REPORT: Emerging Culture of Paranoia

As regular readers know, BFIA has posted quite a bit on the conservative media (Right Wing Media & the Politics of Vitriol, 'Shock Jocks' on the Airwaves in Iowa, Conservative Talk Radio in Iowa: How Much is Too Much?, Localism Key to Correcting Talk Radio Imbalance, A Step in the Correct Direction for Conservative Talk Radio, and more).  Just when you think they couldn't possibly ratchet up the blather any higher, they somehow always seem to manage.   Here's an excerpt from a recent post at Media Matters. 

Oh, and please take note of the original artwork here by Mario Piperni who generously allowed BFIA to borrow it.  Check out Mario's cool blog for more original art and another excellent read, Thoughts on a Conservative Media.  Action alert below.

Conservative media have directed their violent, doomsday, and anti-intellectual rhetoric at progressives in power, and specifically at President Obama, whom fake populists in conservative media depict as a threat to their audience's very way of life.

In recent months, the violent, doomsday, and anti-intellectual rhetoric that has long been a staple of conservative media has taken a notable turn in at least three significant ways: previously confined to the right-wing media fringe, the rhetoric is now a constant across the full spectrum of conservative media; it is louder and meaner, with conservative media figures appealing overtly to feelings of anger and paranoia in their audience; and it is focused, tied to the specific political aim of undermining the Obama administration and the Congress.

None other than David Horowitz notes “an interesting phenomenon on the Right, which is beginning to cause me concern”: “the over-top-hysteria in response to the first months in office of our new president.” Horowitz calls this “hysteria” “Obama Derangement Syndrome.”

Indeed, the rise of anti-government speech – and the explosion of anti-Obama rhetoric – on right-wing radio, Fox News, and among conservatives in other media outlets tracks directly with the arrival of the new administration and its broad efforts to address the myriad and interlocking problems confronting the country. Rather than engaging in substantive policy analysis and critique, the Glenn Becks, Sean Hannitys, and Rush Limbaughs of radio and television insult their audience with simplistic attacks on Obama and his administration's initiatives.

(Click here to view Media Matters' documentation of the violent rhetoric and much, much more)

(See also Thoughts on a Conservative Media)