‘The Brainwashing Of My Dad’ By Fox, Limbaugh & Hate Media – The Documentary

[Katashi_itto]

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Many of us understand the damage that has been done by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, and Hate Media. You can hear the promotion of blatant racism, homophobia, misogyny and bigotry just by turning on the TV, radio or computer. Malicious lies are perpetuated until they are believed, by those who have been sucked in and who now use right-wing media as their only source of ‘news’. Jen Senko is a filmmaker who watched the transformation of her father as he slowly came to believe the extreme right-wing propaganda. Senko is now making a documentary about it called The Brainwashing Of My Dad.


Below is the documentary trailer, and here is a personal note Jen sent me:

“I was inspired to make this film after watching my father – a non-political Democrat – turn into a right-wing fanatic after a change in his car commute exposed him to reactionary shows on talk radio. The changes in his behavior drove me to research the changes in the media over the last 30 years – and the effect of those changes on the country was indisputable. As the media have been co-opted more and more by special interests, documentarians have become the new journalists. My hope is that after seeing my film, people will question what the media tells them, and will insist on laws that would hold them accountable.”

Visit Salon.com/Alternet.org for a more extensive interview with Jen Senko and Rory O’Connor.

More about The Brainwashing of My Dad:

The truth behind the right-wing media machine that changed a father — and the nation

When the filmmaker’s parents moved to a place where her father had a long solo commute to work and started listening to talk radio to alleviate the boredom, her family saw him change from a non-political Democrat to a radicalized, angry right-wing Republican. This begged the question: What happened to Dad?

As filmmaker, Jen Senko, tries to understand the transformation of her father, she uncovers the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon for a media by the GOP, The Powell Memo and the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine, all of which would ultimately misinform millions, divide families and even the country itself.

Remember when Hillary Clinton got pilloried for blaming a “vast right-wing conspiracy” for the relentless attacks against her husband? Maybe you weren’t around then. Well, she said it. Some thought she’d gone off the deep-end. We all know that “conspiracies” mean that you think that we really didn’t land a man on the moon, or that Bigfoot stalks the North, or aliens abduct certain people and experiment on them.

But really, was Hillary right? If you think about it, the country has changed dramatically within the last 30 years. During the 1960s and 70s America was moving in a much more socially minded direction. One could say, “liberal”. Then, slowly the country began to shift. What was once considered “right” is now “center-left”. It can’t be denied that corporations play an ever-increasing role in every facet of our government and the media has been instrumental in this development. We are now so divided that the Left will argue that President Obama is to the right of Reagan while the Right labels him a “Socialist”. How did that happen?

This documentary will look at the changes that happened to a dad (and many others’ dads or beloved relative) when he changed his media habits. Then we look at how the media itself changed and the effect it had on our country. The media has a powerful influence on the American mind – so much so that one could argue: if you control the Media, you control the American Mind.
Here are some media commentaries by a few of the extraordinary minds they have interviewed so far:

Brainwashing Media Commentaries – Noam Chomsky

More Here
6http://samuel-warde.com/2014/03/documentary-brainwashing-dad/

[Enthusiast]

1. There ya go.

[uhnope]

49. Interview with director here

[Snarkoleptic]

2. I read the Roger Ailes (unauthorized) biography "The Loudest Voice in the Room" last summer.

The big takeaways for me were-
1) Ailes doesn't want to tell people about the news, he wants to tell people what to think about the news.
2) He's is a deeply paranoid and mean spirited guy who had an unhappy, sickly childhood.
3) He's a master propagandist and a bully, unafraid to threaten and engage in physical violence.
4) He's carries grudges and sets out to destroy the careers of those he feels have done him wrong.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

54. The problem is that, depite being a despicable person, he is very, very good at accomplishing his

goals. The Democratic party needs to fight fire with fire. I don't mean lies, but a more aggressive selling of our values and exposure of the lies of the RW.

I fear it is too late, though. Loyal Fox viewers have been thoroughly, probably permanently, brainwashed.

[YarnAddict]

3. Yes,

because censorship is such a great idea.

[lovemydog]

9. What does censorship have to do with it?

[YarnAddict]

13. Is the OP suggesting

that certain opinions should not be aired?

[lovemydog]

14. I didn't read it that way.

But you can ask.

[underpants]

22. Opinions or News?

That's the question here. News used to be just that news. If an opinion was to expressed it was done usually at the fnd if the broadcast either by the old guy at the TV station or as a point-counterpoint segment but it was identified as opinion. Now it's all blah blah blah key talking point blah blah blah by "news personalities". Basically it is QVC but the viewer is purchasing what they think are facts.

[YarnAddict]

24. I was specifically

referring to talk radio. Everyone knows that's opinion.

[Sweet Freedom]

33. Not necessarily

I know several people who consider talk radio to be news and not opinion.

[Sweet Freedom]

31. Yep

I studied journalism in college many, many years ago and on day one, we learned that news is what you need to know, not what you want to know and the job of a reporter is to report facts from all sides of an argument in an unbiased fashion and to probe for answers to all the who, what, when, where, why and how questions. Once a reporter strayed away from the facts, it was no longer considered hard news, it was considered a soft-news feature and belonged in a lifestyle segment.

"News" is dead.

[underpants]

46. I wrote for a college paper

WWWWH- even then I considered the Why to be the editorial page's turf.

We live in a media bubble. On purpose.

[libodem]

56. .

Heartbreaking.

[Oilwellian]

25. Your response is fascinating

Are you suggesting hate radio is a good idea?

[YarnAddict]

28. Some people define "hate"

as anything that disagrees with their own opinion.

My personal belief is that everyone has a right to hold whatever opinions they want, and they can air their views. If they can back up their opinions with fact, I will listen and consider, and occasionally adjust my own opinions.

[MrScorpio]

34. What if those beliefs are based on outright lies and divisive propaganda?

What if thoughts are put into people's heads by organizations who seek to render common harm for their own benefit?

[StevePaulson]

38. But There Is No Opposing Views

On the dial.

All Hate.

All The Time.

Try finding a voice on talk radio that is not
right wing, or even "moderate".

Good luck.

Don't hit a tree trying.......

[Oilwellian]

44. Could you give us an example

of how Rush, Beck, Ingraham, Levin, Hannity, etc., convinced you to adjust your own opinion. And what liberal radio programs have helped you do that as well?

Study Finds Conservative Talk Radio Promotes Echo-Chamber Of Hate Speech
Media Matters

[PotatoChip]

48. There really is such a thing as hate speech.

Just ask the people of Rwanda.
http://www.rwandanstories.org/genocide/hate_radio.html

While RW radio may not have officially crossed that line yet, it isn't much of a stretch to envision them getting there someday.

[lunasun]

52. +1

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

55. Seriously. In response to a long OP, consisting in part of this paragraph:

As filmmaker, Jen Senko, tries to understand the transformation of her father, she uncovers the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon for a media by the GOP, The Powell Memo and the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine, all of which would ultimately misinform millions, divide families and even the country itself.

chooses to hone in on the evils of censorship, Yarnjunkie wants to remind us of the evils of censorship?

[Darb]

57. Bollocks!

Who said anything about censorship? I'll tell you whom, you did.

I know, I know, it is just a coincidence that you come to the aid of the CIC. Just a coincidence.

[nightscanner59]

60. NO. The issue is with these media blurring the line between fact presentation and opinion.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

4. good. this truth needs more exposure

Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture.-- Allen Ginsberg

[rurallib]

5. Media news - especially TV news - has a patina of truthfulness

that is, many (most?) Americans believe that a story couldn't be on TV unless someone someplace (government, marketplace?) had given some kind of approval that this story was true. That patina spills over to radio. My guess is there that people believe sponsors act as some sort of censor of truthfulness. Logic would tell them a sponsor would not have their name associated with lies etc. Some of that logic says TV and radio stations and newspapers would not want their integrity damaged by giving out lies.

Limbaugh first, then FOX sure busted that concept.

I have never seen any research on that, but I would be willing to bet that is the perception of the media in this country.

[nightscanner59]

6. Concur wholeheartedly, been there, bought the T-shirt.

I saw my own father in retirement turn into a rabid right wingnut so extremist he rejected his entire family. He got hooked on FOX noize duing the Clinton years they were bashing away at Dems. They fueled his own racist tendencies, turned on his children: My oldest brother, a linguistics professor emeritus, became a no-good leftie liberal to dad, who would angrily scream an epithet and hang up the phone when he attempted to call. My other siblings also were unwelcome presences in his wildly RW bubble.
Dad died about 5 months ago, and angry, bitter "enemy" to all his offspring. He wrote us all out of his will, fortunately, the new one he supposedly "replaced" that with was illegible, unintelligible and deemed completely beyond consideration by the judge who committed him to the home in the end, but as far as we could tell, he left everything he owned in it to one of the worst of the RW pundits! (Punch line being: oh, yes, Bill-O would really miss a worhless, shabby old house and a 25 year old wreck of a car)
Yet this made me wonder how epidemic this is with many families. FOX noise took advantage of dad's WWII sense of patriotism, their rabid waving the American Flag and constant appeal to "bring the country back to"... (ridiculous and long outdated notions)
This amounts to attempts to fleece a vulnerable population for (votes, financial support, loyalty)
.... that gets me to thinking about...
class action lawsuit?

[Oilwellian]

39. I'm sorry things didn't end well with your Dad

I hope you and your siblings reach a point where you can forgive your father's weaknesses. I've experienced something similar with my own father for the past several years and it has been a challenge, to say the least, to keep lines of communication open.

I was lucky enough to share a lucid moment with him recently, that has put my heart at peace. Out of the blue he started a conversation saying, "I know why you're a liberal...my parents were FDR Democrats, and I want you to know it's OK with me and there's nothing to feel ashamed about." Somewhere inside his 89 year old brain, he remembered when Americans had a common purpose, and half of the population wasn't your enemy.

This is a phenom that coincides with the end of the Fairness Doctrine. I think it's been a very frightening experiment on the American public that has done unfathomable damage.

[narnian60]

7. Just change the word

"dad" to "mom", and it becomes my story.

[Dustlawyer]

8. I have always pointed out the slant the media was putting on things to my mom.

She is the oldest of six kids and my Aunts and Uncles are now all wealthy Republicans who are afraid that "the takers" are going to get their money. They think of my mom as confused and nothing could be further from the truth. One Aunt owns a gym, among many other things, around the corner from our house. She wouldn't even discount my mom's membership even though they get along fine. They hoard money like Midas and are afraid to spend any. Fox and Rush have them all afraid!

[SHRED]

21. Fox and Rush did this?

Sounds like they are that way anyway.

[Mojorabbit]

58. Half of my siblings

went through the same transformation and it has been scary to watch. They were not like this till they started watching fox and then graduated to rush.

[classykaren]

10. That and many schools not teaching civics anymore

Remember when the news was really "Fair and Balanced" ? I do We need to have that again enforced.

[jwirr]

23. But the elderly who are the subject of this post probably did take civics when they were young.

It is pure propaganda that targets the elderly. And it hits because many of us are afraid of change and asking for answers. Faux says - there is no problem just trust us. Let us tell you what to do. Many of the churches say the same thing and back up Faux.

There is one other thing that I don't think that anyone considers. We - the elderly - have watched news all our life but we watched Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and other journalists we COULD trust. Many of us trust whoever is telling us what is going on. We were programed. And back then we could trust them. Now channels like Faux have become political tools to control the minds of those who are afraid and do not question everything.

One of the things that I am most thankful for in college is that one of my professors told his classes that if we do not learn anything else we need to learn to question everything - How do you know?

[YarnAddict]

43. One tiny little correction--

Remember Dan Rather, and the Bush/TANG story? The story was no doubt true, but since it relied on phony documents and was clearly not thoroughly vetted, it destroyed Dan Rather's credibility and his career, and called into question the credibility of all those old, trusted sources.

[jwirr]

53. I was talking about the Dan Rather who in the 70s asked Nixon "who the hell do you think you are?"

when he was younger. THAT Dan Rather was very trust worthy.

[Overseas]

12. K&R. Looks good. "What Liberal Media?" described many of the tactics used

to push our media to the right. One of those was pushing the complaint about the darn liberal media, which he compares to "playing the ref" in sports.

Eric Alterman's book describes many more techniques used to fill the airwaves with conservative opinions and feed talking points to politicians during the 80's and 90's.

http://www.thenation.com/article/what-liberal-media from 2003.

[Pharaoh]

15. kick

[HoosierCowboy]

16. Herr Doctor Goebbels

Would be proud of the work done by his disciples at Faux News.
Just a heads up, since Fox was kicked off of Dish Network, I've noticed that Google News is putting Fox's articles up first on their underlines.
Don't click and deprive them of that fraction of a cent.

[SHRED]

17. If the shoe fits...

Obviously people who fall for this hate talk are themselves bitter inside and prejudiced.

Why feel sorry for these fools?

I question the term "brainwashed" as if they are victims.

[StevePaulson]

40. Don't Blame Them

No one is perfect, but brainwashing "scared" people
is not that hard. It has been planned and carried out
with precision for decades.

The
Brainwashing
Works

Period!!!

What I love most is people without a pot to piss in
railing against Democrats. You know, they party
that will make sure they don't die in the gutter if
someone didn't "make it".

Social Security and Medicare was fought, and is still being
fought tooth and nail by the GOP.

Billionaires, and their Republican puppets want you living in fear,
giving most of your paycheck to their corporate backers without
even a whimper. And when you retire, Billionaires / Republicans
want you to go away, and not be a "taker". They don't want you
seeing doctors, or doing anything else besides working till you are 90.

[SHRED]

41. So people who choose to listen...

... and believe this crap hold no responsibility for their actions?

Is their choice so who else is to blame?

[StevePaulson]

45. They Can't Handle The Truth

I will go halfway with you shred....

Kinda reminds me of "the good Germans" a while back....

[kelly1mm]

51. Progressives and conservitives both have a tendency to strip individuals of agency. Paternalism

runs strong through both. Absolves individuals of responsibility for their actions but at the same time strips them of their ability to make individual choices.

[underpants]

18. The Powell Memo

Good to see that that is included. Lewis Powell's focus was on their losses in campuses but people like Ailes seized upon that and took it to the media. Very much looking forward to seeing this.

[mountain grammy]

19. My husband assures me, his dad was always a mean and abusive man,

but non stop fox news the last years of his life really put him over. We gave up most of 2012 to care for him in his home before he died.
Whenever it was our "turn" to be there, we would quietly change the channels. I even caught the old man laughing at the Daily Show one night (after I had fed him a snack of pot infused crackers.)
When I told him Obama was reelected, he actually mumbled "he's a good man." He died a week later.

[Blanks]

20. I watch a lot of documentaries...

I've been looking for this one ever since I heard it was being made (seems like it's been a while).

I don't, however, think we need new laws. Sure, there should be some funding providing for equal time for opposing views, but mostly people just need to turn off the TV (and hate radio) and recognize that it is owned by the MIC. It's just like citizens united - we aren't going to fix it with a law. We are going to fix it by people waking up to what is going on.

I don't know what the answer is, but if someone comes up with a law titled 'fairness in broadcasting' I expect that it's going to be like 'right to work' and 'freedom to farm', it sounds like a good law, but when you look under the hood they actually do the opposite of what they're supposed to do.

Those of us without huge stacks of money are going to have to figure out a way to bring those with stacks of money under control with a method that doesn't require a lot of money. Since we don't have lobbyists, we can't realistically expect they're gonna write laws to benefit us.

[oldlib2]

26. It's Real

I have moved to a small California town, Lodi, and I meet a group at a coffee shop every morning. Politics is not discussed too often, but it usually starts as a comment on how inept Obama is as president This always brings a laugh from the group, who daily watch Limbaugh and fox news for their political inspiration. These are good people and I enjoy their company, except when political issues are discussed.

I have not revealed my liberal background, as arguing would not change their minds, and only alienate the group to myself. The right wing has total political control of the group, and thankfully political issues are not often discussed.

[SHRED]

27. Only the worst kind of bitter people will listen to Fox and Rush

They gravitate to these shows like a moth to a flame. Something inside of them is nourished by racism, sexism, and hate.

Sorry but I'm not buying the "brainwashed victim" nonsense. Not even for family members I love.
There is no one to blame but the consumer of it.

[CrispyQ]

29. This could be my story:

“I was inspired to make this film after watching my father – a non-political Democrat – turn into a right-wing fanatic after a change in his car commute exposed him to reactionary shows on talk radio..."

Back in the early 90s, my once democratic mother went from working in an office, where radio wasn't allowed, to working from home, where she started listening to Rush Limbaugh 2-3 hours a day. In 18 months she went from a reasonable democrat to an unreasonable, hateful, right-wing-nut-job. The day she told me she didn't care about women's issues anymore, because "I'm past that age. Besides, you young feminists have taken it too far," I knew she was lost. This is the woman who had a special conversation with me about choice, the day the Roe v Wade decision was handed down.

Hate radio is a cancer on our society & I will celebrate the day Rush Limbaugh dies, the sooner the better.

[1StrongBlackMan]

30. Relatedly ...

I heard, this morning, calls from talking heads to crack down on organizations that radicalize folks to the point of violence. They were talking about the shootings in France ... one noted, "We can no longer call these individual acts by 'lone wolves'."

I couldn't help but think, substitute "Radical Islam" with "rightwing ideology" and we have the same thing ... we have rightwing media radicalizing folks to commit acts of violence (think ... Tiller, the Las Vegas killings ... hell, there are too many to name) where the perpetrator actually named rightwing radio as their incitement.

Yet, none of these talking heads lay the blame at the feet of rightwing radio ... nor, do they suggest that these acts of violence are anything but "lone wolves."

[PatrynXX]

32. been heavily following this one. giving some money towards it etc

actually was asked by her to do a skype censored interview because I had such a dad who's been brainwashed. My brother is going down the same hill. Have more fights with him because it's in my face where he doesn't have a clue whats going on in the world.

[homegirl]

35. H.L. Menken

said it many years ago - "Power of the press belongs to those who own one."

[colsohlibgal]

36. Great Documentary

I wonder how many people even know about the Powell memo. This was the impetus for a very long game by the right, which also included establishing all those think tanks to furnish as talk show "experts".

Telecommunication rules have been changed along the way to allow blatant lying. When you have that situation and a nation obviously filled with gullible people, many not the brightest bulbs, we get to where we are now.

And it's not just the lies and half truths it's what they feature, all laid out daily by Ailes. Obama goes on vacation or plays golf get all over him. When Dubya did that ignore it. Dubya did it way more than Obama but you'd never know it listening to Rush or Hannity or the homey "Fox and Friends" - who aren't really your friends.

All the while the gilded set, the 1%, is ecstatic that so many of the 99% are helping them get even richer at the 99%'s expense.

[StevePaulson]

37. I Love How They Got Rid Of Progressive Radio

I live in Seattle.

AM 1090 Seattle's Progressive Talk
is now sports.

No Ed, no Randi, no Stephanie, no Norman,
no Thom, nothing but sports, music, and
hate.

NPR, better than hate, but watered down big time.

The right wing hate machine won't let
liberal (reality based) voices have radio
stations, or broadcast anywhere. They
know how powerful liberal voices on the
radio telling people they are being robbed,
or ripped off, or lied to is. Giving a view
of the news that is not corporate sponsored.

It is 100% right wing hate radio, or
sports, or music.

I am a progressive, and I think there should
be at least one radio choice that is not
Rush, or Sean, or some other corporate
funded lying piece of slime.

Everywhere.

The billionaires write checks to hate radio so
it is "profitable". They pay for ads, and make
sure the people being robbed are completely
confused, and brainwashed by an endless
stream of propaganda in their cars, and on
their tv's. I heard the Rush show got eleven
million dollars for nothing if I recall. Here, have
some money. Keep at it Rush!!!!

This is total bullshit.

[uhnope]

50. +100. IMO hate talk radio has more effect than FOX

FOX is chosen by the already-brainwashed.
Talk radio brainwashes them while they are trapped in their cars, bored, with nothing else to do.

[zebonaut]

42. A Cult Deprogramming Intervention is what is needed for Fox Viewers

Tough Love. These Fox viewers need to be Deprogrammed; and their sets taken away

[progressoid]

47. So basically, we (liberals) need to deprogram America