The Fox News Paranoid Conspiracy Follies And The Collapse Of Society

Last year there was a flurry of panicky hand-wringing by notorious conspiracy mongers like Alex Jones and the fruitcakes at WorldNetDaily and Newsmax. Reports that agencies of the federal government had purchased large caches of ammunition set the rumor peddlers tongues to wagging as they imagined brigades of Obama’s stormtroopers marching into the corn fields and trailer parks of rural America gunning down everything in their path.

This sickness infected much of the right-wing crackpot community and spread via chain letters and the blogs of Psycho Chicken Littles who were convinced by Glenn Beck that the End of Days was upon us. At the time, these ludicrous delusions were smacked down by more rational thinkers including those at PolitiFact. But the acutely deranged conservative mind is not an easy thing to assuage. And as a result the tales of doom persisted and are even now being retold by Fox News and its heralds.

Fox Nation

The latest incarnation of this horror story is a rehashing of the news that the Department of Homeland Security had purchased more than a billion bullets. In the minds of the nutcases on the right, that is evidence that the DHS is plotting a response to some impending disaster scenario wherein they will be forced to kill every person in America five times. That is precisely what Mark Levin, Sean Hannity’s replacement for Sarah Palin, is terrorizing his radio listeners with:

“I’m going to tell you what I think is going on. I don’t think insurrection. Law enforcement and national security agencies — they play out multiple scenarios. They simulate multiple scenarios. I’ll tell you what I think they’re simulating: the collapse of our financial system, the collapse of our society and the potential for widespread violence, looting, killing in the streets, because that’s what happens when an economy collapses.”

Repent sinners – the end is near. Never mind that in the past four years, since George W. Bush actually did come within a hair’s breadth of collapsing the economy, America’s financial state has recovered nearly everything it had lost. The stock market is higher today than it was before the crash. Housing markets are heating up. Unemployment, though still uncomfortably high, is three points lower than its recessionary peak. None of that, however, has any impact on the FoxPods who are stubbornly certain that we are on the brink of disaster.

What makes this particularly idiotic is that the DHS has fully explained the ammunition purchases and that explanation was even reported by Fox News in a wire story from the Associated Press:

“Federal solicitations to buy the bullets are known as ‘strategic sourcing contracts,’ which help the government get a low price for a big purchase, says Peggy Dixon, spokeswoman for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga . The training center and others like it run by the Homeland Security Department use as many as 15 million rounds every year, mostly on shooting ranges and in training exercises.”

The story goes on to note that these munitions were to be used by “more than 90 federal agencies and 70,000 agents.” In addition they are also used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal government’s second largest criminal investigative agency. But this exceedingly reasonable explanation didn’t deter Fox from advancing an utterly insane conspiracy theory. It’s what they do and, dammit, they do it pretty well.

[And for good measure…] Sarah Palin couldn’t resist the urge to make an ass of herself:

Sarah Palin

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11 thoughts on “The Fox News Paranoid Conspiracy Follies And The Collapse Of Society

  1. If indeed the end times are near, isn’t that what the evangelical rightwing guns and Bibles folks are so anxious to have occur? I mean, they are supposedly looking at being Raptured, or Taken Up, or something, while the rest of us linger here amidst the chaos left behind by their upbringing. Personally, I wish God would hurry up and take them, so we could get back to sanity. And God, can you start with everyone at Fox and Glennie and little Sarah? I know they aren’t exactly model Christians, and St.Peter will have some tough questions at the Pearly Gates, but I think they have tormented the world long enough.

    • I seriously don’t believe that these people are faith based and devoted to God at all. Who can attack someone for proclaiming faith or an obedience to a higher power (assuming that we are referring to the Christian God) and not come away being made to look like a servant of the devil? No one, which is why Evangelicals can say the stupidest stuff and get away with it. They pander to the baser instincts of the faithful in their want to believe in something or someone who cares for them and watches over them. In the very least it maintains a form of moralistic behavioral controls. Consider how many of them have been caught in what they regard as sinful pursuits and yet have come back with a new found faith in forgiveness and second chances. (See Mark Sanford in recent news for an example). Yet they never have in their past nor will in their futures believe in salvation and second chances for others, especially those who do not live the way they believe that one should.
      How can a person of such charitable faith be so narrow minded and unforgiving unless they are lying from the start?

  2. Maybe having this guy as the replacement for Palin was done to make her look sane and reasonable? Did he ever bring up the administration that gave us the Dept. of Homeland Security? I hate that name it sounds so 1930’s Nazi Germany to me. Levin is just another Fox disgrace. Does Ailes really think people like Levin, Herman Cain et al, are going to boost their ratings?

  3. So Mark, do you always believe what the government tells you? A little skepticism is healthy – your blind faith in government is impressive – didn’t you tell me it was liberals that first pushed the idea of questioning authority? Maybe it’s nothing and this was just a bulk purchase to save money – I buy my ammo in bulk to do the same thing – but then I don’t have the power or the desire to rule over the masses either. Try siding with the people for once – maybe conspiracy theories get out of hand, but blind faith in government is for suckers.

    • Right Steve, it’s really prudent to recognize that this idiocy COULD be a real threat.
      If we would just take a minute to consider that Fox might really BE a news outlet, that there really IS a sinister Nazi Communist Kenyan plot in installing the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse as our President, and that the foam forming on Glenn Beck’s chin is proof of his rabid delusions’ validity. If only we could be so open minded and ever-vigilant like you, Steve.
      Wait, I have to go catch Herman Cain as Political Commentator on Fox!

      • I have no evidence to believe the purchase of so many bullets is suggesting something sinister is about to be perpetrated by the government. But to always blindly accept what I’m told by a government that is currently trying to find new ways to disarm the people as well as justifying using drones to kill American citizens if our commander in chief deems it necessary for security seems a bit silly and naive. Light your candle at the government altar and everything will be fine. Bask in the warm light of the state if that makes you feel better, clearly it’s all you need.

        • Geez, you are all over the place Steve. You say you have no evidence of anything sinister, yet it’s naive not to think so anyway. And those of us who are rational and do not see the conspiracy here are lighting candles at the government altar.

          Make up your mind. If there is no conspiracy, then we are not being duped. If there is a conspiracy, then show us where. You can’t have it both ways (unless you are a demented Tea Partier who rejects logic).

          • Mark, your self-righteous “logic” and blind faith in authority is ridiculous. Oh thank God the government buys bullets in bulk to save money! Everyone knows the government is SOOOOOO concerned with saving every penny we borrow from China. Wake up.

  4. They say laughter is good for the soul. That’s why I flip the Sirius/XM radio over to Alex Jones radio show on my 15 min. drive to work.
    Sure, we hear about the crazy, paranoid, schkitzophrenic(sp?) people that are among us sane folks, but to actually hear it broadcasting over the airwaves every day is astonishing!
    Every sane person knows that Glenn Beck is a charlatan and a hustler who is more than happy to fleece his gullible followers of every last nickel he can squeeze out of them, but, Alex Jones appears to be the “real deal” when it comes to paranoid, black helicopter cospiracy nuts.
    I wouldn’t encourage normal sane folks to listen to someone like Jones, but if you want to be entertained by seeing just how far a person can stray from reality outside of a mental institution and still be allowed to own firearms, drive a vehicle, or board a plane, then by all means give him a listen!

  5. A little education for you hippy liberals……you don’t purshase a billion rounds of Jacketed Hollow Points for target practice, also they are illegal for use by Geneva. Therefor they are only authorized for domestic use. Also, JHP ammo is much more costly than ball ammo. For target practice you would use FMJ ball ammo. So, it’s only logical to believe they purchased the JHP ammo for actual events, not a paper target.

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