There are times in life when truths that have gnawed at you finally crystallize into a single moment of uncompromising lucidity. Maybe it's the friend you've admired for years whom you one day realize you love. Or maybe it's the propaganda outfit disguised as a news outlet that deals primarily in smears and lies, whose utter obscenity you never quite comprehend until that moment of clarity hits you like a kick to the groin.
I had that moment last night at a local sports bar, where one of the televisions was silently tuned to Fox Noise as they covered the accident with the rescue workers in Utah yesterday. Fox is as disgusting and obscene a presence on television as can be imagined. More below the fold.
So I'm out having a good time, chipping in on sax on a few tunes with a band composed of friends of mine. Drinks are flowing, cuties are dancing, everything is a happy high, until I look up and see Fox on one of the TVs. The chyron reads: "1 of 9 injured rescue workers has died." At first, I'm saddened for the deceased hero and his family. But then I think through it some more.
Fox News broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, nonstop Republican propaganda to rabid Republican acolytes. Their position on worker safety: "Screw it." Their position on unions: "Bust them all." Their position on mine regulation: "End it." It's all about the dollars in their world, and not the scarce few that filter down to the people doing the actual work. If shareholders aren't able to upgrade their yachts every year, then costs are just gonna have to be cut on the front lines. You all know what I'm talking about, I don't need to belabor this, right?
Let's just say that if they had their way, OSHA would not exist, and all fines imposed by OSHA would be retroactively refunded. With interest. Like the volunteer army, these workers knew what they were getting into when they applied for their jobs. They probably should have invested better so they wouldn't have to take jobs like that.
So when I see on Fox, "1 of 9 injured rescue workers has died," with nonstop continuing coverage from the scene, what I'm really seeing is a celebration: "We stopped the inspections and now miners and rescue workers will die for your entertainment and our ratings! Woohoo!" And, of course, the chyron was nonchalantly updated as the death toll climbed. No discussion of why these people had to die. No speculation on the causal relationship between inspection cessation and mine collapse. No willingness whatsoever to consider, if just for a moment, that their own callous disregard for our common humanity may have had something to do with the genesis of this tragedy. Just more pumping of the body count for their conscience-crippled audience. Just more fuel for their ad rates.
I hate these people today. I shouldn't give into hate, I know. But Fox News simply has no morals, no conscience, no humanity. They poison our country and cheer when their toxic crop comes to harvest. What else can a person do in response to such evil?
A final note: It's a fact that they've been doing this with the Iraq War from the beginning. I know that. The mitigating factor there, in my mind, is that war is supposed to be horrible, that we know it will be horrible before we enter into it. There are no real workplace protections for soldiers and Marines other than the armor they can carry or ride behind. So the question with war is always, "Is it worth the pain and suffering?" Almost inevitably the answer is no, but at least in theory there might be some wiggle room to reasonably say yes.
Mine safety isn't like that. Any decision to take shortcuts in mine safety is a calculated decision to kill people unnecessarily in order to gin up extra profit for shareholders. For Fox to exploit the deaths of these people still further by gleefully racking up the body count for their uncaring audience somehow angers me in a way that war coverage can't. This may be due to some defect in my way of viewing the world and in fact it probably is. Nevertheless, though, last night was when it all crystallized in my mind.
It's my birthday today, so please be kind. And let's beat back those sorry bastards, every day, together, for the rest of our lives. We must.
UPDATE: I changed the diary title thanks to taylormattd's clear mind and good manners. White hot. Not red. Doh.