Fox News & "Plato's Allegory of the Cave"

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Forums > All Posts > Fox News and "Plato's Allegory of the Cave"

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12-10-2011, 08:03 AM

Schmidt
Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 1058

Okay, I am getting more astounded and annoyed by Fox News every day. Their brazen disregard for facts and their misrepresentation of reality blows my mind.

When Obama gave his memorable 55 minute speech in Osawatomie on December 6th, I flicked channels and noted that Fox News wasn't showing it. It was programming as usual. So their viewers had no idea what Obama was saying, and I doubt that any took the time to flick channels to MSNBC or CNN...or any other channels that might have been carrying it. But true to form, Fox and Friends wasted no time in giving their take on the speech. "Will [Obama's] strategy of class warfare really work?" Fox News contributor Dick Morris called Obama's speech "awful" and claimed it promoted a "collectivist European socialist philosophy."

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201112070017

Of course, Obama's latest speech is just one example of what happens every day at Fox News. But if you talk to a Fox News viewer, they are captivated. They believe every word they hear and would never never switch channels to see what the "enemy" is saying at MSNBC.

I am thus reminded of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, a fictional dialogue between Plato's teacher Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon. See Wikipedia, Allegory of the Cave. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

In the dialogue, Socrates describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Socrates, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.

The Fox News viewers are the prisoners chained to the wall...and the "shadows" projected on the wall are nothing more than a TV screen showing Fox News 24/7. Unfortunately few have broken loose from those chains to check reality. They are chained to Fox News and condemned to live their lives in ignorance. And those few that do switch channels cannot cope with the alternate reality.

12-10-2011, 08:51 AM

that guy in Arizona
Flagstaff, AZ
Posts: 158

Schmidt:

Although the Koch brothers are largely responsible for the emergence of the nut cases in the Republican Party, Rupert Murdoch (who owns Fox News) is actually more dangerous because his reach extends to five continents:

www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/07/b122948.html

Although the facts listed in the link above are all enough to get your dander up, the fact that he may have been the one person primarily responsible for starting the war in Iraq, as well as getting George W. Bush elected (in spite of the fact that Al Gore got 500,000 more votes than George W. in 1980) are especially infuriating. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin have been (or are) employees of Murdoch.

If you have the patience to read through it, the Wikipedia article below has LOTS more
information about the shenanigans of Fox News:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_Channel_controversies

In view of the fact that Comedy Central's Jon Stewart is actually considered to be the most trusted man in America (I'm not making this up), the bumper sticker shown below is
particularly appropriate:

www.northernsun.com/images/imagethumb/Comedy-Fox-News-Bumper-Sticker-(7245).jpg

12-11-2011, 07:28 AM

Schmidt
Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 1058

Some good links, Arizona. In addition, I rely on Media Matters and News Hounds for reporting on what Fox News is reporting. But I do also appreciate that these websites might be cherry picking the worst of the worst, so occasionally I tune into Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly or Fox and Friends. What gets me as how they can talk so matter-of-factly about something that is totally distorted...or how they make mountains out of molehills and go on and on and on about those molehills.

Rupert Murdoch has built himself a profitable media empire that includes not only Fox News but also the New York Post and now the editorial content of the Wall Street Journal, not to mention his closed "News of the World" in the UK. But Fox News is his gem, and his number 2 in running the show is Roger Ailes. If you haven't seen the May 25, 2011 article in Rolling Stone on Roger Ailes entitled, How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory, I highly recommend it. Here's one short extract:

Fear, in fact, is precisely what Ailes is selling: His network has relentlessly hyped phantom menaces like the planned “terror mosque” near Ground Zero, inspiring Florida pastor Terry Jones to torch the Koran. Privately, Murdoch is as impressed by Ailes’ business savvy as he is dismissive of his extremist politics. "You know Roger is crazy," Murdoch recently told a colleague, shaking his head in disbelief. "He really believes that stuff."

And Fox News viewers also must be crazy for believing all that stuff. They're mesmerized by it, much like a day time soap. What worries me is that these people vote.

I'm also thankful for Jon Stewart. That bumper sticker is true.

12-11-2011, 09:54 AM

that guy in Arizona
Flagstaff, AZ
Posts: 158

the more things change, the more they stay the same ...

Schmidt:

I appreciate your response, and have to admit that I had never heard of Roger Ailes until I read your comments.

When I pulled him up on Wikipedia, my first thought was that he looks an awful lot like
Alfred Hitchcock, who also was a master of producing scary stories, as Ailes did with the Ground Zero mosque.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Ailes

The phrase that caught my eye in the story above was the "orchestra pit" theory of news coverage, whereby the most sensational news story is the one that's going to get attention, while the the more cerebral approaches are lost on the masses.

If you've read anything about William Randolph Hearst, you'll discover that he relied heavily on sensational news stories in his newspapers to increase circulation.

His newspapers actually weren't hugely profitable, but the publicity from them led to other more profitable ventures. Like Murdoch, he used intimidation on occasion to try to force
events to his likely, and was especially incensed by "Citizen Kane", which was based heavily on his life.

Since I'm a former college professor, you're likely to think that I've had some thoughts about both the mosque at Ground Zero and Terry Jones, and you'd be right

tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2010/09/mosque-at-ground-zero.html tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2011/04/accessory-to-murder.html

The Ground Zero story has been one of the most popular stories I've pulished so far on my website. As of this morning, it's had roughly 1000 "pageviews" in a variety of countries around the world.

12-17-2011, 08:56 AM

Veronica
Not Selected
Posts: 205

Good Morning Schmidt & Arizona: I have been immersed in Christmas stuff for a few days, & just saw some of your latest posts. Really mesmerizing. Wanted to tell you two that I saw quite a few of your posts the other day about religion, with lots of links & videos (Ireland, monuments, etc). I spent quite a few hours enjoying those & listening to those. Music and scenery was phenomenal, like taking a giant trip around the world, & into the ancient past. I hope to go back to see more, after the holidays. By the way, YULETIDE GREETINGS!! (trying to be politically correct: )

Today's discussion was fantastic. Great links & insight. I can't read it all today, but hope to copy & paste those links & go back to it later on. It was so great you mentioned Plato's CAVE allegory. It struck me deeply in college, but I can't remember which course. (Philosophy?) Plato's ideas are just as valid now as anytime before. It was either he (or Socrates) that spoke of the world as a huge ball, with all the nations like a patchwork quilt laid upon it. THIS BLEW MY MIND. How could HE possibly KNOW?

After all, Plato & Socrates lived about 500 BC -- & nobody knew the world was round, much less could imagine the nations like a quilt laid upon the globe -- until 1492. (or much later). The world did not find this knowledge for another 2,000 yrs !! How can we possibly account for this? Is it just genius insight? Clairvoyance? Mental projection? (I'd love to know what you think).

The "Caves" analogy is so true. Sometimes we feel Fox News watchers live in an alternate reality and they act upon it, and vote because of it, which affects all of America negatively. Worst of all, America will suffer because of the general amnesia & hypnotic effects of their broadcasting, as it captivates the mind like a sermon from God. Since it is being doubly reinforced in all the right-wing churches. (All a part of the "grand plan" -- to brain-wash & subvert the USA).

I think you have uncovered something subtle, that evaded my radar screen. All of these major players in rightwing media have international ties, & inter-connections around the globe. At first it did not seem too significant, but when you add in the global economy, (market place) & all the banking & investments going on, & Bush's speech (1990) about the New World Order -- it just suddenly occurred to me -- OBJECTIVE -- World domination, international communism.

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