One interesting sideshow - when the dust has settled from attacks such as the one that left four dead in central London yesterday - is the reaction of the media outside the UK, which brings us to the shameful behaviour of those in and around Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse) who have decided to go completely gaga and suggest that London is experiencing something not unadjacent to the End Times.
One look at the outpourings from Fox hosts, pundits and guests tells you all you need to know about what might happen were Creepy Uncle Rupe to get his mitts on the 61% of Sky that he does not yet own and turn Sky News into something like a Fox clone. Every attention-seeker, mouth artist and far-right shill has been piling in.
Kicking things off on the Fox fright-fest was professional gobshite Sean Hannity, telling viewers loudly and boorishly “Sadly, today’s attack in #London is all too familiar for the people of Europe”. Yeah, right. That’s why I didn’t see it in Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Naples, Rome, Milan, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon or any of the other cities I’ve visited recently. BULLSHIT.
Meanwhile, Seb Gorka, whose links to a European Nazi group have recently been revealed, “called the London attack ‘just one more tragic piece of evidence of how very real the threat is to America and to her allies’”. What threat to America? But do go on.
Did they have any idea who the perpetrator was? What the heck, get Nigel “Thirsty” Farage on and make an assumption: “Anti-Travel Ban Protesters Need to Reflect on London Terror Attack” said The Great Man, going on to pontificate that “it should highlight the importance of properly vetting immigrants and refugees”. More bullshit.
Could they go even lower than Mr Thirsty? Oh yes they could. Tucker Carlson - well regarded by Piers Morgan, which reflects not at all well on the GMB co-host - consulted the oracle that is pro-am motormouth Katie Hopkins. “.@KTHopkins on UK terror: "People are cowed. People are afraid. And people are not united”. And thrice I call bullshit.
They weren’t through yet: this morning, Carlson will have as one of his guests Walid Phares, who calls himself a “National Security & Foreign Policy Expert”. He advises a Congressional group. And he probably ranks as high as any in Rome. His Twitter trailer for his appearance simply tells “Will be on Tucker on Fox News at 9 AM EST to discuss the terror act in London. ‘One man can shut down a city’”. That’s a straight f*** right off.
Fortunately, Fox News Channel is also able to - albeit inadvertently - put the London attack in some sort of perspective, as it has also reported “BREAKING: Officer, 3 others killed in Wisconsin shootings; suspect in custody, officials say”. The same number of deaths as in London, the same number of Police officers involved. Except there will be no gobbing off from Hannity or Carlson, no punditry from Farage, Hopkins and the rest.
We’ll take no lessons on domestic terrorism from the American right and their favoured media mouthpiece, thanks very much. No wonder they call it Faux News.
how very real the threat is to America
ReplyDeleteThe Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, 19 April 1995. Timothy McVeigh (born New York state) and Terry Nichols (born Lapeer, Michigan).
Skin complexion tells FoxNews such couldn't possibly be terrorists.
Err ...
The terrorist who murdered Jo Cox was British born. The terrorist who killed in London yesterday was British born. What sort of 'ban' or border control prevents this then?
ReplyDeleteIdiotic Fox. Idiotic.
@TheFabledAesop
Did Fox say nothing about Trump Jnr misquoting the London mayor to make it sound like he said these attacks happen every day when he was actually talking about the treat of attacks (No doubt ramped up by certain parts of the media)
ReplyDeleteAlso, have to wonder if, had he been on UK TV, Nigel would have found a way to blame the EU, as usual rather than just licking the orange bottom?
It helps to divert attention from the mass murders and destruction being inflicted on Mosul and its people......The coverage of which differs oddly and widely from the same thing inflicted on Aleppo and its people. Plainly, Mosul is much less important to the "sensibilities" of Western media.
ReplyDeleteOne innocent human being killed by crackpot terrorism is bad enough. But when it comes to state-inflicted terrorism it appears to be subject to a wholly different set of reporting (read: propaganda) mores.
And don't kid yourself the Brit version is that much different to the Yank version. It's just that Britain does hypocrisy so much "better." It always has.
Meanwhile, C4 News claims the attack was made by a Brit who changed his name when he converted to Islam........Stand by for "breaking news"......
"One man can shut down a city."
ReplyDeleteI texted my daughter in London this morning to ask her about her commute. She replied, "It was as shitty and normal as ever". Not much of a headline, really.
Just in case the boys (and token girls) at Fox "News" get too excited, perhaps they might like to read the following table of people shot in the USA in the last 72 hours. 12 dead and 9 injured. Safer over there? I think not.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gunviolencearchive.org/last-72-hours
HOPKINS:
ReplyDelete1. 'People are cowed'. I think she's invented a new verb. To be the object of a Hopkins rant: To be cowed.
2. 'People are afraid'. Part of the human condition surely, Ms H. Not that you'd necessarily be aware of such things.
3. 'And people are not united'. Certainly true of yourself, Ms H, but most of the rest of us are pretty united, if in nothing else than in a loathing of bitter little opportunists like yourself.
Can I have a job on the Mail, please?
I gotta tell ya folks. I gotta tell ya.
ReplyDeleteMy friend and close ally, Rupert,says it was Putin and Kim Jong Un.
I believe him folks. He's the most trustworthy person on this earth next to Hitler and myself.
Just ask Angela Merkel and all my friends in Brussels.
Great people. Really great!