John 8:32: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
This was going to be my next GQ Anarchy
Diaries Blog, but I decided that it be best if I didn’t run it through their
site and kept it free of the show.
I love what I do and I work very hard to
deliver a good product. I get tremendous
satisfaction every time I complete an episode.
But beyond the creative and financial reward, I also look at my job as
service. SOA employs hundred of people
and we entertain millions. That’s the
real payday for me. In it’s that vein of
service that I deliver this blog. What
follows is a controlled diatribe about an issue that’s been chewing away at me
for years now. And I know my half-bright
assertions will hardly have an impact, but it’s something I
need to unload.
Just a warning, if you're a grizzly mom who loves Sons of Anarchy, you may wanna have a cocktail before you read on.
My angst was triggered recently when I heard an NPR show discussing the dangers of spin
and fact fabrication. They quoted a recent
survey that showed over 60% of Republicans still believe Barack Obama isn’t a
US citizen and that some 40% think Bill Clinton was responsible for 911. I listened as both left and right
commentators discussed the fallout of our current state of misinformation. I dwelled on this for the remainder of my
traffic-snarled, 405 clusterfuck commute.
It really struck a personal chord in me.
As
you all know, I’m constantly berating cuntbloggers for wrapping a story in manipulated,
singular stands of truth. It’s all about
the headline and the site hits. Journalism
and truth are no longer goals or guidelines.
For me, the impact is a biased reputation: I’m perceived as an arrogant,
defiant, hotheaded, foul-mouthed hater.
Now, I’m not saying that I don’t possess those qualities, surely I
do. But if the lazy cunts perpetuating
that image actually read the lion-share of my social media -- tweets, blogs,
vids, interviews, etc. -- they’d see that I’m actually a few shades lighter and
dare I say, maybe a bit more complex.
Now
I know my little social media freakshow is minutia compared to the bigger issue
that my title suggests. But I lead with
it as context. Because a much larger,
more dangerous version of this is happening in this country. We have a major political party that is slowly
retarding because of the onslaught of misinformation. The stutter-step has nothing to do with intelligence;
surveys suggest conservatives are better educated and have a higher IQ than
liberals. Republicans are falling behind
because they are starving for truth. Wisdom
feeds on empirical data; facts propel us into the next right action. But regrettably, the most prominent source of
news for Republicans no longer recognizes truth. Whatsoever.
I
respect journalists tremendously and I know Fox News probably employs some
brilliant men and women. But not unlike
the cuntbloggers that beleaguer me, Fox New’s agenda has clearly become more
important than the truth. Opinions are good
-- right, left, center, we all have them and passionate points of view fuel
discussion that moves issues forward.
But that discussion only works if opinions are based on truth. There can be nothing subjective about empirical
data. Truth is truth.
Over
time, Fox New has adopted a philosophy that only uses empirical data when it
supports their agenda. If it doesn’t, the
truth is either manipulated, ignored, or blatantly turned inside out to represent
something it’s not. And yet the result
of this shell game continues to bring viewers to the channel. Why?
The same reason the choir fills up to hear their favorite preacher. It gives them comfort to think that what they
believe is always right. It’s easier, it’s highly consumable and at the
end of a hard day’s work, it doesn’t require the energy of examination.
Unfortunately,
I believe this fast-food unformation is already backfiring on the Republican
Party. The adage “the truth will set you
free” is not only a biblical lesson; it’s the core need of our human nature. We need truth to evolve. It’s the basic building block in all our
relationships -- with God, spouses, children, friends, employers, everyone. Without honesty we die inside. We can exist in nontruth, but we cannot grow. Now that might sound like ethereal, psychobabble
bullshit, but it’s not. It’s pretty
fucking simple. Lies kill us.
FYI: That’s what Sons of Anarchy is all about.
Fox
News is not only preaching to the lowest common denominator, they are in fact, creating
it. And the peers of its
viewers, who chose to get their news from other sources, are passing them by as
they slide backwards in comforting ignorance.
Now
I know every news source has an agenda.
MSNBC and CNN are seen as liberal media.
And I guess that’s true, they do lean left. But there is nothing wrong with a slant --
liberal or conservative -- as long as you’re leaning on fact. MSNBC and CNN don’t twist empirical data the
way Fox News does. They, at least
presently, still lead with truth before they lay their sway.
I’m
pretty certain that Republicans didn’t ask for Fox News. But they have obviously embraced and
supported it’s point-of-view. So now, the
two are intrinsically tied. Hannity, O’Reilly
and their ilk are seen as the media extensions of the RNC. And although we are now seeing a portion of
the conservative base try to distance themselves from this nearly-absurd bias,
the damage is already done. And getting the
rising tide of the rhetorical buzzfest to recede will be a hard-pressed
task. Obama’s re-election in 2012 will
begin to paint a very clear picture of this. The president will win significantly because any potential voters who are on the fence -- the ones that determine victories -- will fall into his camp. Why? Because no one believes the Republican message.
I
realize this is potentially a damaging blog post for me. I work for Fox and I know a large percentage
of my SOA audience are middle-America conservatives who watch Fox News. They get very upset when “tattooed TV boy”
goes political. But I take the risk because
I’m truly worried for these people, who do indeed represent the core of our
country. I respect their opinions and
their philosophical beliefs. I just want
them to be treated fairly. I’m tired of
them being lied to night after night, issue after issue. The breaking point is near and it's gonna be fucking messy.
Yes,
you can dismiss me as a rich, manipulative, loud-mouthed Hollywood elitist. But the truth is, there’s a much louder, much
richer, much more manipulative Hollywood elitist you should be dismissing. And you’re watching the “fair & balanced”
broadcast at five and eleven every night.
