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Fox News: Malignant dishonesty continues [1]

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Date: 2023-04-22  

Opinion:

There are many types, flavors, and degrees of dishonesty. There is inadvertent dishonesty, where we might accidentally spout an untruth on our way to another point. There is innocent dishonesty, where we voice a falsehood while sincerely believing its truthfulness. There is deliberate, but well-meaning, dishonesty, where we might shave, embellish, or deny a truth for a gentle purpose, such as to avoid hurting someone. From inadvertent to innocent to little white lies, we can all relate to these kinds of duplicity. And, for the most part, excusing them as a normal and healthy human endeavor works.

But there are darker types of dishonesty, too. Narcissists and sociopaths are well practiced in advanced chicanery. Families and acquaintances of these types of dishonest people carry a heavy burden in trying desperately to cope with irrationalities, while simultaneously trying to love their purveyor. While these types of dishonest people should not be wished on anyone, they are not yet the end of the darkness spectrum.

That extreme is reserved for practitioners of, let's call it, "malignant dishonesty." Such purveyors of perfidy do far more damage than to a local circle of acquaintances. They affect, and infect, entire societies, on national and even global levels. Their deceptions carry monstrous weight. Their distortions and fabrications can, and do, help make civilized society sick.

I put Fox "News" in this third category of dishonesty. Their audience is vast, and the consequences of their untruths are enormous. And they don't just lie out of personal weakness or immaturity. They lie knowingly, for the crassest of reasons. They pay homage to their business model, with truth as a pesky thorn to be avoided. They lie because, cue Jack Nicholson, they know that their audience can't handle the truth.

Never mind the unrest and violence that we foment, they say in effect. Never mind the distrust of one another that we sow and encourage. Never mind that we promote hate and division, while eschewing compromise and solutions. Never mind that some of our most ardent supporters are racists, bigots, and insurrectionists. Let's keep that stock price up. Let's keep those fires burning.

Such extreme dishonesty is the very antithesis of journalism. Fox may not have started the cynical societal disease from which our body politic is suffering today. But they have certainly fed its metastasis.

And worse, Fox's bile is set up to continue nearly unabated. They will pay Dominion a hefty sum, to be sure. And hats off to Dominion for exposing Fox's ugly hypocrisy and naked corruption.

They were held accountable financially, and their contemptuous malpractice was revealed in black and white. But on the score of responsible and ethical wielder of great power, their comeuppance barely amounts to a light chastening. It certainly did not persuade them to amend their ways proportionate to the extent of their deceptions. They were allowed to skate with this weak-sauce, non-apologetic, and starkly dishonest statement:

“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.”

"… FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards." Yeah, right. We can only hope that their continued commitment to such flagrant and malignant dishonesty is not eventually fatal to our democracy.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/22/2165070/-Fox-News-Malignant-dishonesty-continues

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