And finally, for ideological reasons. There isn’t much of an ideological angle to a comment like this, which is Jones made About a grieving parent the night after the shooting: “You know, after you lose your daughter, they put you on some antidepressant or something, but I thought it took a month for them to kick in. . I mean, it’s like absolute satisfaction, like he’s about to accept an Oscar. But remember that Jones also said: “Why did Hitler blow up the Reichstag—to gain control! Why do governments stage these things—to get our guns! Why can’t people figure it out with their brains?” This is a clear ideological defense of their lies.
The record appears to indicate that Fox executives and anchors had no ideological motivation, as the said record shows that they knew that Donald Trump was lying about the 2020 election. But their choice to go with the Big Lie was partly an ideological choice as well, and for a reason: they understood the stakes of going with the lie. They knew full well that if Trump got his way, and states tried to put in substitute slates of electors or Mike Pence refused to certify the electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, it would be 240 in a row. More than 100 years of democratic rule would come to an end. End of rule in America! And they left together. It was ratings-driven in the first instance – which is hardly an excuse – but it was also revealing of the ideology of a place where democracy comes second to power.
They are lying. They lie about practically everything all the time. It’s a strategy. Turn reality on its head. Reverse every question. Cherry-pick proof. Here’s a comparatively mild, awe-inspiring example. Recently there is a book called myth of inequality Co-authored by former Senator Phil Gramm, which argues that inequality has decreased, not increased, in recent decades. One of the main claims in the book is that the way we measure inequality doesn’t count transfers of “wealth” to poor people, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Well… to some extent it is true that these are resources that are transferred to poor Americans—but mainly if they get sick! TNR’s Tim Noah demolished this argument last fall, writing: “By Gramm’s logic, the sicker you get, the richer you get.” Gramm and his co-authors also wrote – factually – that Ebenezer Scrooge is misunderstood.
