In the alternate reality of Fox News, there is an epidemic of anti-Christian hate crime. So I guess that's why they brought out the virulently homophobic and radical right wing minister EW Jackson to say that the SC shooting isn't an anti-black hate crime, but part of the war on Christians. Oh yeah, and more guns will stop this sort of thing.
For those of you unfamiliar with EW Jackson, he is a right wing activist who traffics in crazy shit like "The homosexual movement is a cancer attacking vital organs of faith, family & military – repositories of traditional values." And that's only the tip of the iceberg. So who better to dismiss, on this morning's Fox & Friends, the racial aspects of the SC shooting which was allegedly perpetrated by a young man whose views might not be that far from those espoused on Fox News.
At the time when Fox & Friends had this discussion, it had been reported that Dylann Roof had allegedly told a woman, whom he spared, that he was shooting blacks because they are "raping our women" and "taking over our country" - a sentiment not that far from Fox's "angry black man" and blacks are lawless thugs memes. Yet, the banner framed the Fox & Friends message: "Attack on Faith."
After reporting some details of the shooting, Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked "if we're not safe in our churches, where are we safe." Steve Doocy introduced Jackson who is also the recently failed Virginia GOP candidate for Lt. Governor. Jackson expressed concern that the gunman "chose to go into a church." This would have been a perfect opportunity to talk about how black churches have frequently been the victims of violence but, no, he talked about a "rising hostility towards Christians because of our biblical views." He provided no examples of this supposed hostilities.
In playing to the Fox audience who love guns as much as they love Jesus, he urged pastors to arm themselves. The banner: "SC Massacre Turns Focus to Attack on Faith." As the friends muttered their affirmation, Jackson continued to blither about the necessity to defend his flock.
Steve Doocy was aghast that, earlier, the incident was, "extraordinarily," called a hate crime because "it was a white guy apparently and a black church." He didn't note that this was said by law enforcement. He credited Jackson with "a great point" for citing "the hostility towards Christians and it was a church..." He whined that "they haven't explained it to us."
Playing to Fox's nice, white audience, Jackson, an African-American, said that "most people jump to conclusions about race" and lamented that he longed "for the day when we stop doing this." In reinforcing the meme, he noted that the shooter targeted a church (right, a historical black church) and not a bar.
Betcha if a black kid shot up a group of whites, Fox & Friends would be braying about black on white crime and how black leaders should be speaking up. Funny, they're not calling for white leaders to speak out about yet another messed up white kid who kills a bunch of people - in this case, African-Americans. Oh right, this is about the war on Christians and has nothing to do with race. Nothing to see here, move along...
What if this had happened in a supermarket? Would Roof then be against groceries?
One thing I did find interesting was when they went to their person on the ground in Charleston (Ainsley Earhardt*). When she did her top-of-the-hour reports about the murders, she deliberately left out the part where the killer said, “you rape our women.” She only mentioned the part where he said, “you’re taking over our country” and “I have to do what I have to do.”
Had Ainsley done this just once, I could think that it was unintentional. But she left out the “rape” quote at the top of EACH hour when she did her report. Why? Is reporting the “rape” quote just too much for her (the viewers’ ?) delicate sensibilities? She’s there as a reporter and she should report without making unnecessary edits to the killer’s quotes. At least she did mention the additional info about him wanting to start a race war and the authorities finding racist videos/skinhead paraphernalia in his room.
In addition to what Ainsley did, during 2 of her top-of-the-hour reports, F&F put up an on-screen graphic showing the killer’s quotes which had been edited to also leave out the “rape” part. The graphic said: “…You are taking over the country… I have to do what I have to do.” However, as per the NBC video, the quote actually was “you are taking over OUR country” which has completely different implications (as in the country doesn’t also belong to African-Americans). So not only did the Ainsley and the F&F producers choose to leave out the “rape” part of the quote, the producers chose to change “our” to “the”.
At one point in the 1st hour of the show, Daddy Douchey FINALLY decided to mention the survivor’s statement (from which the killer’s racist quotes were first made known to the public via an NBC video). These were the quotes that they should reported on yesterday’s F&F but, for whatever reason, they didn’t. Douchey repeated the “rape/taking over our country” quotes and visibly showed disgust at them. Good, glad to see some emotion from him as they were indeed disgusting quotes. But why weren’t you reporting the quotes yesterday morning when other media outlets were, Douchey? You and F&F are pretty much a day late and a dollar short.
*Yes, Ainsley, the FOX “news” viewers know that you are from SC but did you really need to keep talking about yourself and your connections to Charleston? The story is not about YOU so stopping inserting yourself into your reporting.
