Well, This Is What I Think

Seeing as I work in it, tangentially, I am always interested in the meeja, and especially in the nonsense that passes for serious background discussion of current affairs.Without discussions that are at least essentially rooted in fact, the media risks skewing debate on important issues in a manner that essentially divorces the trusting general population from their democracy, weakening democracy to the point where the debate therein becomes meaningless. It is a very short – very short – step from that to the type of fascist regime that demonstrates how rapidly it can establish itself, whether that regime calls itself “left” or “right”.

It is hard to imagine that anyone still takes Fox news seriously as anything other than rabble-rousing, dog-whistle propaganda of the worst kind, but my experience is that they do. They are chasing, of course, the almighty dollar delivered by those who want their downscale, brain-numbed audience to buy whatever it is they are selling, but this story trumps even their usual level of tub-thumping rubbish. And sadly, many people in America still believe it is a serious news organisation. So “enjoy” doesn’t seem like quite the right word, but nevertheless, enjoy …

From ThinkProgress

During a roundtable discussion on Friday, Fox News’ Lou Dobbs agreed with a network contributor who argued that Americans need to access military-style assault weapons to protect themselves from an Iranian invasion.

“What scares the hell out of me we have a president, as we were discussing during break, that wants to take away our guns, but yet he wants to attack Iran and Syria. So if they come and attack us here, we don’t have the right to bear arms under this Obama administration,” Angela McGlowan, a former lobbyist for News Corp., said in the midst of a conversation about violence in Syria.

Dobbs quickly agreed, adding, “we’re told by Homeland Security that there are already agents of Al Qaeda here working in this country. Why in the world would you not want to make certain that all American citizens were armed and prepared? ” Watch it:

The panel also falsely argued that widespread gun ownership in Israel has helped prevent terrorist attacks, though access to firearms is strictly limited to people who “can prove their professions or places of residence put them in danger.” Approximately “170,000 guns are licensed for private use in Israel,” while assault weapons are “banned for private ownership.”

If you want to make the point, you can always invest in the t shirt that I designed, which has now gone viral (in America, at least).

Buy it. You know you want to.