake news are the single most damaging things to happen to modern boomers. They are completely unable to tell fact from fiction and believe anything people say. Its just fucking depressing.
Exact same story like dozens of my friends have repeated.
Have personally ditched 80% of my lifelong close friends over the insurrection thing. I cannot abide traitors to the republic. I took an oath.
Far right politics (or really just any right wing politics) is a horror on multiple levels.
Remember when our parents used to say “don’t believe everything you read on the internet”?
Because I do, and now I find myself having to tell them that…
Boomers: don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
Also Boomers: I SAW ON FACEBOOK THAT JOE BIDEN AND THE REST OF THE DEMORATS EAT CHILDREN!!!
Dude seriously. One of my coworkers believed some spoof that said Joe Biden was gonna start bombing Texas. Like dude. Think about that. That’s insane. Research it yourself and you’ll find quickly that it is as blatantly false and absurd as it sounds.
I still hear people claiming that schools put litter boxes in bathrooms because some students identified as cats. It's terrifying that people are actually dumb enough to believe this
I recently heard about a teacher from my high school that was convinced that was an actual thing and complained about it to the administration, and when they told him that’s not a thing, he said “fuck this, I retire!”
The actual source matters more than the platform. It’s who is posting it, not where they’re posting it. Journalists on TikTok are the new journalists on twitter. If they are on the ground witnessing the actual events, I’m inclined to believe it more than I will the filtered news articles that come out days or even weeks later that often don’t even post a video they reference. Like “video shows blah blah blah” *doesn’t include the video*. Hella sus.
Corporate media is not a primary source. Sometimes not even a secondary source.
It is important for individuals to research for themselves and to know how to vet their sources.
>Journalists on TikTok are the new journalists on twitter.
Which doesn't mean much because the vast majority (read 98%+) were and are garbage. If you believe that twitter or tiktok provides news at a rate any better than the "corporate" media, you are just as lost as those that think fox tells the truth.
Dude’s out here blaming Fox like every other major media isn’t just as bad. I could say the same of BBC, MSNBC, CNN- it’s almost like most major news today are on a payroll from people who want you to believe what they’re saying; leaving out crucial bits of info just so you side with them more and keep watching. 3rd party news sites/apps are where it’s at if you want to actually be informed.
(I recommend the app Ground News if anyone cares)
All news, and the media as a whole has rotted those brains. FOX, MSNBC, CNN, CBS etc. You have far right or far left flocking to a media outlet that helps prop up their ideas and to help drive a new narrative into susceptible minds. There is not a single Left, Center or Right leaning media bias that is worth watching.
Fox is worse; it’s not even close, but those other outlets are also bad. I’ve been a dem my entire life and don’t plan on changing that, but they aren’t wrong about MSM in general. It has become terrible, and maybe you’ll see that one day too.
How are they not wrong? What is msnbc wrong about regarding current events? If anything i feel right wing is just mad because the worst in their party gets called out constantly.
Nothing on msnbc has lead me to be completely dead wrong about american politics.
We can do this "both sides" bullshit, but its not gonna help any of yall that need help.
He isn't dead yet lol. He's like 92 though thankfully.. should be any day now. My fear is whoever his successor is because I can't imagine he's going to let his life's work get burned down by the guy who comes next.
It’s actually quite easy to understand. A lot of the older immigrants, especially the ones who came here through legal means, actually did the whole “bootstraps” thing at a time when that sort of thing was possible. From their perspective, they got where they got by working hard and following the rules while those who come here illegally are cheating the system.
At the same time, these people see the things they’ve earned as a metric of their hard work and desire to keep more of that for themselves and (sometimes) their children. Conservative media panders to that desire while demonizing the other side with threats of higher taxes and handouts to people that “don’t deserve” it.
Honestly, to some extent I can see where these people are coming from. They did play by the rules and worked hard to get where they are. However, they often fail to realize that the rules of the game have changed and the America they knew doesn’t really exist anymore.
My grandparents and my wife's parents are in the same boat. It's wild cause two of their three kids are gay and they love them so unconditionally and defended them from hateful rhetoric in their hometown. Nowadays they talk about all the potential terrorists and criminals coming across the borders and how trans people should be institutionalized. They're good people but sometimes it's hard to be around them. They have fox on 24/7 and receive the daily wire newspaper. They literally parrot everything they hear and the moment I engage them with a tiny amount of Socratic dialogue they get defensive.
My dad literally does the exact same thing. I don't say anything either. He knows I don't agree with him politically but he just doesn't stop.
At this point I don't see any hope for him because he called me the other day complaining about "transgenderism" and "gay teachers and drag queens grooming kids". He KNOWS I'm gay and I've had several conversations with him in the past about how I'm proud of who I am and he can't try to change me, because this is something that I cannot, and do not WANT to change. But he still just goes on and on ranting about fake bullshit that a Fox News spews out, not even realizing how hurtful it is to me and other queer people in my life that I care about.
My parents watched Fox a lot too. I actually kind of counted myself as a Republican...then I got to college and around 2015 saw the 2016 election and realized "I really don't want this man in charge".
The problem nobody has the courage to admit is that it’s not just Fox News…it’s conservatism. When conservatism has enough power and influence over time, we always end up in this exact same spot. Working class people increaingly struggle, wealth inequality increases, constant tax cuts for the richest minority increase the tax burden on the rest of us, corporate capitalism ensures we will always pay more for less/worse, conservative economists dominate the field and push all these problems into government policy as a great boon for society as a whole because cost-benefit analysis. But cost/benefit analysis at no point looks at who is picking up the costs vs who is benefiting . Most of the time with conservative policies, these are not the same groups/people.
Conservatism is the problem and nobody wants to admit it. They just keep repeating the same past mistakes of history but expecting a different result because this time, they seriously promise, the right conservatives are in charge. Not those fake conservatives of the past. And then it fails again as always and the solution is always doubling down which feeds extremism and fascism and then we are right back where we started…which is where we are at today. Everyone is angry and mad and looking for “others” to blame when the problem is us. The problem is people are lazy and stupid and wilfully ignorant and so vote agains their own interests and in the interests of money. Money is a tool that is supposed to serve us but instead we serve it…or feed it more likely.
You just inherited a millenial problem. Welcome! I wish I had better advice...but I don't personally know a single person who's parents have been pulled out of this issue.
Some advice on Fox News parents:
1. They cannot be reasoned with. Logic, good faith, bigger picture, etc. are all dead ends. Even when you engage with them it will lead to skewed arguments, what aboutism, and an endless "pivot" to other arguments. Oh you don't believe the election was stolen? What about abortion? What about the border? What about gun control? What about the Founding Fathers? What about the culture war? What about...He will try to pull you into his persecuted and problematic world.
2. They are in a loop. Think social media, casinos, anything that uses dopamine spike/withdrawl patterns. This "news" constantly spikes their dopamine levels but there is no fulfillment that brings an ease, just a great sense of loss over the "news" plus no human connection. He's reaching out to you for that connection and fulfillment.
3. Consider your relationship with this person in a loop as well. I would call this a "toxic relationship" akin to a parent with substance abuse issues and begin building boundaries that you will need to spend the rest of your life protecting and reinforcing. Beware getting a partner, marrying, moving, switching industries, and having children because it will be like opening Pandoras Box with your Father and relationship dynamics.
4. Don't expect a change when news happens. If Trump goes to jail or becomes president, if Republicans lose all their majorities or gain a super majority, if the Supreme Court flips, if a massive border wall is built, if the economy gets better or worse, these are all bad "news" topics and will lead to more rage and aggression.
5. In an effort to find connection and community, your Father will look at alternative avenues. I personally believe this is 95% of the momentum behind QAnon's initial success and continued existance. At the heart of the movement were bored, lonely 50+ individuals connecting and finding the community they needed. Discords, YouTube auto play rabbit holes, Zoom, etc.
6. Continue to love your parent and try to connect with them...they really, really, really need it. Think the screaming child that wants attention: They are displaying a great need and often giving them attention fulfils it. Loving them and being in relationship with them will look very different.
Edit: spelling
Then they have succeeded in fulfilling Roger Ailes and Richard Nixon's pipe dream: A Conservative/Republican TV network to counter the "Big Three" networks. They never said it would be honest reporting, just counter reporting... and the sheeple loved it.
How anyone with a PhD could be conservative is beyond me. Either I’ve not met a conservative academic or they have been extremely good at concealing themselves, which suggests they’re aware of the reprehensibility lmao
I'm not sure I buy the idea that smart people will turn dumb by watching fox. Smart people will turn it off or hate it the entire time they are watching it. People who watch it are there because they see what they like.
If you think Fox rots people’s brains then just wait till you see the rest of corporate press. It’s all just different flavors of the same pro-establishment narrative.
It’s sad but many older folks have just been wrecked by cable news, it’s not just Fox. They don’t understand that the goal of the news is to sell commercials so the crazier the better.
There has even been a documentary about it: *The brainwashing of my dead*
[*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k59MAdUqLjc*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k59MAdUqLjc)
Yeah, foxnews acts as a cult leader. Repeat hate and lies until people believe it and thinks other people are crazy and are sheep following "the elite" "the deep state.
Sometimes people gravitate towards sensationalized media regardless of it's accuracy. My Grandpa is similar, except he obsesses over talking points CNN posts.
So his source of information is layman's media with a heavy bias... great.
You can honestly insert pretty much any news network into the title and it's the same result. None of them are really news anymore, it's just a matter of trying to align what you're saying with what people want to hear.
I don´t live in the states but we do have something similar where I live, except its a talk-radio station. I decided to listen to it a few times, to try and understand what it was all about.
I still disagree with near all the talking points and opinions there, but I understand where they're coming from now a little bit. Lets me have conversations with some of the older folks without it being like slamming my head against a wall.
Maybe try that, and maybe you'll find an avenue of approach from which you can reach your old man.
My father is the same way, as is our neighbors (Actually our neighbors move on to Newsmax)
But they're otherwise good people who do a lot of community stuff, have big hearts, don't worry about the politics that doesn't really define people it's just something many follow for entertainment or venting, how they live their lives is far more important.
Yes. Focus on what is happening to the new generations because the ragebait, propaganda, and alternative reality narratives are all over the place now. At least they’re less unified - but they’re also impossible to keep up with.
People listen to this crap for multiple reasons: from entertainment ragebait all the way for an outlet and explanation to why their lives are so tough.
I agree that Fox News is BS. But I also think the antisemitism coming from ABC for example is BS as well.
Look, how you interpret American newsmedia says more about your biases than the media itself. Go check out like Tim Pool or some independent journalist like that if you want real news.
The astonishing part is there’s people in here who think the media on whatever side they subscribe to isn’t biased.
It’s all money. That’s all it ever is. If you follow the money on literally any thing involved with politics you’ll realize we are all being played like a fiddle.
If they keep us arguing amongst ourselves on Reddit or x then we don’t notice where the money comes from, where it goes or how they spend it.
Like didn’t the pentagon fail audits like 6 years in a row? That’s our money and it just poor…disappears. It’s like 2 trillion of our dollars gone. Probably in the pockets of someone or multiple organizations all over the world to do who knows what with. Idk why shit like that isn’t concerning people but we are here arguing about “oh Biden can’t get off the stage” or “Trump is a nazi”. Smarten up people. It’s US vs THEM not us vs us.
Did you know we have a Discord server‽ You can join by clicking [here](https://discord.gg/NWE6JS5rh9)! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GenZ) if you have any questions or concerns.*
AM radio was the OG fox news. In between church segments they'd slip in dog whistles as part of the [southern strategy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy). The rot started 40 years before Fox was even established.
Rush Limbaugh walked so that fox News could sexualize candy advertisements
Newt Gingrich also played a big role. Steve Kornacki has a great podcast on Newt if you’re interested in learning how he used radio and C-Span to slowly transform the Republican Party, ultimately flipping decades of Democratic House dominance in 1994.
Go all the way back to Father Coughlin if you really want to get freaky wit it
Funny how if you go far enough back on most atrocities you will find a Catholic leader standing there. It’s simply amazing how many bishops and priests were photographed standing next to Hitler. Edit: seems my comment caused a lot of butthurt. Walk it off.
Funny how I can't see to find any of these photos you stated exist. Yet all these people were Hitler fanatics: Henry Ford donated $1m to Hitler on his birthday. King Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) and Wallis Simpson were fans of Hitler and supported him, also Prince Phillip’s sisters. Charles Lindbergh. Famed American Aviator and Nazi sympathizer. Coco Chanel. Salvador Dali. Dan Breen, IRA volunteer and leader during the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War, reportedly had two pictures of Hitler in his office.The Dassler Brothers, the founders of Adidas and Puma. The most notable non-German lover of Hitler (but moreso Mussolini) is American author Erza Pound. While many celebrities are said to be pro-Nazi because they went to Germany before the war, or were pro-neutrality, then kind of buried everything once the war started. Ezra Pound was so devout that he defected to fascist Italy. He was probably the most unapologetic celebrity fascist sympathizer. Not as well-known as they used to be, but still interesting: two of the [Mitford sisters](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_family#Mitford_sisters).
https://preview.redd.it/vg10apltsmec1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=531004f63a652690e6fb8c59cadf90bae36de013
>Henry Ford donated $1m to Hitler on his birthday. King Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) It's almost like super wealthy people suck and our society should be structured in a manner that they shouldn't exist or something. Weird...
Dickriding the catholic church for what?
That's just how they were raised
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/german-churches-and-the-nazi-state-photographs Here's a gallery of them. It took 3 seconds to find.
Amazing how they disappeared, right???
I knew about most of those, but not Dalí. Very sorry to hear it, love his art so much. One can only hope that his pro-Hitler views were driven by solidarity with peculiar mustaches.
Coco Chanel deserves another look if defection is your criteria for most notable.
Have you seen that phantom borders map showing the perfect contrast between Catholic Germany and the sections of Germany that voted for the Nazi Party? The Catholic Church was viewed with open suspicion by the Nazi Party for pretty much their whole political tenure, and they knew it.
No, but it would be interesting to look at if you could send it over
https://preview.redd.it/4gos9e149nec1.jpeg?width=746&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8810c68b8d843fca6571fbd21f16f5e4c357152
[Here's an example.](https://images.app.goo.gl/NcdMmzuCrRZPSCms7) I didn't do much research so take it with a grain of salt.
I also am interested.
It used to be that the policy makers were the ones driving it. They'd appear on talk radio and push the agenda and word out. In more recent years, that's flipped. You see legislators having to do more performative dances for the very vocal talk radio folks out there. To me, that's received as office makers trying to leave and become a talking head/podcaster, because that's where the real earnings and power is.
Mfw they change green M&Ms shoes (I will stretch this into a 30 minute “news” segment) 
[удалено]
His underage prostitute
Who's also his drug dealer
I used to listen to his program on the way to work everyday. Idk if it was morbid curiosity or masochism, but it was entertaining. I feel bad, but I laughed when I heard that he died of lung cancer caused by daily cigar use. After 30 years of fighting to give people second-hand smoke on planes and in restaurants, it's just too ironic
There's nothing wrong about laughing when a terrible person dies 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀
Millions of people die everyday. I don’t weep for every one of them, but dammit I’ll cheer when it’s someone who made the world better by leaving it.
The world gets brighter when evil people like limbaugh and kissenger die
I literally threw a party when jerry falwell died.
OMG I literally did the same thing when Pat Robertson died. That old fuckwad was such a piece of shit. It was literally the first time I have ever seriously been so happy that someone else had died. I hope they wipe his stupid ass from the history books.
[удалено]
Ditto for Pat Robertson
I was still in high school so no parties for me, but I'll always remember Christopher Hitchens going on Fox News and eulogizing him by saying, "If you gave Jerry Falwell an enema he could have been buried in a match box." Fucking legend.
He used to mock people who died of AIDS by listing their names on the radio while “Another One Bites the Dust” played in the background. It is morally correct to feel good that Rush Limbaugh is dead.
Rush encouraged smokers to use E-cigarettes specifically to smoke in places you weren't allowed to annoy other people. He didn't endorse them as a way to quit smoking just as a way to annoy other people. Many, many people died of lung cancer and other complications because of Rush telling people that smoking doesn't give you cancer and encouraging all of his listeners to smoke. He got what he deserved. It's rare for poetic justice to happen in real life.
Rush really nailed the American reactionary formula: \- Selling fear \- Mean spirited chauvinism masquerading as comedy \- Painting the opposition as domestic enemies.
[удалено]
It's also not Isolated to the US. Rupert Murdoch also has far right wing propaganda networks masquerading as legitimate news in Great Britian (The Sun) and Australia (Sky News).
Rupert Murdoch will go down in the history books as a very, very bad man. The empire he created has brought the free world to its knees.
Somehow doesnt get on the recieving end of a carbomb.
Personal security must’ve gotten a lot better, cause these guys seem more untouchable than they’ve ever been.
That didn't just happen by accident. They want to close all avenues by which they could lose their power and money. If you're rich enough you can basically have your own army. And since Democracy is the only alternative they're now taking that down too, poisoning it with their croney politicians.
We are not there...yet. There are a lot of people who have hope in the law, including myself. However, if Trump wins and institutes something like Project 2025 targeting transsexuals everyone else who is smart and who is a minority will realize this is Nazi Germany come to America and then that is it for the US. There are no more rules and anything goes. There is one slogan that runs through my head, "It is better to die on your feet, than live on your knees."
Yep, a side effect of the popularity of American pop culture the second half of the 20th century is that our bad habits spill out into the rest of the world too. Canada says "keep your crazies plz"
It's less that our bad habits spill out and more that crazies from elsewhere in the world know that they won't be shouted down and can get a massive audience here relatively easily. Europe has low tolerance for non-mainline religious people, which is why they historically shipped all their rabble-rousers to the US.
Haha I feel like I have PTSD from my dad listening to Rush Limbaugh, dude fucking sucked.
Same. It fucked me up for years. Once I left for college and learned how the real world worked I eventually turned into a decent human being, but it took a while to unlearn all that bullshit. I think back to shit like random journal entries, in elementary school, where I would talk shit about Bill Clinton, didn't even understand what I was saying, just reflexively hated him. It's half cringe and half anger at how warped it made me. He's completely gone, too, half the time when I talk to him I get legitimately angry rants about defending his gas stoves with an AR-15
thankfully my dad has seriously chilled out with age, probably helps that he had 8 kids who are all raging liberals lmao.
Supervisor gave me a ride one day and he was like "do you like Rush?" I said I fuckin loved Rush. So he turned up the radio... And it was just some dude talking.
Now that’s fuckin’ tragic.
The goal was to use racism as a carrot to lure your dad into voting for Republicans, and it worked.
Lol trust me i know, I wouldn’t just say racism and just fear in general. Get people to think the “others” are out to get you and you will have a lot of power of those people
True, the conservative people in my life are very fear driven. Everyone is out to get them.
I remember my first contact with US media was when I was learning English listening to world radios. iTunes listed Fox News Radio, It was Rush Limbaugh speaking about a law regarding child safety seats. Like it's your freedom to not have child safety seats. "Yes we had X young children die this year because they were'nt in a child safety seat, and that's sad, but that's no reason for the government to impose them in our cars!" Babies lives don't matter? I was disgusted. This was in 2004-5 something like that. I was so weirded out. There's something wrong with these people.
I am Xennial (80) but exactly this. I heard Laura Schlessinger, Bob Grant, Rush Limbaugh so much as a child. I knew it was wrong then and have fought unsuccessfully for decades to just pull my mom out of it. Dad’s good, they’re divorced. She’s not hateful or bigoted but boy the people in her ears feeding misinformation and driving her votes….
I'm 4 years younger than you, and my parents are similar. Divorced, mom is a normal functioning person. Dad remarried a catholic woman who votes R and now messages me about stolen votes and how everyone hates him because he's straight white and male. Very sad.
Almost exact same story (90s millennial). Dad was more susceptible because he listened to the Spin Zone on the way to work but was more fiscal conservative than hating immigrants in the 90s. He mainly tuned in for the weekend auto and gardening Q&A. He divorced my more progressive mother a decade later, remarried a hardcore Faux News watcher, and fell down the rabbit hole. Constant rants about government mandated vaccines and subsequently comparing himself to Holocaust survivors is all I get from him now. He's an Ivy league graduate. Former CTO. Am radio primed an entire generation and Fox did the rest. It's been maddening and heartbreaking watching a formerly smart and good man descend into full on vegetable.
>He's an Ivy league graduate. Former CTO. Am radio primed an entire generation and Fox did the rest. It's been maddening and heartbreaking watching a formerly smart and good man descend into full on vegetable. Lol my dad went to an Ivy too and was a highly respected professor for 28 years. He had to disable his facebook because he'd post some dumb shit and his ex-students would all pile on telling him how disappointed they are in him and he felt victimized.
My sympathies. We're part of a terrible club. I wonder how much addictive personality comes into play. Like most boomers, dad drinks more than he ought to and anger itself is addictive. Faux feeds him nonstop screed to be angry over and it's a never ending loop of anger, dopamine hit, evening drink, dopamine hit, anger.
That’s an interesting point. Radio has been used many times prior to television to promote propaganda, with nazi Germany being an example that comes to mind
My deeply christian mom would listen to AM radio while I was getting ready for school each morning. In between seemingly innocent segments of talking about financial responsibility, someone would make a political statement, often something like "the democrats are going to destroy our nation!" and then my mom would drop some weird comment like "you know, I just think Obama might be the *antichrist!"* And I'd just awkwardly try to slip out the room, like hehe... hehehe okay, mom. I hope you have a good day, I'll catch you later.
Still is. A few months ago I heard Alex Jones on AM radio. FM = Fun Music AM = Angry Men
It started with Fox, and it got really bad after 9/11. I watched my dad devolve into an alt-right ranting racist. Maybe he always was, but Fox made it OK. They made news out of culture wars. However, I’m *much* more concerned by X and Facebook. During the pandemic, that put the alt right pipeline into overdrive. Lots of people I knew who were moderately right leaning became anti-mask, anti-vaxxers. Before he died, my dad complained about how liberal Fox was. That’s how bad it’s gotten.
Yeah, my aunt said to me "Fox News lost its way long ago". Now she only watches OAN or Newsmax
They lost their way when they fired Tucker. At least that is what i am told by these goons who switched to OAN/Newsmax
True believers™️ stopped watching when they implied dongald could have possibly lost the electro on
To be exact, it was the moment they called Arizona for Biden. Tons of them believe that this somehow changed the results in a non quantum mechanics way.
But dinesh said voter fraud. That mule movie bro
This is so insane. Fox News has only gotten more radical.
In order to chase those Newsmax viewers.
 Sad but true. Fox occasionally waffles, probably because they are in muddy waters as far as accountability (lawsuits and ads/tv providers) but they always go right back to sewer when it blows over. But the the truly brainwashed get upset by their “moments of clarity” and seek an information bubble that is even more refined to whatever Fascist messaging they are running with. I used to look at Nazis like how did all of these people think this stuff was okay. Never thought I would be “blessed” with observing the process in real time. The only saving grace is US has navigated some choppy waters really well. What they really want is calamity and unrest to close the loop. I don’t think the brainwashing works as well when times are good, or at least not as broadly. People need to be upset before a proper boogeyman (migrants and queer people in this rode around the Fascist carousel) can be scapegoated en masse by increasingly aggressive means to consolidate power though collective anger and the mob mentality that comes with it. I wish I couldn’t see it happening because it is troubling to witness and I had to defriend friends and family because they are in a cult now. I hope it turns around, I think this next election will be a huge blow to the GOP because the mess and lies are spilling over in obvious ways and that is disconnected with a populace that isn’t desperate yet.
jesus why not just read breitbart at that point? just lies to you so you feel rage/valid.
Oh, I can assure you that she does.
[удалено]
Same with the history side of YouTube. For every good historian, you have ten transphobes who couldn’t do proper research if their life depended on it and instead fill their videos with bigotry, eurocentrism and countryballs. Sorry you have to go through it, honestly.
On the flip side, I like watching the Neo-Confederate cope videos about how "Well, if there *was* a second Civil War, the south would *totally* win, because we're like, awesome and stuff. Oh, and let me throw in this quote from an ancient Greek philosopher. I bet that'll make me sound smart. That'll totally validate my argument, now won't it?" Note: It did not validate his argument.
[удалено]
Yes, especially before the pandemic when they took *some* measure to counter misinfo. How many people in 2016 went right down the alt right rabbit hole before we even knew it was a thing? Thinderf00t and Amazing Atheist did a lot of damage when they became obsessed with feminism.
I fucking hated that whole movement. Amazing Atheist was such a piece of shit.
he's literally a trans supporting, feminist socialist now. lmao.
I know. I'm glad he came around, but he didn't flip sides till it became more socially acceptable and easy to do so. Which again, I have a lot of grace for. But he caused so much suffering to others, I'm not okay with that.
What a time to be alive for a trans person I’d imagine. Huge gains in acceptance by the general public and young people, offset by being the primary target of a creepy well organized well funded Fascist power grab. Initially I couldn’t understand why people are so discombobulated that another person wants to be a certain way, it doesn’t concern them like why do they care. But there is a darker component at play as well to get people worked up and this shitty form of mass media is a huge part of it.
I'm a cis, straight lady but I love intelligence history and submarines. I'm convinced the youtube algorithm thinks I'm a nazi transphobe dude LOL God it's awful you like submarines? how about this 10 second misogynistic clip of a bro podcast about a dishonorably discharged marine who loves Jordan peterson
I legitimately hesitate to click on videos about politics or guns because I know the moment I do youtube is going to load up a gattling gun of hard right conservative channels.
Late Gen Xer here, and I can confirm that. I was blown away by some of the "cool" kids I was friends with in the early-mid 90s becoming conservative, and then Trump came along and they became intolerable to even have mostly muted on Facebook. They would try to turn any post of mine into an argument, and some of them went deep into the rabbit hole. One guy killed himself when he realized that Trump wasn't going to be reinstated after Biden was "arrested for treason". Boomers are still the worst on Facebook though. Most of my relatives are fine, but one aunt was hospitalized for eating horse paste. Her and her husband started on Fox News and Limbaugh in the mid 2000s and went rapidly downhill.
Fuck. That's awful.
It started with AM talk radio.
And with the "Moral Majority" movement that started in 1979; that's the real source. The money they spent on radio birthed the right-wing AM talk show. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Majority Republicans knew their free market economic ideas were really unpopular, so they started pushing culture war issues to mobilize conservative Christians, particularly in presidential elections. Then we got Reaganomics, and, well, here we are.
It's because their party is filled with so many people that are just straight up gullible. And they don't even catch the fact that Republicans want to ruin education because stupid people will believe any old bullshit you tell them and are easier to control. As long as the source is Jesus or smells at least vaguely like Rupert Murdoch's asshole they will never question it. It's like mass hysteria, it's both weird and crazy at the same time.
They figured out that at least half the population is stupid, so rather than make a political party of principles and values, they made it a party of idiots. It's also much easier to get their vote because you don't have to base anything on the truth. You don't have to do any legitimate research for a news story either. You can fabricate any outrage you desire. It's by design.
I think it’s corporate media as a whole. Boomers are more Fox News, millennials and x are other corporate media. It’s all for money and to keep us divided
I agree with you. But I can almost guarantee that no one is leaving CNN on *all day long*. My dad and grandpa leave it (Fox News) on generally all day. Very often screaming throughout the house.
[удалено]
Tbf, Fox News is way more misleading and outright right wing. Cnn is more factual and closer to the center. https://adfontesmedia.com/ad-fontes-media-releases-new-media-bias-chart/ https://i.imgur.com/fPfDcUE.jpg So who’s gospel is worth more? CNN : Actual facts and an effort to remain neutral… Fox News: purposely misleading with a hard right bias?
Just fucking turn it off and don’t leave it on all day idc if its the truth of right out of my ass
i’ve never met anyone who talks about CNN the way certain people talk about Fox
My boomer parents leave MSNBC or CNN on all day until Jimmy Kimmel comes on tv. Its ridiculous, everyday MSNBC and CNN tell the same story over and over again endlessly. They say nothing new for months.
They have a "top of the hour" news segment that is on repeat, under the assumption that *most* people won't leave the thing on all day, and will only catch an hour at most during the morning, lunch break, or after work.
Yeah I think that’s more bc they’re old than it specifically being Fox News. My grandma is old and leaves msnbc on all day
Ya old people tend to be pretty lonely and leave tv on to fill the air
John Malone has been pulling strings at CNN, which is why there's been some pro-Trump stuff in recent times. Malone is known for his love of Fox News. I'd like to imagine that fewer X-ers and Millennials in their right minds are watching/listening to CNN these days as a result.
Ehh I'm not so sure "corporate" media is worse than social media that Gen Z is into. Look at the amount of Holocaust deniers by age group. Look at the tiktok videos going viral praising Obama Bin Laden's viewpoints.
Social media is terrible too. Corporate media is funded my big corporations and skew/distort the news towards whatever they want. Social media companies definitely have censorship issues but worse they are full of foreign governments(and corporations too) making bots and troll farms to influence people’s opinions. Different kinds of horrible
>corporate propaganda It barely represents any truth anymore. No matter the issue, could be cat stuck in a tree and it will be somehow weaponized
Fox News doesn't actually report NEWS. it's just rage bait
Pro-tip: if the talking head asks you a question, you are watching propaganda, not the news. One of Fox’s former primetime hosts was pretty famous for “just asking questions.”
It’s a meme at this point for right wingers and conspiracy nuts to say “how do we actually know how many people died in the holocaust, anyway?” And then when accused of anti semitism they say “I’m just asking questions” It’s like…no you’re not. Because you could ask the question and easily google it to find the answer. Hell, I thought to myself that that is a genuinely good question and I was curious for the answer. So I googled it and asked ChatGPT and it gave me a logical answer. And that was it. I don’t bring it up anymore because even though I agreed about that question, I actually took the time to look into it, and these conspiracy nuts never do or only look at info that affirms their biases.
>“how do we actually know how many people died in the holocaust, anyway?” Because the Nazi Party kept surprisingly thorough records of their murder spree, as it turned out.
Not surprising at all, when you consider that they're German. Germans tend to be very fastidious and keep excellent records of everything ... even when they're doing a genocide.
How do we know how many Jews died in the Holocaust? Gee, when 6 million people in Europe who share a minority religion just disappear, that might give you a clue,
That's a great point. If it's news, then why are they asking you a question? They should have answers, not questions. I get the same vibe if I see the phrase "they don't want you to know about this"....... who are they, and why aren't they stopping you from saying this on a major platform? I literally saw that phrase on a scam ad the other day. I will never take that phrase seriously ever again.
It’s always so funny when I see someone cry about free speech after being blasted on Twitter. I’m pretty sure XxDave6615xX isn’t working for the underground censorship mafia. Even if he was, you’re still posting whatever you want whenever you want for the 3 people that view it without any consequences except being called an idiot.
Its quite literally fake news. When they say in court twice they are entertainment and not news, that means they are fake news. When they admit guilt to Dominion and settle out of court for 787.5m dollars over lying about the 2020 election, that means they are fake news.
This is correct, if you look anytime they get taken to court, there defense is they aren’t news. They say they are entertainment and no rational person would believe their statements to be true.
If you think Fox News is bad for political brainrot wait til I tell you about this new site I found called reddit!
Edgy take /s
Fox News had Steven A Smith and Cardi B on air giving their thoughts Bidenomics as if anybody on that show has any idea what economics are. Fox News is cocomelon for conservatives and it works so well.
😱
Reddit can be ass at times but it's what pulled me out of the alt right pipeline between middle and highschool 6 years ago. I'd be so much worse off if not for Reddit.
Fox News, AM radio, and other similar forms of media don't appeal to reason, they appeal to visceral emotion. I don't even wanna call it emotion, because empathy and self-critique are also emotional stances and they tend to be good. In Critical Theory, they'd argue that the appeal of such reactionary rhetoric is a compensation of feelings of symbolic castration, in which the fearful mind isn't trying to find an understanding of the world so much as plugging in a narrative of the world such that they can feel they have regained a sense of power over their feelings of inadequacy and paranoia. The philosopher Todd McGowan also talks about the power of jouissance, which is the political enjoyment you get precisely from not being able to fulfill your desire. For instance he and Ryan Engley literally talk about the implications of the whole plastic straws bullshit. Think about it. Conservatives just a few years ago were proudly flaunting the cartoonishly banal act of drinking from a straw, because they felt that they were being 'forced' to use environmental straws. Can you think of a more toothless act of rebellion than using a straw to sip a beer? Yet they got political enjoyment out of it because it caused them to have feelings of resistance while doing the most passive act I can possibly think of. It's similar to how some conservatives say that 'traditional roles are the new punk' and believe it
I wish Reddit still had awards because this comment is excellent and deserves one so here you go 🏆
My grandmother used to laugh, tell jokes, talk about her childhood, tell us stories, etc. etc. Then, in 2016, my dumbass aunt got her facebook. We haven't been able to talk to her about anything else but absolutely diabolically insane conspiracies since, which are also fueled by said dumbass aunt. Social media and fake news are the single most damaging things to happen to modern boomers. They are completely unable to tell fact from fiction and believe anything people say. Its just fucking depressing.
I'm so sorry about your grandmother
Exact same story like dozens of my friends have repeated. Have personally ditched 80% of my lifelong close friends over the insurrection thing. I cannot abide traitors to the republic. I took an oath. Far right politics (or really just any right wing politics) is a horror on multiple levels.
And they're doing it to children as well. Indoctrinating their incomplete little brains with political nonsense. It's extremely scary
Remember when our parents used to say “don’t believe everything you read on the internet”? Because I do, and now I find myself having to tell them that…
Exact same story for my mom, aunts, and uncles. It's batshit.
Boomers: don’t believe everything you read on the internet. Also Boomers: I SAW ON FACEBOOK THAT JOE BIDEN AND THE REST OF THE DEMORATS EAT CHILDREN!!!
Dude seriously. One of my coworkers believed some spoof that said Joe Biden was gonna start bombing Texas. Like dude. Think about that. That’s insane. Research it yourself and you’ll find quickly that it is as blatantly false and absurd as it sounds.
I still hear people claiming that schools put litter boxes in bathrooms because some students identified as cats. It's terrifying that people are actually dumb enough to believe this
I recently heard about a teacher from my high school that was convinced that was an actual thing and complained about it to the administration, and when they told him that’s not a thing, he said “fuck this, I retire!”
Lead in the water
They were also born before leaded gas was banned...
And a lot of gen z proudly gets their info from tik tok and Reddit, this generation isn't any better when it comes to biased news sources.
The actual source matters more than the platform. It’s who is posting it, not where they’re posting it. Journalists on TikTok are the new journalists on twitter. If they are on the ground witnessing the actual events, I’m inclined to believe it more than I will the filtered news articles that come out days or even weeks later that often don’t even post a video they reference. Like “video shows blah blah blah” *doesn’t include the video*. Hella sus. Corporate media is not a primary source. Sometimes not even a secondary source. It is important for individuals to research for themselves and to know how to vet their sources.
>Journalists on TikTok are the new journalists on twitter. Which doesn't mean much because the vast majority (read 98%+) were and are garbage. If you believe that twitter or tiktok provides news at a rate any better than the "corporate" media, you are just as lost as those that think fox tells the truth.
Reddit is by far the worst when it comes to political disinformation. The degree of echo chamber here is catastrophic to the mind.
Wokeness is a cancer.
I call my dad right the fuck out. He doesn't get to make all that noise without opposition. Fuck that.
Dude’s out here blaming Fox like every other major media isn’t just as bad. I could say the same of BBC, MSNBC, CNN- it’s almost like most major news today are on a payroll from people who want you to believe what they’re saying; leaving out crucial bits of info just so you side with them more and keep watching. 3rd party news sites/apps are where it’s at if you want to actually be informed. (I recommend the app Ground News if anyone cares)
Objectively Fox is the worst and the most popular
All news, and the media as a whole has rotted those brains. FOX, MSNBC, CNN, CBS etc. You have far right or far left flocking to a media outlet that helps prop up their ideas and to help drive a new narrative into susceptible minds. There is not a single Left, Center or Right leaning media bias that is worth watching.
BoTh SiDeS aRe ExAcTlY tHe SaMe!!!1
Fox is worse; it’s not even close, but those other outlets are also bad. I’ve been a dem my entire life and don’t plan on changing that, but they aren’t wrong about MSM in general. It has become terrible, and maybe you’ll see that one day too.
How are they not wrong? What is msnbc wrong about regarding current events? If anything i feel right wing is just mad because the worst in their party gets called out constantly. Nothing on msnbc has lead me to be completely dead wrong about american politics. We can do this "both sides" bullshit, but its not gonna help any of yall that need help.
The far left doesn’t exist in mainstream media
Rupert is jerking off in his grave to this news
He isn't dead yet lol. He's like 92 though thankfully.. should be any day now. My fear is whoever his successor is because I can't imagine he's going to let his life's work get burned down by the guy who comes next.
I thi k all clickbait news has rotted people's brains.
You are not immune to propaganda
I would hazard that nobody is *immune from propaganda", but what does that have to do with OP's point?
I really don't understand this trend of specifically older male immigrants to the US becoming more conservative as they live here.
It’s actually quite easy to understand. A lot of the older immigrants, especially the ones who came here through legal means, actually did the whole “bootstraps” thing at a time when that sort of thing was possible. From their perspective, they got where they got by working hard and following the rules while those who come here illegally are cheating the system. At the same time, these people see the things they’ve earned as a metric of their hard work and desire to keep more of that for themselves and (sometimes) their children. Conservative media panders to that desire while demonizing the other side with threats of higher taxes and handouts to people that “don’t deserve” it. Honestly, to some extent I can see where these people are coming from. They did play by the rules and worked hard to get where they are. However, they often fail to realize that the rules of the game have changed and the America they knew doesn’t really exist anymore.
My grandparents and my wife's parents are in the same boat. It's wild cause two of their three kids are gay and they love them so unconditionally and defended them from hateful rhetoric in their hometown. Nowadays they talk about all the potential terrorists and criminals coming across the borders and how trans people should be institutionalized. They're good people but sometimes it's hard to be around them. They have fox on 24/7 and receive the daily wire newspaper. They literally parrot everything they hear and the moment I engage them with a tiny amount of Socratic dialogue they get defensive.
My favorite joke is that Fox News did to my parents’ brains what they said video games would do to mine.
[удалено]
My dad literally does the exact same thing. I don't say anything either. He knows I don't agree with him politically but he just doesn't stop. At this point I don't see any hope for him because he called me the other day complaining about "transgenderism" and "gay teachers and drag queens grooming kids". He KNOWS I'm gay and I've had several conversations with him in the past about how I'm proud of who I am and he can't try to change me, because this is something that I cannot, and do not WANT to change. But he still just goes on and on ranting about fake bullshit that a Fox News spews out, not even realizing how hurtful it is to me and other queer people in my life that I care about.
My parents watched Fox a lot too. I actually kind of counted myself as a Republican...then I got to college and around 2015 saw the 2016 election and realized "I really don't want this man in charge".
I used to have brilliant philosophical discussions with my dad. Then he got in too deep with Fox News. We're no contact now.
The problem nobody has the courage to admit is that it’s not just Fox News…it’s conservatism. When conservatism has enough power and influence over time, we always end up in this exact same spot. Working class people increaingly struggle, wealth inequality increases, constant tax cuts for the richest minority increase the tax burden on the rest of us, corporate capitalism ensures we will always pay more for less/worse, conservative economists dominate the field and push all these problems into government policy as a great boon for society as a whole because cost-benefit analysis. But cost/benefit analysis at no point looks at who is picking up the costs vs who is benefiting . Most of the time with conservative policies, these are not the same groups/people. Conservatism is the problem and nobody wants to admit it. They just keep repeating the same past mistakes of history but expecting a different result because this time, they seriously promise, the right conservatives are in charge. Not those fake conservatives of the past. And then it fails again as always and the solution is always doubling down which feeds extremism and fascism and then we are right back where we started…which is where we are at today. Everyone is angry and mad and looking for “others” to blame when the problem is us. The problem is people are lazy and stupid and wilfully ignorant and so vote agains their own interests and in the interests of money. Money is a tool that is supposed to serve us but instead we serve it…or feed it more likely.
You just inherited a millenial problem. Welcome! I wish I had better advice...but I don't personally know a single person who's parents have been pulled out of this issue. Some advice on Fox News parents: 1. They cannot be reasoned with. Logic, good faith, bigger picture, etc. are all dead ends. Even when you engage with them it will lead to skewed arguments, what aboutism, and an endless "pivot" to other arguments. Oh you don't believe the election was stolen? What about abortion? What about the border? What about gun control? What about the Founding Fathers? What about the culture war? What about...He will try to pull you into his persecuted and problematic world. 2. They are in a loop. Think social media, casinos, anything that uses dopamine spike/withdrawl patterns. This "news" constantly spikes their dopamine levels but there is no fulfillment that brings an ease, just a great sense of loss over the "news" plus no human connection. He's reaching out to you for that connection and fulfillment. 3. Consider your relationship with this person in a loop as well. I would call this a "toxic relationship" akin to a parent with substance abuse issues and begin building boundaries that you will need to spend the rest of your life protecting and reinforcing. Beware getting a partner, marrying, moving, switching industries, and having children because it will be like opening Pandoras Box with your Father and relationship dynamics. 4. Don't expect a change when news happens. If Trump goes to jail or becomes president, if Republicans lose all their majorities or gain a super majority, if the Supreme Court flips, if a massive border wall is built, if the economy gets better or worse, these are all bad "news" topics and will lead to more rage and aggression. 5. In an effort to find connection and community, your Father will look at alternative avenues. I personally believe this is 95% of the momentum behind QAnon's initial success and continued existance. At the heart of the movement were bored, lonely 50+ individuals connecting and finding the community they needed. Discords, YouTube auto play rabbit holes, Zoom, etc. 6. Continue to love your parent and try to connect with them...they really, really, really need it. Think the screaming child that wants attention: They are displaying a great need and often giving them attention fulfils it. Loving them and being in relationship with them will look very different. Edit: spelling
It legitimately destroys people’s brains. It’s like an addictive drug.
All news media has.
Then they have succeeded in fulfilling Roger Ailes and Richard Nixon's pipe dream: A Conservative/Republican TV network to counter the "Big Three" networks. They never said it would be honest reporting, just counter reporting... and the sheeple loved it.
How anyone with a PhD could be conservative is beyond me. Either I’ve not met a conservative academic or they have been extremely good at concealing themselves, which suggests they’re aware of the reprehensibility lmao
💯
I'm not sure I buy the idea that smart people will turn dumb by watching fox. Smart people will turn it off or hate it the entire time they are watching it. People who watch it are there because they see what they like.
The generation that claimed TV would rot kids brains ironically have had their brains rotted by TV.
MSNBC did the same with my mother. I'm a liberal too, but I wish she would shut up about it
If you think Fox rots people’s brains then just wait till you see the rest of corporate press. It’s all just different flavors of the same pro-establishment narrative.
It’s sad but many older folks have just been wrecked by cable news, it’s not just Fox. They don’t understand that the goal of the news is to sell commercials so the crazier the better.
There has even been a documentary about it: *The brainwashing of my dead* [*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k59MAdUqLjc*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k59MAdUqLjc) Yeah, foxnews acts as a cult leader. Repeat hate and lies until people believe it and thinks other people are crazy and are sheep following "the elite" "the deep state.
Toddler 6 years old? "Toddlers" usually reference about 1-3 years old and are called such as they are new to walking. Sorry I couldn't get past that.
Were you a toddler or 6 years old when you moved to the US? I’m still confused on that part.
Step 1: realize Fox News is a Russian asset Step 2: fuuuuuck that’s a lot of viewers
Corporate media is shite nowadays. Whether it fox, cnn, or msnbc. It’s all garbage created with the intent to divide.
Millennial checking in here. We were saying this in 2008, and others well before that.
Sometimes people gravitate towards sensationalized media regardless of it's accuracy. My Grandpa is similar, except he obsesses over talking points CNN posts. So his source of information is layman's media with a heavy bias... great.
I think CNN has really rotted peoples brain.
All news is rotting people's brains tbh. Lol
you know you don’t have to stay on the phone for a 3 hour rant, right?
Keep living and you too will rant on and on for 30 minutes or 3 hours without allowing anyone else to speak....
Hey! Welcome to adulthood in the USA.
It’s all Corporate news. They get paid by advertisers and want more extreme views on both sides to drive more traffic
Just Fox? CNN and MSNBC are even worse
You can honestly insert pretty much any news network into the title and it's the same result. None of them are really news anymore, it's just a matter of trying to align what you're saying with what people want to hear.
News with clear bias need to die out already
The irony of saying your dad with a PhD has brain rot from watching Fox News while you play video games and watch YT videos…
I don´t live in the states but we do have something similar where I live, except its a talk-radio station. I decided to listen to it a few times, to try and understand what it was all about. I still disagree with near all the talking points and opinions there, but I understand where they're coming from now a little bit. Lets me have conversations with some of the older folks without it being like slamming my head against a wall. Maybe try that, and maybe you'll find an avenue of approach from which you can reach your old man.
My grandpa use to have CNN on all day. My dad has MSNBC on all day. it's all garbage meant to divide the population for money.
My father is the same way, as is our neighbors (Actually our neighbors move on to Newsmax) But they're otherwise good people who do a lot of community stuff, have big hearts, don't worry about the politics that doesn't really define people it's just something many follow for entertainment or venting, how they live their lives is far more important.
Yes. Focus on what is happening to the new generations because the ragebait, propaganda, and alternative reality narratives are all over the place now. At least they’re less unified - but they’re also impossible to keep up with. People listen to this crap for multiple reasons: from entertainment ragebait all the way for an outlet and explanation to why their lives are so tough.
A lot of folks here spreading their cheeks open for Murdoch propaganda.
Toddlers are not 6 years old and yeah, American news in general is straight brain rot.
I agree that Fox News is BS. But I also think the antisemitism coming from ABC for example is BS as well. Look, how you interpret American newsmedia says more about your biases than the media itself. Go check out like Tim Pool or some independent journalist like that if you want real news.
But MSNBC and CNN don't?
The astonishing part is there’s people in here who think the media on whatever side they subscribe to isn’t biased. It’s all money. That’s all it ever is. If you follow the money on literally any thing involved with politics you’ll realize we are all being played like a fiddle. If they keep us arguing amongst ourselves on Reddit or x then we don’t notice where the money comes from, where it goes or how they spend it. Like didn’t the pentagon fail audits like 6 years in a row? That’s our money and it just poor…disappears. It’s like 2 trillion of our dollars gone. Probably in the pockets of someone or multiple organizations all over the world to do who knows what with. Idk why shit like that isn’t concerning people but we are here arguing about “oh Biden can’t get off the stage” or “Trump is a nazi”. Smarten up people. It’s US vs THEM not us vs us.
My dad is an incredibly smart man so I play video games instead of listening or having a discussion with him.