Captain Obvious: Faux Outrage is Actually a Delight for GOP

Think back over the last two years to the big, controversial stories in the news. Excepting "Balloon Boy" (which is only related by also being a hoax), almost all of them have been ginned up by the usual right-wing sources, be it the right-wing blogs, talk radio, FOX "News" or a combination of those.  There may be a nugget of truth at the center of the story, but more likely not.  Even if there is, there are so many layers of supposition, exaggeration and invention, it's like an outrage lasagna.  These stories burst out of the blogosphere, out of the right-wing media, and are birthed into mainstream America, as big mutant hideous beasts.

Soon, even people you thought were rational will be seriously advocating excising rights from the Constitution.  It starts heated arguments, so it must be real outrage, not faux outrage, right?  Wrong.  It's called faux outrage because the outrage is based on a stack of half-truths and lies.  Or sometimes just a profound misunderstanding about the facts.  Such is the case with this so-called "Ground Zero mosque."  As I've already posted, it isn't a mosque, it isn't at Ground Zero, it has every right to be there, and there is already an actual mosque in the neighborhood that predates 9/11 and the World Trade Center.  There is also a mosque in the Pentagon.  But oooh, people are angry!  They're just sure them un-'Merrkan Mulsins are up to no good, spitting in our faces. . .forget the fact that many of the people who'd go to this community center are Americans, and that many Americans are Muslim. 

Trying to knock down these built-up brouhahas is almost impossible. People believe what they want to believe, and convincing people they are wrong is a bitch.  But here is something I can declare that I think most people agree with.  The people whose interests are served by most of these stories--the Republican Party at election time--are not outraged. They're delighted that the latest flames have been fanned into a brush fire.  And each time one of these all-consuming, nationwide poutrages is made out of what should be a local issue of minor contention, they're thrilled.