Promoters of Paranoia
Apr 20 2023
You probably already know that Fox News paid $787.5 million to settle the Dominion lawsuit. A lot of money to pay for telling blatant lies and spewing hatred on air, but ratings and the bottom line was more important to them than the truth.
They chose to become promoters of paranoia, something which in George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” was a feature of a fictional dystopian society, but which became very real for Fox News after the 2020 election.
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From the Wikipedia entry for “Two Minutes Hate” from George Orwell’s “1984”
In the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), by George Orwell, the Two Minutes Hate is the daily, public period during which members of the Outer Party of Oceania must watch a film depicting Emmanuel Goldstein, the principal enemy of the state, and his followers, The Brotherhood, and loudly voice their hatred for the enemy and then their love of Big Brother.
In 2023, after two years of hate, in the partisan, dysfunctional real world, the Sixty Minutes Hate, on Fox News, is the daily public period during which viewers of Fox News watch the channel’s Talk Show Hosts, smear, discredit and demean Joe Biden, the illegitimate president and the principal enemy of the state, and his followers, The Democrats, and loudly, screaming at the TV-screen, voice their hatred for the enemy and then their love of Big Brother MAGA.
From Wikipedia “Two Minutes Hate”
The political purpose of the Two Minutes Hate is to allow the citizens of Oceania to vent their existential anguish and personal hatreds towards politically expedient enemies: Goldstein and the enemy super-state of the moment. In re-directing the members' subconscious feelings away from the Party's government of Oceania, and towards non-existent external enemies, the Party minimises thoughtcrime and the consequent, subversive behaviours of thoughtcriminals.
In 2023, the political purpose of the Sixty Minutes Hate on Fox News, is to allow the viewers to vent their existential anguish and personal hatreds towards politically expedient enemies: Biden and the woke deep state Government of the moment. In re-directing the viewers’ subconscious feelings away from the real issues of society, and towards non-existent enemies, Fox News minimises thoughtcrime and the consequent, subversive behaviours of thoughtcriminals, among its viewers.
From Wikipedia “Two Minutes Hate”
In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four… the story of Winston Smith, the protagonist whose feelings communicate the effectiveness of the Party's psychological manipulation and control of Oceanian society:
“The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge-hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic. And yet the rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp.”
In 2023, in the hyper-partisan political environment and the fragmented 24/7 media space, rife with misinformation and alternative facts, the feelings of any Fox viewer communicate the effectiveness of Fox News’ psychological manipulation and control of a part of American society:
“The beautiful thing about the Sixty Minutes Hate on Fox News, is not that one is obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it is impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence is always unnecessary. A righteous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge-hammer, flows through the whole group of Fox viewers like an electric current, turning one, even against one's will, into a grimacing, screaming avenger. And yet the virtuous rage that one feels is an abstract, undirected emotion which can be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp.”
From Wikipedia “Two Minutes Hate”
At the end of the two-minute session of hatred, the members of the Party ritualistically chant "B-B . . . B-B . . . B-B . . . B-B."
In 2023, at the end of the sixty-minute session of hatred, the viewers of Fox News ritualistically chant "MA-GA . . . MA-GA . . . MA-GA . . . MA-GA."
From Wikipedia “Two Minutes Hate”
To maintain the extreme emotions provoked in the Two Minutes Hate sessions, the Party created Hate Week, a week-long festival of hatreds.
After the 2020 election, to maintain the extreme emotions provoked in the Sixty Minutes Hate sessions, Fox News chose to become the Hate Channel, an ongoing festival of hatreds.
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Unfortunately the story did not start with Fox News, and it will not end anytime soon. And Fox News is by no means alone, they have plenty of company in the alternative reality they inhabit.
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Bill Clinton, the Democratic President at the time of the Oklahoma City bombing, spoke in the aftermath against the “promoters of paranoia.”
“We hear so many loud and angry voices in America today whose sole goal seems to be to try to keep some people as paranoid as possible and the rest of us all torn up and upset with each other. They spread hate. They leave the impression that, by their very words, that violence is acceptable.”
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That was 25 years before January 6th, and over 45 years after “Nineteen Eighty-Four” was published.
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Two years after Jan 6th, the Republican ex-president chose to have a campaign rally in Waco, Texas; which was the location of the Waco siege in 1993; which in turn was cited, by the bomber, as a reason for the Oklahoma Bombing in 1995.
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Updated - There is an article in The Guardian by Jonathan Freedland, which deals with the same issue.
Fox News and its audience became hooked on lies – now they can’t break the habit
