Fox News is Not Just Biased -- It's a Cult

The danger Fox News poses to America is not that it is a biased or partisan arm of the Republican Party, as the Obama Administration contends. Fox is a danger because it is a cult and uses the same destabilizing psychological techniques cults use to undermine the independent functioning of minds they want to control.

Once unleashed, these cult-like techniques can ultimately take on a life of their own and become very dangerous, especially to the most important of all American freedoms, the freedom of thought. The most precise term for these techniques is mind control.

Unfortunately, by focusing on Fox News' bias, the Administration diverts attention from the true problem. Fox is a powerful system of mind control that makes a mockery of the principles of self-reliance and individual responsibility for which Fox adherents ostensibly stand.

For cults, like Fox News, their objective is total control of the victim's mind so that the viewer becomes the easily manipulated pawn of the cult. The cult leadership is not satisfied to merely convince the listener of a particular point of view. The cult wants to effectively pull the levers inside the listener's mind, and direct that mind lock, stock and barrel. The cult will measure its own success by the relative ease with which it is able to do this.

As with any successful vehicle of thought control in a democratic society, overtly coercive tools of domination are not available as they are in more traditionally authoritarian regimes. People must not only join the cult voluntarily, they must also join without any awareness they have joined a cult.

Fox succeeds in both of these tasks in large part because they successfully penetrates their viewers' minds in such a way that the viewers do not experience Fox News as telling them what to believe, what to do or, for that matter, even as advocating for what Fox News believes.

Instead, the Fox viewer has the experience of hearing something they believe they have already known or felt before, whether they have or have not, not unlike a déjà vu experience. The difference between psychological suggestion and independent thought is lost on the person succumbing to psychological suggestion.

Similarly, on an emotional level, Fox News elicits feelings of resentment from people, feelings which may be there to some extent, but which become far more pronounced by the time the extensive Fox commentary is over. Fox cleverly mirrors and amplifies these feelings explaining why any "sane" person would have the same feelings. The most common emotions in these cases are anger, disgust, and contempt. Humanistic emotions of compassion, love, and humor are almost totally lacking.

Many of the rest of us, the "non-adherents," if you will, cannot understand how people can stand to listen to Fox News with its non-stop onslaught of what we experience as invective. What we don't allow for in our assessment, because we don't experience it, is the extraordinary relief Fox "commentary" provides to the minds of its adherents. It keeps listeners feeling certain, justified, and stimulated all day long, 24-7. This is no trivial psychological service.

Fox appears to provide a 24/7 fortification of people's "own" political beliefs. And it is presented in a manner that ostensibly justifies a badly felt need for an emotional catharsis, especially rage, generated by the confusion people feel over the complexity of modern political and cultural issues. Helping people organize a suitable target for this rage requires creativity, good organizational skills and an interest in domination.

These psychological "services" make Fox a Trojan Horse ostensibly bearing psychological gifts that give Fox free entry to the mind of its listeners and enabling it to surreptitiously exercise longstanding Orwellian techniques of thought control. Well orchestrated, repetitive talking points, limited to a very few key "loaded words," to borrow Orwell's term, take on great psychological effectiveness. The words become mental implants, not arguments or policy justifications.

In this and other ways, the mind is gradually seduced into letting Fox have its way with the subjects' psyche with remarkably little resistance. People display a robotic acquiescence to positions and attitudes that heretofore had never been of concern to them.

We have all experienced this striking transition with our own friends and acquaintances, and many of us have even experienced it with loved ones. It is as if one day they are there and reachable and the next they are shut off from us, unreachable by rational discussion. Some literally have a faraway look in their eyes. These are like the terrifying encounters that families of young people confront when their child has been "captured" by a cult. The Fox News cult is one that appeals to "children of all ages."

After a certain period of time in such a dependent state, the mind is too enfeebled to reestablish any independence. This is what is often referred to as the "dumbing-down" of America.

This is also why we are seeing in Fox News adherents increasing evidence of cult influence. The Republican conventioneers riotous laughter at the phrase "Drill, Baby, drill," the "birthers" crazily insisting that Obama was born in Kenya, and the "deathers" insisting that the government was putting a clause in the health insurance reform package that would be a "death sentence" for them all suggest that rapturous, cult-induced, vacuous thinking has increasingly replaced rational and independent thought.

The effects of the manipulations of a cult are very difficult to reverse. Cults are known for the casualties they cause. For some people, the loss of a connection to their cult is followed by acute psychiatric breakdowns. For a democratic society to have so many of its independent minds under this kind of assault is extremely dangerous as the ill-conceived ventures we have undertaken as a nation over the last decade so painfully illustrate.

Cults need to grow or they wither. They are dependent upon the vampire-like, insatiable need to bring new "blood" into the system with its invigorating impact on the group. How far Fox can go is unclear, but there is no apparent limit to its potential expansion at the present time.

Arthur Miller's 1945 novel Focus made into a 2002 movie by the same name starring William Macy and Laura Dern provides a chilling portrayal of the spread of a political cult with an unnamed prejudice, presumably anti-semitism. For readers who have not seen it, it will provide an eerie reminder to the feeling you have when your neighbor almost overnight seems to have "swallowed the kool aid" and tells you, as one of my friends did, that he listens to Fox News because it is "fair and balanced." This was not an independent thought my friend had. It was a "thought" chip that had been implanted in his mind by Fox News.

Cults provide a powerful temporary balm to a troubled mind -- they provide simplicity in the form of a surrender of the struggle an independent confronts. "Give me your tired and uncertain mind, and I will keep you safe from the complexities, uncertainties and fears that afflict you." It is, of course, from the perspective of the person's mental functioning, a Faustian barter with the devil except that one surrenders the mind, not the soul.

The problem is that with each surrender of an independent mind, there is a strong likelihood that that mind will never return to independent functioning, but, instead, will be in the service of inherently repressive cult-like forces who can only function in what is really a lifeless existence where processes of destruction substitute for life and vitality,

The Obama Administration is right to be concerned about Fox News. But Fox is not just another biased news media. Fox is a cult.

Bryant Welch, J.D., Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and attorney. He is the author of State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind (St Martin's Press, 2008.)

 

Comments

[ptoadstool]

I've long thought that people who are emotionally and intellectually needy head for FOX News and Rush Limbaugh for affirmation, but it amazes me how they can perceive the invective, shouting, banality, and illogical nonsense as somehow being satisfying. It does help to look at this as a cult phenomenon, because to an outsider who doesn't need the emotional crutch of FOX, the content is so silly that one wonders how anyone could take it seriously. It's sort of like walking the dog past a tent church meeting, and you and the dog look at each other and your expressions both convey a "WTF?" At that moment, you and the dog are both more grounded in reality than the strange species in the Bible thumping tent.

[rtb61]

It is high time to de-fund Fox News. Cut off all of News Corps income. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation. Simply stop buying their news 'sic' papers, magazines. disconnect from their cable services, use any other web sites but theirs be it IGN or MySpace. When there is a equal alternate choose the alternate, even if there is not just try going with out. It reality there is always an alternate and when the corporation specifically sets out to alter your democracy in it's favor regardless of the consequences for you, your family and your neighbors, it is high time to return that favor and deny it the funds it needs to corrupt your life into a shallow exploited parody of what it used to be.

[inclementweather]

Yeah, good luck with that. lmao Sorry, I like MSNBC, but Jon Stewart was correct when he called MSNBC the "Toledo Mudhens" to Fox's "New York Yankees". You're talking about Rupert freaking Murdoch, a man who--love him or hate him--is a global media behemoth, one of the richest and most powerful men on the planet. So, at the risk of sounding pessimistic, it ain't gonna happen.

[Lorixd]

It's amazing ....Do you really think FOX NEWS watchers can't distinguish their spin from reality?

"Fox succeeds in both of these tasks in large part because they successfully penetrates their viewers' minds in such a way that the viewers do not experience Fox News as telling them what to believe, what to do or, for that matter, even as advocating for what Fox News believes"

Sure..They (FOX News) penetrated our minds and told us what to believe about the ACORN SCANDAL and guess what?... we found it to be the truth!
They penetrated our minds and told us about how corrupt and biased Czar Van Jones was and guess what ...Van Jones resigned!
The real cult is going on in Washington...PBO and his administration are slowly and most insidiously penetrating the minds of so many Americans telling them the new health care plan will not bankrupt us and not raise our taxes. They will do everything with transparency (behind closed doors) etc.
Pleeeeze Bryant....you must be able to do better than this.???

[Bryant Welch - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks for your comment. If I understand your argument it is that I am suggesting many Fox viewers cannot distinguish Fox' "spin" from "reality." I have no quarrel with that characterization of my point. However, if I understand it, your base your astonishment at this solely on your belief that Fox was right about Acorn and that Fox exposed "Czar Van Jones" as "corrupt and biased." I think each case illustrates my point. The news about Acorn was contrived by Fox as we now know and the sudden mockery of the term "Czar," which has been used for several administrations, was the brain child of Fox News. Its pejorative meaning was a "reality" that was completely manufactured by Fox News. Fox took a word that has long been in use and gave it a pejorative meaning which it did not have in American governmental circles and then tried to hang it on the Obama Administration. This, of course, would only be effective for a viewer who was not familiar with the longstanding use of the term Czar.

[Lorixd]

Huh....?
"The news about Acorn was contrived by Fox as we now know" ? You must be listening to K Olberman these days....
Really all you have to do is "Google it" to find I'm completely right about the ACORN SCANDAL.

"and the sudden mockery of the term "Czar," which has been used for several administrations, was the brain child of Fox News. Its pejorative meaning was a "reality" that was completely manufactured by Fox News. Fox took a word that has long been in use and gave it a pejorative meaning which it did not have in American governmental circles and then tried to hang it on the Obama Administration."

This is complete nonsense! Fox has repeatedly talked about other presidents having CZAR's... just not as many as PBO's administration seems to think they need and In no way did they try to bastardize the term
And FOX News made it very clear Van Jones was corrupt and biased. This is why he stepped down before he was fired by BO.

[inclementweather]

I respectfully disagree. I have heard Fox talking heads say that the term "czar" is by no means a new one, rather that Obama has taken the notion of appointing "czars"--priorly a relatively infrequent occurrence--and has "run with it" to an unprecedented length, utilizing far more czars than any preceding President.

[grandpaMark]

I have seen my family,already racists and lovers of the Southern Strategy, fall rapturously in love with Limbaugh. By the time Fox came,they had been primed to believe that,as rich white rightists,they are an oppressed class.Watching Fox has turned them into sneering,unfeeling people who hate the poor,the sick and the disadvanta­ged.Politi­cal disagreement is worthy: Fox enabled hatred of those you oppose is unamerican.

[eliot99]

I found myself agreeing out loud while reading the piece. Excellent.

[TyneCrescent]

Mr. Welch, Kudos!! You knocked this one out of the park!! So sad that much of MSM still defends, or ignores, this "cult of personality."

[billobasher]

Right wing radio does the same thing. They make their listeners comfortable with their biases. They feed them what they want to hear. Viewers of Fox, and listgeners to Rush and hsi wannabes do not care that they are being lied to. Why? Because they are lying about someone that they happen to hate, so it is okay in their minds.

[erinm]

Interesting analysis. I wonder though if Fox really set out deliberately to do this, to be this evil and manipulative, or are they simply playing with a fire they don't know how to contain? Is Murdoch a cult leader, con man, or carnival barker enticing people into the freak show tent while picking their pockets? And are its news personalities cult leaders and in on the game, or cult followers (ok, Glenn Beck definitely is brainwashed)?

What I find most disturbing is this trend, this demonization of the other, has infiltrated into our government leaders. Witness the "moderate" Pawlenty calling Obama "corosive" to our system of government and way of life. How on earth do we stop this?

[Bryant Welch - Huffpost Blogger]

I don't think Murdoch is necessarily the important person in all of this. I suspect your questions need to be asked of Roger Ailes. He is clearly a bright man and an expert in political persuasion. Thus, I find it hard to believe he wandered into this powerful and dangerous phenomenon by chance. I presume he is well aware of what he is doing. Thanks to all of you for your thoughtful and kind comments.

[MichB1]

How is this addressed? Is there a way this can be turned around?

[Hazumu]

Wonderful analysis.

One thing that concerns me is that it also may percipitate more instances of highly susceptible individuals 'independently' going berzerk/amok/going postal, or other forms of sudden, unpredictable violent behaviour in defense of the cult's ideology. For instance, the connection between O'Reilly's "Tiller the Baby Killer' tirade and the 'lone wolf' Scott Roeder.

Fox is unaware they're 'tickling the dragon's tail' (google the metaphor...) We need to be ready in case things suddenly go critical.

[bujudude]

This is the single best analysis of FOX noise I have yet to read. They are indeed a cult and one of the most dangerous ones in America. So much so, that if you took FOX out of each sentence in the essay and replaced it with "Scientology" it would still ring true.

I noticed in early 2001 that FOX, along with the Bush white house were taking their clues from both Orwell and Joseph Goebbels (and didn't Glenn Beck go so far as to admit to such recently?) The tactics are identical. GIve their viewers a false sense of moral outrage and moral certitude that non-FOX listeners do not inherently possess. Then dismiss anyone who does not 100% agree with their warped agenda as evil, anti-American, anti-family, anti-Christian, anti-God, anti-Democratic, etc.

The more people listen to them on a regular basis, the more critical thinking is destroyed, and the more inclined to either rhetorical or physical violence they become inclined to. Like Scientology, they ruthlessly attack their "enemies" and use lies and slander to demonize the opposition. There is no gray area or middle ground. You are either with us or against us.

With the declining popularity of the Republican party, I hope that is accompanied by declining viewership, but millions will no doubt need to be "de-programmed" in order to re-join the "real" world. Let's hope that happens sooner rather than later.

[Vermifax]

Amen.

[Witkacy]

Thanks for turning me onto Focus - it sounds interesting and well-worth watching.

Otherwise - you're of course spot-on. This sort of thing is a (secular) media innovation not yet grasped by media critics and scholars...