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Fox News Hosts Found Something New to Be Angry at Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama Over

Tucker Carlson sitting at his Fox news desk showing a picture of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama above a chyron reading "Left struggles to say the word 'Christians'"

As Donald Trump’s post-Mueller Report release approval rating continues to drop, the basically state-run propaganda machine that is Fox News looks to be working overtime to find distractions for their audience. Their latest: Faux outrage for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama over use of the term “Easter worshippers.”

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Both used the term when offering support and condolences for those affected by the recent terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, as did other leaders like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Julián Castro. The wave of bombings hit Christian churches and luxury hotels in the majority-Buddhist country, leaving more than 300 people dead and hundreds more wounded.

A number of Fox News hosts (including Tucker Carlson up there) and other conservative pundits were not too pleased with the former leaders’ use of “Easter worshippers” to describe the victims who were, in fact, worshipping, on Easter, when the attacks took place.

No one is saying that these horrific attacks weren’t motivated by religious animosity. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings, and religious violence is reportedly rare in Sri Lanka—and typically limited to Muslim-Buddhist tension—though according to The Guardian, there has been a “significant increase in attacks against Christians” in the country recently. But not only is the use of “Easter worshippers” accurate (again, the bombings happened during Easter service), it’s inclusive of the non-Christian friends, family, and other visitors who were affected.

Both Clinton and Obama are practicing Christians, by the way, because no matter what they constantly claim, the right does not have a monopoly on faith.

Saying “Easter worshippers” isn’t an insult to or a diminishment of Christians hit by these attacks. These conservative figures are, however, constantly minimizing the effect of terrorism on Muslim communities. The vast majority of terrorist violence is inflicted on Muslim communities, yet Fox News and Republican leaders often refuse to even categorize that violence as terrorism.

The disparity in their coverage of these attacks is rooted in hypocrisy, as is their criticism of Democratic leaders’ heartfelt messages of support. How hypocritical, exactly? Check out this headline published on Fox News’ website. (It’s a republished AP article, but they chose to leave the headline unchanged.)

Fox News headline reading "Tourists, Easter worshippers lament closure of Notre Dame."

image: Foxnews.com

At least they got the approval of the only person they actually care about impressing.

(via Washington Post, HuffPost, image: screencap)

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Author
Vivian Kane
Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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