The evidence that Fox News is a constant source of hate speech that can potentially incite violence continues mount. This observation shouldn’t surprise anyone who watches the network with an open mind.
But now there is yet another real-world example of just how dangerous the network’s hostile rhetoric can be. As reported by the local CBS affiliate in San Diego, California…
“A La Mesa man who directed threats at the San Diego and Washington, D.C., offices of the Council on American-Islamic Relations a year ago was sentenced Tuesday to a year in jail and five years probation. John David Weissinger, 54, pleaded guilty last August to a charge of making a criminal threat, with hate crime allegations, and possession of an illegal assault rifle.
This is, unfortunately, not an uncommon occurrence. Muslim-Americans have been the victims of rising numbers of assaults as the heated dialog about terrorism is advanced in the media and by Republican presidential candidates like Donald Trump. Mother Jones reports that recent FBI data shows the number of hate crimes in general have declined, except for Muslim-Americans.
What makes this latest threat notable is the argument made by the lawyer for Weissinger in an attempt to persuade the judge to be lenient when sentencing his client. The lawyer said that…
“Weissinger has problems with alcohol, anxiety and depression and had just finished watching a week of Fox News coverage on the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris when he threatened the CAIR offices.”
This is a serious effort to explain why someone would commit an act of terrorism. After all, how could Weissinger be faulted for cracking under the pressure after a week of absorbing hate from Fox News anchors and guests characterizing all Muslims as dangerous radicals bent on murdering freedom-loving Christian Americans?
This legal tactic is, of course, patently absurd. Weissinger should not be granted any leniency based on such a flagrant attempt to absolve him of responsibility for his actions. However, it is not unrealistic to recognize that a major news enterprise engaging in a campaign of brainwashing their audience to despise a particular group of people can have an impact on weak-minded individuals. It has happened before.
Two years ago an Indiana man pleaded guilty to arson for having set fire to an Islamic Center in Toledo, Ohio. He was sentenced to 20 years, and when the judge asked him if he knew any Muslims or what Islam is he said “No, I only know what I hear on Fox News.”
Earlier this year an ordained minister in the Christian National Church pleaded guilty to plotting a massacre of the citizens of an upstate New York community of Muslims known as Islamberg. He justified his actions by claiming that the residents of Islamberg were planning a terrorist attack, a notion he picked up from a guest on Bill O’Reilly’s show who claimed that Muslims were training to launch domestic attacks.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
These are not isolated incidents. There are many more documented cases of hostilities aimed at Muslims and others by viewers of Fox News. An especially troubling example occurred when a man inspired by Glenn Beck was apprehended on his way to San Francisco to murder employees of the ACLU and the Tides Foundation. And when this happens this often, you have to eventually conclude that it is either due to gross ignorance, or it’s deliberate.
It’s about time that people who preach hate should be charged with inciting violence.
Unfortunately the 1st amendment stands in the way of that.
Because of it hate speech is protected speech in America.
So then Black Lives Matter should be charged?
BLM is not preaching hate against anyone regardless of what your Trumpian masters would have you believe.
“Pigs in a blanket, fry’em like bacon!”
They also sing non-stop praises of cop killers Assata Shakur and Mumia-Abu Jamal.
And I don’t support Donald Trump.
Ssshhh….Scott, the racist moron, is about to explain why white ‘Murica should not be held accountable for hate speech and all others should be. Go ahead, Scott……
You are lying about me, as usual.
I am smarter than you will ever hope to be in your entire life. And since I am not a radical left-winger, that means I’m not a racist.
Well yes, so says the guy who posts nothing but ad hominems here while devlaring his smartness.
Why it’s almost like he is Donal Trump.
Maybe one of the Acolytes of the Path of Trump.
Ad hominems?? That is Mark’s standard modus operandi. I’m giving him a taste of his own medicine.
You can’t spell Trump’s first name correctly. And I’m not supporting Trump.
There are exceptions to every rule. Yelling fire in a crowded theater is one. And inciting to riot is a law. Perhaps you are confusing free speech with bribing politicians.
Neither of those exceptions apply to the issue in the article however.
After all Fox isn’t explicit TELLING people to go out there and kill. Rather the demonize, dehumanize and drop hints that maybe, just maybe it might be a good thing to “remove” these group they dehumanize.
Unlike a fire in a theater or an actual call to riot, Fox can point to the many people who watch them and say “look at all these other people who watch us, THEY aren’t going out to kill people, so how can you blame us for this one guy who went out and did? He was probably drunk or something, we aren’t to blame.
It’s a standard defense against culpability of speech that, unfortunately is pertinent if the line drawn between acceptable and unacceptable speech is “fire in a theater”.
Mark is the one who spews hate, not Fox News.
You wouldn’t know hate if it bit you in the ass.
I read Mark’s disgusting website, so therefore I see Mark’s hate. It’s quite easy to spot.
Yes so easy to spot, yet not one example of such hate raised while spewing YOUR hate against Mark!
Hypocrite, thy name is Trumpian.
Everything he writes is hate-filled. Name-calling, insults, profanities, and non-stop lying about conservatives calling them all racists, homophobes, etc. He also delights in burping forth sexist filth against the women who work at Fox News. And he keeps insisting that the liberals who work at Fox News aren’t really liberals. They are solidly liberal, they just don’t spew hate at conservatives the way Mark does.
Now take a look in the mirror and see your hate. It’s not pretty.