Fear
Somewhere in Kentucky
Maybe I’m overreacting, but connect the dots:
1. “Fox News is believed to make more money than CNN, MSNBC and the evening newscasts of NBC, ABC and CBS combined.” (via @osulop)
2. “When will America wake up? The left has started a revolution. No different than Hugo Chavez. When Hugo Chavez was elected, he was elected by Democratic process. But he did not tell the people when he was running that he was a communist.” Through sheer volume, Glenn Beck’s anti-pinko routine forced a resignation from White House environmental advisor Van Jones.
3. Beck’s hatchet jobs landed him on the cover of TIME magazine. Along with Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, Beck now commands a growing army of patriots in AM radioland who ‘want their country back’ . . . (from what, exactly?)
4. Sarah Palin joins FOX News.
5. Bill O’Reilly to Sarah Palin: “You now have a forum here at FOX News so that you can immediately neutralize 60 minutes [snaps his fingers] like that. Anytime you want to set the record straight, we’re here.”
6. “See? All Sarah Palin gets out of this is the full power of the most popular news network in the country functioning as her de facto rapid response media arm — and they’re paying her for the privilege of doing it.” — Jon Stewart, The Daily Show 01/13/10
7. There’s an uptick in chatter about Palin’s presidential ambitions.
Now, via the increasingly prescient Andrew Sullivan, there’s more: Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin recently sat down together to talk about how America needs God. And they sat in front of the Statue of Liberty, where they missed no opportunity to exploit their proximity to Ground Zero:
It’s not an interview, it’s a coronation.
When our previous President took us to war, denied some of its citizens due process, and expanded its surveillance powers, we were awfully quiet as a nation. Now that our new President is attempting to give us affordable health care, the country is hollering about revolution. I respect a healthy fear of government intervention, but do the aftershocks of the Red Scare really run that deep? Or is something else going on?
If the Conservative Agenda was even semi-coherent, they’d be the first people to trash the Patriot Act and combat governmental interference in marriage. But there is no logical ideology or self-reflection. Not when you’re afraid of change. Not when you’re running on raw hate. Look no further than Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson’s inexplicable comments following the horror in Haiti. What kind of mean God do these people worship?
Again: the ability of a predominantly white-male-heterosexual-Christian political faction to convincingly behave as if it is an oppressed minority in this nation is an amazing bit of sleight of hand.
You’re the real Americans. They keep saying that. In 2008, I hoped Palin’s hate rallies signified the death rattle of this kind of narrow jingoism, of urban vs rural, of Christians vs everybody else — but unless the White House can cough up some more jobs quickly (real ones), then I fear we’re heading towards some very dark and angry days.
For eighteen months, Andrew Sullivan’s relentless hounding of Sarah Palin was almost manic, but now I’m on board: she is a frightening Trojan Horse in the model of George Wallace-style populism — and now she’s armed with the loudest microphone in America. Sullivan is right: “She is not a tabloid story. She is a threat.”
I’m becoming just as paranoid and conspiratorial as the Right wing — and I hate it.
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so, what’s the program? what’s the agenda behind this?
My agenda? I’m just freaking out here. Nothing more.
Their agenda? A predominantly white-male-heterosexual-Christian nation based on manufactured nostalgia. That, and safeguarding corporate-military power.
i’m with you in the freaking-out party
i also buy the white-christian part, seeing as how (sidestepping the straight-dude part which is a part too) both are soon to be ex-majorities in the country.. so is it essentially a panic of the aristocracy?
it’s a matter of limited understanding for me: i don’t see all the connections from “corporate power” to crowning sarah as an indisputable chain of links. even if i believe with you that there probably is one.
i mean, things that i feel a bit unclear are
- the cynical by the heart/balls populism that beck and palin exemplify (it’s some unclear mix of profiting through effective media drama and political opinion/allegiance manipulation. a lot of it looks like both..)
- the nature of corporate power (which, they aim to ultimately direct profit — what are the specific tactical gains? also keep in mind corporations are the opposite of a unified front/force in many ways too)
- the role of overt nostalgic, pure-white-christian american stuff that can energize reactionaries, BUT if you’re going for engineering a political power structure with white christians declining in relative numbers, your platform would have to be inclusive and non-racist at the very least in appearance; the conservative white hate is kind of counterproductive
- aside from the military industry, which is of course massive, is there any other confluence with the largest corporations and whatever power they wield and the military?
etc..
(i guess i just should have gone to school)
God, I’m depressed.
“I’m becoming just as paranoid and conspiratorial as the Right wing — and I hate it.”
But maybe we need some of this. Us lefties tend towards reason and logic. Duh, health care reform is a good option. Duh, Bushy Jr. compromised our rights, and ruined a lot of things. But these don’t evoke the sentiment that one inauthentic remark of any Right Wing media monkey does. Those guys can be dead wrong, and it doesn’t even matter. They have no accountability to themselves.
What irks me in this video, and it kind of trickles down through the whole right wing conversation, is that there is no empathy or subjectivity. The fact that Beck and Palin come together to talk about God, rather than a Christian God, or religion in general, just “plain ol’ God God like he’s got to be the same God duhamirite?!” demonstrates how the corollaries between their ‘obvious God’ and the Christian God aren’t even needed, except in the half-assed allusions to bible verses. Their stance is “truth.” %100 unequivocal truth based on nothing of substance.
So maybe we need some conspiracy on our side, because being reasonable sure isn’t working out.
For me as a German it feels good to see a profound and rectified view on American politics and witness that somebody is aware of the BS that is going on in the American politics and media landscape. Let me add two things:
I’m not sure if it’s just Fox News or even a big part of the population, but clearly some guys at Fox News need a lesson in politics and history. Calling Obama and the Democratic party left and compare them to Hugo Chavez is just wrong. I just advise anybody who thinks that Obama politics are left to compare Obamas agenda to agendas of Hugo Chavez and left European parties.
It frightens me deeply that a TV station hires a politician. The media is often called the “Fourth Estate”. It has the duty to inform the public and present it a critical opinion on politics. I know that TV stations and newspapers always tend to have their own political opinions; there are newspaper which of course favor the Republican to the Democratic Party. This is no problem at all, as long as the newspapers and Tv stations stay critical (which Fox News hasn’t been for a long time). But the day Fox News has hired Sarah Palin and let her present her opinions not questioned or challenged by journalists Fox News was no longer part of the media but just another branche of a political party. The day other TV stations start doing the same thing, journalism – at least on TV- will be dead.
I apologize for all my linguistic mistakes.
Thank you for the thoughtful comments here. I felt a bit sheepish after posting this hysterical rant, but your remarks have given me a lot to digest. A few offhand responses:
Mr. M, I can’t answer your questions properly yet, but here’s a bit of spitballing + a few more questions that might get us closer…
1. Re: Cynical Populism — Why will thousands of citizens with no health insurance or crappy insurance turn up at town hall meetings to vote against a national healthcare plan? How do you mobilize people to vote against their own self-interest? Thomas Frank’s ‘What’s the Matter with Kansas’ oversimplified the answer: Republicans manipulate religion to create wedge-issue distractions (abortion, gay marriage) while they rob the bank and close down the farms — but unless you can connect Jesus to Aetna or CIGNA, that theory falls apart w/r/t health insurance.
2. Re: Corporate-Political-Military Connection — In the lobby of a Wal-Mart in Pahrump, Nevada, there’s an enormous sign over the door that says ‘Our Sons & Daughters Stand Watch Tonight So that You & I May Sleep Under a Blanket of Freedom.’ You see this sort of thing all over the country. From high-tech missiles to textile manufacturers to janitorial services, big companies win huge when we go to war (I’m too lazy to look them up, but there are a frillion speculative charts showing how the company that makes rocket launchers and the company that makes soda pop are both ultimately owned by the same shell company in Nebraska). We still believe in the mythology of Rosie the Riveter and American muscle — trouble is, now that we’re a nation that no longer make things, only the guys in boardrooms make any money. Now connect that to the entire Bush agenda (tax breaks, estate tax, deregulation, etc).
3. Re: Corporate-Political Connection, Part II — It’s worth keeping in mind that the FOX News & AM radio guys who holler the loudest about freedom and bootstrapping are worth hundreds of millions of dollars with corporate sponsorships (ranging from pharmaceuticals to tech products). They broadcast from midtown NYC.
4. Re: “Your platform would have to be inclusive and non-racist at the very least in appearance” — A cynical response would be to point out the nomination of Michael Steele as chairman of the RNC following Obama’s election. But I’m not comfortable with accusing Republicans of trading on race; rather than fixating on demographics, I think they’re concerned with a very narrow ‘traditional’ ideology that is historically bound-up in a white middle-class value system. Put another way: I think Jimmy Carter and Maureen Dowd were wrong to call Senator Joe ‘You Lie’ Wilson a racist rather than a jackass.
* * *
Sean, I agree that the left needs to find some spine — and quickly. I continue to blame the Democrats for the election of Bush in the first place. Bush never should have come close. It’s not that the Republicans are effective, it’s that the Democrats are extraordinarily ineffective.
However, without a clear bedrock ideology (e.g. Jesus or Ayn Rand), I worry that the progressive cause is doomed to moral relativism and incoherent messaging. How do we fix this?
* * *
Lars, although Obama is certainly moderate when placed next to Chavez, I understand why he’s being painted that way: in one year, we’ve nationalized many of our banks, car companies, and now (potentially, but only in theory) our healthcare system — and in the meantime the deficit is skyrocketing and the White House is manufacturing spectral job statistics. So I understand why people fear this sudden left turn (which isn’t to say that I agree with them or that it has anything to do with Obama specifically).
And yep, this new connection between FOX News and a potential presidential candidate is incredibly unnerving. And it’s worth keeping in mind that the White House went to war against FOX News this summer by refusing to grant interviews or even acknowledge its existence as a ‘news organization’.
In terms of political polling, the White House paid dearly for that move.
Now I’m even more depressed. I’m going to get a burrito.
james, this is fucking terrifying.
Hi there – I found your blog via a recent post at Urban Omnibus, which I liked so much I followed the link to your main blog.
At risk of adding to your depression and fear, I’d like to suggest going here: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/ and reading Altemay’s (free!) book, The Authoritarians. It explains a lot about the mindset behind all this voting against one’s interests. It is also terrifying.
AND THEN if you still are up for it (and haven’t already), read up on a religious organization called “The Family.” Wikipedia (I know) has just enough detail to give you nightmares; I haven’t tracked down any of the real books on the subject.
Me, I am going to go find the gin dispenser, and read more things about nice safe topics like architecture and urban decay.
Interesting podcast concerning liberal / conservative radio, thereby examining the ways in which liberal / conservative punditry works.
http://www.slate.com/id/2240571#100127
The discussion starts around the 11:30 mark.
I’m becoming just as paranoid and conspiratorial as the Right wing — and I hate it. http://bit.ly/5iOzEw
Originally posted on Twitter