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by Jeffrey Joseph
After years of misinformation and vitriol, FOX never appears ready to take responsibility for the violence provoked by the reckless "news" it tends to broadcast. Now that the political climate has turned especially heated and people have threatened violence inspired by FOX broadcasts, the mother of a man who threatened House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally made the connection between FOX and violence that responsible media analysts have long feared.
Authorities recently picked up Gregory Lee Giusti for threats that he made against the speaker. He already had an existing record of harassment and theft, but his mother had a specific theory about the origins of his inspiration for his threats against the speaker.
Speaking to a San Francisco ABC affiliate about her son's actions, Eleanor Gusti says, "I would say this must be another one that somehow he's gotten onto either by -- I'd say FOX News or all of those that are really radical, and he -- that's where he comes from."
Indeed, the mother of a man who threatened to attack Speaker Pelosi traces his violent focus to the "radical" views of people like so many of the personalities on FOX. People such as Glenn Beck manufacture outright lies to incite their audiences, telling them that President Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress tell the Tea Partiers, "You are either with the president or you're a terrorist." Not only does he lack any evidence of such a bold claim, but part of his logic for the outrage stems rationalizing the complaints against President George W. Bush for actually suggesting his political opponents were in league with terrorists.
FOX proponents may suggest Beck would not irresponsibly put forth such obviously incendiary statements about the president and the left since he so frequently mentions his love for the nation. Nonetheless, Beck himself admits that he does not "give a flying crap about the political process." Beck, like FOX more generally, focuses more on what brings in attention. As Beck says, "We're an entertainment company." It just happens to be one banking on an ideological bent.
Beck can try to explain away his remarks by telling viewers, "If you take what I say as gospel, you're an idiot," but he no less bears responsibility for the actions and "radical" views he inspires, especially when he so awkwardly tries to serve up his own Gospels, anyway. As a rising star on FOX's network, though, he represents the increasingly vitriolic direction the network has taken. That the mother of a man picked up by authorities for harassing a nationally recognized politician would point to the "radical" talk of FOX as inspiration for his actions should come as little surprise. What should be surprising is the lack of responsibility the network accepts for its programming. As the threats of violence and attendant rhetoric continue, people should demand more responsibility from the supposed "news" network -- and until then, choose to Turn Off FOX.
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Originally posted at Turn Off FOX.
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