There's A Common Thread In The Global Rise Of Fascism And Autocracy

[Initech]

Make no mistake that as things get uglier in the United States and around the world, there's a common thread in all of this. Sure, people are getting meaner, nastier, ruder and cruder, not to mention more racist, sexist and homophobic. It's because of their drug of choice - television. The common thread in all of this? News Corporation.

Yes, News Corporation, the company that owns Fox News. You can bet where there's a country that once favored freedom now favors neo fascism and authoritarianism, there's good odds that there's a Fox affiliate in that country.

You don't have to go down the list to see it. Just look at Italy - a country that is no stranger to dictators - now prefers neo fascism and white supremacy, and the Nazi party is coming back stronger than ever. Same thing with their neighbors to the north - Poland, you guessed it! How about Turkey? Or the Philippines? They've got Fox affiliates too. India? Yeah they've got Fox affiliates.

Then take a look at England and the absolute clusterfuck that is Brexit. Guess what? They've got a huge Fox affiliate present - Sky News, and that is turning their country into an absolute dumpster fire. If you think things are bad here, just look at what's happening with the UK Parliament. Our leaders are crazy? Ooh boy we got nothing on the UK.

Which brings me to Trump. Yes, Trump is just another domino in Rupert Murdoch's master plan. If things aren't working with Trump - which they aren't, you can bet Murdoch's got someone even scarier lined up. But unlike Adolf Hitler, who wanted to take over the world, Murdoch just wants to make money. Who cares about real journalism when you can elect a president who will literally destroy your competition? He's not a James Bond villain. Which they already covered in Tomorrow Never Dies - which was about a ruthless CEO who ran a billion dollar world wide media empire and wanted to start World War 3 for ratings and profit!

But no, Rupert Murdoch is no Elliot Carver. He doesn't have charisma. He's more like Heath Ledger's Joker from the Dark Knight. He doesn't want to take over the world, he just wants to create chaos. Because hey freedom is boring. Fascism is more exciting and hate brings in more viewers which in turn brings in more advertising revenue from Progressive Insurance and AT&T which in turn means more money which means more affiliates around the world!

But make no mistake - these incompetent buffoons are being elected because people are glued to Fox 24 hours a day which means they don't read or think for themselves. Real journalism doesn't matter anymore, only sensationalist nonsense does. Everyone has their own channel now and nobody has any accountability. But they all watch Fox. As long as News Corporation continues to exist, you can bet we're fucked for the foreseeable future. Sleep tight everybody!

[virgogal]

1. NewsCorp and Fox have no more power than Viacom,CBS,or Disney...they exist to make money,

as do the others. People have choices. The internet has caused more damage,I think.

[Initech]

2. Just remember the 2000 election.

Every single network called Florida for Al Gore. Except one - Fox News. That started the clusterfuck that gave us Bush V Gore.

[Garrett78]

4. Those other corporations are all more or less the same and not blatantly propagandizing.

Fox stands out as radically different and appeals to all those who have been conditioned to hate and to think of the mainstream media as "liberal."

There's no Trump presidency without Fox.

[DrToast]

3. The biggest common thread: Income inequality

One of these days I'm going to write up a post about how what we're seeing today is largely a result of income/wealth inequality.

And yes, the UK has a problem with income/wealth inequality, too. Not as bad as the US, but it is a problem there.

Income inequality is the tinder, Fox News is the match.

[Initech]

7. I live in an upper lower middle class neighborhood.

Yeah lower class people tend to watch Fox and vote conservatively. But it's the country club people who tend to own multiple flat screens are the ones who are glued to Fox. We definitely need to take them into account.

[DrToast]

8. You misunderstand

I never said it’s caused by low income.

Whose interests are Fox News trying to protect? The country club people.

The majority of Republicans in Congress and on Fox News don’t give a shit about social conservatism.

[Texin]

11. That's one. But there is the issue of aging white populations trying to beat back the "other",

in addition to widespread global population migration spurred by global climate change. Any time in the world's history (and you don't have to look any farther back than post-WWI Europe), to see how economic crises affect the emotional and mental state of wide swaths of populations. Germany and other eastern European countries were struggling economically, and all it takes is one fascistic megalomaniac to set off persuadable people that "the others" are to blame for their plight.

[backtoblue]

5. I did a mass internet ad opt out recently

News Corp was one of the companies that was target advertising/psyop data collecting me....


Along with around a hundred other ad companies.

[ms liberty]

6. K&R. n/t

[Hortensis]

9. Yes. That's also much of the explanation for LW incompetent

buffoonery and provided phony excuses for the 40% who astonishingly just didn't bother to vote.

More voted in 2018, though. If it'd happened in 2016, we'd have a Democratic president and control of the senate and very likely the house, along with flipping even more state governments. Reform of government and electoral corruption, a liberal majority on SCOTUS and most appellate courts, increased wages, restored labor laws and business regulations, affordable college, massive infrastructure growth and jobs tied in with stopping climate change, no traumatized children in cages, ever (!), on and on and on.

Instead, we're in bad trouble.

But researchers say 2020 is shaping up to continue that growth in turnout. We'd better. Or else.

[Initech]

21. Seriously I am dreading what is going to happen next year.

[Hortensis]

23. I was ready to ask the doctor for a first-ever anxiolytic

in 2018, my insomnia bad enough as it is, but with enough positive signs I never had to. I hope to tough it through similarly this time, but! After Trump was declared the "winner" my attention span was wrecked so badly for a while that I couldn't even escape into a novel. Won't go through that again.

One way or another, life will go on as whatever it is. No choice. In a RW-controlled authoritarian state at least that 40% could stop making excuses. Voting in faux elections wouldn't matter for 100% of us.

[erronis]

10. Makes me think about Gladwell's "Nudge" - how to influence people with minimal effort

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_(book)

While some may argue that various MSM outlets are all the same - they want to maximize profits, I think they ignore those outlets that have a bit of extra shove behind them. When a Murdoch or Mercer can add a bit to the payrolls to make sure the message stays on track.

Not to be too both-siderism about it, but I'm sure some more liberal/centrist money-bags also want to get their view on the air.

But targeting a set of particular demographics through coordinated media campaigns, that is a specialty of certain lobbyists, consultant, media experts. And here the RW/libertarians have an upper hand.

Not to write off the influences from non-US/media moguls. Just a few million roubles can get older white eyeballs to focus on particular issues.

[defacto7]

12. I agree...

[sandensea]

13. That - and support from big business

The way all fascist despots over the last 100 years have risen to power.

[UniteFightBack]

14. It's on the rise because of immigration/refugees. It's just that simple. nt

[usaf-vet]

15. Cut the cord to U.S. news and entertainment 5 years ago. We haven't seen a paid TV ad since 2012.

We use ad-blocking software on our phones and internet devices. We watch only what we like and yes we are willing to pay for the privilege. I listen to podcasts and of course DU. The Guardian is our source for international news although not perfect it is IMO far better than any U.S. media outlet.

Try cutting the cord. There are lots of streaming options today. Hint try" AcornTV and BritBox two British options. Great programming at very reasonable monthly fees. Both are under $10.00/month

[Initech]

22. Oh yeah I hardly ever watch network TV anymore.

And i also try to block ads wherever and whenever possible.

[kimbutgar]

16. I didn't know sky was owned by fox

Was in Europe last two weeks and watched sky news. This woman came on defending MF45 and saying there are no legal grounds for impeachment. They said she was a constitutional lawyer. I looked her up and she was a member of the MF45 2020 re election committee. Which they didn’t disclose. The real constitutional scholar gave some weak answers. I went back and watched BBC instead.

[Marthe48]

17. We've had sensationalism for ages

If you read old novels, bios, history, all the way back to the 1880s, you can find comments about sensationalism, yellow journalism, reputations lost because of the press.

It is up to each person TO CHANGE THE CHANNEL. When we had cable, we actually used the adult controls to block fox news. I avoid using any news links online if it is from fox or a fox affiliate. I know I am wasting my time if I look at their load, and if I click on a link, they get credit for another fool.

I appreciate the DUers who tune in to see what kind of bs fox is spreading, because it takes a lot of insight and courage to jump into the liars' den.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

27. sensationalism is not the same as DISinformation

Spreading deliberate deceptions and crafting the message to destroy faith in all other sources is not simply sensationalism to garner profits. It is propaganda, aka, brainwashing.

Fox, and more recently Sinclair, is all about creating a cult of disinformation.

[certainot]

18. in this country fox is visual icing for the lie turd pie of talk radio. brazil's asshole

leader thanked the 'brazillian limbaugh', a guy who broadcasts from virginia, for his election success. i know talk radio is also big in india. any country with large rural areas and lousy wifi is a candidate for talk radio domination.

you want to destroy fox, destroy talk radio - a much easier target thanks to artificial intelligence-enhanced transcription that makes it very easy and cheap for anyone to do stoprush x100

authoritarians want the repetition and unchallenged certainty that only talk radio can do. fox has to pretend to be balanced and occasionally puts on truth tellers. their liars have to go in front of cameras and try to sell shit. on radio 300 liars and idiots can repeat the same crap all day long in 20 different ways and they all hide behind call screeners. and if the local blowhards deviate, the frustrated limbaugh jock-sniffing ditto heads call in to correct when they're not agreeing and reinforcing and pushing limbo talking points they heard earlier or yesterday.

i don't know about all those other countries and i imagine fox is big in some but in this country anyway, fox is a decoy. it functions to reinforce talk radio, or feed it. it's the cartoon cliff notes for talk radio. hannity is on 500 radio stations too, where he started his career, years before fox could start up. like internet there are political 'alternatives' to fox a click away.

fox also cannot be locally coordinated like talk radio can. 40 states with 80 senators probably average 15- 40 rw talk stations each. limbo's on 600, hannity on maybe 500. levin, savage, and dozens of other national shows all repeat the same crap, with limbo setting the tone, and then the local blowhards follow the same basic line while getting fed by local rw think tanks on local issues/elections/legislation, and coordinated with local GOP.

gop senators are not afraid of trump or fox, they're afraid of being called traitors by limbaugh.

chuck todd had a better response "well, that's what limbaugh's been saying all day for months but it's BS".

put a RUSH tattoo on theri foreheads and watch the entire GOP fall apart. better yet, use AI to boycott all rw radio advertisers, and protest the 87 + universities that support 260+ limbo stations, until the ad industry realizes it's going to lose a lot of customers it they keep bundling them onto those stations to prop them up. they're going to have start asking their customers if they really support trump and global warming.

RW radio monopoly will fall apart when real market demand is applied to it. the ad industry wants all those ears and will force limbaugh and sons off a lot of them.

that will kill fox.

[certainot]

19. g

[kentuck]

20. Also...

I would say that it is not just the television, it is the message that comes out of the television?

[Spider Jerusalem]

24. Sky News is nothing like Fox

and as far as the whole Brexit mess goes the tabloid press (Daily Mail, Sun, and Daily Express) are far more responsible for misinforming the public.

[Initech]

25. Doesn't Murdoch own the Sun?

I know they own the NY Post and a couple of other supermarket tabloids.

[Spider Jerusalem]

26. Yep (and neither the Sun nor the NY Post is a "supermarket tabloid")

[Dawson Leery]

28. Conservative Whites such as Murdoch need to face immigration restrictions.

[secondwind]

29. Several years ago, we did a fabulous home exchange on the Appian Way

It was three stories, it was amazing. The only English speaking channel the place was Faux News. We watched it briefly almost every night, trying to stay in touch, but it just put us to sleep.

[littlemissmartypants]

30. I support this premise. Additionally, it is an addiction to stress that causes many

To "go for more" eventually losing the ability to forego the physiological addiction. The body becomes familiar with this stress often requiring more, to the point of actually craving the stressor. The form of the stimulus of viewed stress can be via television or even radio. Thus creating the vicious cycle that eventually disintegrates the ability to reject the stress and seek other more logical and less damaging sources of stimulation. Television can easily be a barrier to truthful interactions in the real world. TV, mobile devices and computers have all been reported as harbingers of stress while we often treat them as benign.

Some reading here: https://www.talkspace.com/blog/can-you-be-addicted-to-stress/