A Princeton University professor suffered the frightening, real-life consequences of being demonized on Fox News this week. The clip aired by Fox was only 38 seconds long but Professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor says she received more than 50 “hate-filled and threatening emails” in its wake.
Taylor checks a lot of Fox-News-target boxes: she’s black, she supports Black Lives Matter, she’s a college professor and she dared to criticize Donald Trump as a “racist, sexist megalomaniac.”
You know that Fox News had no interest in her commencement speech at Hampshire College for any other reason than to demonize her and the college (a previous Fox News smear target). To drive the point home, Fox called its video, “Princeton professor goes on an anti-POTUS tirade.”
Fox even wrote a 200+ article to accompany the report. That article suggested that Taylor and others concerned with civil rights are more “black” than patriot:
Taylor also said Trump “empowered an attorney general who embraces and promulgates policies that have already proven to have had a devastating impact on black families and communities.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced May 12 that he has told prosecutors to pursue the most serious charges possible against criminal suspects—a reversal of Obama-era policies, and a move that infuriated civil rights groups.
As Raw Story noted, Taylor knew what Fox was up to:
“I am not a newsworthy person,” Taylor said. “Fox did not run this story because it was ‘news,’ but to incite and unleash the mob-like mentality of its fringe audience, anticipating that they would respond with a deluge of hate-filled emails — or worse. The threat of violence, whether it is implied or acted on, is intended to intimidate and to silence.”
Sadly, the tactic worked. Taylor explained yesterday why she was canceling two public appearances out of fear for her safety:
Shortly after the Fox story and video were published, my work email was inundated with vile and violent statements. I have been repeatedly called “nigger,” “bitch,” “cunt,” “dyke,” “she-male,” and “coon” — a clear reminder that racial violence is closely aligned with gender and sexual violence. I have been threatened with lynching and having the bullet from a .44 Magnum put in my head.
While Hannity whines about his free speech rights being under threat, the chances are slim to none that he or anyone else on Fox News will show any concern for this woman’s free speech or even her safety.
Watch the demonization below in a clip that aired May 28, 2017 on Fox News. I can’t be sure but the announcer sounds like Fox & Friends’ Abby Huntsman.
https://medium.com/@tobinsmith_95851/how-roger-ailes-fox-news-scammed-americas-la-z-boy-cowboys-for-21-years-1996ee4a6b3e