The Republican Party’s obsession with whatever the heck they think “wokeness” is has proven that nothing in American society will be exempt from that focus group contrived crackpottery. And just to drive the point home, Super Bowl Sunday was their latest example of the pandemic spread of the woke virus.
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It was impossible to watch ten minutes of any right-wing media without encountering some version of this demented mindset. It infected their perception of the national anthem, that was paired with an honorary performance of what’s known as the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” It also infected reviews of Rihanna’s halftime show that some wingnuts described as “Satanic.” It also infected their analysis of the teams, whose quarterbacks, for some reason, had to be identified as Christians. While it has nothing to do with football, it is integral to the right’s perspective on pretty much everything. So long as it serves their political purpose, until it doesn’t.
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On Monday morning the Fox News quarterbacking began when Fox’s media correspondent, Joe Concha, was interviewed by Sandra Smith. The segment was introduced by Smith highlighting a tweet posted by Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
“The progressive lawmaker tweeted ‘Something tells me Jesus would ‘not’ spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign.’ Some Twitter users baffled by the comment, one asking ‘Are you serious,’ and another saying ‘It’s a unifying message so I’m not surprised you don’t approve.’ A final thought from you on that, Joe.”
Before we get to Concha’s reply, let’s observe that AOC is actually correct. Jesus was not an advocate of massive PR campaigns to promote his philosophy. To the contrary, he worked with small groups (of 12) and discouraged uprisings on the part of his followers. Furthermore, the “baffled” Twitter user who questioned AOC’s seriousness, Eric Owens, was actually a former writer for Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller. So in response to that introduction, Concha said…
“So the congresswoman who has been in Congress for two terms that has yet to see one piece of sponsored or co-sponsored legislation passed, or even remotely taken seriously, the perpetually outraged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is outraged over this ad? Wow! Shut the front door. Of course she is.
“If she isn’t complaining about something, then it isn’t a day ending in “y.” And for her, again, to invoke fascism, she has no idea what fascism means. And the good news is that the “He Gets Us” campaign was launched in March of last year. It plans to spend $2 billion over the next several years. So get used to seeing these ads. They certainly have the money to get the word out again.”
"The perpetually outraged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is outraged over this ad? Wow! Shut the front door, of course she is!" Fox News contributor Joe Concha says during a segment where he expresses outrage over AOC's latest tweet. pic.twitter.com/oNSSM37NlS
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) February 13, 2023
For starters, Concha is predictably wrong about AOC’s legislative record. The truth is that she was a co-sponsor of 31 bills that were passed into law. Given his inability to offer accurate analyses, it’s Concha who should never be taken seriously. Nor should his immature insults aimed at AOC’s knowledge of fascism, or anything else, be regarded as reliable commentary.
Concha went on to gush about the “good news” that the Jesus ad campaign is well financed, because we all know how much Jesus loved money (see “root of all evil”) and it’s handlers (aka “changers”. What he failed to mention was the the financiers were notorious proponents of right-wing orthodoxy. They include the ultra-rightist Hobby Lobby CEO, Danny Green, and the virulently anti-LGBTQ, Alliance Defending Freedom, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified as a hate group. According to the SPLC the Alliance “claims that a “homosexual agenda” will destroy Christianity and society.” And that’s the “good news”?
Nevertheless, Fox News can be expected to advance their Christianist bias at every opportunity. Even when it is connected to something as unrelated to religion as the Super Bowl. And if, in the process, they can malign a Democrat who is exercising free speech, all the better.
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