How far-right media took over American public debate

[sharedvalues]

In a time where so much is happening, this article does a good job of reminding us how much right wing talk radio, Fox NC, and right wing internet media hurts American society (and prevents investigations, advances Gorsuch, and smears Obama).

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/trolling-scholars-debunk-the-idea-that-the-alt-rights-trolls-have-magic-powers

...perhaps the weightiest issue influencing Donald Trump's rise [Ed: and keeping him in place today!]. More than fake news, more than filter bubbles, more than insane conspiracy theories about child sex rings operating out of the backs of Washington DC pizza shops, the biggest media story to emerge from the 2016 election was the degree to which far-right media were able to set the narrative agenda for mainstream media outlets (This point is ably argued by internet scholars Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, Hal Roberts, and Ethan Zuckerman).

What Breitbart did, what conspiratorial far-right radio programs did, what Donald Trump himself did (to say nothing of what the silent contributors to the political landscape did), was ensure that what far-right pundits were talking about became what everyone was talking about, what everyone had to talk about, if they wanted to keep abreast of the day's news cycle. Alt-right antagonisms—their "trolling"—was one cloud among many in this gathering storm, one roaring towards the mainstream from the far-far right.

[AJT]

1. It began as soon as "The Fairness Doctrine " was done

away with. The right began buying rural radio stations and put Rush Limbaugh on the air, the left did nothing to counter it and we lost rural America. Then came cable, where regular broadcasting rules didn't apply (didn't use the airwaves), and again the left did nothing. We dropped the ball. We didn't have the resources, as big money and corporations side with the right, and we've never been able to catch up.

[Charles Bukowski]

2. Any idea what can be done to reverse this?

The online world should be dominated by liberals, yet that isn't the case.

[AJT]

4. I'm not sure we will get it back. There are so many

obstacles. The right makes progress every day, just look at "school vouchers" meant to destroy public schools, the alarming number of "religious freedom" bills being passed at the state level, voter suppression laws that affect the poor and minorities, "right to work" laws to kill unions, gerrymandering districts, the unlimited amount of dark money being funneled into champaigns. Unless the rest of the country wakes up and sides with the left(30+% is lost)and votes then we have lost the war.

[Jonny Appleseed]

5. Comparing the internet to radio/cable is like comparing a horse-drawn carriage to a Stargate

Conservative presence is contributed largely by bots as of late. Instead of thinking about the internet in broad-strokes, you need to think about individual sites (more apt to the tv/radio analogy). Facebook, Twitter, we can lobby these tech companies with little trouble because they're private industries. The CEOs tend to lean right, but the employees themselves are usually more progressive.

[procon]

3. Add to that rightwing gerrymandering and voter suppression,

mass incarceration and debtors prison, the religious extremists, conspiracy theists, armed militias, anti-intellectualism distrust of academia, and the rise in junk science, the war against women, LBGTQ folks, people of color, the poor, sick, elderly and disabled, and foreigners, fear of religions other than christianity, hatred of liberal views, isolationism, the normalization of fascism... pant, pant, pant... no wonder it always seems like we're moving one step forward and two steps backward!