It should be an understatement to state that FOX News, a major news network, has never prided itself in exuding decorum, but anyone familiar with the network’s antics, and history, can bear witness to the veracity of such assertion. Time and time again, it has gone out of its way to slander, slime, obstruct, attack, malign, threaten, discredit, and humiliate, anyone perceived to be an enemy of the neo-conservative agenda. These targets, of the network’s ire, range from activists, to actors, to rape victims, to children, to atheists, to Muslims, to gays, to Blacks, to Browns, to Mexicans, to U.S. Presidents (the current one, especially), to The United Nations, to…The list is, indeed, limitless. On the March 5th broadcast of Hannity, Sean and his guests validated this theory.
Speaking on the topic of the assault pop star, Rihanna is alleged to have suffered at the hands of fellow star, Chris Brown, the topic soon drifted from any meaningful discussion on domestic violence, to a fiesta of assault on Black men. FOX, which has shown itself, historically, willing to capitalize on any opportunity to degrade and dehumanize Black people, proudly exhibited the racist views of Sean Hannity and his buddies/ buddetes.
Hannity, acting as the innocent counselor who’s simply looking out for the alleged victim (as he’s infamous for)—in this instance, Rihanna—didn’t hesitate in inserting an unsettling narrative, as he discussed whether or not Chris Brown was deserving of prosecution. Sean Hannity was quick to draw a parallel between the reported acts of Chris Brown, and O.J. Simpson. Yup! In his world of tortured logics, Chris Brown is an O.J.-in-training, who must be contained, to prevent a catastrophic metamorphosis, into an accused wife-murderer. “Think back to O.J.,” Hannity beckoned. “Didn’t signs, evidence symptoms?..” One of his guests then takes it a step further. Comedian, Nick Dipaolo, would complete Hannity’s thoughts: “Here’s a creepy thing. I got advice for women here: Stay away from guys whose last name is ‘Brown.’ Think about this: James Brown, Jackson Browne—these are all alleged wife-beaters; I’m not making this up—Chris Brown, Bobby Brown, Jim Brown the football player,” he stated. What is curious is that all of those names, with the exception of Jackson Browne, are Black males.
To avoid flattering with ambiguity, another of his crackpot guests, Kate Obenshain, would make plainer the narrative being woven. Asked by Sean Hannity, in his trademark artificial populist appeal, “How do we convince these women to get out of there [abusive relationships]?, she quips, “Look at the culture they’re in. They listen to Rap music all the time—it degrades women and glorifies violence.” At this, all the panelist nod in agreement to the extraordinary (uninformed) claims being made by Hannity’s fellow culture warriors.
Though I find myself smothered between a rock and a hard place—as it’s hard to defend a man accused of inflicting abuse on a woman—common sense persuades me to decline FOX News’ analysis of this tragic incident. It boggles the mind that the same network whose highest paid anchor was, a few years back, entangled in a sexual harassment lawsuit (a man who delights in blaming rape victims for their assault), and still maintains the services of a producer busted for child porn, is now attempting to lecture its viewers on the hazards of domestic violence or sexual misconduct. The shameless network, unable to reconcile itself with the real world, is known for, consistently, placing its head in the jaws of hypocrisy and racism. The world is moving on, and FOX News hopes to restrict this progression. Using Nazi-esque scare-tactics and fear-mongering, it hopes to hamper whatever yearn for better days society has mustered, since the last election cycle. FOX News’ potential for destruction cannot be underestimated, but rather, understood as an indication of how much work lays ahead of truth-seekers and freedom-lovers, around the globe. It is the responsibility of everyone who treasures justice and hates oppression to take a stand against FOX for its repulsive, reactionary, right-wing values, and enact ways through which that last vestige of society, which FOX represents and caters to, can be extinguished, once and for all.
