Many of us understand the damage that has been done by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, and Hate Media. You can hear the promotion of blatant racism, homophobia, misogyny and bigotry just by turning on the tv, radio or computer. Malicious lies are perpetuated until they are believed by those who have been sucked in and who now use right-wing media as their only source of 'news'. Jen Senko is a filmmaker who watched the transformation of her father as he slowly came to believe the extreme right-wing propaganda. Senko is now making a documentary about it called The Brainwashing Of My Dad. Above is the trailer, and here is a personal note Jen sent me:
"I was inspired to make this film after watching my father – a non-political Democrat – turn into a right-wing fanatic after a change in his car commute exposed him to reactionary shows on talk radio. The changes in his behavior drove me to research the changes in the media over the last 30 years – and the effect of those changes on the country was indisputable. As the media have been co-opted more and more by special interests, documentarians have become the new journalists. My hope is that after seeing my film, people will question what the media tells them, and will insist on laws that would hold them accountable."
Here is the official trailer for “The Brainwashing of My Dad”
More about The Brainwashing of My Dad: The truth behind the right-wing media machine that changed a father — and the nation:
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When the filmmaker's parents moved to a place where her father had a long solo commute to work and started listening to talk radio to alleviate the boredom, her family saw him change from a non-political Democrat to a radicalized, angry right-wing Republican. This begged the question: What happened to Dad? As filmmaker, Jen Senko, tries to understand the transformation of her father, she uncovers the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon for a media by the GOP, The Powell Memo and the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine, all of which would ultimately misinform millions, divide families and even the country itself. Remember when Hillary Clinton got pilloried for blaming a “vast right-wing conspiracy” for the relentless attacks against her husband? Maybe you weren’t around then. Well, she said it. Some thought she’d gone off the deep-end. We all know that “conspiracies” mean that you think that we really didn’t land a man on the moon, or that Bigfoot stalks the North, or aliens abduct certain people and experiment on them. But really, was Hillary right? If you think about it, the country has changed dramatically within the last 30 years. During the 1960s and 70s America was moving in a much more socially minded direction. One could say, “liberal”. Then, slowly the country began to shift. What was once considered “right” is now “center-left”. It can’t be denied that corporations play an ever-increasing role in every facet of our government and the media has been instrumental in this development. We are now so divided that the Left will argue that President Obama is to the right of Reagan while the Right labels him a “Socialist”. How did that happen? This documentary will look at the changes that happened to a dad (and many others’ dads or beloved relative) when he changed his media habits. Then we look at how the media itself changed and the effect it had on our country. The media has a powerful influence on the American mind – so much so that one could argue: if you control the Media, you control the American Mind.
Here are some media commentaries by a few of the extraordinary minds they have interviewed so far:
Noam Chomsky
Johnny E. Williams
Edward S. Herman
Note from Jen:
We want you to join us in our endeavor to get the truth out there! Many thanks. We love you!"
Thank you, Jen Senko. We love you too. Special thanks to Freya Malin. Besides supporting Jen Senko's documentary, other ways to get involved in the fight against hate radio include joining the StopRush movement via:
Sign: Petition to Limbaugh Sponsors & iHeart (formerly Clear Channel)
Visit/Like: BoycottRush Facebook Group
Join: The Fight To Flush Rush Facebook Group
Use: The StopRush Extensive Sponsor Database
Photo: The Brainwashing Of My Dad
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