Starting about a minute in,this clip from last night’s Daily Show is must-see media criticism.
On the Fox News morning show Fox & Friends, it is revealed thatthe Kingdom Foundation is a dangerous Saudi organization that, according to guest Dan Senor, funds radical madrassas and has also funded Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam at the heart of the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy.
Unmentionned by Fox, but revealed by Jon Stewart, is thatthe Kingdom Foundation is run by Al-Waleed bin Talal, who also happens tobe…one of theNewsCorp‘s largestshareholders (Fox‘s parent company).
Theclipincludes a hilariousdebateover whether Fox‘scoverage of this storymakes them evil, or merely stupid. It’s a tough call.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Parent Company Trap | ||||
This kind of thing is reminiscent of the Pentagon Pundit problems; where viewers are met with an array of smoke and mirrors that is even beyond the normal ”standards” of propaganda.
Also, whoever in the back rooms decided that making a scoop out of the mosque was a great idea has screwed up big time. This over-amplification of debate is putting the safety of people who will attend the mosque as well people who will work in the new Wtc. building too. It is like deliberately starting a fire in drought conditions. NYC absolutely does not need this intense, controversial spotlight.
Fox news anchors can express any opinion on any subject. However it is advisable to check facts with relevant authorities. They have a yard long list of contributors to call on but not a single muslim scholar to check their facts. I would suggest Dr. Muzzammal Siddiqui in Los Angeles, Dr. Aslam Abdullah in Las Vegas and Dr. Jamal Badawi in Nova Scotia for starters.
For example, Sean Hannity and Dick Morris think “Shariah” to be something abominable without understanding what it really is. Shariah is simply the Law sent unto Moses and Muhammad by God. Both Jews and Muslims live by them. There are slight differences in the two but in their original form both are the same. What is abominable to me is when someone quotes from Quran out of context.
There is just a small group of people who have given their interpretation to the verses of the Book including “Jihad” which is extremely controversial. Similarly, the treatment of women in some communities and beheading are such practices that has no bearing on Islam. The teachings of Islam are poles apart from such practices.
Some one can say what has this got to do with the controversy of Ground Zero mosque. I find that Fox News would malign muslims and Islam on account of whatever topic they can find. Dick Morris commented about Shariah while discussing ground zero mosque with Gretta.
Foxnews, is not news. Their spokespeople never checks facts. That means they are only commentators, not news reporters. Everything they do is for propaganda purposes not to inform people of the facts.
I wonder if Washington was thinking of this kind of “intangling alliances” along with other countries when he made his warning so many years ago? This is a fine modern example of the problems of taking absolutist stands in one area while having multiple owners on the other. Bite them selves on the butt they did.
You guys are jumping on FOX as if they are alone on this.Get is straight…the majority of people in this country,and New york city are against this.Most all of the news services are reporting same.Muslims are strangely silent…but aside from that if you want to apply the word stupid- apply it to the nitwits building the mosque.And I love when a waiter couple years ago gets the money to finance this and you are angry at people who look into it.To not look into this wacko action would be to be useful idiots.In the end they have the right to build this.And we have the right and freedom of speech to give em hell.Keep digging FOX.REmember the lame ass job the other networks did on our golf champion prez during the election
This message will be posted on all these threads . . . . Fellow posters: Do not, under any circumstances, respond to the numbskull who calls himself michael e. Be strong. That is all.
Shit! The miserable little twit already is fouling this space. The Horror, The Horror . . . .
Has anyone from our government, the President for instance, or just anyone who has a big enough voice bothered to publicly explain that the Cordova Center is not a Mosque, but rather is a “cultural” center not unlike any other ethnic or community center where people gather to learn, participate in community activities, workshops, and I’ll bet they even rent out space for lectures (by most any person or group), and other social and business functions? And further that it is proposed to be built not on “ground zero”, but 2 blocks and around the corner away?
Someone should do a comparison with other religious structures in and around other important historical sites around the country and probably find this to be quite a common building experience. I would bet it would be easy to find any number of Muslim communities where there is a Synagogue or Southern Baptist church (which to me would be much scarier).
This whole ordeal is too surreal to be an “American” experience, and I can only remember reading about the social and political climate in Germany after the end of WWI in response to the harshness of the Treaty of Versailles on up to and during the 1930’s when the nation was going through these exact same kinds of disillusioned and evil influences which we all know led up to what became WWII.
It’s the classic repeating circle of civilization spinning faster and faster as technology allows the hate propaganda, the war and power mongers to infiltrate society ever more quickly with each generation.
The “herd” mentality can really make human beings turn into complete morons can it not?
Is MSNBC really providing us with a much fuller, factual account of what’s happening with the Mosque. While Jon Steward’s criticisms of FOX are no doubt relevant, I don’t think we’re going to see any of his critical humor directed at his own network parent company anytime soon.
US society and it’s media become ever more conducive to insanity, and this mosque controversy is the latest example of that increasing prevalence. Despite my point about Steward, I still applaud the fact that he has countered some of this intensifying stupidity. I have a feeling that his commentaries would be far more relevant if they were done independently.
I am sorry. A correction should be made to my previous post. Steward is at Comedy Central, not MSNBC. Comedy Central is owned by Time/Warner. Should that mean he’s more independent?
Comedy Central is surely not directly a news channel, but does it’s ownership effect any of it’s content? I think so.
I agree, John Stewart is still part of the corporate media, and while his comedy may sometimes enlighten the otherwise blind masses, he fails to expose the truth to the same degree that you find in the minority of independent news outlets. I know plenty of self-described progressives who go no further than the depths of Rachal Maddow for their version of the “whole” truth. It’s sad really.
Sam Seder does a much better job of using comedy to reveal the truth on his website than any number of Stewarts could ever hope to do under a corporate umbrella. Likewise I’ll take Amy Goodman on DemocracyNOW any day over Rachal Maddow if it is an accurate and total view of reality I am seeking.
The sad truth is most people don’t want the responsibility that knowing the truth requires.
The Daily Show’s point is that FOX News isn’t news. It’s proganda, spin, hate and nonsense brought to us by insipid looking men (eau) and playboy centerfold quality women. You can’t work as a pundit or “journalist” at FOX if you have a brain larger than a small soap dish or cleavage smaller than DD. All of cable news is corporate crap, but FOX far out shines the rest of them. The sad part is that FOX news “fans” don’t care about facts or truth either, They love the bullshit, lies, and hate AND those hot babes that serve it up, because FOX’s target audience after all, is white middle age men, and after a hard day at work and a few drinks they are far more interested in that cleavage then truth or facts.
More idoicy that promote fear and discord among our own. That’s right I forgot the constitution and its freedom of religion only applies to Judism and Christians…..FEAR Agaiin and Again. DO NOT WORRY BIG BROTHER WILL SOON GIVE YOU ALL THE FEAR YOU NEED AD MORE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE
Never think you can trust a government bent on EMPIRE controlled by CAPITOL and Profit at any Cost
No doubt FOX is the worst. But even more important is understanding how and why such a network has such broad influence. While progressive liberals like Maddow, and Jon Stewart might direct their criticisms at the insanity of FOX, and even at Murdoch being a rich lunatic, they’re not likely to explain, anytime soon, that corporate consolidation of the media is the main reason why the network has such broad influence on US society. Recognition of that fact would entail factoring in the monopoly power roles, controlling mass perceptions, played by the companies they work for.
FAIR is about people “seeing” the manipulation by the press- lending itself to propaganda right?Yet above I see 10-15 blogs all with the same exact viewpoint.Fox news sucks.America sucks.Oh yeah and John Stewart should do a better job proving just that.Come to think of it almost every article and most of the comments repeat that mantra in every case like a bunch of zombies.Im starting to actually believe this is what you all out there….believe!Where is the difference in opinion that indicates a healthy Democracy?You are truly- haters.Hate America first.FAIR should print up shirts.Rush has Dito heads.Obama has change we can believe in.Fair has Hate America first.Sound good?
Lets all start something.Write your blog and list political affiliation. Me Im a Im a tea party constitutionalist,recovering Dem,who usually votes R because I see nothing in the Dem platform.Libertarians have a clear headed grasp on our constitution and I share a lot with them
Ok your turn…….
“It’s always a bit ironic when Fox haters decide to get their facts from a performing clown. But that’s how the latest bit of flim-flammery got started:”
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‘Fox News Finds ‘[Ground Zero Mosque’ Financier]*â┚¬Ã‚¦Close to Home’
* https://fair.org/blog/2010/08/24/fox-news-finds-ground-zero-mosque-financier-close-to-home/
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“Yep, the illusion that a comedian is a news source continues, but the falsehoods and lies really should stop. Prince Al-Waleed is an investor in News Corp holding 7% of the shares. He is an â┚¬Ã‹Å“owner’ of News Corp only in the same technical sense that every other shareholder. And that’s News Corp, of which Fox News is just one of many companies. You could just as easily call the Prince a â┚¬Ã‹Å“co-owner’ of HarperCollins, Truck Australia, and Avatar. But somehow that doesn’t have the same incitement factor.”
***
J$P: Fox Haters Week in Review!
http://johnnydollar.us/files/100829fhwir.php
Don’t miss the point: Stewart was simply exposing the guilt-by-association strategy typically deployed for the purpose supporting of a specious accusation. That accusation was that person who is one of the funders of the “Ground Zero Terror Mosque” is “the same guy” [a Saudi] who runs a charity called the “Kingdom Foundation”, and is therefore pursuing an anti-American agenda of Islamist triumphalism right here on American soil, on top of the “hallowed ground” that is 9/11’s “Ground Zero” — and to impose “Sharia Law” on the United States and to train in terrorism and jihadist propaganda. Hamas and Iran are in on the conspiracy! That the commentator invited on the show in question on Fox is assiduous in not naming “the same guy” is itself the give away clue. To name him is to “out” a News Corp investor. That he owns a mere 7% percent in shares is besides the point (and “mere” is pretty damned big compared to what the rest of us mortals are capable of). Only if he owned NO shares in Fox (or any other News Corp-related business interest) would it be the case that his name drips angrily and repeatedly from the lips of Fox hosts. It is as simple as that. This is a clear-cut case of fearmongering propaganda to insure News Corp’s continued influx of advertising dollars.
Guilt by association has not been a good FOX tactic contrary to popular belief.Let’s recall how they allowed the American people to really listen to that racist nut REV J Wright during the election.How would Obama slip free we all asked?He was mentored by this man for 25 years!!!!!!!He was a family friend.Married them.How could the jello stop from being nailed to the wall?
He simply said “um I never heard him say that daaaaah”.And some useful idiots bought it.!So please- how effective is guilt by association in the face of these congenital pathological liars?
Im a conservative, but Stewart is funny as hell.More so to me of course when he turns the hose on libs.But still funny all in all.
Calling Obama a Muslim socialist when he’s actually continuing and extending the policies of the Bush administration is not just absurd, but completely off the the wall. Those pointing out the falsehoods, and outright lies perpetrated by networks like FOX — such as building a mosque 2 blocks from the World Trade Center, being an affront to the victims of 911, would incite terrorism and ruin America — are often met with accusations of being liberal, socialist America Haters with affinities to Fundamentalist Islam. If this seems overly exaggerated, that’s because it is. Thanks to FOX, and the likes of tea baggers such as Glenn Beck, people actually believe countless idiocies, among them that fact checking amounts to a terrorist plot, that Muslims are among those to blame for the disintegration of the US, or that the Obama administration is a wall to the ideologies of free market capitalism and American exceptionalism.
Konsider
Calling Obama a Muslim is a bit much I grant you.Or not even a citizen.Calling him a socialist is what I call a home run.He is.To quote Al Gore” that science is closed.”These things come up and will continue to come up because he is a secretive liar.I still cant even find his grades(any of them)from school.I would not hire a young Dr to work in the practice unless I had a clear understanding of his educational background and how he faired within that background.Yet the man with his finger on the “button” does not feel it is important to produce such things for the vetting process.Well Mr President I beg to differ.You should cough up every bit of information we may want.At last curtain call there is a stack of things he has hidden from our view.So we in effect do not trust him.
The mosgue……A huge majority of Americans simply wish they would reconsider building this there.FOX is beside the point.Glen Beck and people who actually believe in the constitution(Tea party patriots) are also only adding to the general agreement that this is/was a stupid idea.Obama even seems to concur. .Americans do not think this will help relations.And by the way that goes for most Muslims as well.911 and ground zero is a raw nerve .Live with it.In the end of course they have the right.But a lot of people think it would help relations a hell of a lot more if they said ‘in the hope of fostering good relations” they would move the new building somewhere less offensive to most Americans.And there is nothing wrong with being a might suspicious, about where the funding comes from etc(FOX NEWS REPORTS) .In a free country we can ask those questions whenever our interest is piqued.Monday I heard the leader of the church say that he could not”reconsider building the church because in the Muslim faith once a decision has been made it can not be changed”?Huh???????Now that is what he said.What it means I have no idea at all.
Unfortunately, bigotry toward Muslims isn’t confined to the controversy about building a mosque at ground zero, but is being seen throughout the country with arsons, attacks and campaigns by a growing number of people who believe various tales — told most often by tea bag fanatics like Glenn Beck, Sara Palin, Rush Limbaugh and others — of evil Muslims out to get you and your family, and conquer the US. An important point that you probably haven’t been hearing from network media, especially from any commentators on FOX, is the obvious point that not all Muslims are extremist fundamentalists like those who flew into the World Trade Center; that an entire demographic group is being demonized on the false basis that the Taliban represents an entire religion.
I think that catholics shouldn’t build their churches so close to elementary schools, until a million catholics march in the streets protesting child abuse…..it would help relations, mind you…
I think that republicans shouldn’t build their headquarters so close to public mens’ rooms, until a million republicans march in the streets denouncing homophobia….it would help relations, mind you…
What do you think is more offensive, Muslims having mosques in the US, or the presence of Mount Rushmore, which displays the faces of some of the worst perpetrators of the deception and genocide used to steal that land from Native Americans? Have Muslims, who have absolutely nothing to do with the Taliban (or even the fundamentalist kind who have), been nearly as harmful to people here, or anywhere, as the great men, carved onto Mount Rushmore, were to indigenous peoples? Various tea bag people, like Sara Palin, are constantly calling for taking America back, but you don’t hear to much about the millions of those whose land was taken from them through rape and murder.
This article and the comments illiustrate the lefts lack of understanding of how our corporate system works. Most anyone can buy stock in a company. And people buy stock for different reasons. Most buy because they think the price will rise. A radical jihadist could buy Newscorp just like a cathiolic nun could buy Newscorp stock. And ownership does not necessarily confer influence over operations. A stock owner could use his/her voting rights to return their proxy votes, they could do nothing or they could attempt to acquire enough stock to change ownership of the company.
the fact that this gentleman is a large shareholder means NOTHING in and of itself. he could support Fox news he could hate Fox news and he could not even know what Fox news is.
These Americans are very racists because they do not want to build an Islamic center. These Americans are fascists because they are against tolerance and religious freedom. All Muslims are shocked because of this racism. Muslims respect any American who supports the idea of building an Islamic center in any site in America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam
Khaled