Right Wing Political Obsessions

Through a series of humanitarian crises consuming many world nations, one right wing constant we can count on, in spite of human suffering. We can rely on right wing media like Fox News and Rush (Bimbaugh) Limbaugh to push the negativity neurons in the brains of their followers, to create myths from truths and divert attention away from improving the human condition.

Here are the top three examples of right wing obsessions, where facts don't matter, but media ratings trump truth:

1.  Benghazi, Libya September 11, 2012:  For reasons unknown, US Ambassador Stevens left the security of the the embassy in Tripoli, Libya and, as a result, he was tragically killed in a firefight in Benghazi. Stevens was the first U.S. Ambassador since 1979, killed on duty. Right wing media have created myths and legends about this incident to discredit Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Truth doesn't matter to right wing media when obsession creates higher ratings. Regardless of hundreds of media hours spent sensationalizing this truly tragic incident, and in spite of bringing emotional harm to the families of the victims of the killings, the right wing continues to obsess over this tragedy. Meanwhile, nothing new has been revealed in the myth making and American voters stopped listening. Nevertheless, this story takes up right wing air time, so the myth making rants continue, without truth.

2.  Taliban prisoner exchange to free Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl: Right wing media joined by Senator John McCain were obsessed by criticizing President Barack Obama for being unable to free Sergeant Bergdahl, who was held a prisoner by the Taliban for 5 torturous years. Surprisingly, the calls for Bergdahl's release turned foul when President Obama negotiated the soldier's release by freeing five ugly old Taliban terrorists who were held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for 13 years, without a trial. Right wing media abruptly screeched about the exchange deal, and labeled the sergeant as a traitor, a horrible trumped up accusation, without evidence. Throughout this reversal, right wing media used hearsay and tangential information to put Sergeant Bergdahl on trial about his motivation for leaving his base, an act which obviously resulted in his capture. There isn't a civilian or military court in the nation that could convict Sergeant Bergdahl of any crime, like being a traitor, given the third hand information currently used by right wing media to wrongly accuse the soldier, without a trial. More than likely, the right wing obsession about the Bergdahl prisoner exchange is obstructing the chance for a fair assessment of the soldier's situation.  

3.  Immigration reform - right wing media is obsessed with blocking immigration reform. This obstruction continues, in spite of every one of those obstructing progress being the descendants of immigrants. Obviously, the right wing isn't obsessed with the Statue of Liberty's poem by Emma Lazarus: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these the homeless, tempest toss to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Instead of reacting to facts about the Benghazi attacks or Sergeant Bergdahl's tragic captivity, the right wing prefers to invent information for the purpose of sensationalizing the news. 

In obstructing immigration reform, the right wing creates unjustified fear about how foreigners will impact on social services, welfare and "take American jobs". Unfortunately, the anti-immigration reform obsession is causing harm to people who live in fear of being dumped back into dangerous Mexico, regardless of how hard they work to earn the American dream.

For unexplained reasons, right wing obsessions are growing among those who feed on myths, lies and negativity. Which is all the more reason why it's irresponsible for right wing media to continue fueling these obsessions - because the myths eventually become the lies people believe.  

Making matters worse, the print media is becoming less effective at informing people with facts. Main stream media simply can't keep up with the volume of right wing misinformation.

Americans are more politically divided than ever, a situation likely influenced because main stream journalism is loosing out to the competition for ratings by polarizing media. There's probably only one way to reverse this disturbing divide. Americans must ask right wing media if their myth creations would stand up to the scrutiny of a jury trial, before believing the obsession driven news. Otherwise, our nation won't just be divided by the colors of "red states" and "blue states", but will expand to include "truth states" and "myth states".