Faux news

You may think the comments made by Donald Trump this week about Muslims came out of left field, but they really came straight off Fox news.

Not a lot us up here see that channel regularly; maybe you've seen clips on John Stewart or a parody on 22 minutes, but it's not included in basic cable or satellite. If you get a chance to watch it the next time you're in the US, I recommend it, not for anything like news, since it certainly is not, but for the study in how the US really is a 'whole nother country' and becoming more divided by the minute.

I notice precious little news on Fox news; it's mostly commentary about the news, commentary that is small minded and vicious, uttered by white folk who appear to think things were pretty good under Jim Crow, and whose every sentence is crafted to insidiously undermine the ideas of those with whom he host disagrees. There's no straight-up 'US foreign policy' mentioned on Fox news, only 'Obama's failed foreign policy' - it's subtle, but it never stops, a never-ending drip of acidic disdain for that black (and possibly muslim) fella elected twice to the White House.

The first time I switched to the channel on vacation recently, my sweetheart suggested he was seeing a comedy special then fell into a state of shocked incredulity when he realized the trolling, angry, entitled, racist rants and gotcha not-really-interviews he was watching, were real, with massive ratings. Within a few hours of the shootings in California last week, one talking head was already positing that the attack was part of the 'war on Christmas', since it took place at a Christmas party, after all.

That guy who shot up a women's health clinic two weeks ago in Colorado? A Fox viewer, taking in a deadly, daily dose of anti-abortion rhetoric until he did exactly what could be expected of a brainwashed loser with easy access to guns.

It's not rocket science, it's hatred served up 24/7 on a flatscreen near you.