August 6, 2019

We do not know whether the El Paso shooter was a Fox News fan but we do know that Fox has promoted the same white nationalist conspiracy theories to be found in his so-called manifesto.

Media Matters has put together another terrific mashup video, embedded below, showing just how Fox’s biggest names have parroted white supremacists.

In an accompanying article, Media Matters’ Matt Gertz wrote:

The alleged killer wrote in the document that he wanted “to exact revenge against ‘the Hispanic invasion of Texas,’ to forestall what he called ‘cultural and ethnic replacement,’ and to ‘reclaim my country from destruction,’” echoing the perpetrators of similar mass shootings, as National Review’s editors noted in denouncing him.

Those ideas, once again drenched in blood, were at one time largely restricted to fringe forums populated by hardcore white supremacists and conspiracy theorists. But in recent years, you could have easily heard them recited while watching a random night of Fox News’ prime-time lineup.

The rhetoric of “invasion” and “replacement” has also migrated, pardon the pun, to Fox's constituency of Republican politicians, including President Donald Trump, Gertz further noted.

So it’s no wonder that Fox is trying to blame video games, lack of religion, mental illness and has even tried to blame ISIS for the incendiary conspiracy theories the shooter could have gotten directly from Fox News prime time.

I'm not blaming Fox News for the El Paso shooting or for any white supremacist terrorism but I am blaming them for needlessly promoting the kind of rhetoric that feeds it.

See what Fox has mainstreamed and refuses to take responsibility for above, via Media Matters.

Published with permission from News Hounds.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon