REPORT: Emerging Culture of Paranoia

[YWN666]

REPORT: Emerging Culture of Paranoia | Media Matters for America


In recent months, the violent, doomsday, and anti-intellectual rhetoric that has long been a staple of conservative media has taken a notable turn in at least three significant ways: previously confined to the right-wing media fringe, the rhetoric is now a constant across the full spectrum of conservative media; it is louder and meaner, with conservative media figures appealing overtly to feelings of anger and paranoia in their audience; and it is focused, tied to the specific political aim of undermining the Obama administration and the Congress.

None other than David Horowitz notes "an interesting phenomenon on the Right, which is beginning to cause me concern": "the over-top-hysteria in response to the first months in office of our new president." Horowitz calls this "hysteria" "Obama Derangement Syndrome."

Indeed, the rise of anti-government speech -- and the explosion of anti-Obama rhetoric -- on right-wing radio, Fox News, and among conservatives in other media outlets tracks directly with the arrival of the new administration and its broad efforts to address the myriad and interlocking problems confronting the country. Rather than engaging in substantive policy analysis and critique, the Glenn Becks, Sean Hannitys, and Rush Limbaughs of radio and television insult their audience with simplistic attacks on Obama and his administration's initiatives.

Far from informing the public, Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, and numerous others on Fox News and elsewhere launch attacks at Obama, progressives, and their policy proposals with accusations of any one or more "isms" that bear no relationship to reality or even to each other. They warn darkly of purported efforts by the Obama administration to cede U.S. sovereignty to a world order rather than engaging in meaningful discussions about the United States' role and image in the world. They scapegoat vulnerable groups, encouraging the perception that undocumented immigrants, the poor, and racial and ethnic minorities are to blame for economic problems in this country. During a time of numerous high-profile acts of gun violence, they claim with alarm that Obama intends to seize their guns. Fox News has adopted the Tax Day "tea parties" as its own, urging its audience to organize and attend what it characterizes as protests of Obama administration tax and economic policies; the network's promotions of these tea-party protests have been largely devoid of meaningful and truthful discussion of the actual merits and flaws in the administration's proposals for reform -- and of little substantive attention to the question of whether Fox News' audience would be better or worse off under those proposals the network is encouraging its audience to protest.

Follow the link for the entire article.

 

[WillowTree]

oh goody,, the new buzzword revealed.. "culture of paranoia" I hope your kidneys fail.... ha ha ah ah aha hhhaa hah haaaa

 

[editec]

Fear has been the one thing the rightest could count on to rally the troops.

We can't expect the masters to give up such a useful method of manipulating their tools, now, can we?

 

[YWN666]

oh goody,, the new buzzword revealed.. "culture of paranoia" I hope your kidneys fail.... ha ha ah ah aha hhhaa hah haaaa

Do you serve any purpose on this board other than serving as a warning to others what can happen if they don't get an education?

 

[Skull Pilot]

when the government is growing out of control, someone has to say something.

And since the big government proponents are running the show, of course they are doing and saying whatever it takes to marginalize any critics of their "vision" of an ever expanding ever more powerful, ever more expensive government.

 

[Avatar4321]

It's not paranoia when it's true.

 

[wihosa]

It is really mazing how the right is so easily controlled with emotionalism.

 

[Skull Pilot]

It's not paranoia when it's true.

when everyone is out to get you, paranoia is just good thinking.

(I know I've used that line before but it is so appropriate here)

 

[Skull Pilot]

It is really mazing how the right is so easily controlled with emotionalism.

And the left isn't????

 

[wihosa]

It was the right that was led to war with the emotional claims of imminent threat of WMD.

Now we are to believe that President Obama is going to "take our guns", turn us into a "socialist country", "raise everyone's taxes", etc.

 

[Skull Pilot]

It was the right that was led to war with the emotional claims of imminent threat of WMD.

Now we are to believe that President Obama is going to "take our guns", turn us into a "socialist country", "raise everyone's taxes", etc.

Well taxes will be raised whether you want to believe it or not.

White House Boosts Deficit Projections - WSJ.com

Government spending is up up up and revenues are down down down and you still believe that crap about a tax cut for 95% of Americans?

That might not be emotion but it sure is naive.

 

[wihosa]

"Well taxes will be raised whether you want to believe it or not."

Well since the wealthy got tax cuts under Bush and the deficit soared it's time for them to pay more, but of course you aren't getting a tax increase and either am I or for that matter the vast majority of Americans.

But, why believe me or your own tax return afterall Fox News would never lead you the wrong way...well just forget about that whole WMD thingy....

Hey, let's go to another tea bag party!

 

[Bfgrn]

REPORT: Emerging Culture of Paranoia | Media Matters for America


In recent months, the violent, doomsday, and anti-intellectual rhetoric that has long been a staple of conservative media has taken a notable turn in at least three significant ways: previously confined to the right-wing media fringe, the rhetoric is now a constant across the full spectrum of conservative media; it is louder and meaner, with conservative media figures appealing overtly to feelings of anger and paranoia in their audience; and it is focused, tied to the specific political aim of undermining the Obama administration and the Congress.

None other than David Horowitz notes "an interesting phenomenon on the Right, which is beginning to cause me concern": "the over-top-hysteria in response to the first months in office of our new president." Horowitz calls this "hysteria" "Obama Derangement Syndrome."

Indeed, the rise of anti-government speech -- and the explosion of anti-Obama rhetoric -- on right-wing radio, Fox News, and among conservatives in other media outlets tracks directly with the arrival of the new administration and its broad efforts to address the myriad and interlocking problems confronting the country. Rather than engaging in substantive policy analysis and critique, the Glenn Becks, Sean Hannitys, and Rush Limbaughs of radio and television insult their audience with simplistic attacks on Obama and his administration's initiatives.

Far from informing the public, Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, and numerous others on Fox News and elsewhere launch attacks at Obama, progressives, and their policy proposals with accusations of any one or more "isms" that bear no relationship to reality or even to each other. They warn darkly of purported efforts by the Obama administration to cede U.S. sovereignty to a world order rather than engaging in meaningful discussions about the United States' role and image in the world. They scapegoat vulnerable groups, encouraging the perception that undocumented immigrants, the poor, and racial and ethnic minorities are to blame for economic problems in this country. During a time of numerous high-profile acts of gun violence, they claim with alarm that Obama intends to seize their guns. Fox News has adopted the Tax Day "tea parties" as its own, urging its audience to organize and attend what it characterizes as protests of Obama administration tax and economic policies; the network's promotions of these tea-party protests have been largely devoid of meaningful and truthful discussion of the actual merits and flaws in the administration's proposals for reform -- and of little substantive attention to the question of whether Fox News' audience would be better or worse off under those proposals the network is encouraging its audience to protest.

Follow the link for the entire article.

Funny, right wing pundit David Horowitz, a "former" Marxist...

Here's a credible explanation...

Conservatives
"All people are born alike - except Republicans and Democrats," quipped Groucho Marx, and in fact it turns out that personality differences between liberals and conservatives are evident in early childhood. In 1969, Berkeley professors Jack and Jeanne Block embarked on a study of childhood personality, asking nursery school teachers to rate children's temperaments. They weren't even thinking about political orientation.

Twenty years later, they decided to compare the subjects' childhood personalities with their political preferences as adults. They found arresting patterns. As kids, liberals had developed close relationships with peers and were rated by their teachers as self-reliant, energetic, impulsive, and resilient. People who were conservative at age 23 had been described by their teachers as easily victimized, easily offended, indecisive, fearful, rigid, inhibited, and vulnerable at age 3. The reason for the difference, the Blocks hypothesized, was that insecure kids most needed the reassurance of tradition and authority, and they found it in conservative politics.

Psychology Today Magazine, Jan/Feb 2007

 

[Skull Pilot]

"Well taxes will be raised whether you want to believe it or not."

Well since the wealthy got tax cuts under Bush and the deficit soared it's time for them to pay more, but of course you aren't getting a tax increase and either am I or for that matter the vast majority of Americans.

But, why believe me or your own tax return afterall Fox News would never lead you the wrong way...well just forget about that whole WMD thingy....

Hey, let's go to another tea bag party!

How do you know i am not getting a tax increase?

Unemployment tax just went up, That's a tax increase for me since i own a business. And this year i paid a higher percentage of my income to taxes than I ever have before. is that not a tax increase? So don't assume.

And I don't watch Fox news or listen to Rush or any other talking head. I read the news (The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, and the Washington Post among others) and form my own opinion and that opinion is that government is getting too big and too expensive.

 

[Iriemon]

This is a partisan post, but when you look at conservative's fundamental positions over the last few decades on major policies, they have been so fundamentally wrong that you wonder why anyone gives them credit.

When Clinton was elected, he inhereted then record deficits, and the Dems enacted a big, and unpopular, tax increase to increase revenues to lower the deficits. The conservatives at the time said it would cause a recession, inflation, unemployment, and increase the deficits. They were completely wrong on every account. The largest boom in post war history ensued, inflation held low, unemployment dropped, and the deficits disappeared into a surplus.

When Bush was elected, he promised his tax cuts would not bring back deficits and they'd pay down the debt by $2 trillion; and conservatives proclaimed the tax cuts would spur greater economic growth. Instead we got subpar economic growth, and instead of $2 trillion being paid off, $5 trillion was added to the debt.

The neoconservatives told us Iraq was an urgent threat, Hussein had WMDs, and the Americans would be welcomed as heros in an action that would cost little in terms of American capital. 6 years, scores of thousands of lives, and almost a trillion dollars later, we're still there in large numbers.

Conservatives told us we didn't need regulation, the markets could take care of themselves. Instead we are seeing case after case where unregulated markets resulted in actions being taken for short term profit leading to enormous risks by companies that are now too big to fail that have imploded and created the danger of the first depression in 70 years.

Why does anyone put faith in conservatives when they have been so wrong about fundamental things in the recent past?

 

[Annie]

REPORT: Emerging Culture of Paranoia | Media Matters for America


In recent months, the violent, doomsday, and anti-intellectual rhetoric that has long been a staple of conservative media has taken a notable turn in at least three significant ways: previously confined to the right-wing media fringe, the rhetoric is now a constant across the full spectrum of conservative media; it is louder and meaner, with conservative media figures appealing overtly to feelings of anger and paranoia in their audience; and it is focused, tied to the specific political aim of undermining the Obama administration and the Congress.

None other than David Horowitz notes "an interesting phenomenon on the Right, which is beginning to cause me concern": "the over-top-hysteria in response to the first months in office of our new president." Horowitz calls this "hysteria" "Obama Derangement Syndrome."

....
Follow the link for the entire article.

From everything I can find so far, David Horowitz wrote nothing of the sort.

 

[Skull Pilot]

This is a partisan post, but when you look at conservative's fundamental positions over the last few decades on major policies, they have been so fundamentally wrong that you wonder why anyone gives them credit.

When Clinton was elected, he inhereted then record deficits, and the Dems enacted a big, and unpopular, tax increase to increase revenues to lower the deficits. The conservatives at the time said it would cause a recession, inflation, unemployment, and increase the deficits. They were completely wrong on every account. The largest boom in post war history ensued, inflation held low, unemployment dropped, and the deficits disappeared into a surplus.

When Bush was elected, he promised his tax cuts would not bring back deficits and they'd pay down the debt by $2 trillion; and conservatives proclaimed the tax cuts would spur greater economic growth. Instead we got subpar economic growth, and instead of $2 trillion being paid off, $5 trillion was added to the debt.

The neoconservatives told us Iraq was an urgent threat, Hussein had WMDs, and the Americans would be welcomed as heros in an action that would cost little in terms of American capital. 6 years, scores of thousands of lives, and almost a trillion dollars later, we're still there in large numbers.

Conservatives told us we didn't need regulation, the markets could take care of themselves. Instead we are seeing case after case where unregulated markets resulted in actions being taken for short term profit leading to enormous risks by companies that are now too big to fail that have imploded and created the danger of the first depression in 70 years.

Why does anyone put faith in conservatives when they have been so wrong about fundamental things in the recent past?

for Christ's sake the Bush tax cuts didn't cause the fucking deficit. Outrageous government spending did.

 

[Iriemon]

This is a partisan post, but when you look at conservative's fundamental positions over the last few decades on major policies, they have been so fundamentally wrong that you wonder why anyone gives them credit.

When Clinton was elected, he inhereted then record deficits, and the Dems enacted a big, and unpopular, tax increase to increase revenues to lower the deficits. The conservatives at the time said it would cause a recession, inflation, unemployment, and increase the deficits. They were completely wrong on every account. The largest boom in post war history ensued, inflation held low, unemployment dropped, and the deficits disappeared into a surplus.

When Bush was elected, he promised his tax cuts would not bring back deficits and they'd pay down the debt by $2 trillion; and conservatives proclaimed the tax cuts would spur greater economic growth. Instead we got subpar economic growth, and instead of $2 trillion being paid off, $5 trillion was added to the debt.

The neoconservatives told us Iraq was an urgent threat, Hussein had WMDs, and the Americans would be welcomed as heros in an action that would cost little in terms of American capital. 6 years, scores of thousands of lives, and almost a trillion dollars later, we're still there in large numbers.

Conservatives told us we didn't need regulation, the markets could take care of themselves. Instead we are seeing case after case where unregulated markets resulted in actions being taken for short term profit leading to enormous risks by companies that are now too big to fail that have imploded and created the danger of the first depression in 70 years.

Why does anyone put faith in conservatives when they have been so wrong about fundamental things in the recent past?

for Christ's sake the Bush tax cuts didn't cause the fucking deficit. Outrageous government spending did.

I think I'll need to start another "myth" thread on this subject, I see this claim so often.

Year - Tot. Revenues
2000 2025.2
2001 1991.2
2002 1853.2
2003 1782.3

Revenues fell from 2000 by $250 billion per year by 2003, during a time when the economy was growing at at least 3% per year.

Unless you slash spending at the same time, revenues that don't keep up with the economy, much less falling by hundreds of billions, causes a fucking deficit.

 

[wihosa]

This is a partisan post, but when you look at conservative's fundamental positions over the last few decades on major policies, they have been so fundamentally wrong that you wonder why anyone gives them credit.

When Clinton was elected, he inhereted then record deficits, and the Dems enacted a big, and unpopular, tax increase to increase revenues to lower the deficits. The conservatives at the time said it would cause a recession, inflation, unemployment, and increase the deficits. They were completely wrong on every account. The largest boom in post war history ensued, inflation held low, unemployment dropped, and the deficits disappeared into a surplus.

When Bush was elected, he promised his tax cuts would not bring back deficits and they'd pay down the debt by $2 trillion; and conservatives proclaimed the tax cuts would spur greater economic growth. Instead we got subpar economic growth, and instead of $2 trillion being paid off, $5 trillion was added to the debt.

The neoconservatives told us Iraq was an urgent threat, Hussein had WMDs, and the Americans would be welcomed as heros in an action that would cost little in terms of American capital. 6 years, scores of thousands of lives, and almost a trillion dollars later, we're still there in large numbers.

Conservatives told us we didn't need regulation, the markets could take care of themselves. Instead we are seeing case after case where unregulated markets resulted in actions being taken for short term profit leading to enormous risks by companies that are now too big to fail that have imploded and created the danger of the first depression in 70 years.

Why does anyone put faith in conservatives when they have been so wrong about fundamental things in the recent past?

for Christ's sake the Bush tax cuts didn't cause the fucking deficit. Outrageous government spending did.

Oh get off this foolish song. Ever since Reagan the Repubs have been the candy man, handing out tax cuts to their wealthy patrons but never doing the hard work of cutting spending to offset the tax cuts.

Every Repub tax cut has resulted in skyrocketing deficits, all the while we are suppossed to believe that cutting taxes will lead to increased tax revenue. Hey we have the Laffer curve and it shows that cutting taxes will increase tax revenue, yeah, that's the ticket! More faith based bull. You just got to believe!

 

[Iriemon]

This is a partisan post, but when you look at conservative's fundamental positions over the last few decades on major policies, they have been so fundamentally wrong that you wonder why anyone gives them credit.

When Clinton was elected, he inhereted then record deficits, and the Dems enacted a big, and unpopular, tax increase to increase revenues to lower the deficits. The conservatives at the time said it would cause a recession, inflation, unemployment, and increase the deficits. They were completely wrong on every account. The largest boom in post war history ensued, inflation held low, unemployment dropped, and the deficits disappeared into a surplus.

When Bush was elected, he promised his tax cuts would not bring back deficits and they'd pay down the debt by $2 trillion; and conservatives proclaimed the tax cuts would spur greater economic growth. Instead we got subpar economic growth, and instead of $2 trillion being paid off, $5 trillion was added to the debt.

The neoconservatives told us Iraq was an urgent threat, Hussein had WMDs, and the Americans would be welcomed as heros in an action that would cost little in terms of American capital. 6 years, scores of thousands of lives, and almost a trillion dollars later, we're still there in large numbers.

Conservatives told us we didn't need regulation, the markets could take care of themselves. Instead we are seeing case after case where unregulated markets resulted in actions being taken for short term profit leading to enormous risks by companies that are now too big to fail that have imploded and created the danger of the first depression in 70 years.

Why does anyone put faith in conservatives when they have been so wrong about fundamental things in the recent past?

for Christ's sake the Bush tax cuts didn't cause the fucking deficit. Outrageous government spending did.

Oh get off this foolish song. Ever since Reagan the Repubs have been the candy man, handing out tax cuts to their wealthy patrons but never doing the hard work of cutting spending to offset the tax cuts.

Every Repub tax cut has resulted in skyrocketing deficits, all the while we are suppossed to believe that cutting taxes will lead to increased tax revenue. Hey we have the Laffer curve and it shows that cutting taxes will increase tax revenue, yeah, that's the ticket! More faith based bull. You just got to believe!

Well spending was part of the equation too, both Reagan and Bush2 greatly expanded military spending which were major factors in the deficits.

My thought has always been if you want to spend extra money on stuff, be it military or wars or whatever, then you raise taxes to pay for it. Not cut taxes and borrow. If Bush wanted to double military spending as he did and start a war, he should have raised taxes. But he did the opposite, and we got $5 trillion more debt.

That's a beef I have alwasy had with Obama too. You want national health care? Great. Either cut spending in other areas or raise taxes to pay for it.