My stepfather bought into the outrage machine 110%, focused largely on immigrants.
Plot twist: my mom and I are immigrants. The rest of the kids were also alienated by his sudden shift in attitudes. He went from teaching the value of diversity in the workplace in HR, to blaming diversity for all the world's ails. The crazy thing is that when I asked, he still absolutely understands the value of diversity in the workplace (more varied opinions, etc.) Somehow, the two things just don't click together for him.
I recall Obama saying something along the lines of "If I watched Fox News, I wouldn't vote for me either."
This whole thing was a huge lesson for me. We are easily programmed meat machines. Myself included.
But why did that destroy your family? Why can't you just laugh at your silly stepfather falling for the talking points of Fox News? Has he become actively hostile to you and your mom? Or do you just find the talking points that he repeats to be somehow offensive?
You say that when asked, he understands the value of diversity, which makes it sound like he hasn't become actively hostile toward you and is still with your mom who's an immigrant, so to the extent that actions speak louder than words, surely his bark is worse than his bite? I feel like the solution to these sorts of family tiffs is introducing a bit of diplomatic levity - in other words, not taking yourselves too seriously, and openly poking fun at your low information stepdad falling for the talking points, while allowing him to poke fun at you for being on the other side.
The lack of empathy here makes me sad. Living with someone who has been sucked into one of these propaganda machines is horrifying, and trying to coax them out of it is nearly impossible. It's not just arguing about it, it's them bringing these things up constantly, unprovoked, when nobody else is interested in talking about it. It consumes them, and it's incredibly hard to get past.
It's very similar to what happened on 9/11. This is how drastically different the foxnews view of the world is. People stopped doing things once they realize what happened, and clung to every new bit of news that was broadcast. It disrupted regular entertainment for months. This is the effect Foxnews' paranoid worldbuilding has on its terrified and hateful adherents.
Let's be clear, this is a known phenomenon. Foxnews provides an alternate reality, unlike real news, making it exclusionary. and the reality it purports is extreme. It's not just this person's family that has been severely disrupted by Foxnews fixation. It's many.
I dunno, I think the problem is not Fox News but rather the reactions of the family - either those who were watching it or those who were upset at them for watching it. In some cases it's the beginning of a Q-anon pipeline and the Fox news viewer becomes hostile and alienates themselves from the family. In other cases they don't do much other than watch it and repeat it's talking points, but the other half of the family has been equally initiated into blue anon and disowns them for their Fox viewing habits. In all cases, it's not Fox that's the proximate cause, but rather a broken family dynamic that was exposed or exacerbated by the introduction of infotainment.
Many families are able to function with differing political viewpoints inside the family. It's not the red team or the blue team that's the problem. It's people who get so wrapped up in their identity as a member of one or the other that they start to see anyone else as the enemy, family included.
yes both sides, etc. but the impact of fox news is far far worse, they have the largest share among cable news shows and they specifically build their shows around fomenting outrage and hate, yes this also happens on the left but again the reach is on a whole other level here, the scale and sheer shamelessness of lies and distortions and the damage fox has created in the loss of trust in institutions and social cohesion in this country is unparalleled.
Also Maddow gets ridiculed on the left (Colbert has made fun of her bs), there is no such guardrail on the right. fox is a cancer on democracy.
Rupert Murdoch popularized tabloid news as we know it today and Fox News is a reflection of that. They were always concerned more with ratings than facts, and whoever wrote this article is full of shit because the Rupert-Fox-tabloid connection started in the 70s.
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[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 46.9 ms ] threadPlot twist: my mom and I are immigrants. The rest of the kids were also alienated by his sudden shift in attitudes. He went from teaching the value of diversity in the workplace in HR, to blaming diversity for all the world's ails. The crazy thing is that when I asked, he still absolutely understands the value of diversity in the workplace (more varied opinions, etc.) Somehow, the two things just don't click together for him.
I recall Obama saying something along the lines of "If I watched Fox News, I wouldn't vote for me either."
This whole thing was a huge lesson for me. We are easily programmed meat machines. Myself included.
You say that when asked, he understands the value of diversity, which makes it sound like he hasn't become actively hostile toward you and is still with your mom who's an immigrant, so to the extent that actions speak louder than words, surely his bark is worse than his bite? I feel like the solution to these sorts of family tiffs is introducing a bit of diplomatic levity - in other words, not taking yourselves too seriously, and openly poking fun at your low information stepdad falling for the talking points, while allowing him to poke fun at you for being on the other side.
The darkest thing is that there are so many adverts for "Low T" in all of his media inputs. He went for that as well.
One of the side effects of testosterone supplements: increased aggression.
What an interesting and profitable feedback loop.
For medical reasons he can no longer take testosterone shots. The change in behavior was very noticeable. He became much less aggressive, again.
Many families are able to function with differing political viewpoints inside the family. It's not the red team or the blue team that's the problem. It's people who get so wrapped up in their identity as a member of one or the other that they start to see anyone else as the enemy, family included.
This is a common legal defense that was also made by on Rachel Maddow's behalf[1].
[1]: https://greenwald.substack.com/p/a-court-ruled-rachel-maddow...
Also Maddow gets ridiculed on the left (Colbert has made fun of her bs), there is no such guardrail on the right. fox is a cancer on democracy.
I am old enough to remember when Reagan made "Republicans don't criticize Republicans" a thing.
That was the end of accountability on that side of the aisle. This is tragic in my view as "regular" conservatism certainly has value.