When a cult leader loses

Reality is whatever we want it to be, dammit!

On one hand, the network needs to maintain a semblance of having a serious news operation and its news anchors have acknowledged the reality that Trump lost the election to Joe Biden.
On the other hand, the acknowledgment of reality is angering Fox's audience, some members of which are refusing to accept the truth of the matter and rebelling when it is force-fed to them.

Let's not forget that Trump is "draining the swamp", whatever that means. Because it sure as Hell doesn't mean fighting corruption.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

...was chanting, "Make Germany Great Again."

It never gets old. For them.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Liberals are MUCH better winners and MUCH better losers than conservatives.
It's funny how conservatives call liberals "snowflakes" when conservatives are the kids who will "take their ball and go home" at the drop of a hat. Conservatives are such snowflakes that they are the "victims" even when they win.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@gjohnsit is conservatives actually winning, with one caveat: the conservatives must have the letter (D) next to their names. The liberals are, in this sense, cheap dates. This sort of winning displeases the conservatives, who are always pushing for more.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Cassiodorus's picture

I've seen this purported motive circulated in the Net; I can't think of a more credible one for what is happening now.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

travelerxxx's picture

Some of my relatives and old co-workers have evidently been switching various networks - not just news networks.

Recently, I've received a fair number of "invitations" to watch something known as the OAN (One America News Network) television network. We checked it out and could only stomach a few minutes of it as it appeared to be several magnitudes more rabidly right-wing than Fox. Due to this, I'm sure they'll be wildly successful here in the USA.

We've also been receiving sundry "invitations" to hook up with a number of Facebook wannabes. At the top of the heap is something known as WeMe. One close relative seems to be especially pushing this. Since he's an Oath Keeper member, no doubt that group figures large in the attempted shift from Facebook. After all, it's hard to schedule your militia meetings and plots to kidnap governors on Facebook these days.

I trash all these "invitations," but duly note who sponsors them being sent to me.

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@travelerxxx
Is it harder to find out the truth of what is going on because honest sources are getting more rare?
Or are honest sources getting more rare because people don't want the truth?

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travelerxxx's picture

@gjohnsit

My guess is all of the above.

As the title of your essay suggests, we're nearly into religious territory. Maybe we're completely into it. I've found that trying to convince Trump supporters to modify their views is somewhat akin to attempting to persuade a fundamentalist Baptist to convert to Taoism. Likewise, a Blue-No-Matter-Who pink-hat-donner is not likely to entertain any thought that Vlad Putin isn't evil incarnate, and won't be satisfied until nukes are flying.

However, to your question, yes, honest sources are more rare - at least to those who don't actively search out multiple opinions and/or views. For Jill and Joe Bleaux, all they know is television. Also, if your aim is to sell more Buick advertisements, then rocking the boat may not seem like such a great idea.

Can you imagine the likes of Fox or MSNBC reporting on something with the gravity of (for instance) the JFK murder without their biases showing through like a beacon? It might not be there on the initial announcement, but it surely wouldn't take more than a minute or so before the slant would begin.

Perhaps more want the truth than don't care, but they may not want to be inconvenienced by it. Sometimes I think it would be good to study what "the press" looked like in Weimar Republic Germany before the NSDAP. Maybe we'd do better at picking up some warning signs. I suspect there are some right now.

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Bollox Ref's picture

@travelerxxx

Makes Fox look like the BBC.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

travelerxxx's picture

@Bollox Ref

Makes Fox look like the BBC.

LOL!

Indeed! Yes, my wife and I felt the difference was practically that vast. We could take just a few minutes of it at one time. We did try to watch a bit more of it by putting an interval - I think we used an hour or two - in between our few attempts to watch.

My poor wife was particularly bothered by it. I found it odious, even though I've spent decades around televisions running Fox News. Thought I'd be immune - nope. They really are at a whole 'nother level.

Funny, when my father was sending text messages to my wife, trying to convince her to watch it, he said it was "...very neutral in its point of view." I'm afraid they could have used my Dad in that documentary film "The Brainwashing of My Dad."

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@travelerxxx I was just going to mention that documentary. I confess I'm just watching it now (free with commercials, online) for the first time, even though I remember the interviews on Democracy Now! when it was released. It is very informative, and connects all the dots...

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travelerxxx's picture

@BORG_US_BORG

I've not seen it - only read about it, seen trailers, etc. I am very familiar with the storyline. From everything I know, it would fit my family quite well. Sadly.

I know they dropped the price and - if I remember correctly - either waved the rental price or lower it considerably due to the election. We intended to watch it a couple of weeks ago, but it got away from us. My wife especially wanted to see it. Guess they're still letting folks watch it gratis. I need to catch it.

Your description that it "...connects all the dots" has me ready to do it.

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@travelerxxx Its free with commercials on amazon prime/ imdb tv....

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RantingRooster's picture

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C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote

Bollox Ref's picture

that gives them the 'news' they want to hear.

Nothing cult-like about that, no, no, no.......

Kinda reminds me of another Orange place.

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18 users have voted.

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Pricknick's picture

May they drink the jim jones flavor aid.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

@Pricknick that's it brother, you nailed it. I mean you triggered me in to oblivion thanks a lot. I guess you weren't there at the time, but maybe you were? Where DiFi's career of corruption was launched, and Kamala Harris was mentored by Jim Jones' best buddy Willy Brown. Even though I was born and raised a Bay Area democrat, Willy Brown was always known as the sleaziest piece of shit politician to ever walk the halls of San Francisco, before DiFi. And then later on. the proverbial "We" got D-Newsom instead of G-Gonzalez for mayor because of course! PU the stench of California Democrats still stinks like cult.

Dark Days: Remembering Jonestown and the Moscone-Milk assassinations

The shock of the mass killing hadn’t fully settled in when a deeply disturbed former San Francisco supervisor made his way into City Hall and fatally shot Mayor George Moscone and city Supervisor Harvey Milk.

The anguish that began 40 years ago Sunday in a South American jungle compound and climaxed less than two weeks later with the City Hall assassinations marked some of the darkest days in San Francisco history. The events cast a gloom that would last for years. They also, in some ways, changed the course of the city’s future.

The martyrdom of Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, set the stage for the emergence of other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender leaders, laws to protect gay and lesbian rights, and broader acceptance of LGBT citizens generally. Dianne Feinstein’s ascent into the mayor’s office moderated Moscone’s liberal agenda and helped lead to the proliferation of high-rise development in the city. Meanwhile, the outrage and revulsion over what happened at Jonestown changed the way we think about cults and the influence of religious power brokers.

Lesson learned after forty years of duopoly abuse: The Left shall receive NO power, ever. If a movement takes hold, some pig will come along and blow it away, kill it dead.
"That's the system." --Jerry Brown

peace

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@eyo When I first moved to San Francisco I lived in the Fillmore district, which was Willie Brown's district. I got to vote against him once before he was term limited out. He almost lost to the peace and freedom candidate.

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I thought this essay was going to be about Bernie and the Ds, LOL! The same could be said about either end of duopoly, in my view. At one end there is CNN and MSNBC spewing D propaganda, the other end spews FOX and OAN prop. There is no channel that is not prop as far as I can tell. CBS, NBC, ABC have all become tabloids by the looks of their tube channels. Everything on earth is owned by Disney now, or close to it. keep flushing

Bigly political rallies were a favorite of Goebbels' Ministry of Truth, to spew his ideas everywhere. Trump and Bernie, same same. Harnessing and focusing mob mentality to go to war, or to get out the vote has not changed in the written history I have been exposed to. good luck

peace

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@eyo The political parties are virtually the same. Both corrupt to the core.
And the media outlets are virtually the same. Both spew endless amounts of propaganda.
But there is an important difference in how they approach and interface with the base. And how the base reacts in kind.

The GOP always encourages and embraces its right-wing base. Right now the GOP base is only rebelling because Fox News is not obsequious enough.

The Democratic base on the other hand is misdirected obstructed and generally ignored. The Democratic leadership seems to be completely out of touch with the base or at the very least hold nothing but contempt. Any expression by the base to demand its needs is dismissed.
This is a contemptible situation but it's not a cult

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magiamma's picture

@eyo
in reality it is quite legal to spew stories that are not based in fact. I do not remember the details but some time ago there was a 'something' that was passed that said that news = infotainment. whatever.

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

I thought it had something to do with onanism. Maybe it does? Would that make them onanites? Maybe that's why they're so cranky.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@gjohnsit

But what's sad is not so much that dying people are angry and refuse to believe they are dying of Covid-19. Haunted beliefs like these have become common in recent years — like the pussy-hat brigade and their belief that V. Putin rigged the the US election against them. These delusions are born in the social extremes and they are profoundly disturbing to both family and onlookers, who inhabit an evidence-based reality.

What is sad and shocking is the apparent physical damage to the brains of Americans that has occurred in the seven years since Federal prohibitions against brainwashing the US population, was revoked.

President Obama facilitated this revocation of the prohibitions against domestic mind control in 2013. This allowed the Intelligence Community and the Media monopolies to target Americans with broadcasts of false narratives, unfounded fears of foreign aggressions, and biased propaganda about false events — all based on strategic untruths. The minds of Americans were manipulated and distracted, without the People's consent, largely to serve the agenda of the Neocon operatives, who are embedded in the highest levels of the Federal government.

That happened.

Over the past century, these globally-fixated political operatives have kept the US on a constant war footing. Americans have been pushed into invading countries and fighting wars for 222 out of 239 years since the Constitution was signed. These never-ending wars — and the sacrificed lives of the People who are brainwashed into fighting them... and paying for them — do have an ultimate destination. Beyond war profiteering, that is. The Neocons believe that the world-wide interventions and sabotage of smaller independent nations and the ongoing economic crimes against competitive nations will eventually weaken them into submission, thus establishing the global supremacy of the American Empire. The US Elite — backed by a superior military force and willing to use weapons of mass destruction against resisters — will become the Supreme Rulers over all people, all nations, and all resources on earth.

That manifesto exists.

For want of a better explanation, seven years of concentrated brainwashing — demonizing world leaders the US wants to invade, rehabilitating former terrorists as allies, comic book plots disguised as Intel, slap-stick narratives of false flag poisonings, and other nonsense coming from authorities has disabled the critical reasoning capabilities of the general population. The neurological processes in their brains are misfiring. The entire world has quietly observed our domestic gaslighting and the unhinged lies we tell ourselves. The mind control of the American people is discussed and refuted at geopolitical levels. This once-unthinkable and prohibited domestic psyop has left Americans both mal-informed and cynical. Rather that herding the skeptical stragglers toward the conformist center, these foolish antics of the corrupt government have activated self-aware Americans to maintain the standards of intellectual honesty. The far ends of the US political spectrum are inflamed with disgust for the nation's corrupted democracy. Pools of violence and insanity erupt now and then — justifying the pressing need for militarized police throughout the US.

It's what it is.

[edited]

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato