"TV Wasteland" is Fox News and Tucker Carlson?

 

The tvtech site reports, "On May 9, 1961, then newly appointed FCC Chairman Newton Minow called television a 'vast wasteland,' criticizing the medium for its violence, inanity and impact on children." I was working in television in those days and considered it an extremely creative and glamorous business. I still do, except for at least two exceptions, Fox News and Tucker Carlson. Is it possible that Minow could see in the future with the latter in mind when making that statement?

Why do I bring this up? Because of the absurdities Carlson claims on his show; plus the fact, this moron actually admits he lies when cornered. In late January...

Tucker Carlson claimed that the political violence the United States has been suffering is coming from the left, not the right — insisting that the right, unlike the left, has remained “peaceful.”

This is beyond unbelievable since we recently went through four years of the ex-White House maniac, Donald Trump, in his quest to stir up violence almost on a    daily basis. The Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S, Capitol is an excellent example of GOP led violence. Carlson, of course, is a lunatic, but it is his statements and and a trove if misinformation that is so indicative of Minow's "wasteland." 

It has been 60 years since Newton Minow's "Vast Wasteland" remark, and I do think television has made some very positive strides. As an example, in my day, TV news and weather was something offered by local stations as sort of a public service, much of it unsponsored. Today, news departments have huge budgets and most strive to provide comprehensive, in-depth news. Admittedly, there are some that slant the news, and, of course, those who completely misrepresent it.

MUST SEE: Still a ‘Vast Wasteland’? Newton Minow on the State of TV...

I have heard the opinion, 'Really...nobody could be that stupid,' referring to Tucker Carlson. Well, he certainly looks the part, but if any of you readers have any insight into this please email me. I have given considerable attention to Fox News in this blog over time because the network stands for everything class journalism isn't, and they are so easy to make fun of and criticize with the largest number of buffoons to ever hit the American airwaves.

The AlterNet's Alex Henderson leads us through a number of radical right wing violence incidents that have happened in recent years completely ignored by Carlson...

"from the January 6, 2021 insurrection to an alleged plot to kidnap and possibly murder Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to White nationalist terrorist massacres in El Paso and Pittsburgh in 2019. Pro-Trump groups like QAnon and the Proud Boys openly advocate violence, and the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, is facing seditious conspiracy charges for his alleged role in the Capitol insurrection."

Back to Newton Minow's observations testifying to Congress...

“When television is good, nothing—not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers—nothing is better,” he told Congress. “But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.”

But this was 60 years ago when Congress was populated with at least a modicum

of statesmen as compared to today's gang of inept politicians whose only goals are to amass power, line their pockets and get reelected, no matter what it takes. Minow recently updated his views of television while adding social media and “fake news.” Here's what he said...

“I think the issues for the next generation are the government’s role in social media,” Minow said, adding that he was proud of the strides television has made in educational TV but that local stations needed to remain diligent in ensuring unbiased coverage to their viewers. He also supports reinstating the FCC’s “Fairness Doctrine,” which was repealed in the 1980’s.

"Unbiased coverage," two words neither Fox News nor Tucker Carlson are familiar with. 

More on the Destroying of American Democracy

 

Tucker Carlson, who admits to being a liar on the air, appears to have taken up the mantle of Donald Trump whose social media accounts have been canceled. Without a mouth, the number two misinformation mouth has taken over. Here's the scenario...

"The power balance was on vivid display just last week on the night of Jan. 6, when Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who finished second to Trump in the 2016 GOP presidential primary, essentially apologized to Carlson as he tried to explain why he had described the attack on the Capitol a year earlier as “terrorism,” a description Carlson and his audience didn’t like."

READ MORE... 

And here is an issue we all would like some conclusion for. When is Donald

Trump going to be indicted? Charlie Sykes, conservative Bulwark founder, has concluded...

"there is more than enough proof that Donald Trump and his inner circle made a provable attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election through fraud."

And folks, this is an ultra-conservative. But there's more...

"Sykes pointed to a CNN report that stated, "...then-President Donald Trump's allies sent fake certificates to the National Archives declaring that Trump won seven states that he actually lost," which have also been labeled forgeries."

READ EVEN MORE... 

Carl Bernstein says we were losing our democracy before Trump went to the White House. I would say its exodus started around the period when Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House (1995-1999) and when Karl Rove was Geo. W. Bush's top adviser (2001-2009). The damage incurred during these years was enough to rattle the foundations of democracy, leading to open warfare on American justice. Bernstein says...

"the United States had not been functioning smoothly for several decades. He said it would take an extraordinary event in the coming years to unify the country."

The author also says...

"Our democracy, before Trump, had ceased to be working well and for 25, 30, 35 years we were in what I've called 'a cold civil war' in this country," he told the news outlet. "Trump ignited it and we're not going to go back from this place unless there's some great event that somehow unites this country."

READ MORE... 

One of the leading threats to our nation today is the anti-science gang; against

social distancing, wearing masks, and the most dangerous, against vaccines. They walk around spewing garbage about their freedom while at the same time infecting friends and family with the coronavirus. They call the pandemic a hoax, something created by the left that is a falsehood. False to the fact we have 75,715,662 cases of the virus in the United States, 907,956 deaths.

These non-believers in true science have put rogue governors like Florida's Ron DeSantis and Texas' Greg Abbott in motion to deny federal laws and regulations, acting as dictators on a state level. Other Republican state heads have followed their lead nationwide. We are at the mercy of a conservative gang of despots who are urged on by a constituency of double-digits who voted them into office. The latter is very scary when you consider we are coming up on a midterm election.

The following is frightening...

"Lee Haywood got the COVID-19 vaccine. He’s seen friends lose their lives to the virus, and watched others struggle to recover. A smoker for 37 years, he believes the medical evidence showing that the vaccine sharply reduces his chances of a severe infection.

"Yet on the frigid afternoon of Jan. 23, Haywood, a 61-year-old Republican running for a North Carolina congressional seat, was near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, standing among signs that read “Vaccines kill” and “Stop the Vaccine Holocaust.” He had helped organize a bus carrying 35 people from Greensboro to the capital."

This is what Haywood said...

“I’m against the forced vaccinations or forced wearing of these masks by these bureaucrats deep in the bowels of the government,” Haywood says. “This country was founded on liberty, and these mandates just slap everybody in the face.”

READ MORE... 

But what I am most afraid of are morons in the Republican state legislatures across the country with bills like this one from Arizona state Rep. John Fillmore (R), which would allow the state legislature to overturn results of a primary or general election they (Republicans) don't like. The bill...

"would substantially change the way Arizonans vote by eliminating most early and absentee voting and requiring people to vote in their home precincts, rather than at vote centers set up around the state.

Most dramatically, Fillmore’s bill would require the legislature to hold a special session after an election to review election processes and results, and to “accept or reject the election results.”

This idiot, Filmore, is effectively taking away the vote for anyone unable to leave their home, and the dufus still doesn't believe the results of the 2020 election. And, unfortunately this is the kind of imbeciles we have running the state of Arizona. 

 READ MORE IF YOUR STOMACH CAN STAND IT...

Earlier Post: "America is Destroying its Democracy -The Experts Agree"

 

 

MUST READ QUOTES: Tucker Carlson

 

"Acosta says this comment has put Tucker Carlson over the top"

CNN's Jim Acosta criticizes Fox News' latest coverage of top headlines including the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict, the Astroworld tragedy in Houston and Vice President Kamala Harris, stating the network is churning out "lie after lie."

Fox News...Just How Fake is Fox Fake News?

 

The half I refer to, of course, is the word "News," with most of the legitimate broadcasting community calling it the "no news network." Their motto used to be "Fair and Balanced," now changed to, "Most Watched, Most Trusted," again, half right. They do have a large audience, which is accounted for by the fact this country suddenly has a large population of idiots. That's what it takes to watch a moron like Tucker Carlson who admitted on the air that he lies.

‘I really try not to..." [to lie] was his comment and my gut tells me that attracted even more of the double-digits that watch him. I worked in television in the early days of the

1950s, produced several news shows, and two of the goals most sought after were accuracy and integrity. Fox has neither. Here's more...

Carlson defended a teenage gunman involved in a shooting during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin and defending white nationalists involved in the storming of the Capitol building.

There are other news blunderers at Fox but no one else has the bold audacity and arrogance to go on the air, day after day, and make a complete fool of himself like Carlson does. Kinda indicates something loose somewhere. Here's a headline from Variety that sums it all up...

"It’s Time for Fox News to Stop Using the Misnomer ‘News’ in Its Channel Name"

I hear Rupert Murdoch is scared of Tucker Carlson? 

Idiots abound in the world of Republican politics but Matt Gaetz excels in stupidity

 

"Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz endorses Tucker Carlson's "great replacement" theory." Salon says many lawmakers, mostly Republican, I say, are concerned over a growing ethnicity in the U.S. population. Aside from the fact the Republican Party is a racist group of dough-heads, the other side of this is a fear these ethnic groups will be predominantly liberal. Here's an excerpt from Salon...

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on Saturday embraced Fox News host Tucker Carlson's "great replacement" theory, also calling the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) "a racist organization."

Fox's Tucker Carlson has been spewing this garbage since April, " a baseless white supremacist theory." Carlson admitted recently, on the air, that he lies, just to make his point. Yet thousands of double-digits watch him regularly, taking advice from

an admitted phony. This would be Matt Gaetz's kind of person since a recent POLITIFACT found Gaetz "Mostly False" on several of his statements. Here's more on the theory...

"In 2019, the theory inspired a mass shooting in El Paso, as well as the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand that same year, Insider noted. During the 'Unite the Right Rally' in 2017, hundreds of white supremacist protesters gathered in Charlottsville, Virgnia [SP] chanting slogans like 'You will not replace us' and 'Jews will not replace us,' alluding to fears around America's changing ethnic landscape."

Anti-Defamation League Jonathan Greenblatt explains to Brian Stelter why Fox's Tucker Carlson should be fired...

This adds antisemitism to the issue. And just this last Saturday Gaetz confirmed this theory, tweeting that Carlson "is CORRECT about Replacement Theory as he explains what is happening to America." There is despicably more...

"Gaetz also added that the ADL – a Jewish non-governmental organization dedicated to combating anti-Semitism and led by Jonathan Greenblatt, a former Obama administration official – is a "'a racist organization.'"

Republicans now fear that, due to the recent census, their gerrymandering strategy will fall short of their normal counterfeit drawing of districts that wins them elections. Now the GOP has picked up the Replacement Theory as a means to gain more seats in both houses. The House is in full swing...

"House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., two weeks ago launched an ad campaign warning their constituencies that Democrats are working toward 'a PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION' by expanding pathways to citizenship for immigrants. Last week, Rep. Brian Babin, R-Tex. similarly claimed on Newsmax that the Democrats "want to replace the American electorate with a Third World electorate that will be on welfare."

 

Trump acquitted, giving even more power to extreme right

 

Donald Trump has been acquitted in the impeachment trial even with seven Republican Senators crossing the aisle and voting for conviction. Moscow Mitch releases a glaring put down of Trump, yet votes to acquit him. Lindsey Graham got his nose out of Trump's butt long enough to vote to acquit. Greg Sargent's prediction in the Washington Post was fulfilled...

"Mark it now: The vast majority of them will agree that the storming of the Capitol was an abomination and that the perpetrators must be held to account. But little by little, many will migrate to a place where Trump himself is absolutely and comprehensively exonerated from any culpability for inciting it in any way."

It is frightening for sane thinking people--yes, there are still some left--who have come to realize that Republicans have absolutely no honor left. This radical right would let a lunatic go in the face of overwhelming evidence that he committed terrible atrocities while in office. Donald Trump will go down as the most vile and corrupt president to ever serve this country, but also the world's most effective con man. But these morons in the Senate acquitted him. 

And if this isn't enough, there is a new proliferation of self-proclaimed "prophets"

who, according to Alex Henderson of AlterNet, "are known for making political predictions." Ruth Graham of the New York Times reports that "some of them have turned out to be way off in their predictions." Graham adds...

"Such 'prophets,' according to Graham, are likely to promote political conspiracy theories."

These heretics operate mostly online and are, according to Graham...

"are part of the rising appeal of conspiracies in Christian settings, echoed by the popularity of QAnon among many evangelicals and a resistance to mainstream sources of information."

But let me tell you, there is no bigger threat to this country--that is other than Donald Trump--than Fox News anchor, Tucker Carlson. I wish someone had done the same tally on him as they did on Donald Trump lies. However, there are a couple of PolitiFact sites here, and here. that will give you an idea just how deceitful and dishonest this lowlife is. Max Boot of the Washington Post says...

"When Donald Trump was in office, he posed the most dangerous threat to American democracy. With the former president now golfing full-time, the most dangerous threat may well emanate from the Fox 'News' Channel — and specifically from its top-rated host, Tucker Carlson. He seems to be on a mission to make America’s worst problems even worse."

One of Carlson's specialties is promoting vaccine conspiracies, which influences people in the wrong direction and a major threat to their health. He is the epitome of an anti-vaxxer, anti-masks, anti-distancing, all rolled into one pompous moron. Tucker Carlson is the go-to for far-right extremists who, according to AlterNet "have the potential to mount a coordinated, low-intensity campaign of political violence." From the Proud Boys to QAnon, these noodle-heads are dangerous.

AlterNet reports...

"Several U.S. security experts say they now consider domestic extremism a greater threat to the country than international terror. According to my [The Conversation] research on political violence, the U.S. has all the elements that, combined, can produce a low-intensity terrorist conflict: extreme polarization and armed factions willing to break the law, in a wealthy democracy with a strong government.

The article points out that during modern days, civil wars only break out in poor countries where leadership is weak or non-existent. Yet, Donald Trump, in his four years in office has driven the powerhouse United States to the point of all-out insurrection with a radical faction that only seems to get stronger. Joe Biden is busy with controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and there are other issues on his plate like immigration and minimum wage but we all must look out for the radical right.