Dem lawmaker slams Fox News: 'We're battling misinformation'

[DonViejo]

BY AVERY ANAPOL - 07/01/18 08:17 AM EDT

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) ripped Fox News as spreading “misinformation” about immigration after an encounter with a constituent.

Swalwell described the incident in a tweet late Friday night, saying that a constituent approached him and accused him of supporting open borders, citing Fox News.

“Scary. A constituent just confronted me and told me I support open borders,” he tweeted. “I told her that’s not true and I’ve never said that. She said ‘Fox News said you do.’”

“Guys, this is what we are up against,” he added. “We aren’t battling ideology. We’re battling misinformation.”

Link to tweet

more
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/395045-dem-lawmaker-slams-fox-news-were-battling-misinformation

[KPN]

1. Propaganda, not misinformation. Thanks for piping up

Rep. Swalwell but you’re a little late to the party.

[olegramps]

23. Many have been warning for years that the Republicans are pursuing a fascist agenda.

Today I listened in shock how damn stupid some of our Democratic legislators are in making statements that play right into the hands of the enemy. Yes, enemy. They say we should get rid of I.C.E. Not that the administration is misusing these agents, but we should just get rid of it. Have they entertained the notion that the proper approach would be to praise the agents who are doing a dangerous job under extreme pressure, but we oppose putting their people in a position of carrying out orders that many if not all do not support. They should attack those who made this decision. How many people actually believe that we don't need effective border security? What we need is effective, human treatment of people fleeing for their very lives. Yes, we need effective measures to secure the border and Mexico isn't going to pay for it, we are. We don't need unthinking asinine statements that can be used to destroy the efforts of effective opposition. I swear that at times it seems that we are determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, rather than the opposite.

Its just like Hilary saying that she is going to abolish coal jobs instead of saying that cleaner, healthier means should be pursued. But making a strong demand that we must recognize the contribution that the hard working coal miners provided in making this a powerful nation. And that it is foremost that they need our assistance during this transition. You don't appear to what to punish honest workers that have put their very health at risk to provide for their families and then they wonder why working class people abandon them.

[Jake Stern]

32. "We should praise the brave SS, after all they have such a tough job rounding up the untermenschen!"

Yeah, yeah and they're just following orders, right?

I don't see many of these "torn" agents speaking out against this cruelty so by their silence they show they agree.

[olegramps]

36. Equating the I.C.E. agents with the SS is preposterous.

I did say in any why that I condone the separation of children from their parents. This was a decision made by Trump.

[Jake Stern]

37. Not really a goon is a goon no matter what uniform they wear

I give no quarter to fascists or their goons irregardless of how much das Volk may support them.

Trump issued the order but they turned away from their own consciences by carrying them out with gusto.

Abolish ICE and start over.

[olegramps]

38. There is no sense responding to hyperbolic nonsense. Echo's of radical the radicalsHave a good day.

[mr_lebowski]

35. So much this ... (nt)

[spanone]

2. The republican ministry of propaganda is in it's heyday.

[tavernier]

3. Where has Captain Obvious been for past decade

or better? The least intelligent DU member (points at self) has known that for a long time.

These “go along to get along” politicians are why we are in this mess in the first place.

[Fred Sanders]

18. Where is the MSM on reporting on the media viper in their midst? Fox being pure propaganda, and

now official state TV is in of itself a huge story...but they demur because...?? There are mountains of evidence even a cub reporter coud do.

Scared? Cowed? Collusion? Head in sand strategy?

Really, who do we have left to save us other than the media and our own street protest, which will amount to zilch if the covered by...the very same media?

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. He's just now figuring that out?

[Baitball Blogger]

5. It's worse than that.

One thing I noticed about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was that she took the bait on open borders. She used the term, saying that she supported it, but when pushed further to define what she meant, it turns out that she does believe in a process that monitors or evaluates people who are coming into this country. So in essence, not open borders the way that FoxNews viewers would process it in their brains.

The number one way to break misinformation is to STOP USING THEIR FRAMING TERMS. For God's sake. We know they have think-tanks working on this on their side and we're still a big tent of people who have no leadership. No one is trying to fix this problem even though the solution is obvious.

[AlexSFCA]

6. isnt it annoying that we always on the defensive

fox news has been setting the agenda for a long time. And now they are trying to go to every home via sinclair. This isn’t misinformation. This is disinformation (intent).

[Baitball Blogger]

7. It's going to take one rising star to set the pace and show us the proper way

to fight against the disinformation war. It's going to take someone with a high profile, the way that Jon Stewart helped us overcome Bush when Stewart used satire to diffuse an otherwise hopeless era.

[watoos]

9. I agree that Fox is the king of misinformation

but I see msnbc and cnn following the same narrative as Fox.

Nicole Wallace, Rachel, and Lawrence stray from the narrative, but the 3 cable news networks are pretty much in lock step.

e.g. There has been more than enough evidence to warrant impeaching Trump, which cable news network or other M$M news outlet has been pushing for impeachment? That's right, none of them.

[WinstonSmith4740]

20. Fox has been spreading invective and lies since the 80's.

Since they only present their own, distorted view of things, and lie more often than telling the truth, we can't let them set the talking points. They call themselves "Fair and Balanced", which couldn't be further from the truth.

So I'm just a little confused over this...

"Nicole Wallace, Rachel, and Lawrence stray from the narrative."

Yeah, Lawrence can get "blustery" and tends to congratulate himself on his predictions. But then again, he's usually been right with them. Haven't had a chance to watch Nicole's show too much, but have seen her on other shows a lot. As for Rachel, well, she helps keep me (and I think a lot of us here) sane.

I totally agree on the news networks marching in lock step, and no, none of them have been pushing for impeachment. But I really think they're taking their cue from the Dems here. I've heard way too many of them saying the impeachment would be too disruptive to the country, and we need to concentrate on voting him out in 2020. And in the meantime, they are doing nothing about how vulnerable our voting system is to obvious outside meddling. Again, hate to say it, but I think impeachment would be an issue. As much as I would love to see that bloviating idiot marched out of the White House in handcuffs, if it happened, Trump's lunatic minions would start shooting journalists and Democrats on sight and would burn this country down. We're dealing with seriously deranged people here.

[pangaia]

28. " Trump's lunatic minions would start shooting journalists and Democrats on sight and would burn

this country down,.."

Shit.. "SHOOT BACK !!!!!!!"

Not enough dem lawmakers and candidates are 'shooting' .

We just 'discuss things'

Shit, this ain;t baseball, played in a nice grassy park, in the spring, when everything is happy, and growing..

This is fuckin' FOOTBALL. played in the fall, on a GRIDIRON, when everything is dying !!!!!!!!!

[WinstonSmith4740]

33. Oh, HELL, yeah!

That's been a big part of the issue for way too long. Democrats HAVE been civil and it got us nowhere. It's way passed the time when the gloves should have come off, but it doesn't mean it's too late. They can NOT be their normal compliant, compromise seeking selves. It's time to get into the dirt.

[pangaia]

34. Hitler wasn't defeated by having forums on world peace....

[certainot]

10. we're always on the defensive because dems are unaware that by the time it shows up on fox

it's already been pounded into the earholes of tens of millions of talk radio listeners

that is where the unchallenged repetition is done, but fox still gets all the 'credit'

fox is not the problem

[pangaia]

29. talk radio.... yup.. much much wider audience than fox...

and even MORE one sided pounding in hatred for anything 24/7

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. Correct. Democrats must frame language their own way, not RepubliCONMAN way. . . . nt

[certainot]

8. talk radio is the big player in this, enabling fox

fox gets more 'respect' while talk radio does the unchallenged repetition

it's unfortunate prominent dems don't point at the radio

[Funtatlaguy]

27. It did indeed lay the foundation.

But tv is a much more powerful medium than radio.
Fox News ruined this country.

[certainot]

41. fox is diddly, merely visual icing on talk radio's lie turd pie

fox started 9 years after the talk radio monopoly got going and paved the way for media deregulation
it cant do the unchallenged repetition, it is easily replaced with media alts a click away, and it cannot be locally coordinated like talk radio

if trump paid $1000/hr for a radio ad 1200 stations are worth $18MIL/day or $5BIL/yr

the reason we're in this mess is because liberals blame fox while talk radio kicks their ass

fox is talk radio's dumb little sidekick

the problem is talk radio

[SeloverB]

11. Finally figuring it out?

The Repubs have been exagerating Dem positions for YEARS, so they can more easily defeat them. Think "Dems want to take your guns"! When did Fox News and Rush Limbaugh begin? It's taken how long for Dems to realize what's been going on???? Swalwell is a pretty bright guy, but what kind of bubble has he been living in?

[Pobeka]

12. Wrong, not years, but DECADES.

The exaggeration/lies about Dem positions started in earnest with Reagan. We are closing in on *four* decades of this BS. I know smart people, who could easily look at GAO numbers and realize that GOP administrations have raised the debt far more than DEM administrations. But they simply won't look at the numbers, it's hard for them to believe anything but what comes out of the mouths of the RNC, or a GOP politician.

[elmac]

13. The first suggested name for the network

was GOPTV, no lie.

[WinstonSmith4740]

14. What I don't understand is why we keep buying into the "1984" euphemisms.

I noticed this starting in the Reagan 80's. (Actually, the first time I heard the term was in "Casablanca", but I digress) It isn't "misinformation". It's a damned lie. We keep letting them set the parameters of the discussion.

We've been saying this for years on this site, but this is the Dems last chance to develop a damn spine and stand up to the lying, obfuscating Republicans. If they don't draw a line in the sand, and NOW, we're going to lose this democracy. Sorry to feel this way, folks, but the time to "go low" has come...we have to be willing to get our hands dirty. We haven't been bringing a knife to a gun fight...we've been bringing a book.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

17. FOR THS GUY to not know or understand the difference between "misinformation" and intentional

disinformation does not bode well.

Cant possibly act on or respond to a problem without first properly identifying what it is.

[llmart]

15. Propaganda only works...

if you have a gullible, willfully ignorant, lazy populace. Anyone who has developed critical thinking skills can see through propaganda. It's similar to the tenets of advertising. If you know how advertisers target people to get them to part with their money then you're more likely to be able to look at or be exposed to an ad and realize how they're trying to manipulate you. Education is everything, but this is not what they teach you in school.

[WinstonSmith4740]

21. True that!

You are absolutely right about this:

Anyone who has developed critical thinking skills can see through propaganda

Here's the issue" https://www.alternet.org/story/156216/the_death_of_critical_thinking_in_texas_public_schools

This is going on in more than Texas. State legislatures may not be as obvious as they are in Texas, but it's happening everywhere. I teach, and kids today literally DON'T KNOW HOW TO THINK! And that will be a huge problem going forward. It's why I think Reagan declared war on public education back in the 80's by slashing budgets. Bush Jr. gave us those stupid tests. So kids don't know how to think...but they will be good at taking orders and never questioning anything...exactly what Republicans value in their followers.

[llmart]

22. I see it too.

Retired from a university and had many interactions with students, some of whom worked for me. The level of what was required of students in high school was obvious to me. I agree with you that it began in the Reagan years (didn't most of this crap begin there?) and has increasingly gotten worse. Do you remember how the book "The Closing of the American Mind" was on the best seller list? Now we have someone like Betsy DeVos in charge of Education? How much lower can we go in this country?

If I remember correctly, the percentage of adults in this country with a four-year degree hasn't changed that much from the 80's. I think it still is around 25%. Can't remember where I read that, but I do remember reading that back in the 80's.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

16. THE CORRECT WORD is "disinformation," not "misinformation." Its not some innocuous little boo boo n

[pangaia]

30. The correct word is LIES !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 4th.. or 14th.. whichever..

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

40. Oh I dunno. "Lies" is good, but "disinformation" or "propaganda" has a more cold-blooded and

calculating tone to it that I prefer. A three year old child lies. Disinformation is done by repressive totalitarian regimes.

But hey dont mind me I'm a language geek! Happy 4th +14th back at you

[elleng]

24. Of course we are, battling misinformation. Propaganda will 'kill' us.

'“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”'

Goebbels
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/joseph-goebbels-on-the-quot-big-lie-quot

[pangaia]

25. LIES LIES LIES..... Not MISINFORMATION

jeeeeze have some courage

[Funtatlaguy]

26. How did an Australian like Murdoch get such American media power?

And why did we as a country let it happen?

[SamKnause]

31. We are battling EVIL !!!!!!!!!!!!

EVIL TRAITOROUS LIARS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EVIL fucking LIARS one and all !!!!!

[Scurrilous]

39. K&R

[BlancheSplanchnik]

42. Disinformation. It all purposeful.

Ministry of Propaganda has been grooming the populace for several decades. NOw they’re ready to get fitted for their Brown Shirts.