Deceit on All Fronts

I clicked on a CNN video the other night and gave up after just a few minutes. It was ridiculous. It wasn't news. It was just a juvenile editorial and misleading at that. Even if I agreed (for the most part) with what was being said, the presentation was disgraceful – the very sort of thing that is par for the course on FOX. The two channels are increasingly cut from the same cloth. Deceit reigns as the interests of mammon dominate the airwaves and both channels (in service to the Wall Street Establishment) are on a mission to blur and ignore context and the true nature of the problems that dominate this society and the larger world. Ratings, advertising, and thus entertainment are paramount and increasingly rage and fear are the tools to keep people energized.

From false reporting on 'energy independence', to a manipulation of the facts surrounding the baby formula shortage and a deliberate obscuring of the profit-motive and capitalist monopoly being the primary reason for what has happened, to narratives regarding Putin being responsible for world economic woes, fuel prices, and the threat of global starvation – there is little truth to be found.

Lately I've been struck by some of the recent instances of hypocrisy that seems to characterize Right-wing media – which as a Christian is the cause for greatest concern. This is the media most American Christians believe represents their perspective and is by their estimation the closest in outlook to the Christian worldview. And that's why I am consistently concerned.

The Right is screaming about the violence directed at pregnancy clinics and there was also (some justified) outrage over the burying of the Kavanaugh assassination plot by outlets such as the New York Times. And yet how can they really complain about these actions? The official GOP line is that January 6 was 'legitimate political discourse', and while the congressional hearings are ridiculed by the Right-wing and Evangelical press the facts are clear. It was a violent coup attempt orchestrated by the White House. This is in fact a story that dwarfs Watergate and Iran-Contra and yet the Right for all its 'patriotism' has no interest in it and instead seeks to equate urban protestors and some street rioting with a violent insurrection and an attempt to overthrow the government. And the attack was not just to thwart the procedures and seize control of the legislative and electoral process, it was also an attempt to capture and commit acts of violence against officeholders. I'm sorry, but there's no equivalence here. Though New Testament Christians are not patriots, these actions must be condemned and those who profess Christ should have no part of them. And those that do so should face Church discipline.

With regard to the pregnancy clinics, the Right has played its part in the deceitful and scheming agenda to subvert and manipulate the law and the larger judiciary and many are angry about this. Incoming judges have lied and the political arm of the movement has used tricks and propaganda to push their agenda. Indeed within the context of the clinics themselves there is considerable anger that the Right refuses to address or ridicules. To give voice to these criticisms is not to side with the women who wanted to abort their babies but the reports are clear – these 'clinics' use deceit and delay tactics and are not genuinely trying to help these women become better informed and so forth. Their task is simple, get a hold of these women and keep them distracted and in doubt (and even mislead them) until the abortion window closes. The end justifies the means or so it is thought. Lie and do evil that good may come. We can be glad when a child is not aborted but the integrity of the movement and its moral standing is lost when such tactics are utilised.

The Right has no standing when it comes to condemning the political violence. They have in their adherence to Trumpism all but justified it and yet scream murder when the same tactics are used against them. Both sides exhibit considerable hypocrisy but I hold Christians to a different and higher standard. I don't expect anything from the lost.

And through all of this turmoil of recent days and the many attacks on crisis pregnancy centers, not a word has been mentioned about the long history of violence associated with the anti-abortion movement – the attacks on clinics, the violent assaults on workers, and the murder of abortion doctors. The movement cannot pretend that they're just peaceful innocent people who are completely forthright in their dealings. I'm not saying the people who run the pregnancy centers are responsible for the violence but at the same time they cannot divorce themselves from the larger movement of which they are a part – a misguided movement at that.

It's a case of both sides lying and misrepresenting the context. Driven by agendas there's little interest in integrity. Both sides play to emotions and ultimately seek to utilise public waves of anger and anxiety as means to the acquisition of political power.

The whole debate is effectively disgusting and at this point in time an honest discussion and objectivity are impossible. You can't hope for truth in reporting when the audiences don't want it.

Look at the recent coverage of the dead immigrants outside San Antonio. The Right is howling that it's Biden's fault, the human traffickers are emboldened by his administration's Open Border policies.

If the borders were open, then why would these people spend thousands of dollars paying smugglers to get them across in a clandestine manner? Why would they risk their lives and indebt themselves if the borders were open and one could enter the United States with impunity – and if you follow the rhetoric of some on the Right, get paid and even get a voter registration card! These arguments are ridiculous and deliberately deceptive. This is demagoguery that has no interest in truth or even a sober discussion. It's mean to enflame the base and to get people both scared and angry. This is why I know people who live out in the country or in small rural hamlets and yet are afraid to walk down the road. They believe the country is being crushed by a crime wave and (as one reported) there were rumours that some Mexicans were seen in a town about twenty miles away – so you had better not leave your house. I'm not even slightly exaggerating this. This is how some of the local FOX viewers are reacting. It's sad.

All the more when you actually take in some Left-wing media and discover that they too blame Biden for the trailer deaths! From their perspective his policies represent a harsh continuity of Trumpite measures. Desperate people are escaping terrible situations and placing themselves at great risk trying to get across the border.

When I see Christians falling into this Right-wing sinkhole and promoting FOX lies and FOX-type thinking – I can't help but get angry myself.

Once again, I expect the lost of the world to be blinded by their allegiance to idols. This is hardly surprising. But when Christians exhibit the same behaviour there is great cause for concern. Such conduct and ethics (which are tantamount to anti-ethics) cannot go on indefinitely. The conscience is seared and such people (especially in the context of the Church) fall under judgment.