The Super Bowl is the most watched sporting event in the United States. It is estimated that more than 117 million Americans may watch the spectacle between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. It will play out in an American pageant of ostentation, competition, hype, drama, performative patriotism, slick marketing and big business that unfurls between Chris Stapleton singing the national anthem, Rihanna’s halftime show and the flyover of an all-American and all-female fighter pilot formation. The million-dollar ads won’t focus on uncertainty and pessimism, but rather turn to nostalgia over tomorrow.
Right on, Steve, with your take-down of Murdoch, one of the most evil men on the planet. Media Matters has been examining and critiquing Fox News for decades now, among other things doing or citing studies showing that folks who watch the channel 1) not only *lack important information* about many crucial topics, 2) they also *hold very wrong ideas* about many topics. In other words, they've been mis-informed by the dis-information project carried on over the years by all those repulsive talking heads, especially during primetime hours--Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, et alia ad nauseam.
There are some bitingly cogent visual memes i've collected about FOX News and Murdoch over the years. Can't show them here in a comment thread, but they include things like a guy holding up a sign that reads, "FOX News: Rich people paying rich people to tell Middle class people to blame Poor people."
Another one has three vertical panels-- first one is labeled "Car Factory" and shows an old b&w photo of a Ford manufacturing plant. Second one is labeled "Motorcycle Factory" and shows a Harley-Davidson manufacturing site. The third panel shows the FOX News logo and is labeled "Bullshit Factory."
Yet another one shows Murdoch sitting at a table on which he has a plate piled high with cookies. To his left is a white guy in a hard hat with one cookie on his plate. Murdoch is leaning over toward the guy and snidely saying, "Careful mate, that foreigner [pointing to a black man across the table who has no plate at all] wants your cookie."
...and let’s not forget that the Super Bowl is being played in a stadium, as Judd Legum has informed us, is a massive giveaway to a billionaire. Often the billionaire owners of NFL teams use extortion, (the threat to move their teams) to extract taxes from the communities and states in which the teams play. Both the gleaming new stadiums and the potholes driven over to reach them are testaments to uneven playing field on which American Democracy is played.
I agree, it is important to give voice to all sides. However, when one side no longer respects truth or decency and spreads misinformation to mislead then it becomes a danger to our American way of life. This country needs to update our freedom of speech laws so that they serve all and protect us from misinformation and foreign interference.
The malign influence of the Murdoch family can’t be overstated. Between them and the now-departed Rush Limbaugh, more has been done to destroy this nation’s social fabric than we ever thought possible.
The Murdoch media empire & the right wing echo chamber have been running a PsyOp on the American people for many years with the support & & active complicity of the GOP. They have been activating and overdeveloping their audiences’ amygdalae (our primitive fear-based fight or flight response) & short-circuiting their pre-frontal cortices (our executive functioning). I am certain that these changes are visible in brain scans from small studies that have been performed in the UK. Unfortunately, the rest of the media has not used the terminology that would help us better understand what is actually going on. Murdoch, et al enjoy traumatizing their viewers & the libs while they serve anti-American propaganda that benefits the Russians & the Chinese.
PS - the Fairness Doctrine isn’t coming back. It is ill-suited for the media of today. Maybe it worked when there were 3 TV networks & no internet, but it is not the solution to our current circumstances.
I could not agree with you more. I am thrilled Biden did not take the bait. And look forward to the Super Bowl returning to CBS next year. Go Chiefs ( a Chiefs fan since 1963).
Thank you very much, Steve, for your fine short piece and video. President Biden’s principled snub of Fox was especially satisfactory after the damage they’ve done in the fight against Covid and in our support of Ukraine, in which latter cause their hosts have shown themselves reliably on Putin’s side.
Good monologue. Agree the poisons that Fox has spread will take a long time to resolve.
A few days back President Biden spoke with Judy Woodruff, now handling special assignments for PBS. She, or some of the more responsible journalists should ask the President his rationale for walking away from the Fox interview. It is important for people to hear why disinformation (lies) has no home in the USA.
Murdoch and Fox News could not have wrought the damage it has if this country had not abandoned education. We have the dumbest population of any westernized country. Democracy cannot survive an uneducated electorate.
Yay!!!for President Biden! He continues to exhibit sharp political acumen behind that affable smile. I love that he castigates the extremists with a smile ( like at the SOTU address ). Enjoyably sly. As for FOX news and Murdoch ~ every word Steve 100%. I hope they hear your speech.
Thank You Steve! This needs to be said again, again and again. Everybody should cut out cable TV! When you subscribe to cable, you are directly supporting Fox and other propaganda outlets. We need to starve the beast! Cut the cord and stream content from providers you want to support.
Right on, Steve, with your take-down of Murdoch, one of the most evil men on the planet. Media Matters has been examining and critiquing Fox News for decades now, among other things doing or citing studies showing that folks who watch the channel 1) not only *lack important information* about many crucial topics, 2) they also *hold very wrong ideas* about many topics. In other words, they've been mis-informed by the dis-information project carried on over the years by all those repulsive talking heads, especially during primetime hours--Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, et alia ad nauseam.
There are some bitingly cogent visual memes i've collected about FOX News and Murdoch over the years. Can't show them here in a comment thread, but they include things like a guy holding up a sign that reads, "FOX News: Rich people paying rich people to tell Middle class people to blame Poor people."
Another one has three vertical panels-- first one is labeled "Car Factory" and shows an old b&w photo of a Ford manufacturing plant. Second one is labeled "Motorcycle Factory" and shows a Harley-Davidson manufacturing site. The third panel shows the FOX News logo and is labeled "Bullshit Factory."
Yet another one shows Murdoch sitting at a table on which he has a plate piled high with cookies. To his left is a white guy in a hard hat with one cookie on his plate. Murdoch is leaning over toward the guy and snidely saying, "Careful mate, that foreigner [pointing to a black man across the table who has no plate at all] wants your cookie."
...and let’s not forget that the Super Bowl is being played in a stadium, as Judd Legum has informed us, is a massive giveaway to a billionaire. Often the billionaire owners of NFL teams use extortion, (the threat to move their teams) to extract taxes from the communities and states in which the teams play. Both the gleaming new stadiums and the potholes driven over to reach them are testaments to uneven playing field on which American Democracy is played.
Australia despises Murdoch as much as the USA. I’m sure the UK would feel the same.
Murdoch owns over 70% of Au media. Aussies are calling for a royal commission into Murdoch media.
What do ppl think about laws so media is honest?
How do these laws get written so that real truths that may be in the minority aren’t stopped?
I agree, it is important to give voice to all sides. However, when one side no longer respects truth or decency and spreads misinformation to mislead then it becomes a danger to our American way of life. This country needs to update our freedom of speech laws so that they serve all and protect us from misinformation and foreign interference.
The Murdoch empire has utterly razed even the notion of integrity in this country and in the process pocketed a fortune.
Undoing this catastrophic damage will be a long-term prospect.
Just as Professor Cox Richardson referenced in her latest letter, time to reconstitute the reality-based community.
The malign influence of the Murdoch family can’t be overstated. Between them and the now-departed Rush Limbaugh, more has been done to destroy this nation’s social fabric than we ever thought possible.
The Murdoch media empire & the right wing echo chamber have been running a PsyOp on the American people for many years with the support & & active complicity of the GOP. They have been activating and overdeveloping their audiences’ amygdalae (our primitive fear-based fight or flight response) & short-circuiting their pre-frontal cortices (our executive functioning). I am certain that these changes are visible in brain scans from small studies that have been performed in the UK. Unfortunately, the rest of the media has not used the terminology that would help us better understand what is actually going on. Murdoch, et al enjoy traumatizing their viewers & the libs while they serve anti-American propaganda that benefits the Russians & the Chinese.
PS - the Fairness Doctrine isn’t coming back. It is ill-suited for the media of today. Maybe it worked when there were 3 TV networks & no internet, but it is not the solution to our current circumstances.
I could not agree with you more. I am thrilled Biden did not take the bait. And look forward to the Super Bowl returning to CBS next year. Go Chiefs ( a Chiefs fan since 1963).
Thank you very much, Steve, for your fine short piece and video. President Biden’s principled snub of Fox was especially satisfactory after the damage they’ve done in the fight against Covid and in our support of Ukraine, in which latter cause their hosts have shown themselves reliably on Putin’s side.
Let's not forget The NFL. They are a lobby of owners who take tax dollars from communities for personal profit.
Good monologue. Agree the poisons that Fox has spread will take a long time to resolve.
A few days back President Biden spoke with Judy Woodruff, now handling special assignments for PBS. She, or some of the more responsible journalists should ask the President his rationale for walking away from the Fox interview. It is important for people to hear why disinformation (lies) has no home in the USA.
It doesn’t seem possible to clean up the mess Fox has made in a single generation.
Murdoch and Fox News could not have wrought the damage it has if this country had not abandoned education. We have the dumbest population of any westernized country. Democracy cannot survive an uneducated electorate.
Yay!!!for President Biden! He continues to exhibit sharp political acumen behind that affable smile. I love that he castigates the extremists with a smile ( like at the SOTU address ). Enjoyably sly. As for FOX news and Murdoch ~ every word Steve 100%. I hope they hear your speech.
What do you expect from a corporation that calls itself FOX? Finally the truth, and THAT’S what their viewers choose not to believe.
Thank You Steve! This needs to be said again, again and again. Everybody should cut out cable TV! When you subscribe to cable, you are directly supporting Fox and other propaganda outlets. We need to starve the beast! Cut the cord and stream content from providers you want to support.