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You’re Being Lied To
Fox News has torn our nation apart; mending fences won’t come easily
What’s the line from “The Godfather, Part II” about keeping one’s friends close but one’s enemies closer? I know that newly minted mob boss Michael Corleone says it to Frank “Frankie Five Angels” Pentangeli. Essentially, those who follow this creed know to keep their eyes open, so trouble won’t come banging on their door. Michael learned this advice from his Pops, Don Vito Corleone. Frank was one of Don Corleone’s most trusted capos. I guess Michael just wanted to remind his friend that he knew Frank was an enemy masquerading as a friend.
This quote, originally credited to Chinese general Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War, has been interpreted in a zillion ways throughout the centuries. Francis Ford Coppola’s take is one of the most recent, and most popular in pop culture interpretations. But I thought of it — and my friends and colleagues who trend toward Cheeto Jesus — in the wake of the U.S. Capitol Insurrection last week.
One example. We’ve been friends for more than 40 years. But about 20 years after the time our friendship was forged, she and her husband became Fox News addicts. You know — that noisy, bright, fake, cynical take on broadcast “journalism”, established in 1996 by Australian Rupert Murdoch as, I suppose, a way to capture…