Part of Fox News' propaganda genius is its ability to frame its messages in terms of the noble us vs. the evil them. The narrative is further enhanced by smearing those deemed to be enemies of the Fox/right wing state of mind (think "Ground Zero Mosque" and the "War on Christmas.") In validating the position of the supporters of "religious liberty" vs. the alleged overreach of the Obama HHS, Fox News had no problem trashing and mocking Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown student who provided testimony, to a Democratic congressional committee, regarding the importance and fairness of contraception coverage with no co-pays for Georgetown students. Fox's "The Five," a show that delights in personal attacks, attacked her. Greg Gutfeld, who gets indignant when conservative women are targeted, whined that she is "the poster child for whiny entitlement." Eric Bolling claimed she was a White House operative. Now that Fluke is campaigning for the president, "The Five" continued their attack by using the Fox patented Chick fil-A controversy to compare the evil "political opportunist" Fluke with the noble Chick fil-A worker who encountered a bully. As propaganda, sheer genius - As personal attack, vile. But then, it is "The Five."
The video title of last week's smear session underscored the dualistic nature of the propaganda to come. "Sandra Fluke vs. Chick-fil-A employee." Greg Gutfeld opened with his trademark snark full of the sound and fury, signifying nothing. His monologue was just another iteration of the age old sexist trope that women who meekly accept the wisdom of the patriarchs are virtuous; whereas those who don't are uppity sluts who should just STFU. He immediately described Fluke as a "left wing poster child since she demanded free birth control pills from Catholic institutions." Notice that Gutfeld implies that she wanted "free birth control pills" not coverage for birth control - something Georgetown provides for its employees. In advancing the right wing canard about cheap birth control pills he said that "they are cheaper than a cell phone bill." Of course, he didn't mention that an IUD is very expensive. He said that she "begs comparison with someone so unlike her, it's scary."
He proceeded to his comparison between Fluke and "Rachel" of Chick fil-A:
Fluke - "makes her living demanding something" Rachel - "earns her wage offering something"
Fluke - "condemns opponents as purveyors of discrimination" (So civil rights proponents "condemned" their opponents?) Rachel - "Forgives those who abuse her"
Fluke - "gets a free ride from the liberal press" Rachel - "will be ignored by the same"
Fluke - "will likely get a job in the media" Rachel - "holds down a real job" and "knows real work" (so Gutfeld doesn't know real work?)
After playing video of Rachel forgiving the bully,The "Five's" four right wingers continued the comparison. After playing video of Obama making supportive statements about women's reproductive rights, Gutfeld clapped his hands and said "we want free stuff." From the "leg chair," Kimberly Guilfoyle said "everybody wants a goody bag". Gutfeld: "One is the backbone of America, one wants something." Guilfoyle: "One is a political opportunist who was out to make a name for herself to profit from this...and that she is "an artificial person" (Pot meet kettle?) compared to Rachel "who is what we stand for in this country." " Eric Bolling: "One of them is an upstanding and hardworking, backbone of America, exactly patriotic what everyone should be and want their daughter to be like her and the other one the fact that she's even on TV is a fluke." (hardeharhar)
When Bob Beckel noted the comparison between women's reproductive rights and Chick fi-A was false, Guilfoyle whined "that was a treatment of women" (WTF?) and Gutfeld said the the "jerk-off leftist did it in the name of an issue." (WTF?) Bolling interjected that it's not about women's rights but about who is paying for contraceptives. (That would be the women who are paying health care premiums). When Beckel referenced how Fluke was abused by Limbaugh (three days of slut shaming) Guilfoyle said "please, she's a political shill, the whole thing was manufactured." (Guess it's OK if Bill Maher wants a sex video from Sarah Palin?)
Given that Rachel seems to be a decent person, one wonders what she would think about her being used to trash somebody else? But even by Fox News' low standards this piece is disturbing. Have they no shame?
John Smith, I don’t know what you’ve been reading or to whom you’ve been listening, but you’ve picked up a really stupid notion: That “we” have “hitched our fan-wagon” to Ms Fluke. What f***in’ “fan-wagon” would that be?
The only thing I’ve seen and read from progressives in regard to Ms Fluke is, to use a metaphor, to “circle our wagons” around her. Efforts to shield her and defend her from all the name-calling from the loons of the right-wing noise machine led by Limbaugh and bolstered by FoxNoise.
Do you have any notion of what would happen if a “liberal” had called any of the female right-wingers (Sarah Palin or Michelle Malkin or Laura Ingraham or any of those harpies) a “slut?” The right-wing noise machine would be calling for all sorts of penalties with a boycott of sponsors being the least of the penalties.
So keep your concerns to yourself. They certainly don’t reflect any semblance of the real world that I’ve seen lately.
Then name a cashierette at a chain they worship for the founder’s politics a hero because she put up with an out-of-control customer for 90 seconds.
Yeah, that’s real fair.
And did anyone else get a chill from the smiles Bolling and Gutfeld both got on their faces talking about Adam Smith’s abuse? Seriously, they’d have these creepy smiles on their faces talking about Fluke, then their serious face for Rachel would be broken by the the smile returning before they caught it.
Fluke, on the other hand… is a case where the responsibility to be civil lies on both sides. She’s been, for the most part, very civil, as civil as she can be without making this one-sided, while her opponents act like… this. If Fox News ever realizes that they need to cater to women, how fast could this be thrown in their face with the commentary that they think about women like that when they’re not regarding them as a number?
Sorry, no sleep and long day already. But I’m sure that’ll make sense if you re-word it.
Sandra Fluke has come across as intelligent, well mannered and able to stand up for herself and defect any attacks they fire at her. She has definitely shown to be the adult in the debate. By continuing their attacks on her the cons are not shooting themselves in the foot, but in the head with their roadrunner-coyote act.
And since they brought it up in the first place—they need to ask this low-wage Chik-fil-A worker if she’d like her birth control covered by insurance.
