For years now I've been able to laugh off my grandparents, FOX News and brainwashed Republicans in general.

But my roommate's interaction with her parents changed things for me.

Her parents told her that they were scared. They were scared because something serious was underway in America, that a revolution was happening that threatened to destroy the entire country and that it was serious. They told her that Marxists were on the brink of pulling Biden to the Left, and that they were legitimately danger.

I usually laugh this off, but something struck me: they weren't angry, or grumpy, or bone-headed, like I usually imagine Republicans. They were legitimately afraid, and perceived themselves to truly be descending into a national emergency, one that FOX News has completely manufactured.

I used to laugh off people that said FOX is paving the way to Fascism, or Drumpf = Hitler. But I've come to comprehend that fear, not anger, was the driving motivator in Nazi Germany, and now understand that FOX is pumping sheer terror into the American public at levels only possible in modern society.

I don't really think FOX is a laughing matter anymore, because I begin to understand how an American public this afraid could condone Nazi Germany level atrocities under the impression that they were saving themselves.

  • sexywheat [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Although I am Canadian, I work with a lot of yankees, some of whom are huge chuds that watch Fox news. I got sucked into a coronavirus debate with one of them (although I tried my best to avoid it) and he immediately started regurgitating FOX News talking points.

    -The seasonal flu is worse

    -The WHO is "taking us for a ride" (whatever the fuck that means)

    -Masks don't do anything to protect people from catching the virus

    -Mail in ballots are an existential threat to democracy (not sure where this one came from since it was so off topic)

    It occurred to me that this rhetoric is literally getting people killed by the thousands.

    You'd think that if the end game of FOX news was just to scare people that this virus would be a perfect opportunity to do so, but they are doing the opposite, probably because shutting down the economy is hurting the profits of businesses. Then again, on the other hand, the billionaires are getting massively richer during this crisis.

    I've never quite been able to figure out what their end-game goal is.

    • standardissue [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      It's usually fun to ask socratic style questions like "how do you know that's true?" or "what do you mean by that?" to get people to realize they're full of shit and have no idea what they're talking about. But these people have such little self awareness that I imagine that won't work

        • Gorn [they/them,he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Sry, Chinese room is a thought experiment about the existence of consciousness in computers lmao

          Someone is sitting in a box, who doesn't speak Mandarin. But they have a giant book that tells them what to write and send out of the box based on every single possible written Mandarin message that someone puts into the box. Like a computer. From the outside, it looks like you're communicating with someone who speaks Mandarin; but the person inside the box doesn't not know Mandarin.

          It's like how chuds don't even understand half the shit they say, they just regurgitate talking points in response to other talking points. It might seem like you're communicating with them, but they don't actually speak Mandarin.

          This is especially true in canada where american talking points just actually don't even make sense there.

            • Gorn [they/them,he/him]
              ·
              4 years ago

              Lol, yes... they don't know what that flag means. When you ask them, they say 'southern pride', and they still don't know what the flag means lol