I must admit that I listen to Fox News on the radio a fair bit if only to get a good laugh. I'm always left wondering if people like O'Reilly and (insa-)Hannity actually believe what they are saying or just know that Rush Limbaugh got rich being an inflammatory moron and decided to take things to the next level.
But...the interview that Chris Wallace recently had with Bill Clinton (transcript) is ridiculous. I was so happy to see Clinton's response to the crap that Wallace was feeding him. And, even though I don't particularly like our current president, shouldn't you show a lot more respect for any current or ex-president? Between that interview and the horribly factually-incorrect "Path to 9/11" that aired on ABC lately, it seems like history is (attempting to be) re-written right before our very eyes. I mean, sheesh! The 9/11 documents are public. Don't you have some responsibility to be factually accurate on something like this?
As a comparison, something like "The DiVinci Code" is set in the context of our history and does a great job of mixing up true facts with not-so-true "facts" to create a believable back-story. I personally know people who believed a bunch of the false stuff in the book. But--big difference here--the book is portrayed as a work of fiction! Not so for ABC's little "documentary".
We've always known that the winners re-write history. I guess I just like to think that technology would make that impossible in today's world. But, I suppose the almighty dollar is how you manipulate opinion and history in today's information-driven world. In today's world, we don't lose information. We are just force-fed misinformation on a daily basis. It seems that we listened to Orwell just fine. We just got a little confused and took what he said as advice instead of a warning. Come on...we shouldn't be trying to create the "Thought Police" of 1984 fame...
Olbermann has some good commentary although I think he probably goes a bit far. Probably justified considering Fox News-lackey Wallace's behavior though...
I suppose all of this is happening now because of the upcoming elections. Might as well get used to (more than usual) blatant lying from both sides...
I'll close out with a couple of quotes from Orwell:
"Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." (from "Politics and the English Language")
"He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future." ("1984")