"Some television network has convinced them that America is about to shove her history in the toilet

[activa8tr]

"Some television network has convinced them that America is about to shove her history down the toilet because Obama is President"

Some paranoid model is being developed.

People are being told, day after day, that America is in trouble because Obama will undo all that America has done in the last 230 years.

The USA and allies, through FDR, Churchill and others, millions of our grandfathers, saved the world from the Nazi plague. Obama will make us forget what we did for the world, something many thousands of still-alive Jews and millions of people in France, Germany, England, and all the other allied nations will NEVER forget. Obama is about to destroy that, according to some people on Fox News.

The USA, destroyed slavery for all intents and purposes around the world with a costly Civil War. Obama, descendant of slave families from Africa to the USA, Obama is about to make rich white people slaves, (because he hates white people like his grandparents according to one rich white person, Glenn Beck, on Fox News).

The USA conquered Communism, under Ronald Reagan, and set the world on a post "cold war" footing, but Obama, who has attracted admiration from many leaders in many nations of the world, Obama is about to set us on the course to become a Communist nation, according to some on Fox News.

The USA spread health and good welfare to people in third world nations, fought against the spread of AIDS, and many other illnesses, but Obama hates America so much that he wants to help all Americans stay healthy, and plunge us into socialist health care, according to some who appear on Fox News.

America has one enemy, according to some, and he is in the White House, may NOT have been born in the USA, (although newspaper and public records say he was born here), so many on Fox News keep warning us that Obama is not a "real American".


......................................

Sorry to rant on like this, but it's Sunday night, and I'm not an Easter guy......and TV looks so boring right now.


..............................................
Add to my essay, please......add some contradictions, some analogies, some reasons why Fox News is not working in the public interest, not just that it lies, but why Fox News makes no sense, and serves no public purpose, why all of the folks who work there should spend 20 years in jail, and maybe worse.

Give is your best shot, we want this to be worthy of publication in 100-1000 American newspapers, maybe even have you read your own piece or that of others on national TV.

Tell us how Fox News is making reality look like America in the toilet because the rich can't get too much richer, or because Fox News is being shown for what it is.

[donco6]

1. You may be glossing over Britain's contribution to abolishing slavery.

google Wilberforce. They abolished it in 1833. Not to diminish our own efforts, but worldwide, Britain was the leader and we were a bit behind.

[activa8tr]

2. sorry, but I'm more interested in how FOX NEWS is NOW destroying the USA TODAY, than

something about guys in England, 180 years ago.

[donco6]

3. Hey, you wanted critique, you got it.

It just sounds a bit too "rah rah America saved the world from slavery" to me.

Do whatever you want.

[BeFree]

4. This is either...

...a long run on, that nobody will care to read, or it is another sly way to distribute republican talking points on DU.

Nothing personal, but we've see this kind of stuff before.

Quote from OP:
"The USA conquered Communism, under Ronald Reagan..."

[paulsby]

5. that's entirely true

and to it's credit it does not say BECAUSE of ronald reagan. it says UNDER ronald reagan. that is true. just as true as saying we were attacked on 9.11 under george bush

[BeFree]

6. No. It isn't true

"The USA conquered Communism, under Ronald Reagan..."

Under denotes he was over. Reagan was not over communism, in fact, communism isn't dead. The USA hasn't conquered communism anymore than we conquered Viet Nam.

But yes, bush was over 9/11.

[paulsby]

7. it IS true

ronald reagan was our president. communism was defeated UNDER him, his presidency. and yes, when the wall fell, etc. communism was practically defeated. it lives on isolated in a few countries, but the juggernauts of the iron curtain fell.

that's no more incorrect than saying health care reform was passed UNDER barack obama

[BeFree]

9. No. You're not, really?

You can't be trying to give credit to RR, are you?

The fall of the middle class in the US, yeah, I'll give him that.

But this:

"The USA conquered Communism, under Ronald Reagan..." no way.

It - communism - hasn't been conquered. China is communist, right?

[paulsby]

10. you're NOT TRYING TO TWIST MY WORDS ARE YOU?

i didn't give ANY credit to reagan.

i said it was true that it happened UNDER him

just like , as i said, the 911 attack happened UNDER bush
all " under " means is during his presidency.

hth

[BeFree]

11. Erh

We didn't conquer communism. There are still communist states.

It didn't happen. The RR statement is not true. It is false.

What about all this you don't get?

[paulsby]

12. if you want to specify

the soviet east german european communist axis, so be it

[BeFree]

13. only took 7 posts!!

To admit you, and the OP, weren't entirely true.

Even tho you tried your damnedest. Hard luck, eh?

[paulsby]

14. i can admit i was wrong

communism qua communism was not defeated

the "iron curtain" communism was defeated

[BeFree]

15. well

You are a better man than some.

You can see why I question the RR buildup. Eh?

[paulsby]

16. like i said

saying something happens UNDER president X does not mean he had necesarily much if anything to do with it.

many articles CREDIT reagan with the fall of communism. this one does NOT, at least not when they say it happened under reagan

i was just making that distinction

[BeFree]

17. Oh man

You had saved yourself and then you went and shot yourself in the foot. Again.

It didn't happen. It isn't true. RR sucked donkeys. Get over it!!

[paulsby]

18. and that's not the point

whether he sucked anything

the point is that UNDER him, soviet-east-german-european communism was defeated.

to what extent he wasn't responsible for this is another point entirely

hth

[KharmaTrain]

22. Looks Like You Need A Better Set Of Books...

As BeFree has said...and correctly, Raygun had little to do with the "collapse" of the Soviet Union...especially the Soviet Satellites of Esatern Europe. By the 80s, over 60 years of Soviet rule, collective farming and overall corruption had driven the economy into the dumps...people had to que up for toilet paper and daily staples...the nation had become dysfunctional and difficult to govern. If there are people who should get the credit here its Pope John Paul II and Lech Walesa who (before Raygun) started the changes in Poland that became the inspiration for liberation movements in other states. Raygun did ZERO when the Communists declared Martial Law and tried to destroy solidarity and pretty much did little while the Soviet economic collapse became worse.

I also give a lot of credit to Mikhail Gorbechev who came to power and saw how bad things had become. His government (similar to ours) was broke and had to make big changes to get the country more productive. He came up with Glasnot and Perestroyka (Raygun didn't) that both opened the doors to greater expression and also empowered many within that society to finally speak out and set the stage for what would happen later.

Last, important point. The Soviet system began to collapse in 1989...AFTER Raygun had left office. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991...Ronnie was starting to drift into Altzheimers at that point. Bottom line is the Soviet system collapsed under its own corruption, the US and specifically Raygun had little to do with what happened...it would have occured no matter who was in charge.

I also find the "Communism" collapsed under Raygun to be right wing revision as BeFree has pointed out, there still are "Communist" governments in existance and we're far from being safer today than we were in the 80's. In many ways, I kinda wish for the Cold War days again just to keep the wingnuts in check rather than the "Islamofascist" bullshit thats led to the deaths of thousands of American forces and hundred of thousands (if not millions) in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[paulsby]

26. again, you can't read

i didn't say he had ANYTHING to do with the collapse.

that is entierly tangential to my point.

i said, again, it happened UNDER him.

it's a temporal thang, not a causal thang

[KharmaTrain]

27. It Didn't Happen "Under Raygun" Either

The Berlin Wall fell in Fall, 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991...Raygun was out of office when both of those things happen. If it happened under anyone it happened "under Poppy Booosh". The fact of giving either of them credit is a right wing talking point and not based in reality.

[paulsby]

28. would you please stop miconstruing?

i am not giving ANYBODY CREDIT.

please post where i gave somebody credit

here's a hint. saying X happened under president Y neither gives them credit OR blame.

it doesn't address credit.

[TorchTheWitch]

20. but the USA wasn't responsible for the defeat

Which is more to the point of why the statement is untrue. The Soviet Union fell under its own weight. Reagan just took advantage while it was in its death throws to try to take credit. HE being given this credit is just as false as the USA being given credit. The USA didn't defeat the Soviet Union - the Soviet Union killed itself.

[paulsby]

29. the statement didn't say the US was responsible

nor did i

again, it was a time claim, not a causal claim

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. 'The statement'? Since you then say 'nor did I', I presume you mean the statement in the OP

and that did say the US was responsible - "the USA conquered communism". And mentioning Reagan by name for that point (no one president got credit for health improvements; there wasn't even a name-check for Lincoln when talking about slavery; FDR got credit for fighting the Nazis) is singling him out for unusual praise. As others having pointed out, the large communist states fell when Bush Sr. was president.

If any country gets to use the word 'conquered' for the Soviet Union, it's probably, and maybe unfortunately, Afghanistan. They were the ones doing the fighting that exhausted its military. The US outspent the Soviets militarily, which hurt it too. But Gorbachev also decided the authoritarian model couldn't go on, and made it clear to the eastern European satellite states they'd get no support if their populations rose up. It was a combination of factors, and the say the US 'conquered' the Warsaw Pact states when Reagan was president is pretty inaccurate.

[Greyhound]

21. Using that logic it was 41. n/t

[ieoeja]

31. Correct. It was under Bush.

East Germany opened the border in November 1989 with the wall coming down shortly thereafter.

The Ukraine declared independance in 1991 which officially initiated the dissolution of the Soviet Union.


The Soviet Union *did* take their first steps into the market economy while Reagan was in office. But since Reagan's sole involvement was an attempt to *stop* the Soviets from embracing capitalism (apparently the entire Reagan White House having forgotten that the Cold War enemy was "communism", not Russia).

Between that, putting enough fear into the Soviet people that they continued supporting the powers-that-were in response, and the Afghan war providing one last rally-round-the-flag moment, anyone who denies the fact that Reagan EXTENDED the life of the Soviet bloc is in seriously deep denial.

[Toots]

35. So you are suggesting communism was conquered?

I wonder what the Chinese think about that? :shrug: and by the way the Berlin Wall came down under Bush 1, not Reagan. If the fall of the Soviet Union could be attributed to anyone or any thing I would have to say it was the Sears & Roebuck's catalog that did the most damage..

[Rex]

8. You have to understand, Foxnews hates America

for some reason they also hate the concept of democracy and the U.S. Constitution. I guess they are left on the air to remind all Americans that even crazy, ignorant, right wing, racist, pricks should have a spot on your TVEE. Got me.

[Mojeoux]

19. I've been sending the Hannity "Wanna-be-McVeighs" clip to news outlets

I would like all national news stations to condemn this. And show the horrible photos from Oklahoma City.

These are traitors.

These people would aspire to kill fellow Americans, other human beings because of trumped up crap from the Fox fuckers.

[activa8tr]

23. Sorry so many got into nit-picking over RR and missed the message

Maybe I should have stated it better.

I AM NOT CLAIMING RR defeated Communism. FOX NEWS IS!!!!!

Of Course it's false!

Somehow people must have stopped reading when they came to the outrageous claim about RR and Communism.

The point is that Fox News is poisoning the minds of most Americans with lies like these.

I'll try harder next time to make my point in the first paragraph and save people from reading too much.

[BeFree]

25. Yeah

Can you believe someone actually tried to make it seem like fox news was right?
And they did it right here.

See, DU has seen all this before. We know fox news lies.
Well, some of us do, most of us, anyway. There are a few who don't, eh?

Do keep trying harder. You just might get on the greatest page some day!!

[activa8tr]

32. Thanks for your support, and I agree, I could have stated it better, but

I thought the headline would get the message across. Fox News is the WORST!

I should have said Fox News claims all this. My mistake.

[socialist_n_TN]

24. Well Faux Noise is right about one thing..................

America has one enemy, but it's not Obama. It's the corporatists and their own personal "Pravda" called Fox News.

[walldude]

30. quote: "we want this to be worthy of publication in 100-1000 American newspapers"

Who is "we"? And slavery has been destroyed around the world? The USA conquered communism? The USA spread health and good welfare to people in third world nations?

Man do you live in a bubble or what? I just came out of a thread where the Chinese are refusing to let Bob Dylan play in Shanghai. Yeah thank god the mighty America defeated communism :crazy:

There are 27 million slaves in the world today http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=183 yeah we did a hell of a job conquering slavery around the world, for all intents and purposes.

And if we did such a good job with third world countries why is Bill Clinton on tv apologizing to Haiti for the devastating effect NAFTA has had on their country?

So there it is my "best shot". Hopefully your insane rewriting of history does not see the light of day past DU.

[donco6]

33. He wants critique, but won't like what you say.

And it's all because you read it wrong. :sarcasm:

I don't suppose the fact that his initial premise in each sentence is completely wrong is going to put a damper on any of it, huh?