• Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    94
    ·
    5 days ago

    Yeah. That’s FOX News. They tell their viewers what to think, and the viewers obey.

    They have a very specific propaganda program. It draws people in with fear, outrage and bigotry…

    Then it invites them to divest of all other information sources (except maybe approved ones like OANN or WSJ) the way that an abusive spouse gets their partner to disconnect from all other social relationships.

    And then it pumps them with MAGA ideology. The culture war stuff.

    It’s literal mind control, but it’s like a reverse hack (trying a common password on multiple accounts), in that it hits a lot of people and sucks in those who bite. Usually white uneducated men.

    • Nonprophet@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      31
      ·
      5 days ago

      I was on a 2.5 hour flight recently, and a guy a couple of rows up was watching Fox News. It just jumped from: Trans, Immigrants, Socialism, over and over and over the entire flight. It made me realize how fitting the term ‘News Story’ really is!

        • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          ·
          edit-2
          3 days ago

          Under penalty of perjury, FOX News lawyers assure the court it is absolutely not a news channel but entertainment. Therefore should not be subject to news media regulations. During the 2020 election recount when they were lying about the integrity of Dominion Voting Systems election machines, the lawyers made it super clear now not news FOX is.

          So FOX is not only a propaganda machine, but is deceptive at its core.

      • tempest@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        5 days ago

        That’s repetition if just 24 hour news channels. CNN is similar they just harp on a different set of issues.

        I’m mildly curious how much longer they can keep it up as they slowly become less and less relevant. Few under 40 subscribe to cable television and instead consume social media influencers who are both myriad and cheaper to influence.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      ·
      edit-2
      5 days ago

      They have a very specific propaganda program. It draws people in with fear, outrage and bigotry…

      It’s the same one that’s been around since the 1920’s, they’ve all been cribbing from the same guy for over a hundred years.

      The German jurist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt wrote about the inherent vulnerability of democracy in his book The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy in 1923. He basically wrote the playbook that every fascist still utilizes today.

      Writing “Every actual democracy rests on the principle that not only are equals equal, but unequals will not be treated equally.” Basically, you can tear apart any democracy by framing diversity and minority opinions as existential threats to the political community, by exploiting this you can lay the groundwork for majoritarian tyranny and state-sponsored exclusion.