Noise of the World

Retirement or not, I really have to comment on the sizable dent put in Rupert Murdoch's empire of sleaze and propaganda. The owner of Fox News has had to shut down his UK tabloid "News of the World" in total disgrace, after it became public that several of its employees hacked the voicemails of not only celebrities and royalty, but dead British soldiers and victims of the 7/7 terrorist attacks. Not only that, but they've allegedly deleted voicemails belonging to murdered schoolgirls -- including girls whose killers have yet to be caught.

Now, for those of us who actually have moral compasses, it goes without saying that this is beyond disgusting. Whether you're liberal, conservative, or anything in between, this should seriously sicken you -- and for the most part, that has been the reaction. Even if Murdoch is tap-dancing his way out of personal responsibility, he does seem to recognize that this looks bad (hence why the paper has shut down, after 160+ years). However, Murdoch's most rabid supporters -- especially Faux Noise fans -- don't agree.

While they are in the minority -- and doing nothing to change anyone's minds -- I am nonetheless seeing neo-cons whining about some kind of liberal conspiracy, or an attack on free speech, or even claiming that this scandal was completely made up. They usually say something rather pathetic to make these points like "here are the liberal loonies, at it again..." -- proving that not only are the most die-hard right-wingers sociopathically immoral, but have roughly the same intelligence and class as a schoolyard bully.

Let me explain a few things:

1. Not only has the British Conservative government called an inquiry into this (albeit reluctantly), not only has News of the World voluntarily shut down, but several of its former and present staff have been arrested. Therefore, this is not a fake issue.


2. NOTW's staff have been accused of not only sabotaging the investigations of murdered children but effectively robbing the graves of the very people that you conservatives deify to make it look like you have souls (ie. dead soldiers and terrorist victims). You don't need to be a liberal to be infuriated by that -- you need to have not only a respect for the law, but BASIC HUMAN DECENCY.


3. This is not about free speech. Even in democratic nations, YOU ARE OBLIGATED TO BE RESPONSIBLE for what you say. Even in the notoriously lenient America, you can be arrested for making threats, you can be sued for lying about people in public (not that those things matter to Fox News fans) and YOU WILL DEFINITELY BE ARRESTED FOR SPYING ON PEOPLE AND MESSING WITH MURDER PROBES.

Any of those things should be blatantly obvious to anyone with the kind of morals and respect for law and order that conservatives accuse the rest of the world of lacking, yet -- not surprisingly -- they are the only ones who not only don't get it, but are celebrating it. That alone, tells you why people are increasingly fed-up with today's right wing.

That's it for me.