Karoli at Crooks & Liars points us to this story — “Fox News Lies; An Elderly Woman Dies.”
Tracy Knauss posted this on Facebook:
Fox News killed my precious mother, Hallie. She watched FOX religiously. And when she fell ten days before she died, she refused to go to the doctor because, “I don’t want Obamacare to get all of my information! she declared, recalling the warnings from Fox News “anchors.” She was emphatic. She was not going to consort with the muslim enemy. As she made out her will she told her lawyer, “I don’t want any of my money going to the Muslim Brotherhood!” And her last protestation dealt with “Obama’s death panels.” Mother died just days later. I hold Fox News responsible for my mother’s death.
Karoli comments:
Don’t write this woman off as some ignorant back-country hick. She clearly wasn’t. She owned a company at one time. She paid attention to events and politics in the news, or at least, in the news as she understood it. She, like most of her neighbors, voted Republican. But until Fox News came along, Republicans weren’t stupid. They had different philosophies about government and its role, but they weren’t blatantly invested in advancing a lie-based ideology until Fox News came along.
It isn’t hyperbole to say Fox News killed her. She fell and feared the doctor would kill her. That fear can be laid at the feet of Roger Ailes and his obsession with advancing lies to promote his agenda.
I wouldn’t say Fox News is directly responsible for this woman’s death, although her allegiance to their fear-mongering and lies certainly contributed to her not getting the medical attention she needed.
But set aside the role Fox News played in her death and consider the role it played in her life. Watching Fox News made this poor woman miserable. She lived in needless terror, troubled by a constant anxiety that was manufactured and fabricated by political operatives posing as journalists.
This has happened to many people in Knauss’ mother’s generation. David Frum calls it Fox Geezer Syndrome, and odds are that you know someone made miserable by it. Fox News is making people unhappy for no reason.
That’s harmful. It’s wrong. Decent people don’t torment the elderly with imaginary threats.
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