All language subtitles for The Brainwashing of My Dad 2015 en

Once upon a time,

there was an average
American family,

living in an average
American town.

After the family moved,

the father left
his familiar carpool,

and began a long,
solo commute to work,

and, gradually,
he began to change.

He looked the same
he dressed the same,

but something
was very different.

But this isn't the story
about just one man,

it's the story
about a media phenomenon

that changed a father,

and divided a nation.

Here's my dad with me
when I was a baby.

He really loved me.

This was in Arizona,
where I was born.

He was goofy,

like a lot
of other dads, I guess.

My dad was
a really fun dad.

All the kids in the
neighborhood really liked him

because he was funny,
and told jokes,

and would play with us.

He was a really good dad.

He loved animals.

He could always be counted on
to help persuade my mom

if we wanted another pet.

For vacations, my dad
took us on camping trips.

It was a lot of fun.

My mom didn't
like it so much.

She didn't really like
roughing it.

But we all still
had a really great time.

He came from
humble roots.

He never had any
bad words about any race,

people, or person.

I remember this one time
when we all went to New York,

and we got outside
port authority,

and there was an
African-American, homeless man,

and he asked my dad
for some money.

My father gave him

what was at that time
a decent amount of money,

and called him "sir."

That made such
an impression on me,

and taught me

you treat everybody
with respect.

We weren't really
a political family.

My dad was a non-political
Kennedy democrat.

But then, when he started
listening to talk radio,

I saw him change.

A lot.

You used to consider yourself
a democrat, right?

Yeah, before I...
Before I knew anything,

or had any sense,
I was stupid then.

I would listen
to people with their bullshit,

and they didn't know
what they were talking about.

Until then, I was fat,
dumb, and happy.

I think I first noticed
something different about him

when I came down
to visit.

I was working in New York
at the time.

He picked me up
at the bus station,

and was driving
me back to the house.

On the ride home,
we passed a Hooters.

He mentioned that
he was really pissed off

that some feminazis

did not want women with
their breasts hanging out

to be working at Hooters.

I said something like, "well, maybe
the feminists have a point."

He was so mad,

he threatened
to pull the car over

and let me hitchhike home.

I was very surprised,
because I was thinking,

"I bet he never even walked
into a Hooters before."

He became really
angry about stuff,

stuff that I didn't know

he ever even gave
a thought to,

like, you know,
Hooters.

Whether they are
in jail or not,

they are procreating
their own kind.

That's why we should

go in there
and stop them

before they destroy
our country.

When we moved,

and he had a very
long commute by car,

he would listen
to the radio

on the long drive.

Then he started to change.

The feminazis
began their quest

to make women
more like men.

Dress like us,

acquire power like us,

have careers like us,
all that...

Rush Limbaugh’s
one of my heroes.

I agree with him
in, in politics.

And then
his Rush Limbaugh-loving buddy

told him he could listen
to more talk-radio at night

with a tiny,
portable radio and ear buds.

But it would still
disturb my mother.

So he decided to move
into the other bedroom,

and then it got worse
after he discovered Fox News.

His new beliefs
came first.

It was almost like
he joined a cult,

or had a new religion.

Frank is the family pest.

He has to force his political
views on all of us.

I did it Frank's way.

It was his way,
or the highway

when it came to politics.

I was not aware
that Frank

had strong
political leanings,

one way or the other.

It was just pretty much
food and family

was what he was
interested in.

After e-mailing came in,

yeah,
then you get all kinds.

I would get
political e-mails too,

but they were factual,

bringing things
up-to-date,

where dad's e-mails
were hateful against democrats.

And he would
forward them to me

and the children.

And I asked him, please,
don't send these e-mails

or I'll block you.

He started getting fanatical.

Oh, he would send
some nasty e-mail back,

like, "f-you."

Or "you guys are full
of S, blank, blank, T."

I... I started
getting his e-mails

when I got
394 e-mails.

I originally thought
it was somebody else,

other than Frank Senko
sending me things.

And, in fact,
he didn't author any of these.

They were just,
you know, recycled things

that he received
from his other, uh...

Right wing cronies.

I was you know,

wondering what
happened to Frank

since the time I saw him.

I'd always thought
that he was capable of, uh...

Deeply thinking
about issues.

But it was apparent
at that point that...

It's not that
he wasn't capable of it,

he wasn't interested in it.

And that, to me,
was a dangerous signal.

Brain has
not only been washed,

as they say,
it has been dry-cleaned.

So, what did happen to dad?

Was he brainwashed?

I didn't know.

This went on for years.

So I finally decided
to make a film

to figure it out.

Jennifer,
is this your book?

Yes.

He's my hero.

Why is he your hero?

Politically,
I agree with him.

Beautifully.
I always agree with him.

We knew better than to
discuss politics together.

Because it would just end
in arguments and bitterness.

I had a kickstarter campaign
to raise some money,

and before I knew it, people
were coming out of the woodwork,

contacting me from
all over the country

telling me similar stories.

And I thought,

"wow, this is
a real phenomenon."

They just drummed into her,

what they wanted
her to hear.

She's a completely
different person.

My brother became
very fact-resistant.

My reaction was,

"who are you, and what have
you done with my stepfather?

Disjointed existence.

And he was
completely changed.

He was...
He was bitter and angry.

At one point,
he threatened to get a bus.

Because
I was challenging...

He became obsessed.

And she had never
been like that.

He was carrying
a small pistol.

- She was not hateful.
- Shot twice...

It broke my heart
to see my parents this way.

Used to be very loving,
caring, patient...

I don't really
know these people anymore.

He just goes on these tirades
that never make sense.

Fundamentally repulsive.

I spoke with each one,

and found we all had
one thing in common.

Someone close to us
became enraged and unreachable

after excessively
listening to,

or watching
right-wing media.

How did this happen?

The great story here,

for anybody
willing to find it,

and write about it
and explain it,

is this vast
ring-wing conspiracy.

Decades ago,
I was a junior hippie.

My big brother
was the real thing,

with hair down
to his waist.

I witnessed and felt
part of the social revolution

happening at that time,

and I believed our country
was going in a more...

Open direction.

Years later,
when Reagan came in,

I could feel
the country was shifting

to a more
hardened place.

And that's around the time
my dad started to change.

It wouldn't have
necessarily thought

to go all the way
back to the sixties,

but author Claire Conner,

who wrote
"wrapped in the flag,"

contacted me after
she saw my trailer.

Her personal experience
with the John Birch society

helped put into place
a major piece of the puzzle.

The John Birch society
came out of the McCarthy era,

and was built
on this concept

that the communist menace
was right around the corner.

Very quickly,

the John Birch society
moved from "those bad guys,"

over in the Soviet Union,
China, or in Cuba,

to the idea
that we had those bad guys

right in
our own government.

In 1964, republican candidate

Barry Goldwater,
had many Birch supporters.

But this damaged him
because years earlier,

word had leaked out that
their founder, Robert Welch,

had written a secret book

branding sitting
republican president

and world war ii hero,

Dwight D. Eisenhower
a communist.

The Birchers were labeled
as, "nutty extremists."

Goldwater and his platform
were hammered by Lyndon Johnson.

The right wing
was declared dead.

So, they started
to hit back.

One of the most
powerful ways,

was through creating
their own media.

I first spotted David Brock

in a documentary called

"the hunting
of the president."

He had been
a conservative operative

involved in
the organized effort

of trying to take
president Clinton down.

But he came to regret it,

and wrote about what he learned
from an insider's view.

When I read his book,

"the republican
noise machine,"

I knew I had
to talk to him.

It took me
a year and half to get him,

but I finally got
to interview David Brock.

One of the very first things

that
the conservative movement did

in trying to get control
of the debate in the country

was to do that
through the media,

and, uh,
they established

a couple of different
organizations

that market the notion
of liberal media bias

to the public.

And so, one of them
is called accuracy media

by someone
named Reed Irvine,

who had worked
in the Nixon administration.

And basically,
the idea behind this group

was to counter
their feeling

that the media was opposed to
Nixon's policies in Vietnam.

...more certain than ever

that the bloody
experience of Vietnam,

is to end in a stalemate.

You could see how the campaign
to discredit the media

would lay the groundwork for a vast
alternative media that would come later.

There are a number
of reasons,

one provides
him with the...

One night,

I was watching Bill Moyers,
on channel 13.

And I learned about
the role of Roger Ailes.

And, I went back
to the Nixon administration,

and Roger Ailes in the...
Who is the chairman of Fox News,

was in the Nixon
administration.

He was Nixon's
television advisor.

- Absolutely.
- -Then I found Gabriel Sherman.

He was the guy to talk to

about Roger Ailes,
for sure.

Roger Ailes understood
that TV is about one thing.

It's about emotion.

And you need to communicate
to the audience,

and hook into them
on an emotional level.

And Richard Nixon,
who by all accounts

was a very smart,
a brilliant man,

who had command
of the issues,

he couldn't connect
with the audience,

you know, he came off
as stiff, as shifty-eyed.

Famously, in the 1960
presidential debate

against John Kennedy,

he was sweating.

It was a terrible
performance.

Then he meets
Roger Ailes in 1968,

at the time Roger ales
was a young producer

the wunderkind of television
at the age of 26.

And, so, Roger Ailes
coached Richard Nixon

on how to communicate
those ideas

to the average American
who is watching television

every night
at dinner table.

Richard Nixon, whose political
career almost blew up

because of television,

was able to win
the presidency.

Because he mastered it.

At the time,
in the late 1960s,

TV had finally become
a mass medium.

And yet,
there really weren't people

who had decoded
the medium.

Roger ales told Nixon
that to appeal to the audience,

he needed to use short,
snappy, one-liners.

That can stick
in the audience's mind.

A great philosophy is
never one without defeat.

It is always one
without fear.

And, so, really,
Roger Ailes was a pioneer

in the whole art
of the sound bite.

He told Nixon
that America is dumb,

so give them
something simple,

boil it down,
and they'll get it.

Ailes was so involved with
advising the administration,

he even outlined
Nixon's role

in the lighting of the white
house Christmas tree.

But his designs for the GOP
went much deeper.

Ailes was outlining
a way to avoid,

"the censorship,
the priorities,

"and the prejudices
of network news selectors

and disseminators."

Written in 1970,
this memo talks about

how television had become
the most powerful news source

because, "people are lazy,"

and want their
thinking done for them.

It became the blueprint
for Fox News.

And although
it's authorship is unclear,

Roger Ailes'
handwritten notes

are seen throughout
the document.

There are simple things

that the American people
believe in.

It's the reason John Wayne
is still the top...

One of the top five
movie stars of all time.

He's been dead for 40 years.

Uh...

But you always knew
about him.

"Don't touch my woman,
don't steal my horse,

and don't ever draw a gun
on me."

- Otherwise...
-we can friends.

We're gonna get along,
we're gonna get along fine.

It offers ya
a little action.

Roger Ailes was fired
from the White House

for seeming like
he could go too rogue.

Basically, he was caught

talking behind
Richard Nixon's back

to author Joe McGinniss.

After that,
Ailes started working for TVN,

a television news network
owned by the Coors family.

Their goal was
to be like a tugboat

to the queen Mary.

They were just going
to be going along,

and pushing the boat
a little further to the right,

and a little further
to the right,

and their goal is,
ultimately,

to put the great ship over
as far right as they could.

And Ailes was working
for them at the time,

and he...

He didn't know
much about news,

I'm not even sure...

I know that he knows much
about news now

but he sure does
know television.

He's as good at television
as anyone in the country,

and he's
a great propagandist.

By the way,

the motto
they came up with,

was "fair and balanced."

My father
and my step-mother

used to be very loving,
and caring, patient,

very kind-hearted,
Christian-based

pe... individuals,

and we noticed that,

they became more hostile
towards people

that were not believing
the way that they did.

Their conversation
became very hateful.

The brilliance of Nixon
was to bend a politics

that was based on,
uh... deference,

to money and plutocracy,

and frame it in terms

of a kind of
cultural populism.

The idea that

the real snobs
are not the people

who hire and fire,

but the people who kind of
decide cultural trends.

When Nixon was running
for president,

he had a problem.

In 1964,
Bill Porter lost,

conservative
was a dirty word,

everybody wanted to be
a liberal.

Nixon comes along in '67,

and he says,
we gotta get working people

to vote for Nixon,
how do we do this?

Before 1964 and '67,

the anti-war movement felt like
a betrayal to many veterans,

who saw it as unpatriotic.

Nixon seized on this

and was openly hostile
to the protestors.

At the same time,

woman were pushing
the boundaries

of societal norms,

which dictated
they stay at home,

raise children,
and dress like ladies.

Nixon came out
for traditional family values,

thus capturing the vote
of the working men,

who felt threatened
and didn't like what they saw

as "radical feminism."

In 1964, the civil rights act
was passed.

Nixon capitalized
on both racist,

and economic fears
of whites,

and ran against
school busing,

and for law and order.

The Republicans could change
the party labels in the south

by appealing to the racism
and the strong opposition

to the civil rights
legislation

and making that there stand.

In the spring of 1970,

after Nixon orders
the invasion of Cambodia,

which was the...
The instigation

for the same protest
at Kent State University

that led to the deaths
of the four students.

One of the protests
was at federal hall,

in lower Manhattan.

And right in the middle
of this anti-war rally,

this almost, marauding army
of construction workers

came marching in,
in their hard-hats,

and, started beating
the protestors

with their hard-hats.

It was all captured on film.
It was on the evening news.

Rather than, um, excoriating
these, basically, vigilantes,

Richard Nixon invites
the head

of construction trades
in New York,

Peter Brennan,

and Peter Brennan presents
the commander in chief

with a ceremonial hardhat

so he's almost,
kind of, throwing his lot

with the people

who are beating
the protestors.

He created
conservative populism.

We're gonna
bring them together

and... and,
have them vote

on the basis
of their morality,

against their self-interest.

It's not vote
on their economics,

but vote on
the moral issues.

So that was
Nixon's contribution

in pushing the country
a little further to the right.

In the meantime,
my little brother and I

had both got into
the hippie culture,

even my dad kind of did.

In the '60s,
you had the voters

and rights act,
and the civil rights act.

All this happened
in about a 10, 11-year period.

You know, by '71,
you had cities burning

because people were saying

the change is not
happening fast enough.

Virtually every group
in America

other than
wealthy white guys

was in open revolt,

and calling for change.

Now, it wasn't tear down
the government change.

I mean, this is being covered
by the CBS evening news

and Walter Cronkite.

I was so lucky

to be introduced
to Jeff Cohen.

Aside from being
a first-rate journalist

and author,

he was a former commentator
at Fox News,

and an all-around mensch.

As a result of these movements
for social change,

especially among
young people,

there was a real backlash

in the elite centers
of conservative power,

and corporate power.

And one of the symbols
of this backlash

was a memo written
by the general council,

whose name
was Lewis Powell.

It was starting
to get really interesting.

This confidential
Lewis Powell memo

was from August 1971,

just a year after
the Roger Ailes memo.

And so, Lewis Powell
wrote a memo

to the head of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce,

saying Americans
view businesses

as the big, bad guys,

and people like
Ralph Nader as the heroes.

What he claimed is,

that the whole country
is being taken over

by the radical left.

The government, the media,

the universities, of course.

He said basically
the following,

"we have a problem.

Our best and brightest
of our students

do not want to become
conservative businessmen.

We have to change this.

We have to get
wealthy conservatives

to put their money together

to appoint professors
in major universities

to teach our principles.

We have to set-up,
and support organizations

in major universities
to do this."

They said, we can't trust
the universities.

We have to set-up our own
research establishments

which became
the think-tanks.

We have to make sure
that they get published.

Start journals,

start publishing houses

so they can publish
their books,

and we have to buy media
so their ideas can get out.

These were right wing
think tanks

putting forward stuff

that basically wasn't
academically sound,

or intellectually sound,

but had
good propaganda value.

Powell,
after writing the memo,

was appointed by Nixon
to be on the supreme court.

So, they set up
this infrastructure,

and then, ultimately,

it led
to the right wing media

itself.

Where they were setting up

their own channels
of communication

and that was the big boom
in right wing talk radio

nationally and across
the country

in every locale.

And ultimately,
Fox News channel.

This Lewis Powell memo,
was extremely influential.

It impacted
the realms of politics,

judicial law,
media, and education.

They have regular meetings
of various kinds.

The best known are
the Grover Norquist

Wednesday morning meetings.

Now, this has been going on
for a good 20 years.

Norquist was so proud
of his meetings,

he invited my students

to attend them
for three months.

There were people there
from groups that represented

the full gamut
of political issues

on the right.

From fur trade commissions,

to Evangelicals.

The real genius
of the meeting

is that you can get
these dozens of people

who might not
otherwise agree,

into the same room,
every seven days.

Talking,
and sort of ironing out

their differences.

As long as they're on board
with pro-life, pro-gun,

and an anti-tax agenda,
you're with us.

Writing up talking points
which then gets sent out

to all the people
who are around the country,

who are gonna be booked
on radio and TV,

and by 5 o'clock tonight,
everybody saying that,

the same thing.

We'll take on
Obamacare regulations,

that threaten
the 40-hour workweek.

Let's put on his desk,
things like

restore
the 40-hour workweek.

The loss
of the 40-hour workweek.

Big, big mistake,
that ought to be restored.

We must take action,

and restore the traditional
40-hour workweek.

And by 10 o'clock,
it's on the daily show.

Obamacare will destroy
all that we once held dear

in this country,
by requiring health insurance

from employers.

For the 15% of Americans
who don't currently get that.

The law only applies
to full-time workers,

people who work 30,
or more hours a week.

And guess what?

A lot of employers
are saying,

"we don't want to pay
for these healthcare benefits,

so we're gonna move
full-time workers,

to part-time workers."

The Powell memorandum
was written in 1971,

and the Heritage Foundation
started in 1973.

The effect of having
the conservative think tanks

clearly,
outgunning and outnumbering

and outfunding
the think tanks of the left,

has been
much more effective

in dominating
policy discussions.

There was
a universal agreement,

that the goal of journalism

was objectivity,

and to discern the truth
of conflicting claims.

The conservatives moved
the argument from objectivity

to one of balance.

Under the rubric of balance,
the conservatives do better.

Because the way
the media now treats balance

is there's 99%
of scientific consensus

on global warming,

and 1% of scientists
funded by the coal industry

to say, "that's not true."

But they're presented
in a balanced way,

giving credit to both sides,

and so, the conservatives
were able to infiltrate

the op-ed pages
of the country

on the same notion,

that, "well you have
liberal columnists,

so you need
conservative columnists."

So, when Hilary Clinton
referred to the vast

right wing conspiracy,

I believe she had in mind

the full gamut
of conservative organizations,

from legal foundations
to media organizations,

to think tanks,
to advocacy groups.

And including
Wednesday meeting,

as... as it's lynchpin.

After that, people called
the Norquist meeting,

the stage was now set
for Ronald Reagan

to give
the greatest performance

of his career,

selling the American people

on supply-side,
trickle-down economics.

The economic ills we suffer

have come upon us
over several decades.

In this present crisis,

government is not the solution
to our problem.

Government is the problem.

You know,
we keep hearing about

trickle-down economics,
and Reaganomics,

and how if you help
the people at the top,

the wealth and income
will trickle down.

And studs Terkel said, "the only thing
I've seen trickle down in the 1980's

is meanness,"

and what he meant was,

you know,
the kind of country club,

looking down on people
less fortunate than you

had sort of gone, and...
Thanks to Limbaugh,

and Bob Grant,
and people like that,

sort of, like,
they were aiming

at making white males,
middle-class males,

to be as angry
and looking down on people

and being angry at...
At these social movements.

As... as anyone who used to be
in a country club

in the 1950's,

that was what
was disseminated,

was this mean,
angry streak.

That's what the 1980's did,
according to studs Terkel,

you know,
the Reagan revolution

- pulled people... was your dad ever a democrat?
- -Oh, yeah.

Yeah, okay, right,
it pulled a lot

of working-class democrats,
the Reagan revolution,

they started voting
republican.

They were called,
Reagan democrats.

There are two things
that made democrats willing

to vote for Ronald Reagan.

Reagan developed
this political vocabulary

that made traditional,
conservative economic ideas

sound really positive
and really good

to ordinary people,

and, what Ronald Reagan
was promising these voters,

was a return
to a simpler time.

America,
they want to take us back

to is, uh, mythic.

So, you might want to say
the place they want to take us

back to is like Brigadoon.

You know, it's this kind of,
you know, shimmering vision

that you know,
kind of exists

in the space
of the imagination.

They saw 1900
in America, as like,

the apex of when
we were great as a nation.

1900.

Before the income tax,

before the federal reserve,

before
any progressive legislation

was considered or passed.

Before child labor laws,

before women
had any rights,

before women even had
the right to vote.

Robert Welch, who was the founder
of the John Birch society,

talked a lot about 1900,

as this glorious time
in American history.

And he said,

he said, "there were
pockets of poverty,

but it was a healthy
kind of poverty.

Poverty free
from government interference.

Where every man understood
that relief from dire want

was entirely
his own responsibility,

thus the blessings of Liberty
outweighed the poverty."

When during
the great depression,

when people
would come to our house,

and go around
to the backdoor,

and ask my mother
if they could have a meal.

And she'd cook them
bacon and eggs or something,

they ate it
out in the back.

So, that's how people
had to survive,

maybe he wants
to go back to that,

I don't know.

We had like,
a one room school.

You know, and, we would...

We'd walk to school
in our bare feet, you know.

And that's how we lived.

Looking back,

I know that
we lived in poverty,

or pretty close
to it all the time.

But we didn't know
that at the time,

because the government
didn't come around

and tell us we were poor.

One
of the brilliant innovations

was a new theory
about how taxation worked,

about how
the economy worked.

It used to be
the conservatives,

that republications,

we all about
balanced budgets.

They're all about
kind of making the people

eat their spinach.

But they came up
with this new theory

called
supply-side economics.

And supply-side
basically means,

you give money to...
To business,

and that way they'll basically
produce more plenty,

that will trickle down
to ordinary people.

And that was what George Bush
in 1980, referred to as

"voodoo economics,"

because it almost did
sound like magic.

It was kind of like

he was promising you
the candy store.

He said he could lower
everybody's taxes,

and by doing so,
everyone would benefit.

It was like the miracle
of the loaves and fishes.

In actual fact,

how it ended up
turning out was,

you know, hurting
the very working class voters,

who trusted Ronald Reagan
with their economic future.

Of course,
inequality just skyrocketed.

The rich got richer,

and ordinary peoples' wages
ended up stagnate.

And my dad thought Reagan
was the best guy in the world.

And he was a democrat.

And somewhere in this
Reagan-Bush change,

he told me, "well,
I'm a republican now.

I realize how wrong I was
all those years ago,"

and the only thing

I could attribute
the change to

was his change in taste

about the news stories
he watched.

We used to watch Cronkite,
and Brinkley and Brokaw,

and what I consider
sort of middle America,

middle ground views.

And... later on,
all he watched was Fox.

And the fairness doctrine
actually said

that you have to program
in the public interest.

And so,
as a result of that,

radio
and television stations,

had real news.

It operated for 50 years.

In 1949, it was actually
voted in as law

by the U.S. Congress.

It said,

"if you are watching,
or listening

to your local television,
or radio station,

and there are
points of view

that are not being included
in the discussion,

and you wish for them
to be in there,

go complain
to your station.

If they don't give
you satisfaction,

then send a complaint
to the FCC."

It didn't guarantee
equal time,

it reminded broadcasters
that they had a public trust,

they should
include some views

that might go against
their own,

or that might
not be popular,

or favorable to them.

It was dropped
in the 80's,

by
The Reagan administration.

The repeal
of the fairness doctrine,

ended up resulting in
an explosion of talk radio.

In 1987,

I couldn't believe
what I heard.

I'd hear overt,
gutter racism.

And this was coming from
different talk show hosts.

But the main one
was Bob Grant.

I'd hear black people
referred to as, "savages."

The savage mind,

the primitive,
primordial mentality,

of being immature

anything they think
they can get away with,

they will press and press
and press,

which, of course,
is what they've been doing

all over
the United States of America.

- Not in just...
- The allure of the Limbaughs,

and the grants,

is that they tap into
a kind of resentment,

a kind of insecurity,

on the part of
mostly white men,

and the large part
middle-aged,

and aging white men,
a kind of injured pride

that the world
is passing them by.

It's... it's typical
of demagoguery

to say that your problems

really aren't problems
caused by you,

they're caused by
these other people

that aren't like us.

He found out that I was dating
somebody who wasn't white,

and just was like,

"I can't...
You just don't agree

with any of my values."

You don't believe
any of the conservative things

that I do."

And, "you're so far left,

that you're willing
to date people

outside of your race.

And, I just...
I love you,

but I just can't
talk to you ever again."

Talk radio
was always in the hands

of right wing
backlash artists.

A bunch of white guys
on the right,

railing against
the women's movement,

the civil rights movement.

So, that's the beginning
of talk radio

that people forget about.

It was all local then.
There was no national.

It never went national
until Rush Limbaugh

you know really made it
national beginning in 1988.

I learned that Fox,
god love them,

is televising this speech
on the Fox News channel.

- Which means,
ladies and gentlemen,

- this is my first ever
address to the nation.

Ah, Rush Limbaugh,
my dad's hero.

I heard him say it
so many times.

The way my dad
spoke of Rush

is like he found
a new religion.

Quoting him constantly

as if he were
the word of god.

Talk radio
was so influential,

and Rush Limbaugh
is especially good.

That me,
a walking encyclopedia,

that basically
could debunk things

on the spot.

In many cases
with talk radio hosts,

Limbaugh sounded
so confident,

that they actually
sent me back to the books.

You know,
I would be right, in the end,

but I wasn't sure
I was right

because of
the absolute confidence

that this guy exudes.

And it's very affecting.

I'll never forget,

my dad sent me
something in the mail.

He had put
a PETA label on it,

and he had taken
a black magic marker,

and kept...
And rubbed out "peta."

Like just scribbled it,

and scribbled it,
and scribbled it,

until he almost ruined
the envelope,

and the PETA thing was out.

It was just crazy.

He was an animal lover,

he always was
an animal lover.

It just filled up
all of him.

It became all
of who he was.

Like, really,
as if he were a cult member.

And that's why I use
the term "brainwashing."

And he said to me,

"I don't care
what your facts are.

My beliefs matter more,
and I believe Rush."

Limbaugh.
Every day when he works.

When I became involved
with Occupy Wall Street,

my parents were furious,

and when my parents
heard bits and pieces

about my involvement,
they cut me off completely,

didn't speak to me.

My dad has been a trucker
for the last 40 years.

Now, who does he listen to?

Rush Limbaugh.

And, he's...

He's pretty much
become unbearable.

President Obama
had just come into office

the first time.

The economy
was in the toilet,

so, I felt it was safe
to discuss the economy

because, clearly,
president Obama

couldn't have had
anything to do with it,

it was too soon.

And my uncle
got very upset.

He says,
"you get out of my house.

You can't stay here,

and talk to me
about that guy."

He walked towards me,

and was carrying
a small pistol.

And I saw the gun
pointing at me,

and he dropped
his hand to the floor...

- and shot twice
into the ground.

Most people
don't think about this,

but talk radio
is something...

Unlike a lot
of other media,

that's done alone.

People listen to it alone.

And they're listening
to this one other person.

And there's sort of
a personal thing there

and a connection.

People who,
on the radio and TV,

are there
for one reason only,

and that's to make you mad.

And the formula
for making you,

the viewer,
or the listener mad,

hasn't changed a bit

yet people keep
falling for it.

If you embellish the opinion
with confidence and cockiness,

then you're getting
into generating hatred.

The law
of averages indicates

that half the people
who listen to you

are not gonna like you,
you still gotta find a way

to make those
who don't like you

enjoy listening
to your program.

A lot of people say,

"you really mean
the stuff you say?"

I don't know.
That's for you to figure out.

Excuse me?

A lot of people say, "do you
really mean the stuff you say?"

I don't know.
That's for you to figure out.

Limbaugh was telling people
for years,

"you're right
to be prejudice.

You're right to be angry."

Let's listen to what
the feminazis

are telling you now.

Or these
environmental wackos,

who say that cigarette's
second-hand smoke.

You know, and then
he'll make up some study.

One day, years ago,

when my dad was at the height
of his Limbaugh lunch days,

I went down
to visit my parents

and my mom and dad and I

went
to our favorite restaurant,

old time tavern.

As we were walking
towards the restaurant door,

there was a bench outside

where several people
were seated smoking.

As we passed them,

my dad stopped
to talk to them.

He inhaled the smoke,
and said,

"mm! I love the smell
of cigarette smoke,

it reminds me of the time
I used to smoke."

I was stunned,

because the only thing
I ever remember my dad smoking

was the occasional pipe.

He also hated
wearing seatbelts,

and would absolutely
refuse to wear one,

even after
he got a ticket.

Something told me it had to do
with Rush Limbaugh.

He wasn't
just wrong factually,

he would take
like reality upside down.

He became what we call,

"a champion of the overdog."

Any powerful group,

that was being criticized
by scientists,

or medical people,
was the victim.

So, the tobacco industry
was a victim.

And that's where he came up
with his concoction

that, you know,
no one's ever proved

that nicotine is addictive,

or is linked
to these horrible diseases.

There's no science involved.

And, you know,
cigarette second-hand smoke

making you go outside
of the restaurant to smoke.

It's not true.
Here's the real facts.

And then he comes up
with his false facts.

You don't like seatbelts?

It's Ralph Nader,
he made up this stuff.

Ladies and gentlemen,
the top 10 Limbaugh lies.

How can all these people

believe such
outlandish statements?

But it wasn't
just like my dad

or Barbara's brother

or Marie's uncle,
who believe Rush Limbaugh

that troubled me.

Clarence Thomas,

one of our
supreme court justices,

who officiated
at the third wedding

of Rush Limbaugh.

I think it was
in Clarence Thomas' house.

And, Clarence Thomas,
you know,

will tell anyone
that asks him,

"no, I don't listen
to mainstream media.

I don't trust it.

But he taped
Rush Limbaugh’s radio show

all three hours,

and he tried
to always listen to that.

Now, imagine this here
supreme court justice,

deciding on things
like war and peace,

and civil liberties,
and gay marriage

and your window
to the real news world

is Rush Limbaugh’s
three-hour monologue.

That's pretty damn scary.

There was a sense
of seamless argumentation

that this guy is giving me
the complete explanation.

And he's got facts
and studies to back it up.

And I'm listening to him
three and a half hours a day.

When he put out
our study in 1994,

debunking dozens
of these lies

or distortions
or exaggerations

from Rush Limbaugh,

we encountered
thousands of dittoheads.

Now, the cult-like nature
is, you know, is obvious,

when a guy is preaching
for hours at a time,

and people come on,
instead of saying "amen,"

but just like
saying, "amen,"

they say, "dittos, Rush.

Mega dittos, Rush."

That's their contribution.

It's like,
here's the preacher,

and I'm part of the cult,

the congregation,
and I'm just amening,

with this phrase, "dittos,"
or "mega dittos, Rush."

"You're the greatest, Rush."

- Do they actually say that, themselves?
- Oh, they go on the air.

And they say,
"mega dittos, Rush."

Oh, that's why
they call them "dittoheads."

Yes. In other words,

everything you say,
I'm ditto-ing.

Hey, Rush, how are you?
Mega dittos.

Thank you,
and mega dittos, Rush.

Oh, mega
and constitutionous dittos

from Southern California,
Rush.

So, I watched 30 minutes
of Rush Limbaugh.

I... I didn't like him
at first,

cause he was kind of

just being critical
of Clinton.

Well, I had about
an hour and 15-minute commute

to a factory,

two towns over
where I worked.

And I drove,
I worked second shift,

and I drove midday
to that factory,

and I'd catch
the last hour of his show.

And I... I just
immersed myself.

Boom. I spoke down
straight republican to you.

And I had been convinced
that Clinton was more corrupt

than Nixon
ever could have been.

Clinton was part
of this global initiative,

to get the U.N.
To control our country.

Clinton was gonna
bring in U.N. Troops

to take our guns,

and put
in concentration camps.

And then,
Bill Clinton gets elected.

There's this backlash
against Clinton,

spearheaded
by Rush Limbaugh.

And Limbaugh becomes
almost the leader

of the opposition.

Several times
he said on the air,

that Vince foster,
the white house aide

for Bill Clinton
had actually been murdered,

and that his body was found
in Hilary Clinton's apartment.

He said that once
on the air.

You know, so these weird
conspiracy theories,

and talk radio
is really peaking

at that point.

He's incredibly rich.

Well, that's because
he signed a contract

that gives him approximately
$34 million a year.

One of those funders,
we know for a fact,

in 2011,
was the Heritage Foundation,

because it was listed

as a line item
on their budget.

I remember when
Clinton was president,

and I came to visit
my parents one time.

My dad was hunched over
in the living room chair,

reading one of the books
against president Clinton.

I believe "slick Willy"
was in the title.

You couldn't mention
president Clinton,

without him yelling
about how he was a murderer,

and going to destroy
the country.

It made me think again
of what Hilary Clinton said

during that interview

when her husband
was in office.

This vast,
right wing conspiracy

that was been conspiring
against my husband

since the day
he announced for president.

I was actually watching it
when she said that.

And I knew that what
she was saying was true.

I was involved with
and knew very much firsthand,

that people who

I was working with,
in places like

the "American Spectator"
magazine,

back in 1993

shortly after
Clinton was elected,

were trying to figure out

how to get him thrown
out of office.

How to impeach him.

On the strength
of the backlash

against Bill Clinton
in his first two years,

for the first time
in decades,

the Republicans took over

a very low turn out,
November 1994 election,

they made Rush Limbaugh

an honorary member
of Congress.

So, the role that Limbaugh
and talk radio played,

in the ascendancy
of the right wing in Congress,

is crucial.

Most of us liked Clinton.

At one point,
almost 66% of us.

But some
of my more liberal friends

were mad at him

for some
pro-big business things

he did,
like signing NAFTA into law

and signing legislation

that repealed
the Glass–Steagall Act

in 1999.

The Glass–Steagall Act had been
enacted after the great depression.

Basically,
it separated and protected

your checkings and savings
from investment banks.

And that worked
for 60 years.

One of the biggest
steps forward

to handing
our whole media system

to a handful
of corporations,

was completely bipartisan.

It was the 1996
telecommunications reform act,

and I put "reform"
in quotes,

consumer rights' advocates
were calling it,

"the time Warner
enrichment act."

But president Bill Clinton
and the democrats

were getting huge
soft money donations

from the big media

and
telecommunications companies.

So was the republican
speaker of the house,

Newt Gingrich.

And together,
behind closed doors,

they developed
this telecommunications act,

which gave away the media
to these few big companies,

these... these
few fat companies

got even fatter.

Mainstream media
didn't scrutinize it,

because they were
getting rich,

at the top.

And when you have that kind of
bipartisan corruption,

corrupting our media system,

it explains why we ended up
with the media system we have.

Signing
the telecommunications act,

helped set the stage
for something even bigger,

something that would change
the media landscape forever.

Remember a young Roger Ailes
in the Nixon days

and that memo called,

"a plan for putting
the GOP on TV news"?

In 1996, 25 years later,

Fox News was launched

with the backing
of Rupert Murdoch.

Thanks in part
to the telecommunications act,

Rupert Murdoch's
news corp conglomerate

grew even larger.

And guess whom he hired
to help create Fox News?

Fox News grew to be

the dominating
cable news network,

and it's effect

on the other
major news stations

was profound.

Rupert Murdoch
is a media giant.

He owns news organizations
all over the world.

These include TV,
the Internet,

newspapers, and books.

That's a lot of influence
for one man.

In terms of you having
a global media enterprise,

I mean, have you shaked that
agenda at all?

Obviously,
if you're in media,

and you're concerned with
what's going on in the world,

you'd like
to make a difference,

by putting forward
your opinions.

Excuse me?

If you're in media, and you're concerned
with what's going on in the world,

you'd like
to make a difference,

by putting forward
your opinions.

Murdoch may have his empire,

but it's Roger Ailes
who has the talent.

Fox News is really
Roger Ailes' megaphone.

And when he comes
into work every day,

there's morning meeting
that takes place

in his office,
at 8:00 am,

and his control
over Fox News

is so absolute,
that when he says something,

it happens.

What happens in 1998?

Bill Clinton has an affair
with an intern.

Well, for an entire year,
they do wall-to-wall coverage.

What happens in 2000?

Another year when Fox News
exploded in the ratings.

The Bush-Gore recount.

How did Ailes
cover that story?

He covered it as,

not that
it's too close to call,

and we need to do
a recount,

he covered it as,

"al Gore and the democrats
are sore losers,

and they're trying to steal
the election."

Fast-forward to 2001
and 9/11,

how did he cover that story?

As a second Pearl Harbor,

not that this is a...
A terrorist attack,

that there are other ways
of dealing with terrorism,

law enforcement
targeted strike.

Fox News, more than
any other media outlet,

sold the war
as this grand struggle

and America was gonna

go in there
and... and, kick ass.

And George Bush was
this John Wayne figure.

I mean all of this...
This symbolism.

The patriotism,

the anchors
wearing the flag pins,

you know, Roger Ailes
knew that these stories,

these big stories
could be boiled down

to very simple plotlines.

He says things like,

"if we can convince
the audience

that we are fair
and balanced,

we can actually,

move the audience
to the right,

by introducing kind of
right wing themes

surreptitiously.

This is it.

Thank you.

Move in fast,
it's damn cold.

Fox News is the real...
Fairly important development.

What it does is bring out
explicit right wing views

right into the heart
of the media,

making no...
Hardly any pretense

and objectivity.

And it makes, sometimes,

statements suggesting
that it's being fair,

but it's...
It's blatantly biased,

and it has
republican politicians on.

They hardly mince
their words

that it... it has
a political agenda.

And it's also
very important

in that it's had an effect
on the rest of the media.

It was already pretty nice
to the right wing

but it has to go
even farther

being nice
to the right wing.

The most dangerous thing
about Fox News

is not the fact
that it exists,

and speaks
to it's audience

of a few million people.

It's the effect
that Fox can have

on the rest of the media.

Time and again,

you'll see a false
and wrong story

that is aired,

and starts moving through
the Fox News channel

on a given day,

and it, bleeding over,
or spilling over,

into mainstream intuitions
of journalism.

Media critics coined
this term, "Fox effect,"

to mean,
media is an ecosystem,

and all media
affects other media,

and so, the existence
of Fox News,

and having that wrong approach
to journalism out there,

has a toxic effect
on the rest of journalism.

These are areas, which even
the government officials

have said,
these are no-go zones,

you don't go in 'em
if you're not a Muslim.

There's no law enforcement

other than what's enforced by
the Muslim communities there.

The French government
created environment

in these certain neighborhoods
where

they don't allow local
law enforcement to come in,

these no-go zones
in, uh, in France.

And they become, then,
recruiting grounds,

they become
a sort of festering region

where Islamic extremism
can thrive.

All right, so,
now this extremism

could grow
in that environment.

So, they air the stories,

then they start
to bang the drums

that the mainstream media
is censoring

and won't report,

to try to pressure
and guilt the mainstream media

into following their lead.

When I was in Fox News,

I can remember
sitting in the greenroom

before a show was taped,

and a particularly
biased segment comes on,

and, uh, and then someone
in the greenroom,

where we're all waiting
these include

Fox News producers,
Fox News staff,

Fox News contributors.

Someone'll say,

"wow, that was really
fair and balanced,"

and the whole place
erupts in laughter.

There's actually
almost no journalism involved.

And I mean,
when the Tsunami hit,

Fox News literally
couldn't cover it.

They just, they didn't have
anyone with a camera with them.

For a week,
for days, and weeks,

they just didn't care.

So, it's a very cheap way
to run a quote.

News organizations,

you just sort of
sit around,

and talk about
how awful democrats are.

Most of Fox's audiences
is older.

However, we were
surprised to find out

that there were parents
and grandparents

who introduced
their children,

and grandchildren to it.

And we were more surprised
to find out

that some teenagers
were watching Fox.

I had my granddaughter
with me the other day,

she's 19.

She has taxes
taken out of her check.

And she just came up
with this comment,

"you know, gram,

"I don't really like my taxes
paying for lazy people

who do nothing,"

and...
I just was so shocked,

I calmly gathered myself,

and said,
"hey, do you know why

the library's closed
on Fridays now?"

It's because there's no taxes
to keep it open.

After reading an article
by a 24-year-old

ex-Fox devotee,
we decided to interview him.

The name
of his article was...

We had one computer

with a dial-up modem
that was really slow,

so it was just faster to get the
news off TV back in the day.

And so,
I turn on the TV,

and that's what started
making me political.

And, you know,
I turned the TV on,

and I put on CNN or MSNBC,
and my father would walk by,

and he'd go, "oh,
that's liberal propaganda,

you gotta watch this."

And he would change
the channel to Fox News,

and then "a" led to "b,"
and so on.

Years ago, I was dating

this nice,
lovable, sweet lady,

and we broke up.

That happens.
Not a big deal.

We stayed in contact,
good friends.

Very sweet, 'cause,
you know, she's likeable.

However, right around
the 2004 election,

she started
watching Fox News,

and that sweet, lovable,
likeable person was gone.

And was replaced...
Corrupted by Fox

into this intolerant,
willfully ignorant...

Compassionless individual.

I tried to steer
her away from Fox,

into listening to every...
Anything else but Fox,

but she got more and more
sucked into that fox hole,

and now, that sweet,
lovable person

I once knew is gone.

And I miss my friend.

I wish she'd come back.
I wish she'd stop watching...

I just basically believed

that Bill O'Reilly was
sort of like the champion

of the rights
for the common people, right?

Which is totally ridiculous.

But at the time,
I believed it. Right?

I remember,
he was arguing that

the ALCU was
a terrorist organization.

Yeah. Because they're trying
to take away all our rights,

which is totally...
I mean, patently false,

as big of a lie as
you could possibly propagate,

but he was saying it
as if it was true.

And I was there
in the gym,

or wherever I was,
listening to it,

and be like,
"oh my god.

This guy gets it."

You know,
this guy gets

that if they take away
our right

to say, "Merry Christmas,"

we're no better
than the terrorists!

And that's the kind of
insane bullshit

that Fox News
gets people to believe.

I never knew
there was war on Christmas

until my dad
started sending us,

the whole family,
e-mails about dreaded,

horrible, terrible,
evil liberals,

who wanted
to kill Christmas,

and...
Liberals who didn't even

want Christmas trees
in schools,

or red, or green
allowed anywhere,

and... whether it was
Christmas day or not.

In fact, it usually
wasn't Christmas day.

He would just say adamantly,
"merry Christmas!"

Wherever he went, to...

If... if he saw somebody
in front of a synagogue,

let's say, he would say,
"Merry Christmas."

'Cause those damn liberals,

they weren't gonna take away
Christmas from him,

there was no,
"Happy Holidays,"

for Frank Senko, my dad.

So, I learned
how the country

was pushed to the right,

and a whole new media

was created
to help that along.

My dad, and many others,
got swept up in that tide.

I didn't think
he was actually brainwashed.

Didn't you need
brainwashing camps?

Like, where someone
is locked away,

with constant words,
and images coming at them,

in their every waking hour?

But I wanted to explore
that notion.

I found neuroscientist,

Kathleen Taylor,
from London,

who is an expert
on brainwashing.

I interviewed her
via Skype.

There are kind of two ways

you can think
about brainwashing.

You can either think of it
as this very coercive,

forced,
psychological torture,

where people
are put into situations,

put through horrors,
and, you know,

actually browbeaten
into believing,

or pretending to believe,
something new.

So, that's brainwashing
by force, if you like.

Then there's brainwashing
by stealth,

which is where,

it's not so much
that they are forced

to believe stuff,

it's just that
all the information

that comes at them,
is pushing a line.

And so,
there is no alternative

in terms of information.

And if you control
the information

that goes
into the brain,

to a great degree,

you control
what that brain is gonna do

in terms of what the person's
gonna believe.

You're not forcing anybody
to believe it,

but you're making it difficult
for them

to think of anything else

because the horizons
are narrowed.

What's happening
is that,

there's a kind of
filtration process

whereby,
information comes in

and it's checked, to see how easily
it fits into what's already there.

That brought me back
to George Lakoff.

You can only understand

what the neurocircuits
of your brain

allow you to understand.

Any fact
that doesn't fit that

will be ignored,

or rejected as ridiculous
and so on.

They don't know their brains
have been changed.

They don't know
this mechanism.

It's just there.
They listen to it.

It slides in,
and you barely notice,

because
the information's familiar,

you don't have
to think about it.

If those beliefs are very
strongly and passionately held,

then you may find

that any belief
that threatens them,

is just rejected
out of hand.

You can't win, because it
doesn't make any difference

how many facts
you put out there.

It's all about
the emotion of...

Of anger, and hate,
and fear.

When I think about
brainwashing,

I tend to think about

kind of five important factors
that are involved

in creating
this kind of belief change.

So, those are...

...and then there’s also
the use of strong emotions.

It often seemed that my dad
was actually addicted

to these angry emotions.

He just couldn't wait
to shut himself off,

and listen to Rush Limbaugh
for three hours

and get all pissed off.

If you watch something
that makes you very angry,

you can start getting
addicted to that,

because you get angry...

You get angry,
that drives stress response.

Endorphin is released

as part
of the stress response.

And endorphin is the main
pleasure chemical in the brain.

The tricky thing is,
it's mostly unconscious.

People are sort of tricked, like in
the case of your... of your father.

Okay, so clearly,
the media has a very powerful

and profound effect
on all of us.

So, I wondered if there were
certain techniques

right wing media especially,

uses to create
that belief change,

that Kathleen Taylor
talks about,

which, quite often, results in people
voting against their own interests,

or even going against
the very core of who they are.

And I came across

several scientists
and doctors

who identified
some of these tactics.

We know he's got tons of
weapons in his own country,

and we're not gonna ever
locate them until he's gone.

At the time was we thought

he had weapons
of mass destruction.

It turns out, he didn't.

He followed the rules,

Bush did,

and we lost that,
we lost the weapons.

They never found weapons
of mass destruction.

They had 'em,
but they moved them.

They were moving everything
into Syria.

U-gov found that 63%
of Republicans still believe

that Iraq had weapons
of mass destruction

when the U.S.
invaded in 2003.

What news shows often do,

is they'll...
They'll cite a statistic

or they'll cite a finding,

but they won't really
tell you where it's from.

They won't tell you
much about the study,

they won't tell you

who's compiling
that statistic,

they just kind of cite it
out of thin air.

Who's put the statistic out?

Is this
scientifically proven?

Was it peer reviewed?
Who paid for it?

Fairleigh Dickinson
University's

public mind survey,

asked 1,185
nationwide respondents

what
their news sources were,

and then asked them
about the events,

in the U.S. and abroad.

Fox viewers
got less right

than people
who watched no news, at all.

They'll say something
that's just blatantly,

obviously false.

I'll say,
"find me any legit source,

that backs you up,

and fine,
I'll believe it."

They're like, "oh, well,

every single newspaper
in America

is run by liberal elites
with an agenda."

Well, okay,
if the only news source

that you can trust
is Fox News,

that sounds
really paranoid.

The noise machine
is really designed

to create confusion,

create misinformation,
create fear.

And so,
the republican noise machine

is one
of the republican party's

sort of works in concert
with Fox News,

with Rush Limbaugh,
with am talk radio,

and it's really designed
just to distract people,

to attack,
and smear people.

The absolute base of it
is the deliberate

dissemination
of misinformation.

In order
to confuse the viewers,

and news consumers
and get them all riled up.

I asked Eric to give me
some examples

of
Deliberate misinformation.

During the 2008 campaign,

there was sort of
this right wing crusade

about voter fraud
and voter registration.

There's very little
voter fraud, meaning

someone shows up
to the voting place

and pretends to be
somebody else to vote.

Some of the worst things,

remember the massive attempt

to create
the climate change denial

with huge programs.

The American chamber
of commerce,

the drilling industry,
they have announced publicly

that they're carrying out
propaganda.

They probably go
to educational programs

to explain to people

that humans don't have
anything to do with

climate change,
and so on.

But, you gotta make
profit tomorrow.

And if the species
goes down the tube,

that's
somebody else's problem.

And the arctic ice cap

at the north pole.

It's in it's so-called
normal range,

not only
is the ice not melting,

more polar bears
are alive and happy today

than we've had
in 100 years.

Life is good, miss,
uh, miss Kelly.

I gotta tell ya,
life is good.

The goal is to get people
so mad

at each other, that they...

Bob Haldeman,

Nixon's famous
chief of staff

went on
to "the today show,"

and said, "all politics
is the politics of division."

The team that manages
to divide the country

and end up
with the bigger side, wins.

On one side, president Obama
and the Democratic party,

want America to become
an entitlement state

versus a self-reliant one.

With... with
African-Americans,

is that
we're all on welfare.

The assumption is,
is that,

is that we can't get that

without taking
it from somebody else,

and that's simply not true.

Welfare is very,
very generous.

You're not motivated
to succeed,

because you are getting
free stuff

from the government.

You are surrounded by goodies
that are put onto you.

Well, as long as he's...

As long as the government
is supplying him

the... the money,

just that,
he needs to live on,

he's not interested
in getting a job.

So, he could,

he'll go on
year after year,

after year,

you know,
on the government dole

and not bother
getting a job.

"Branding," is about
creating an image

that will stick
in the mind.

Whether that image created
is accurate or not,

doesn't matter.

Democrats, liberals,
and progressives

are branded
as big government spenders,

dishonest,
America-hating elitists

who are all atheists,
who hate Christmas,

and are soft on crime,
and weak on defense.

They've branded
the media as liberal,

so much so,
that it's taken for granted

that it's true.

- One, catchphrase...
-mm-hmm.

...that I... I hear
over and over again,

-is "liberal media."
- Mm-hmm.

- Did you hear your dad...
-all the time.

I heard him use the term,
"liberal media" all the time.

He'd be like,
"oh, you can't listen

to liberal media."

As if there was no such thing
as the conservative media.

If you analyze news coverage,
as fair has done,

you find that
the news tilts

a little bit
to the right.

It's sort of centre-right.

Republicans usually
outnumber democrats.

It's just pure math.

And then people say, "well,
why do so many people believe

the liberal media myth?"

If you keep handing
opinion-shaping power

to right wingers,
who don't have evidence

to yell about,
"oh, liberals, the liberals,

the liberals,
the liberals who done..."

well, it's gonna
have some traction.

The liberal media.

Liberal media?

Liberal bias.

Liberal media folk.

- Liberal press.
- It is the liberal media.

And so,
he watches Fox News,

and he says to me,
"Fox News tells the stories

that the liberal media
does not want to air.

And I think,

"yeah. But Fox News
makes stuff up."

You know?

So, no wonder
you can hear things there

that you won't hear
in the so-called,

"liberal media."

Language is not neutral.

And in politics,
it's anything but neutral.

This became professionalized
in 1994.

When Newt Gingrich
hired Frank Luntz.

Frank is the genius
right wing wordsmith

who taught Republicans to,

instead of saying,
"estate tax,"

say "death tax."

So, you have managed
to shift popular

opinion on a lot of unpopular,
everyday concepts,

like inherited wealth,

by labeling it,
the "death tax."

I have fought over
the validity

of the "death tax"

since I started
working in this space.

And I went out
and tested it.

And my god,

it changed the dynamic

of how people
looked at policy.

Instead of saying,
"poor people,"

say, "the takers."

Did I say,
"don't tax rich people"?

I meant,
encourage the job creators.

What's the difference
between drilling for oil,

and energy exploration?

Nothing, except one sounds
like something assholes do,

and one sounds
like Indiana Jones.

Did I say, "don't let
black people vote"?

I meant, clamp down
on voter fraud.

Healthcare reform,
everyone likes that.

So I asked him,
which frightens you more,

government control
or government takeover?

Oh, clearly,
government takeover.

Oh, I think
it was 27 out of 30.

That's it.

Once the word
is decided on,

every single republican,

from
the presidential contenders,

on down
to the feces throwers

on hate radio.

All chant it
like "rain man"

over and over

until it's beaten
into our skulls.

"...and when they can't
think rationally,

they'll believe anything."

Fox News is built on
this formula,

of just getting people
really, really angry.

It's this phony,
outrage machine.

Particularly on Fox News,

I mean,
they really are actors.

Acting about
how outraged they are.

Give me
one damn program...

Is anybody else a little
pissed off by that?

Obama attacks America.

I'm more angry about it
than you are.

I told you
that you need to be afraid

because they are coming
for you.

Isis coming into America.

I would bet my life
on the fact.

They're already here.

And I have caught
these people before,

and I've seen qurans
prayer rugs, you name it.

They're already here.

"A self-styled
militia patrolling

the Mexican-U.S. border,

contacted Breitbart.com,
and relayed the discovery

of the 'rug' Monday night,

just south
of the Sierra Vista

in Coronado
National Forest."

You wanna know
what it turned out to be?

An Adidas Jersey.

Isis, I mean,
you know, they're here.

- They're here.
- You think they're here?

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I think they're
waiting for the whistle to blow.

They're gonna come out,
and take over.

I think they will.
I really think they do.

I'm scared for the country.

The effect of bullying
is simple.

It operates on two levels.

One, is it shuts the guest up
if they're making a point

that the bullier doesn't want
the audience to hear.

Is Hamas...
What part of this

-can't you get through your thick head?
- I think...

-is Hamas a terrorist organization?
- Excuse me?

- An orbital eye socket fracture...
-well, that... okay.

And eyewitnesses say that
Michael brown charged at him.

- You weren't there.
- Oh, I'm sorry, I...

I believe you cut
my mic off.

And two, the fake outrage

makes the bullier
look justified,

as they try to shame

their frustrated guest
into silence.

...understand, you've got an agenda here.
We just think...

- We don't have an agenda.
- ...that the American people ought to know...

I understand you don't like it,

and sometimes your candidate has complained about it.
- Okay, go ahead.

...but Fox News
reports it straight,

fair and balanced,
as always.

Bill Burton.
Thanks so much for being here.

And he listens
to Rush Limbaugh.

They have on Fox News
in almost every room.

Fox News, 24-7.

I guess
we're just watching

talking heads
all day on Fox News.

All the homes
in their neighborhood,

are tuned into Fox News,
all the time.

Fox News is on 24-7.

Rush Limbaugh
is on five days a week.

There's Michael Savage,
Alex Jones,

"The Mark Levin Show",

the "New York Post",

"The Wall Street Journal" op-ed,

the "Drudge Report",
"The Weekly Standard",

"Newsmax",
"Breitbart",

"American spectator",

"Tea Party Express,"
and then there's

the avalanche
of conservative e-mails.

Fox News can be found
in hospitals,

bus stations,
gyms, airports,

even bars
and restaurants.

The primary TV outlet
for the right is Fox,

and their audience is loyal.

How loyal?

Consistent liberals
have an array of news sources

according to pew research.

Whereas, 47%
of consistent conservatives

tightly cluster
around Fox News.

As far
as talk radio goes,

roughly 97%
of talk radio stations

are conservative,

while only 3%
are progressive.

Carol Wallin told me
that Rush Limbaugh

is being played
on military bases.

I wanted to know
how that happened.

In 1993,

representative
Robert Dornan,

gathered up 70

of his closest
representative friends.

He thought it was
really important

that Rush Limbaugh
be played

on the armed forces network.

That this was absolutely
a necessity.

But Robert Dornan himself,
is famous for the fact

that he grabbed
another representative's tie,

on the floor
of the house,

and threatened him
with bodily harm.

It's not just language,

it's also visuals.

In his book,

"state of confusion,"
doctor Bryant Welch says...

"...and a seemingly
constant state

of news crises
created by 'Fox News alerts.'"

then, there are
the more graphic images,

that strongly suggest a point
they want to make.

That image
looks like it's saying

that Hamas and Hollywood
are one in the same.

Ouch.

Sometimes,
a camera movement

is used to distract.

On Fox,
the colors are vivid,

and the graphics
are overwhelming.

It is more stimulating
than most other news shows.

It creates a mood
that mesmerizes it's audience

and holds them captive.

Then,
while they're captive,

and overwhelmed,
and maybe a bit confused,

they have someone
like Bill O'Reilly,

or Sean Hannity,

with their confidence
and passion and certitude,

telling them
who they should blame

for their confusion
and uncertainty.

Each one of these gestures
that I have,

helps communicate
an idea or a principle,

a thought,
a fact, an emotion.

If you start
with one hand first,

and then you get the two,

you count off
with your finger,

one, two, three.

The audience
that you're speaking to

is actually
counting with you.

My dad started changing

when, you know,
this guy called Glenn Beck

came on the air.

And now he... he expects
there's supposed to be

some sort of civil war
next year.

- He buys a lot of ammo, a lot of guns...
- Why?

What does he expect
Obama to do?

I don't know,
take over the world.

He believes Obama
and his administration

is buying up all the ammo.

And so, that's why
they had me buy the ammo,

before the government
gets it all.

Black lives matter.

The savage mind,

will respond to,
uh, to authority,

if they are convinced

that that authority
is serious.

This is important
for all of us.

And we are tired,

we want to come out
of the shadows.

You have other people
at the border

who are here illegally,

who are crossing
over the border,

and they're very much
out of the shadows.

A long time
ago, the feminazis

began their quest to make
women more like men.

Acquire power like us,

have careers like us,
all that...

Believe scientists? No!

All flights from west Africa

should immediately
be discontinued

these guns
don't fire themselves.

Don't we have to deal with mental health...

...parenting.

Well, how did you
start turning away

from Rush Limbaugh?

In the late 90's,

just playing around
with the radio dial,

I found a, uh,

I was driving
to work one week,

I had to work on a Saturday,
had to be there about noon.

And, playing around
with the radio dial,

I found a very,
very, funny show.

They sound like
this is a lot of fun

to listen to.

It was "wait, wait,
don't tell me," on NPR.

Never really listened
to it before.

And I discovered

they had great shows
on the weekends.

And then,
through the week,

I stopped listening
to Hannity at 3:00,

to switch over
to "all things considered."

I... I'm not gonna
sit here and say NPR

has a left slant
or... or a liberal bias,

but I think
their journalism is solid

and I started basically
comparing the quality

of what... of how
the information is presented

and what I was being told,
as opposed to,

well, I guess
I could start seeing

the right wing talk radio

as what it is,
sheer propaganda.

We went about trying
to deprogram these people.

I mean there's one thing

that you didn't have
to worry about at dittohead

is knowing about the study
at Tufts University

saying a woman's bra size,

you know,
the bigger her bra size,

the lower her I.Q.

You know, they'd heard
all these stories,

so, it was in some sense,
easy to open them up

when you say, "well,
you wanna know something?"

There was no study
at Tufts University.

You know that story
about Chelsea Clinton,

Hilary and Bill Clinton's
daughter,

being forced
to write an essay

"why I feel guilty
being white"?

There was no such essay.

There was no such
CBS News report

saying there was an essay.

So, this begins to,

you know
the deprogramming begins

when they realize

that so much of what
they believed, was not true.

What the book does,

is it basically goes after
Rush Limbaugh.

Looking at the things
that he has stated as facts

on his radio show.

And basically,
debunking them.

And, many of the pages
have the format, where,

it says, "Limbaugh:"
And then a quote,

and then, "reality:"
And then, our research.

Where it was
a highly technical

or scientific issue,

we'd go to experts
and get them

and we'd quote them,
debunking Limbaugh

and, it had a...
It had a tremendous effect.

The name of our group
is Flush Rush.

We listen to radio stations
all over the country,

to monitor advertisers
of Rush Limbaugh,

and there's usually
hundreds of us,

from all over the country.

Over 3,000 advertisers.

Are no longer aired
on Rush Limbaugh's station.

What we call for,
is we what reform,

and restructuring.

So, where it can be done,

we would like to see
more progressive shows,

more balance,
more working people.

The voices
of working people

in our commercial
and our public broadcasting.

I mean, it's just amazing
that public broadcasting

has almost no voices

of disenfranchised people
in it.

That's one of the beauties
of wikileaks.

Wikileaks is really
a form of journalism

that's desperately needed
in the existing system.

Because the mainstream media
won't collect and report data

such as wiki-leaks
will collect.

You have to have
masses of people

organizing and... and...
Putting pressure on

really, what it amounts to
is a revolution.

I mean, you know,
some kind of,

political, economic,
social revolution

because you have
a powerfully embedded system

to change it significantly,

changing the media
significantly.

You have to have
people organized,

and... and force a change.

There was
so much misinformation

that you had
to Wade through.

That, we felt like,
it was really important

to... to finally
take that on directly,

so much of the work that we do
around different issues,

is around putting out fires,
responding to this attack,

or this bad Bill
motivated by

far-right ideologues.

This is a problem
that a whole lot of people

are dealing with
in different states,

in different cities,
in different communities.

So, you know, we're working
at the grassroots,

we're working
one-on-one with people,

around their specific issues
and situations

to help them
deal with that,

because, you know,

these kind of changes
have to happen

person by person,
family by family,

interaction by interaction.

What they say about
deprogramming,

specifically, I think,
you know, with cult folks

who get involved in cults...

The bubble of conspiracy,
or misinformation,

with one fact, right,

that that helps
the entire artifice,

ultimately crumble.

If you're wondering
what happened with my dad,

here's the story.

My parents moved
to a senior community,

and apparently
during the move,

my dad's
kitchen radio broke.

He never got around
to fixing it,

so it sat in the garage,
with the other broken radios.

My parents started
eating lunch together again.

But he still watched Fox,

and still got
the right wing e-mails

and snail mail.

When the TV
in the kitchen broke,

they got a new one,

and mom programmed
the remotes.

He didn't want
to bother to figure out

how how my mother
programmed them,

so he just watched
whatever my mother watched.

One time,
when he went in the hospital

for a kidney stone,

she asked me
to weed out his e-mails

to save some computer space.

When I told her
they just keep coming,

she decided
to unsubscribe him

from some of the more
extreme political e-mails.

But then she got the idea

of subscribing him to liberal
and Democratic ones,

but much to her surprise,
when he got back,

he started reading them.

What does he read now?

- "Truth out, RSN News."
- Oh.

- You know, all that stuff.
- Yeah.

I've been... I've been
listening

to Rush Limbaugh
for... quite a few years,

and of course, after I...
For some reason or another,

I don't know what happened,

I just somehow
got away from it,

and, then...

But before that, I was...

I was...
I had it on all the time,

the political chatter,
you know.

But, then I stopped.

He doesn't listen
to Rush Limbaugh anymore

and he doesn't listen
to Fox News.

Do you think
your political views

-have changed?
- Halfway between republican

and... and democrat.

Oh.

I'm not all democrat,
I'm not all republican.

Do you believe
in the minimum wage?

Minimum wage, yes.

Do you believe
in personal freedoms?

Well, some people believe
that gay people

don't have the right
to get married,

and other people say,
"I couldn't care less,

let them get married
if they want to."

Well... I want to guess
if they want to do that,

then go ahead
and do it, yeah.

Yeah, that's the way I figure.

I spoke to uncle Frank
the other day.

It's hard to explain,
but just a...

A kindness in his voice.

Thank you.

Thank you.

- Oh, happy birthday.
- Is that Gene?

- Yes.
- I haven't seen you in so long.

- I know. How you been?
- I didn't recognize you.

The other day,
he surprised me.

President Obama was on,
and he said to me,

"you know,
I... I kinda like him."

And then later,
he said again,

at a different time,
"I like Obama."

I thought, "glory, be."

- He's a pretty good guy, Obama.
- Yeah, he's, you know...

He... he's doing
all right.

He's forgetting
all that other stuff

that he learned,

and I guess, whatever...

Mom would shut down
his computer at night,

and she started
subscribing him

to "truthout,"
and "alternet,"

and "Reader Supported News".

Oh, and he would just
read whatever ended up

in his inbox?
- He just read everything.

He's an avid reader,
he sits at that computer,

and he reads whatever's
in front of him.

Well, that...
That's very interesting,

and... and see?
His thinking changed.

His policies
have totally changed.

- He voted for Obama.
- What?

He voted for Obama?

In these past couple years,

there's finally been
peace in our house.

My dad is more content
than I've ever seen him.

He's not angry,
he's not argumentative,

and he's really fun
the way he used to be.

And, we get along
really well,

and I dote on him.

In fact, I get along with him
better than I ever have.

And it's sort of
a bittersweet pill,

because I know
these are his last years,

but I'm happy
that he's happy.

He's my pal,
and I'm his.

So, that is the story
of Jen and her father.

Her father had changed into a person
none of them recognized or even liked.

A persistent wife,

who continued to challenge
her husband.

It eventually
made a difference.

It's a mixture
or Polish and Ukrainian.

I mix them a lot.

You used to be
very fanatical.

- Yes.
- Yeah.

I listened to him
for a long time, huh?

Yeah.

But you're not as...

You're not as fanatical
as that anymore.

So, that's what
the movie is about.

Is about how you used to be
very fanatical,

and now
you're much better.

I... I think
I'd like to see that.

- Yeah, you'll... you'll see it, dad.
- Yeah?

♪ well, they learned
about Santa a long time ago ♪

♪ little bunnies at Easter
and pink unicorns ♪

♪ tiny tooth fairies
have lost their appeal ♪

♪ but they still think
Fox News is real ♪

♪ my parents think
Fox News is real ♪

♪ I tried to explain

♪ but they just
won't sit still ♪

♪ all that jumping
and shouting ♪

♪ has put them off-keel

♪ and my parents
think Fox News is real ♪

♪ well, now,
Bill's not your buddy ♪

♪ and the five
aren't your friends ♪

♪ they're in it for money

♪ they're just
talking heads ♪

♪ once was a time
when I was amused ♪

♪ but now someone needs
to give them the news ♪

♪ my parents think
Fox News is real ♪

♪ I tried to explain

♪ but they just
won't sit still ♪

♪ all that jumping
and shouting ♪

♪ has put them off-keel

♪ and my parents
think Fox News is real ♪

♪ well, now,
if I could change things ♪

♪ you know that I would

♪ but banging your head
on a rock can't be good ♪

♪ maybe just singing
this song is a start ♪

♪ so, for now, I'll just say,
"Bless their heart." ♪