The Brainwashing Of My Dad By Limbaugh, Fox & GOP Media
The Brainwashing Of My Dad By Limbaugh, Fox & GOP Media
by Leslie Salzillo
Many of us understand the damage Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, and 'hate media' has done to our country in promoting racism, homophobia, misogyny and bigotry.They perpetuate lies and poison the minds of people who get sucked in, and use Right Wing media as the only source of news. Jen Senko is a filmmaker who watched the transformation of her father, as he slowly came to believe the extreme RightWing lies, and she's making a documentary about it. Here a personal note to me from Senko followed by the Kickstarter commentary:
When the filmmaker's parents moved to a place where her father had a long solo commute to work and started listening to Talk Radio to alleviate the boredom, her family saw him change from a non-political Democrat to a radicalized, angry Right-Wing Republican. What happened to Dad?
As filmmaker, Jen Senko, tries to understand the transformation of her father from a mild mannered life-long Democrat to an angry, Right-Wing fanatic, she uncovers the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon for a media by the GOP, The Powell Memo and the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine, all of which would ultimately misinform millions, divide families and even the country itself.
more...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/06/1244584/-The-Brainwashing-Of-My-Dad-By-Limbaugh-Fox-GOP-Media?detail=facebook
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My non-political mother went from working in an office, where there was no radio, to starting her own sewing business. She spent the day listening to hate radio & in 18 months I hardly recognized her. She passed in '07. I'm not sure our relationship would have survived the '08 campaign. I fear she would have loved Sarah Palin, but worse, I fear her reaction to a black president. 
Interesting idea for a documentary. I will follow this. Thanks.
that would work for me. 
I was born in Goshen and lived in Elkhart and worked several places in South Bend, among them Society Bank when it was still downtown. I also worked in Osceola for almost three years.
But with the cities growing together like they have (South Bend/Mishawaka/Osceola/Elkhart/Dunlap/Goshen) it's hard to tell where one begins and the other ends. When my wife and I would go there she was confused as to what city we were in at a given time. Once while driving down Logan Street past Bethel College I told her "that side is South Bend, that side is Mishawaka."
I was in the Air National Guard's 122nd Tactical Fighter Wing at Fort Wayne and spent a lot of time at the former Grissom AFB. US 31 south out of SB to GAFB was one of the most BOR-ING drives I can remember...Lakeville, LaPaz...
When we got married I moved to her hometown of Brazil (birthplace of Jimmy Hoffa, Orville Redenbacher and Henry Lee Summer - her brother went to high school with him)...about 15 miles east of Terre Haute and the biggest (or smallest; 7,912 pop) lack of civilisation I think I've ever seen. Thank God we got out of there! Talk about Klan-Haven.
Speaking of, I think that KKK camp is/was (I can't find it on the SPLC's "Hate Map"
on Ash Road (not far from where I worked in Osceola) - at least that's what comes to mind. Jeff Berry, the former Grand Poobah of the KKK, lived north of Fort Wayne (when he wasn't in prison) until he died some years ago.
I had no idea Evan Bayh had gone to Fux Noise. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.
Tim Roemer was my Congressman for several years and I liked him, though he wimped out on pushing for a national health care plan.
You should know very well then that Limbaugh was, and is (?) a staple of WSBT-960 in South Bend. That's where I first heard him. Until I learned otherwise, I thought he was local, no kidding.
At least St. Joseph County has one of the more significant Democratic enclaves in Indiana (all those friendly Poles who also put on such a good Dyngus Day, I think!). Before I left Elkhart County the Democratic Party had closed up its offices there.
I live in Michigan now. It sure isn't perfect here (out in our hinterlands we have wannabe militia types dressing up in cammies and blasting their Back 40 to bits, not to mention Rick Snyder in Lansing), but it's worlds better than Indiana was...plus, I am within walking distance of Canada, which really is another world of its own.
I don't delete expletives. 
His question to which my "no, it isn't" was a response was "so all speech you disagree with is hate speech?" Same old fallacious tactic.
they definitely live their lives from a fear based perspective. He had anxiety issues along with OCD, and as they say, age only exacerbates personality disorders. I also think it bothered him that I had a much higher IQ than he did
Being the liberal that I am, I don't hate the man. I just feel extreme sadness at what he devolved into. But I was damned I would be taken down with him! I have a very strong sense of self and I wasn't about to change my views and become hate-filled just to massage his low self-esteem.
My ex never laid a hand on me either. His modus operandi was passive aggressive remarks and put downs, but then I also understood that those came from his own feelings of inadequacy.
Though I've inquired as to why he's so angry, but only at a 45 degree angle....that is never directly, as it would just be throwing gas on a fire. He's reasonably healthy, living a affluent retired dream life of doing fun stuff, no financial worries, but still peevish. He once asked me to describe him in fewest words and I replied frankly: "Bitter". He was surprised. I then basically stated every reason he should be happy and easy going. Trouble is, he's really only happy "on paper". The best I can surmise, that is, the vibe I get most is that he's paranoid about being or becoming irrelevant somehow. His life long he was always preachy and opinionated and I think he clearly sees his views are way out of synch with today's and he just can't deal with it. In his circle of somewhat like minded friends, he's most comfortable. I say "somewhat" because though they are conservative they are not nearly as much as him but they more or less pander to him to keep things civil. They haven't said this but I can sense it. I was hoping that through the passing of time he would finally realize the futility of fighting the changing of times and give in and just chill out. Instead he just gets angrier.
Thanks for letting me vent. It actually felt good to "say" what I've always bottled up. 
....their version of the 2012 election:
problem is I'm suffering from a clinical depression so like someone who's beat down 24/7 I don't have the omph to leave 
and of course going to Church for him is just for show. Comes home and tears the ten commandments to 100 different pieces.
why some of my comments on this site and else where make little sense. Depends on if I'm thinking straight I'm still sore on one single juror's comment and I've already stated it and not looking like a broken record. Yes I do have a temper. Brought on some from Depression.
He was a diesel mechanic and many of his colleagues listened to Limbaugh on their radios. A trucking company garage is a noisy place and occasionally they would turn their radios up. However, when my old man would hear it he would yell "TURN THAT SHIT DOWN FAR ENOUGH WHERE I DON'T HAVE TO HEAR IT!" He told me that on break some of his colleagues would start in about "the damn Democrats...tax and spend...Bill Clinton's ruining the country." He would counter with "The Republicans are just as damn guilty with all their kissing the rich man's asses, so don't start with that!" He died in 2005. I miss him.
I first heard Limbaugh in early 1992. I thought "is this guy for real?" I thought he was some sort of comedian. I read his first book and was horrified that someone actually believed that kind of bullshit. Then his TV show...and I heard people talking, saying this guy was virtually going to "save" America from all the rotten liberals. He's just got worse and worse ever since, and richer and richer off spreading hatred.
I have read many accounts of how much Limbaugh, if you meet him personally away from all his bluster, is purportedly a really nice guy. That tells me (if true) that he knows exactly what he's doing and is manipulating the thoughts of people to his own end...for his own aggrandisement and/or to the end of manipulating national politics toward a one-party Republican state.
Of course, he declaims any responsibility. He says he is "just an entertainer," a commentator "illustrating the absurd by being absurd" and even his favourite "harmless little fuzzball."
Ever since 20 January 1981 the politics of this country have been pushed (not moving, pushed) steadily to the right. It was more gradual until Limbaugh came along. Since then, it's gone so hand over fist that firmly centre-right Democrats like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have been demonised as "Marxists." The Republican Party has become more like the British National Front. The Tea Party is just the John Birch Society with Gadsden flags, tricorn hats and Sarah Palin.
Limbaugh has poisoned political discourse in this country to the point where I have read that singles adverts now include that they will not date members of the "other party." There are online forums where I have received death threats for daring to challenge Limbaugh. I don't take them seriously - keyboard commandos who wouldn't have the guts to say to one's face the kind of BS they say online - but it's an illustration of just how badly this man (and his later clones) has infected the politics and even interpersonal relationships in this country. Even families have been divided on whether or not you're "conservative" or "liberal."
Instead of his aim of "uniting" this country under "traditional Republican values," he has divided us to the point where we are on the brink of a civil war of some kind. Normally I am not that kind of tinfoil-hat alarmist but I have seen it more and more, especially since President Obama was elected (remember "Barack the Magic Negro?" .
His disciples say "you libs must be scared of Rush to pay so much attention to him." I am not scared of Rush. He would not be able to debate any reasonable person, either in person (how often has he done that?) or on his radio show (his screener sees to that). However, the effect he has had on this country scares the hell out of me.
I do not in any way support harming or trying to muzzle Limbaugh. That would just make him a martyr to his followers and confirm their circular argument that "the lamestream media" really, truly is "persecuting" them and only Limbaugh, Fox, Hannity, Levin, etc. are "telling the truth" and "keeping America alive."
However, again at the risk of being alarmist, I think we have come too far to go back. Limbaugh and his infection are here to stay, and the lines have been drawn for a long time.
I just pray that when the other shoe drops, I am not around to see it.
It gave us the worst president in American history, who has been allowed to go free from what he has brought on this world - two unwinnable, never ending wars, bankrupted the country, and now we have the worst Congress ever. 
Profiteering Brainwashing in America. Thankfully, Jen Senko is highlighting this tragedy..
Too bad her Dad was susceptible. I hadn't watched tv for 10 years when I moved to NY in 1998. When I got a tv at the end of 1999 I was surfing around and watched fox for about 2 weeks before I saw what they were doing.. And, then in 2002 I stopped all forms of corporate media and was fortunate enough to get a computer for the sole purpose of political activism and find DU.. and subsequently other sites like TOD et al.
I've heard over the years through my son that my ex husband is a fox news truther("it's all true" .. AKA brainwashed American.
for Horse Racing.
Brother, sister, uncle back east.
A large number of Americans are unhappy with their lives.
They dislike their jobs (if they are fortunate to have a job), feel unappreciated, inadequately paid, worried about the future, and feel unable to do anything about it.
They grasp at any argument that tells them that it is not their fault, that they are victims, and that if life were only fair, they would be wealthy, healthy, and wise.
They don't dare criticize their employers, their bankers, or their health insurers, for fear of retaliation.
So they blame "government" for not making things "right". They are fed propaganda over and over again that government takes their money, in the form of taxes, and gives it to lazy people, illegal immigrants, and "moochers" who lead better lifestyles than they do.
They are told that the "private" sector is more "efficient" (another meaningless buzz word like "free trade" even though the "private", corporate sector extracts a greater financial burden on them in the form of high prices, huge profits, and low wages.
This corporate levied financial burden is equivalent to a high TAX, but in contrast to countries with high government taxes, which also provide low cost universal health care, low cost or free education, and are not taxing their people to support a huge military system, people in those other countries enjoy a widespread quality of lifestyle not attained by most Americans.
So, for what they pay overall, Americans are getting less for what they spend than in other "advanced" countries.
Politicians, corporate vultures, and religious zealots have supported right wing think tanks and right wing media to develop and spread concepts that play on people's fears and dissatisfaction. These concepts (or "memes" are repeated ad nauseam on talk radio, in newspapers and magazines, in political ads, on TV "news" shows, and by politicians.
These right wing concepts (such as government is "bad", corporations (i.e., the so-called, mislabelled "private sector" is "good" is repeated so often so many places that no amount of reality will cure these victims of their misconceptions. The right wing has effectively immunized a majority of their followers from the truth.
Those thoroughly infected with the right wing themes are at this stage of their infection most likely incurable.
However, there are a number of people who are agreeable to change their political positions once they are shown how the right wing menace threatens them in some way.
The secret of converting "moderates" away from right wing propaganda so as to embrace reality requires developing dialogue that relates the facts to moderates, but it has to be done in a non-threatening, and non-patronizing way.
Moderates should learn from the methodology of the right wing. Their "think tanks" are mislabelled. There is little "thought" or reasoning behind their propaganda. It is all about marketing techniques.
Liberal "think tanks" should spend less time debating policy, and spend more time evaluating the effectiveness of presentation using focus groups.
While "liberals" attempt to explain their side with incomprehensible, and often irrelevant, graphs, charts, and economic verbiage, the right wing sells their policies with snappy advertisements like those used to sell fast food, breakfast cereal, cell phones, or prescription medicine.
While liberals appeal to reason to change minds, the right wing uses techniques that motivate people to action for right wing causes even though the liberals then ask why these people vote against their own "best" interests. The right wing marketers have convinced such people that right wing policies are in their best interests.
Liberals have to realize that graphs, charts, statistics, and policy presentations aren't going to succeed with people who eschew wonkishness and rely on their gut feelings.
The real reason for the 2010 right wing wins was that they used tried and true marketing techniques to motivate voters to their cause and the Democrats...not so much.
Every word. Viable reference material this. 
He used to vote Republican in the days when Republican meant guys like Bloomberg, ie the Northeast conservative. Really all he was concerned with was balancing the budget, he thought putting children in debt for the costs incurred by their grandparents was immoral.
Since the Clinton and Bush years, he went far to the left. He doesn't think he moved any, just that the two parties have gone so far right that he was left behind. He may have a point on that, as he's practically in Green Party territory on the political spectrum. 
