You’d think the sun had just come out as lawyers praise the FOX and Dominion out-of-court settlement. A particularly turgid, ugly, episode, one of many in American media is now over.
The hideous situation which created the lawsuit is still doing fine, for those who haven’t noticed. The endless rants and bizarre accusations are OK. America has become almost totally dysfunctional due to its mindless media, and that’s OK, too.
Apparently “damaging American democracy”, one of Dominion’s stated causes for the lawsuit, is OK as long as there’s money to pay for it.
Why settle?
There’s not a lot of information about the reasons for settlement. The bottom line seems pretty simple.
- FOX doesn’t have to admit anything, and its accusations against Dominion are no longer legal issues.
- Dominion gets a few bucks out of FOX petty cash.
- The lawyers get some nice money.
- The court doesn’t have to hear a critical case on these nice Spring days.
Well, hallelujah. The disaster factory for some reason called American news media can continue to destroy the country in peace. What a victory for democracy.
Dominion might have a practical reason for settling. Nobody knows. FOX might have a reason. Nobody cares. You’re allowed to be either pro-FOX or anti-FOX, but the culture behind this appalling mess can’t be called into question.
In my opinion, FOX is no more than “rabble-rousing by bot”. Doesn’t matter if the bots are human or software. Create any issue, real or imaginary, and publicize it. Then make money.
Nobody has to even pretend to believe whatever information this process generates. It’s a job for so many people. As long as you get paid for it, it’s fine. The obscene, backward, almost prehistoric America of 2023 has turned trash talk into a cash business, and that’s pretty much all there is to know about it.
It’s an almost perfect storm of the classic historical narrative when top-dog countries go down. Maybe they’ve just run out of Americans. The American people don’t win anything anymore.
You could replace “E Pluribus Unum” with “Gary Larson Was Right”.
______________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
