Part of moving in with my elderly parents means I have watched more Fox News in the last few months than I have the last three decades. I have not been a regular consumer of TV news media since the 90’s, around the time Bill Clinton deregulated the media. I remember NPR clutching it’s pearls, so very concerned about consolidation of media then. Though I was in my twenties and quite dumb I understood the truth of what NPR was saying, and their disengenuousness about it. I hung on longer with NPR, until the Great Recession, listening to them make excuses for the banks and bankers, and then especially after Trump was elected, when most of the media including NPR went full authoritarian.
While I can last maybe five minutes watching CNN before I find myself appalled, Fox actually has come to sound comparatively reasonable. Until the past week, when I have on several occasions walked out of the room. The first issue was a Paxlovid “news” segment late one evening, in which they said the drug was 90% effective in keeping you out of the hospital, which was less honest than the fact that they didn’t mention the Paxlovid bounce, getting covid again a week after you take the drug for covid, despite the fact that both Fauci and Ms Walensky went through that.
Then the Damar Hamlin thing happened, and I sat in awe as both CNN and Fox each had the same coverage, the exact same commotio cordis diagnosis within literally moments after the incident, as if they already had the answer even before it happened. Expert after expert came on both networks, with the same explanation. All over social media, the same explanation. That and the accusation that people who suggested that covid jabs might be an issue are “vile” and “disgusting”. Projection much? It all felt very much prepared. Squawk squawk, Mockingbirds.
Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham are allowed to question the jabs and the Dept of Defense to a degree, but everyone else at Fox has to suck at the teat of the warpig. Even Gutfeld, the funny guy, who didn’t need to say a damn thing about it, claimed elite athletes all over the world suffering from cardiac events post-covid jabs has been “debunked” (gaslighting). Never mind myo- and pericarditis from the jabs is about 100xs or 1000xs more common than commotio cordis, that hasn’t prevented Trey Gowdy and Brian Kilmeade from extolling the great virtues of prayer and gaslighting America, “even though the hit looked routine,” they both said more than once.
And now as we all wait for what Damar might have to say about his young professional-athlete self having a fucking heart attack, low and behold another variant is afoot and in the news. Go get your jabs, America! Do it for Damar, because we are all in this together! Unity! Keep praying! You can well bet he is being propagandized, bribed and lied to by his handlers. I fully expect him to come out in support of the insupportable, “that hit was equivalent to a baseball, lacrosse ball or hockey puck hitting the unprotected chest of an adolescent.” The Science, you know.
This “scientist” prefaces this explanation by saying, “This is not due to the vaccine,” and then wraps up with “people should not speculate about vaccines.” Just so you know how thick and how banal-evil the gaslighting is.
Well, I can assure you, there are a few ten thousand professional and college athletes who are walking on proverbial eggshells. My dad was watching the Packers/Lions game last night while I read articles on substack. I did notice several Packers players did some remarkably odd things, like one guy on the Packer defense just walking through the space between lineman of both sides, and grabbing the ball as the center hiked it. Later when a trainer went onto the field to attend to an injured player who had been elbowed in the face by a Packer player, the trainer gently pushed a Packer about twice his size out of his way and the player roughly shoved him in response. When the trainer turned to confront the player, another Packer about three times the size of the trainer started chest bumping the trainer. It was quite astounding, and while I have no basis necessarily, I wonder if it is stress about the fact these guys are jabbed and they are wondering if they are next? They screwed up Aaron Rodgers (unjabbed) “last” chance at the playoffs, whatever the case.
(Because the NFL is a humorless cartel)
Excess deaths are up in every jabbed country, well after “covid deaths” have fallen dramatically. Fertility is down in all those countries. Cardiac issues from the jab is far more common than commotio cordis (it’s not even close), particularly among the boosted, particularly among young boys and men. Most of the people who are dying of “covid” are jabbed, particularly those who are boosted - even if the Washington Post, Politifact and the Tampa Bay Times are all saying that is no reason not to get boosted.
Reality can be hard. The gaslighters would put you to sleep, but don’t let them. Reality in the end is always preferable to delusion. Questioning the jabs and covid policy is about integrity and seeking truth; demanding that people take boosters while refusing to acknowledge anyone is harmed when many people are, is what is vile, wretched and disgusting.
I feel you. When my Mom was in here final illness immediately post 9-11, I was home as a semi caretaker for a number of months. She watched Fox too. I felt helpless as their constant skewed bombardment of the subject kept her in a state of fear and panic the whole time. I couldn't talk her down or get her to turn it off. In the end, I suspect it took time off of whatever life she had had left to sit there and absorb the negativity and lies that were being spewed 24-7.
Good luck with everything! As someone trying to carve a situation out in the country myself, I enjoy your stack very much.
Is it possible some of them were deliberately trying to throw the game, in order to cut the season short? It must be a terrifying prospect, to think you might be walking around with a ticking time bomb in your chest.