Lies, Damned lies, and Right Wing Media

Propaganda: “…information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.”   –Oxford English Dictionary

“Black propaganda is credited to a false source, it spreads lies, fabrications, and deceptions.” The Propaganda Project

There are now dozens of mini-fox networks that do nothing but spread lies.

A search for definitions of the term ‘disinformation’ turns up this from the
European Parliamentary Research Service Blog which provides research and
analyses to members of the European Parliament. This blog defines disinformation
as, “the purposeful and systematic manipulation of information – the broader term ‘propaganda’ dates back to the 17th century, whereas ‘disinformation’ was coined during the Cold War.”

Understanding Propaganda and Disinformation

A legitimate news outlet employs democrats, republicans, libertarians, and
people of faith. It also verifies sources, issues retractions when it makes
mistakes and does not attempt to influence public opinion by deliberately
spreading lies.

For instance the editorial of the New York Times  features Conservative David Brooks, Maureen Dowd, who ranked #43 on The Daily Telegraph‘s list of the 100 most influential liberals in America and Thomas Friedman, who endorses radical centrism; idealism without illusions.

Compare this to TheBlaze, a Fox News mini-me.

TheBlaze is another right-wing rag founded by conservative talk radio personality and weepy conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck.

I chose the names of three random ‘correspondents’ and here is what I found:

David Barton: He is an evangelical Christian political activistand author. He is the founder of WallBuilders, LLC, a Texas-based organization that promotes unorthodox views about the religious basis of the United States. He has been described as a Christian nationalist and “one of the foremost Christian revisionist historians”; much of his work is devoted to advancing the idea, based upon research that many historians and journalists describe as flawed,^[1] that the United States was founded as an explicitly Christian nation and that the assertion that the United States Constitution calls for separation of church and state is a “myth. He has a BA from Oral Robert’s University.

Penn Fraser Jillette: He is magician, juggler, comedian, musician, inventor, actor, and best-selling author known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. He is also known for his advocacy of atheism, scientific skepticism, libertarianism and free-market capitalism.

Keith Ablow: He is a psychiatrist and contributor on psychiatry for Fox News Channel and TheBlaze. As of 2011, he was also an assistant clinical professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. He’s a Republican.

There is not a lot of political diversity at TheBlaze.

This morning I load Bing and what do I see at the top of the page:

Wasn’t this smear #debunked a week ago?

But the right-wing press still hammers it:

And these are just lies about Clinton’s health.

How much damage did decades of coordinated smear campaigns do?

According to YourNewsWire Russian Foreign Intelligence discovered that the man who purportedly leaked Hillary’s medical records was found dead.

“The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) is reporting today that the continuing to grow list of mysterious deaths surrounding U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has increased after the father of the doctor treating her for dementia suddenly died this past weekend — and who is believed to have been behind the leaking of her most secret medical records.”

The ‘continuing to grow’ list of deaths gave me a chuckle.

None of it is true:

From Snopes:

“…Vincent Fleck passed away while competing in a triathlon in early August 2016. However, all the rest of the story about a CIA “hit team” finding a “dead man’s switch” on Vincent Fleck’s computer is a fabrication, as is the claim about Dr. Daniel Fleck’s treating Hillary Clinton for dementia. (It’s rather unlikely a physical therapist with a regular practice specializing in sports injuries would be furtively treating a high-profile politician campaigning throughout the country for dementia.)”

Dysphasia: a language disorder marked by deficiency in the generation of speech, and sometimes also in its comprehension, due to brain disease or damage.

Trump is running a cynical campaign.

Katrina Pierson must know she’s lying.

Anyone with a search engine (who is willing to use it) knows she’s lying.

I think the GOP needs a distraction:

If right-wing media cared about the health and integrity if our next Commander-in-Chief they have plenty to run with in Trump.

They don’t care, certainly not about ethics or morality: all they want is to win the game.

But a win by cheating doesn’t make you a winner; it makes you a loser who cheats.

RG 2016