Palm Trees in Madison

On the O'Rielly Factor Bill O'Rielly was discussing the Wisconsin protests and how they are violent.  In the background a video showing union members shoving some guy was playing, giving the viewer the impression that this was Madison.  As you watch the video you can clearly see palm trees.  Their are legitimate arguments that it was an honest mistake and not a big, I haven't seen the video in the full context of the episode, so I don't know if it appears to be a mistake or intentional.  Since that video was released protesters have brought inflatable palm trees to the rallies.

The protesters at Madison share a common contempt for Fox News.  It is common to see people bearing signs reading "Fox News Lies" or "Fox News will Lie about This."  Many view Fox News as a propaganda organ for the Republican party.  It was assumed that Fox would distort the protest to fit their agenda and narrative and in general do what they could to dismiss us and make us look bad.

Fox News did not disappoint.  They characterized the protesters as thugs and violent; favored the counter-rally for Walker; blamed the budget short-fall on unions; and had soft-balled Governor Walker in interviews. They also failed to disclose critical information about interviewees; for example:  A concerned mother talking about how bad union are, was also an elected member of the GOP; and a person talking about how unions hurt small businesses, happened to be the CEO of multinational corporation.  I could probably go on hour hours on the way that Fox had mislead or lied about what is going on in Madison.  Here's a long list.

Pundits, such as Glenn Beck, have called us thugs and implied that we are the verge of violence.  Not sure how they maintain that world view when the protests also have children, elderly, and disabled present and in 18 days, there may have only been 1 arrest which wasn't associated with violence (the one arrest was recent and I haven't heard if it was connected to the protest or not).  Recently Fox News jumped over a video of Republican State Senator Glen Grothman being followed outside of the followed outside of the capitol as protesters shout "Shame" and "Fuck You."  This became an example of our violence, even though no violence occurred and the Senator said he could have safely move through the crowd and said he wasn't afraid.  As to why the protesters heckled him is a long  story, lets just say he enjoys insulting the protesters by calling us "slobs."  However, I knew once that occurred that the conservatives and Fox News would jump at "proof" at how violent we were, even if they had to stretch the truth to an extreme degree.

Whenever Fox News anchors get near the protesters, they will begin chanting "Fox News lies" or hold up signs stating the same idea.  Some instances they have attempted to drown out the anchors.  One anchor claimed that he was assaulted, but provided no evidence to support that accusation.  A marshal noted that he saw a few people yelling at the Fox truck as they walked by, not the Fox News personal standing nearby, but the truck.  

The reason why people have vented such much anger and frustration at Fox News is the fact that they have distorted what is occurring in Madison and made us appear to be something which were are not.  However, does it really matter what Fox News says.  Only a small percentage of the TV audience watches cable news, and most of the people who watch Fox probably wouldn't support us anyways.  Fox is just reinforcing their world view.  However, it is fun to make fun of Fox, so I can't blame the protesters for doing it.