Republicans in this country are facing a threat to the perceived reliability of an important echo chamber. Fox “News” was brought to court by Dominion Voting Systems for the alleged charge of defamation with regard to “the big lie”. The details which came to light during the case’s discovery process present an existential threat to the ability of many Republicans to live under the false pretense that they’re the good guys or are fighting a good fight. And while Fox settled with Dominion earlier last week for $787 million, there’s still much value to be gleaned from what came to light during the process.
Through the discovery process, the public has learned about how Fox hosts and others behind the scenes have treated the ‘big lie’. It’s been shown beyond any doubt that many people at Fox “News”, like Tucker Carlson, Ruppert Murdoch, et al knew that the election fraud narrative was a myth, peddled to an audience all too willing to lap it up without question. Details from the case indicate that many at Fox “News” knew that the mass fraud claims were false, but also admitted to knowing that their audience would believe the nonsense they were peddling. To quote Carlson, regarding what Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powel were saying about the election at the time: “It’s unbelievably offensive to me. Our viewers are good people and they believe it.” Other choice texts include Carlson calling Powell a “nut job” and admitting that he knows she was lying about the things she was saying. There are a lot of really great gems that you can read about on your own if you’re not already familiar with the revelations regarding the case. Here is a good place to start – which should give the interested reader a great springboard for other fruitful searches. The main idea is that the people at Fox “News” knew what all reasonable people at the time knew – that the election fraud lie was a conspiracy theory packaged and served to an audience who wanted to believe it. To their credit, Republicans at the time knew there was something untoward happening, and wanted the truth to come out; finally, with the details from the Dominion case, their wish was granted. Unfortunately for them, however, the details are revealing the failure of their worldview to detect faulty information sources and their own susceptibility to being taken in by things they want to be true. It is these revelations which I believe can act to topple the house of cards which the Republican worldview is based upon.
It would be tempting to view the Fox “News” scandal as a one off – that it was a mistake that might be treated as any other which can be forgotten and moved past. Sure, it puts egg on their face, and the face of any other “News” organization who reported on and encouraged “the big lie” – that the 2020 election wasn’t fair, legit, or legal. But I believe it should be viewed as more than that, and here’s why. It has exposed in bright flashing lights that right wing “News” outlets peddle information that isn’t true in service to ratings and money. This is more than the typically misleading and rage-baiting tactics that Fox “News” often engages in – this is them being caught red-handed taking advantage of their viewers gullibility. With the information from the case, we are getting an inside view of what makes them who they are, and how they operate. And here’s what makes this so interesting to me. A common feature of Fox “News” is accusing other outlets of being biased, and implicitly showing themselves to be the trustworthy alternative – and this isn’t an accident. The conservative worldview is married to the idea that mainstream news is actually biased against them – a perception which is helped by the abundance of facts and information which challenge the fictional narratives they hold. So right wing networks coddle their viewers by trying to present stories and certain facts in a way which makes them feel safe and won’t cause them cognitive dissonance. Fox “News” offers shelter to beleaguered conservatives, suffering from a mythical persecution narrative, giving them an echo chamber which amplifies the perceived danger from the outside. And so they get to feel like they know the truth about the state of the world, while also feeling like they are the good guys in a fight with the mainstream media and all the liberals that it is composed of. If you have a conversation with a conservative about the news or politics, it doesn’t take long to hear them expose their contempt for any mainstream source of information. This is because of a feature in their worldview that only they know the truth, that only they are smart enough to discern a source’s reliability, and therefore only news sources they choose are reliable. And not only that, but any other news sources which might happen to report things that are antagonistic to or disprove what they believe (i.e., if it makes them feel uncomfortable) are vigorously mocked as “fake” news. In this way critical thinking can be outsourced to their “News” sources and truth can be determined by the amount of anger they feel after seeing a misleading headline. That is to say, a part of the conservative worldview is a completely upside down view of what is considered reliable information. This is what allows them, after hearing a news report that says something negative about something they cherish, to dismiss it without batting an eye because they’ve already primed themselves to believe that “fake news” or “liberal” news is out to get them. So having the secrets of Fox “News” coming out in the open actually has the potential to cut the supply of a conservative’s lifeblood – the echo chamber that feeds them and keeps them enraged. It is this echo chamber that tells them they are being persecuted and that evil liberals are out to destroy “their” country. But the Dominion revelations present conservatives with a strong signal about the true nature of conservative “News” outlets. It signals that they are being played – they are being manipulated by sources which tell them what they want to hear, truth be damned. It signals that these “News” sources cynically believe their viewers to be gullible and think they are resources which can continue to be manipulated for profit. Since mainstream media has continually been calling out and presenting the falsehoods involved in “the big lie”, it also signals that they are better sources of information than what conservatives typically use. They’ve called out this lie from the beginning. This simultaneously hits the echo chamber in two ways – the first is that it shows the echo chamber isn’t reliable, and second is that the refrain which is typically echoed by conservatives – that mainstream media is “fake” news – also takes a direct hit as a falsehood. The impact here is significant because it has the potential to disrupt the way conservatives think and it gives them a great exit opportunity. Due to how black and white the signals are, how easily it can be observed, all it would take would be a modicum of due diligence for any conservative to choose to exit the misinformation chamber. The evidence is easily accessible, and so stark that all it takes is a desire to do so. A desire to ask themselves the scary question – “Is what I believe correct?” and then a willingness to take a peek. A brief look, with eyes open is all it would take to potentially change their way of thinking. The question is, will they look – will they be willing to question whether they might be wrong? Will they take this amazing opportunity they’ve been presented with to possibly verify and correct their perspective and worldview? I hope they will.
Merely Xtian 