What Happens When People Actually Believe the Fox Network

If there is one American television network that makes consistent, hateful, anti-Muslim remarks, it is the Fox Network. Both the pundits on this American network and their counterparts in the British right-wing media also owned by Rupert Murdoch have consistently filled the airwaves with racist, hateful speech. 

They have often been called out for their lies, exaggerations, and misleading “news” reporting; however, they show no signs of stopping their campaign against Islam. While one understands to a certain extent that the Fox Network caters to a certain political view, the lies that some of their pundits and reporters consistently tell are so outrageous, that it is impossible to understand how any sane person can believe them.

After all, the picture of the world that the Fox Network paints is undoubtedly grim. If one were to believe these lies, it is a wonder they can get out of bed in the morning without being stoned to death by a horde of angry Muslims! They consistently have put together a narrative in which Muslims are an enemy, an “us versus them” mentality that is enforced with the strongest language. For most of their viewers, the Fox Network is simply an echo chamber, a friendly presence in their living room that simply repeats back to them the things that they already believe. In this regard, it is harmless. However, the level of discourse has become so hateful that it only takes a single person to believe the lies for something terrible to happen.

If what the pundits on the Fox Network say is true, then we are truly in a state of war. After all, imagine that president Obama is a “secret Muslim” and that, instead of being a religion of peace, Muslims are all vile terrorists that are intent on spreading Shariah law by force to every corner of the world. Imagine for a moment that what the pundits are saying is true, that Muslims are after you and your family. That Muslims are not building a community center in New York City because of they need it, but because they want to mock the victims of the September 11th attacks, that American Muslims fully support terrorists that are intent on bombing American society. In this case, wouldn't it be a moral imperative to go to war with every Muslim you know? While the idea should be ridiculous to everyone, as the massacre in Norway illustrates, it only takes a single crazy individual that truly believes the lies for terrible consequences to happen.

While the killings in Norway were directly the fault of the madman that perpetrated that hateful act, the hateful rantings of a dishonest, corrupt media have their share of the blame. They are playing with fire. They incite hateful, violent acts in order to gain viewers and line their pockets with cash. However, to believe their extreme lies fully will always result in extreme acts of desperation and violence.