What we must avoid at all costs

These don't even begin to scratch the surface, but they're a start.

Fox News and the right-wing wackosphere are not ridiculous. They are not harmless. They are not merely mendacious buffoons. They are an obscene perversion of everything journalism and reasoned debate are supposed to be about.  The toxic effect that the Fox approach has had on American journalism, on civil discourse, on civil society itself has been so profound and so grossly disfiguring that merely documenting it would be the work of years. Analyzing it would take years more. Fixing it? I don't even want to try and guess.

Some progressive observers to the south have recognized the danger for a long time and have tried to fight back.  The always-incisive, always-on-the-mark Shoq rallies for a counteroffensive here.  It's a worthwhile cause, but I can't help fearing that it may be too late.

Charles Kaiser's marvellous essay sets out the shameful record of mainstream U.S. media outlets, and the Obama White House, in the fallout from the Shirley Sherrod "scandal."  (Manufactured scandal, actually.)

And then there's Keith Olbermann's special comment.

Part 1:



Part 2:



Follow these links and you get an idea of where the Harpokons are getting their marching orders and where they want to take us.  And then ask yourself if we can afford to shrug off Peladeau and Teneycke's little project.