About fear... their big point: that he instills fear... um....
Instilling fear is what most news-folk actually do for a living. How often do we usually hear about something negative over the positive? The fear-mongering only just now has become "problematic" because it's coming from a competing non-mainstream source. The lack of self-awareness there is incredulous.
Basically, they're upset that other sources are taking away from their ability to have dominance(edit) control over how other people perceive events and associate with their circumstances around them. Never mind that we live in a liberal society where we were always meant to take in all this information as-is and judge for ourselves...
So their argument that he instills fear is circular. In the mainstream, the narrative has always been about picking apart the other side and unmasking "the predator" behind the scenes and promoting suspicion, paranoia & sensationalism... the basic argument to me comes down to.. well, our sensationalism is a healthier version... yes, it has less toxins, but it still has nicotine and the other addictive parts of it, so you all get the same "high" off of it... :laugh:
My opinion, there is a reactionary element and a fear-mongering element coming from the right... but I think it tends (not always) to be more focused on issues & concerns that have gone ignored for so long. Their audience is being driven to these sources since mainstream news has become so abysmal/predictable (edit). Imo, some of it has become such a parody of itself that it is getting harder and harder to recognize it in our own lives...
In our culture (US), it has always had some element of one-ups-manship to it. The more sensational it is, the more far-fetched it has to become to accommodate, the more ridiculous our politics has gone as well since it has always been a vehicle for parody. In the end, this makes extreme rhetoric more and more "palatable" to the masses. So if mainstream wants to find someone to blame... they should go find a mirror... :idc:
I'm not really aware of Tommy's story so much, and only know the gist of things, so I can't comment too much there...
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