RIGHTWING LIES AND HOW THE MASS MEDIA BUYS INTO THEM

As many of us have been pointing out for a long time (in my case since the 1960s) the leaders/spokespeople for the rightwing of our country's politics learned from Nixon and his gang, Reagan and his and then Bush/Cheney and theirs (and the various others in between those Republican administrations, like Gingrich et. al.) to manipulate the mass media by framing the terms of any political interpretation of current affairs.

In other words it's not about whether escalating the war in Viet Nam is a betrayal of Nixon's promise to have a secret plan to end it, or whether objections to the futility of that war were well founded, but whether or not those who protested it were either "communists" themselves or being duped by "communists" etc. They created specialists to work on the wording and framing of whatever event the mass media covered so it could be spun in their favor and they got better and better at it.

Under Nixon, it was often in reaction to events. But under Reagan (and Lee Atwater among others) it became proactive with "sound bites" and staged "photo ops" etc. to take advantage of network TV evening news shows where most people got their news then. Those sound bites were well scripted and well delivered (compared to most politicians of those times Reagan, the professional actor who was best as a TV corporate salesman, was much more convincing because he knew, as a professional actor must, how to convince himself of the truth of whatever script he was reading whether it was actually true or not).

It was the same old tired name calling but so much more media savvy. So now anyone who objected to the breach against our Constitution by our government under Reagan running arms to rightwing "terrorists" trying to overthrow a legitimate government in Nicaragua was of course a "communist" etc. but the Reagna backed militarists were now "freedom fighters" and who can argue with fighting for "freedom" etc.

By the time of the Bush/Cheney administration they had their control of the media down to a science, so that what was one of the most calamitous presidencies in history—from even before it was official, when the Bush/Cheney camp sent Republican thugs in preppy outfits to Florida to pretend to be outraged citizens and intimidated the vote counters etc. to ignoring the Clinton/Gore warnings about imminent Al Queda attacks on the USA, which amounted to criminal negligence, to the failure to respond to the Katrina disaster and an unwillingness to even acknowledge it at first or to dismiss the casualties from it because they seemed to be mostly African-Americans (Barbara Bush's famous comment about how those suffering in the Astrodome probably never had it so good etc.) until it seemed even the rightwing Republican spinmeisters couldn't salvage Bush/Cheney— and its horrible legacy that the Obama/Biden administration inherited is now portrayed as a "victim" of Democratic blamers and the blame for Bush/Ceney policies that created what might have become another Great Depression and two unneseccary wars, etc. is Obama's fault!

As lots of us have pointed out many times, they are now so good at this that they dominate the news cycle almost every day with their framing of what's important to cover and how its covered. The latest hoax of course is the whole "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy that didn't exist until the rightwing media machine created it. A "hoax" because it isn't at "Ground Zero" and it isn't a "Mosque." But also because the Mayor of New York as well as most people who live in lower Manhattan and many people directly effected by 9/11, including family and friends of victims (I had a friend on one of the planes) did not and do not object to a prayer room in a privately owned building in lower Manhattan just because it will accommodate Muslims.

But now all over the mass media this is being talked about as "The Ground Zero Mosque" "controversy" even though it's entirely fabricated. The right refers to the spot as "hallowed ground" despite—as pointed out by many non-mainstream media sources—this building will be the same distance from Ground Zero as a "Men's Club" where lap dances are for sale, and that a mall is planned for the actual ground of "Ground Zero" where the remains of my friend and the other 9/11 victims will mix with the construction materials used to build mall shops and fast food stands etc.!

But it's not the "hallowed ground" and all that it stands for that the rightwing media and leaders are concerned with, it is stirring up the weak minded among their followers who cannot use reason or logic but react to psychological and emotional manipulation to make them fearful of and therefore angry at anything having to do with Islam, seemingly unaware that the 9/11 attackers were part of a small group of radical Islamists who should have been treated like an international criminal threat and were from Saudi Arabia where the rulers had close ties to the Bush family and their oil interests.

As others have pointed out, if we were to prevent any reminder of Islam appearing anywhere near 9/11—as though there weren't Muslims victims in those buildings and on those planes, which of course there were, or that all those who identify as Muslims are the same as the "terrorists" who commandeered the planes on that fateful day—then because some who oppose abortion based on their interpretation of Christian beliefs have murdered doctors and bombed clinics, no Christian establishment should be allowed near the offices or clinics or hospitals of doctors and establishments which legally give abortions, etc.

The mass media has become for the most part "fellow travelers" of the right, while the right has just become more and more bold about its intention to control the media and our politics (as in the Fox News parent company giving millions and millions to the Republican Party, though the mass media has ignored that story for the most part and Fox News entirely. Can you imagine if it came out that CNN had given millions to the Democratic Party?!)

Here's one of the best article on all this I've read lately.