FOX NEWS and the CHEMICAL REACTION
By Thom Palmer
August 5, 2016
The most viewed news channel in the world is Fox News. Ratings are higher than CNN, MSNBC and all of the other news agencies. The primary reason for this is that they are the only ones that purposely take the opposite position of reality. Catering to fear and hatred has given them a lock, or a monopoly, cornering the market on the dark side of politics.
The impact of right-wing hate radio and news shows affect many millions of Americans on a daily basis. How does this affect our politics? The ratings game requires an opposing viewpoint, so the perpetrators of fear and hate are given nearly the same air time on CNN and MSNBC as they are on Fox News. However, when there are no opposing viewpoints on Fox News, then millions of viewers are left with an extremely dark view of the nation, our leaders, and the world as a whole. There is no escape. They are surrounded.
CHEMICAL REACTION
From the day we are born, the most primal instinct humans possess is SELF-PRESERVATION. Why are we afraid of the dark? How do we decide to either FIGHT or FLEE from a threat? Simple answer. Chemical reaction and Evolution. Psychologically, when you constantly pump false and scary information into someone's head, and sell it as a proven fact, something very strange happens in the human brain. Chemicals within the brain are triggered which cause our defense mechanisms, instincts which we have all possessed since the beginning of humankind, to be activated. We hunker down and prepare for battle, or we decide to run like hell. Another possible reaction is to simply freeze, accepting our fate. Right or wrong, it's human nature, and Fox News has discovered this and has managed to exploit primal fear to the fullest extent. It's really quite genius.
The possibility of threat, whether real or not, triggers the a "fight or flight" response from the hypothalamus in the brain. In addition, there is a part of our brain seldom discussed, the "periaqueductal gray", which controls responses to fear. Jumping and freezing. The nerves in your ears trigger the thalamus, relaying to the "amygdala", which in turn release neurotransmitters throughout the body. Glutamate is released from behind the ear then sets off a series of other responses, such as the release of cortisol and adrenaline. Cortisol, adrenaline and glucose is released into your bloodstream in order to give your body the best chance of out-running the threat, or giving you more strength should you decided to fight. The level of the threat as you perceive it, determines the level of your chemical response and your reaction. Did you get all that?
EXTREME NEGATIVITY
I often scratch my head when talking to a Fox News junkie. The things they believe and repeat, they actually believe. We tend to think that news, or news pundits know more than we do. It is natural for us to trust those who seem to be the experts. However, when the so called "expert" is feeding false information into the viewers head in order to increase controversy and ratings, then a populous becomes infected, much like a computer can be infected with a virus, your brain can become infected with an infiltration of fear and hate, triggering those chemical reactions.
The sad state for many of these Fox News regulars, who early on in President Obama's 2008 campaign for example, bought into the false FACTS that...
1. Barack Obama is a Kenyan, and was not born in the USA.
2. Barack Obama is a Muslim who wants Sharia Law in the United States.
3. Barack Obama "pals" around with terrorists.
4. Barack Obama will overturn the 2nd Amendment and come take your guns.
5. Barack Obama will DESTROY the country.
Many regular Fox News viewers are very sad and frightened people. Unfortunately, these people have missed some incredibly awesome accomplishments over the last 7 years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has increased threefold, returning ALL of the losses to everyone's retirement accounts plus another 30%. The Auto industry, which was in full collapse in 2009 is now recording record profits due to the President refusing to allow them to die, which would have put perhaps another million people out of work in rust belt states. Nine million jobs were lost in the United States as a result of the financial crash of 2008. A steady hand at the helm has returned every single of of those jobs to the American people, while also decreasing greatly the amount of oil that the United States purchases from the Middle East, and increasing by tens of thousands the number of jobs created through clean energy. He has protected National Parks from the encroachment of big business, preventing the exploitation and destruction of our natural resources.
The Affordable Health Care act allows insurance companies to continue competing with each other. 16 million Americans now have insurance, and your insurance company MAY NOT cancel you or DENY YOU COVERAGE for pre-existing conditions. Millions of students can remain on their parents insurance while attending college up to age 26, and inflation rates for insurance premiums are at the lowest rate in decades. There is literally NOTHING negative about ACA. However, a very different narrative on all of these issues is fed to a fairly large portion of an unsuspecting and otherwise disengaged electorate.
Every so often, simply out of morbid curiosity as to why so many people hate President Obama and Hillary Clinton, I tune into either conservative radio or Fox News. I absolutely DO NOT recommend you do this, because it comes with a big risk to your mental health. Rarely am I able to get past the first 10 minutes, before I have to turn it off. The extreme negativity...the racist, sexist, hate-filled rhetoric is too much for me to bear, and my own sense of self-preservation kicks in, at which point I choose "flight". Not from the threats they purport with the force of the Colorado River, but from the attack on my own intellect, and the potential harm to my body from over-stimulation of my adrenal glands and blood pressure. I only do it because I'm a writer, and I need to be able to see the whole picture.
BRAINWASHING 101
In order to make a lot of money selling heroin, a dealer needs to create addicts. Fox News has learned well. Here are some of the regular injections that Fox News junkies are forced to endure.
* Sean Hannity regularly uses the term Barack HUSSEIN Obama, emphasizing the word "Hussein". This is specifically designed to cause in internal reaction within the viewer, sub-consciously equating the President to Saddam Hussein, supporting old moldy notions that the President is a Muslim terrorist without saying so. All attacks on the President which follow become more believable.
* "Hillary Lies...It's a proven FACT" is repeated a hundred times per day. Sold as fact without a shred of evidence. If you trust the anchors, reporters, and guests that supposedly know more than you do, you can tend to believe them without evidence. This is why our legal system requires EVIDENCE and PROOF. The accused is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Well, Hillary Clinton has been proven NOT GUILTY of every one of their charges by multiple sources closest to the investigations, including many Republican House and Senate committees, FBI, CIA, and all reporters who cared to release the TRUTH.
* "Democrats kill jobs and destroy the economy"...Another fact easily disproved. Under the last two Democratic Presidents, job creation has boomed. Under Bill Clinton, the United States added 20 million jobs. Under Republicans since 1980 (Ronald Reagan, George H.W.Bush and George W.Bush) a total of about 1/3 of the jobs created by Democrats. From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Democrats created nearly three times the number of private sector jobs than Republicans have. Obama has added 13 million jobs following Bush's 9 million lost. On a side note, but also contradictory to the claims made by Republican pundits, non-private sector (government) jobs have grown under Republicans, flying in the face of claims that Democrats grow government while Republicans shrink government.
DOWN IS UP, AND UP IS DOWN
Fox News continually tells you how the U.S. economy is in the tank, destroyed by this terrible evil President and now a former Secretary of State. Nothing could be further from the truth. With the Dow having tripled and unemployment at its lowest rate in decades, how can they sell this as FACT? They refer to average incomes, that's how. The economy exploded into pieces in 2008, as a result of lack of regulations on the banking industry. World-wide economic collapse ensued, and we barely made it out of 2009 without an extreme deep Depression, which would have made the Great Depression look like a bump in the road in comparison.
SELLING POVERTY to the POOR
Something that eludes me completely is how low income, and even poverty-stricken Fox News viewers can support a political party that regularly works to screw them. They openly advocate....
* A reduction in minimum wage, which in turn lowers ALL wages. Wages across the board increase with increases in minimum wage, which has been stagnant.
* Less regulation to control contaminants in your water and environment.
* Lowering taxes on billionaires, putting more pressure on the middle and lower class.
* Trickle down economics, which was tested in the 1980's where the money never trickled down.
* Reduce Social Security benefits, which would disproportionately harm those who are not wealthy.
* A steady stream of new WARS, in order to maximize oil and weapons profits.
* Anti-science, denying man-made climate change, for oil profits. If not tackled very soon, will have caused a three to four degree increase in global temperatures by year 2100, placing the Florida Everglades underwater along with hundreds of islands. Up to a billion people will be displaced from their homeland in low lying regions and become refugees.
* Voter Suppression, attempting to keep millions from casting their vote. Gerrymandering districts to fix election results.
Fox News and the GOP do not care about refugees, animal extinctions or poverty, as long as there is maximum dollar paid by advertisers, and maximum profits made on oil and weapon sales. It's as simple as that. It makes no sense and the only logical explanation one can conclude is that this is a very addicted base. The drug is chemically manufactured and distributed within their own bodies, triggered by a steady dose of right-wing hate and fear, racism and sexism.
The very people that are harmed most by the Republican agenda are the infected portion of the electorate that they call "their base". Disproportionately, men and women serving in our military are from repressed areas of our country. Many join the armed services not only to serve, but also as a stepping stone to a better life, with educational benefits etc, to follow. These are the young men and women that Republicans are so quick to sacrifice for oil and weapons profits. Selling FACTS which are not in evidence, or non-facts becomes believable when the needle is in your arm, and the drip, drip, drip of hate and fear is flowing through you each and every day.
MENTAL VIOLATION
In conclusion, the Fox News world and right-wing extremists are living in a different reality. Things that should make them happy, make the angry. Success is bad, and failure is good. If you're a Fox News junkie, you've been mentally VIOLATED. I do believe that, while their little GOP alternate reality bubble is ever shrinking, the threat of this faction of society, as in other society's, can be the loudest voice, and have a greater degree of impact than reasonable voters. Revolutions are never started by the majority, but the result of so many revolutions are disastrous consequences. The MAJORITY need to be more vocal, and make sure that the MINORITY realize that they have been mentally violated by Fox News and conservative pundits. REJECT THE CHEMICAL REACTION. When you hear it, turn it off.
WHY I WROTE THIS ARTICLE
For too long, the political landscape has been shaped by misinformation and lies. At a time when I believe the ultimate fate of humankind is in the balance, there has never been a Presidential election which is more consequential than this one. I also believe that Donald Trump is the embodiment of the extreme lies pushed by Fox News and the GOP. He is their creation, and by allowing this toxic slime to lead the free world, all decisions made will be made from an extremist point of view. He has proven time and time again that he is not only lacking the education and knowledge that it takes to lead the free world, but is also psychologically unbalanced. I do believe that he is insane without question. This is the man that Fox News and the Republican party believe best fits their agenda. In this age where we have terrorists who are attempting to win by dividing us, Trump plays right into their hands, giving them red meat to add new recruits. His economic policy has been analyzed by professionals to lose many millions of jobs. His foreign policy could launch World War III. He is a creep, thief and narcissist that, regardless of the level of anxiety Fox News has given you, you simply cannot allow. If you're afraid of the dark, you probably shouldn't release a pack of wild hyena's to keep you safe. For God's sake, he's already allowed himself to unwittingly be recruited by the KGB and Putin. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to play Russian Roulette with the future of our nation, or the future of humanity.
We currently have a candidate that truly understand the world we live in. She has dedicated her life to making things better, and has a proven track record on working hard for Americans as well as people around the world. From age 13 as a canvasser, to a progressive Lawyer, to Arkansas First Lady, the United States First Lady, Senator of New York, and finally United States Secretary of State, there has never been a more qualified and intelligent candidate seeking the office of the Presidency. I have been following Hillary Clinton for three decades now, and I truly see a President that has the ability to begin to correct many of humanity's self-inflicted wounds. What is at stake for not only our nation, but humanity as a whole could not be more critical, and we do not have time to screw around for four years with a nut case who caters to the very worst fear and hatred in us. We need to rise above our primal instincts.
TO SEND A MESSAGE TO NEWS NETWORKS
Even as a Democrat who rejects Fox News, whenever CNN or MSNBC allow a right-wing extremist to spew lies about either Hillary or Barack, or when they play Trump rallies, I change the channel. If you're a Hillary supporter, it just ticks you off anyway. Since it's all about ratings, just kill the feed and they receive the ratings data in real time. Spread the word. The more we reject it, the less we'll hear it.
A short biography of Hillary's life in and out of politics, including her accomplishments, is found in the article below titled "RISE". I encourage everyone to read it...share it...get it out there.
REFERENCES
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