A Rant: The Far Right is Out of Control
April 12, 2009
Fear-mongering in our country has always been a sacred practice. I mean hell, it’s one of the best ways to sell news and media, so why not let it loose? When I speak of Fear-mongering, I mean taking a relatively sane and normal idea, selectively highlighting and quoting it, and then running a story on some sensationalist idea that on its own seems ridiculous and terrifying. Take, for example, Fox news running the follow story on Obama:
Obama May Block Sun’s Rays to End Global Warming
WASHINGTON — The president’s new science adviser said Wednesday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth’s air.
John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month that the idea of geoengineering the climate is being discussed.
One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun’s rays. Holdren said such an experimental measure would only be used as a last resort.
“It’s got to be looked at,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of taking any approach off the table.”
(Source: Fox News)
What we have here is a wonderful example of Fear-mongering. Anyone browsing the headlines will see a radical idea, one very different from the article itself. When taken in context, we see an advisor discussing the most extreme possibility, which is only one of many ideas. Rather than Obama himself blocking the sun, you have an advisor listening to a scientist discuss a very extreme option to block UV rays. Once we look at the context, and the surrounding information, the headline strikes one as ridiculous.
So how does that play into the Far Right? It’s not exactly unknown that Fox is a Conservative News site. After all, this is the company whose daily “attitude” is handed down from the top. Here’s where I’m going with this: A news company claiming to be “fair and balanced” ought to have more sense when it comes to the obvious right wing bias. This is the same news company that questioned the patriotism of anyone criticising former President Bush, and yet is now scripting the talking heads to hate on nearly anything and everything that President Obama does. I mean hell, even things Obama himself doesn’t do are being attributed to him now! One of his ADVISORS listens to a scientist detail one of many ideas, and Fox claims that Obama may block the sun?
This has gotten ridiculous.
April 11, 2009 at 8:55 pm
John Holdren is insane. It is about time someone pointed that fact out. I find it odd that anyone who has not drank the Obama kool-Aid “the far right” and you piss and moan about “fear-mongering”, when the whole Climate Change scam is exactly that….fear-mongering. Obama makes Bush look smart, and he has surrounded himself with fellow crooks, thieves, and crazy loons like Holdren. One thing you got correct though. This blog is ridiculous.
April 11, 2009 at 9:27 pm
I never made any claims about the validity of Climate Change. If you’ll re-read the post, it was a comment on the portrayal of a single instance by Fox News. There are more of these to come so I can highlight a larger range of these instances. In addition, I never made claims agreeing with Holdren’s point of view. I agree that he’s insane, and that many of his ideas and positions are on the extreme end of messed up. That doesn’t stop me from believing that the Fox article was a drastic mis-portrayal of what he was saying.
April 11, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Glen Beck also did a bit about how since Obama is so popular, he is probably a fascist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGCjPVBNgog
I kind of like Beck. He’s endearingly neurotic.