Casually held truisms can sometimes suddenly and unexpectedly erupt into daily life with the power of a thunderbolt. In the abstract, I know perfectly well that many Americans live in political-cultural bubbles that rarely communicate with each other. Yet I wasn't prepared for a recent encounter with how that can turn a simple human interaction into an irrational furore.
I've been recovering from an injury in rural Virginia and ended up sharing a room with a man in his mid-80s, born and raised in this area. The results were eye-opening and deeply disturbing.
At first, he couldn't have been more pleasant, warm and welcoming. On our first day together, he asked if I didn't mind a little TV later on. I said fine, and then came the evening doses of Fox News.
He regularly watches three programmes, culminating in the notorious Tucker Carlson broadcast. In their entirety and natural environment, these shows were quite new to me. They all have a simple formula: find something, for the next segment or two, about which to thunder in faux indignation, before moving on to the next abomination.
I was astounded that at least three quarters of the horrors they fulminated against were exaggerations to the point of being effectively fictional or simply outright fabrications. I generally kept quiet during these evening reveries, but once observed that the subject of the last segment was entirely made up. I got no reply, so I asked him if he knew that no such thing existed. I was duly ignored.
The only other time I said anything was when Mr Carlson concluded a profoundly racist rant, and I noted it was one of the most offensive things I had viewed in a long while. He snorted and we moved on.
It was obvious that this virulent propaganda was carefully designed to produce mounting and sustained outrage in regular, enthusiastic viewers. My roommate consumed three to four hours of it daily and nothing else whatsoever, yet something wasn't adding up. He seemed to remain perfectly calm and amiable. So, I began to wonder if I had badly misjudged both the intended and the real effect of Fox programming on its core audience. Where was the rage?
I didn't have to wait for long. Shortly thereafter, he came into our room as I was having a conversation about US politics with a third individual. He interrupted, disputing what I was saying with increasing anger. He then stood up, declared that I was "against the country, against America," denounced US President Joe Biden as "a communist," and marched out.
It was the last I saw him because he immediately arranged to lodge elsewhere and had others retrieve his possessions. It was clear that I was being effectively declared anathema and that remaining in my presence for a moment longer was intolerable entirely because we didn't agree about former US President Donald Trump's term in office and bid for reelection (questions such as the attempted coup and the January 6 insurrection, hush money to adult film stars and his hero's demands to "terminate" the US Constitution to allow himself to remain in office never came up – though he would undoubtedly have dismissed it all as "fake news.")
His extraordinary reaction to my quite mild though clear disagreement with him suggests several important things.
While I didn't react with the fury and revulsion he expressed, I live in my own, essentially liberal, bubble where I don't encounter people like him. Most of the Republicans I know don't like Mr Trump, and even those who do remain at least partly tethered to the fact-based reality.
Some Americans now simply cannot abide those who categorically disagree with them about domestic politics. Separation is the watchword, as representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia suggested a "national divorce" between red and blue America.
Some left-wing Americans must be just as intolerant, but he fits the Trump-supporting demographic perfectly: male, elderly, strongly Christian, lacking higher education and firmly rooted in a rural community. He’s a perfect target for Fox’s calculated, disingenuous propaganda. They are trying to make him and people like him angry and are succeeding brilliantly – to the point that he cannot stand to even share a room briefly with someone who politely and occasionally challenges his political dogma.
It is unclear how many Americans share these views but it's probably at least 20 per cent of core Republican voters. It is clear, however, there is no mass market liberal propaganda on American television seeking to promote hatred and rage like I saw Fox successfully doing in a small corner of rural Virginia. MSNBC, and arguably even CNN, have liberal biases. But they aren't deliberately seeking to demonise, and provoke anger and hatred against, other Americans the way Fox does.
The worst part is how cynical we now know this is – although my former roommate will likely never hear of it and wouldn't believe it if he did. The internal messages uncovered by the Dominion lawsuit against Fox clearly demonstrate that Mr Carlson and the other hosts, along with owner Rupert Murdoch and other senior executives, privately do not believe, and even mock, Mr Trump's election lies and those being spread by his representatives, while continuing to broadcast heavy support for those very fabrications.
Mr Carlson added "I hate him passionately," but you'd never guess that by the fawning "interview" in which he recently allowed Mr Trump to spout all manner of falsehoods and gibberish, including suggesting he alone appreciates the destructive power of nuclear bombs, unchallenged.
It's a mixed bag for US journalism that Dominion has settled the lawsuit for $787.5 million. It may save investors in the voting machine company, but probably isn't massive enough to rattle a purse as heavy as Mr Murdoch’s. Fox has admitted that "certain claims" it made about Dominion were "false," but will not have to broadcast apologies to its audience, or any admission of culpability, on its programming, particularly its powerful evening shows.
Lies indeed have consequences, but not commensurate ones. Therefore, Fox will be able to buy its way out of a potential crisis of credibility with its core audience, whether they think that they lied about Mr Trump winning the election in 2000 or that they are lying now about the fact that he really lost. But most of its audience will probably never learn of the blatant manner in which they were deliberately deceived.
Dominion's victory will therefore do little to counteract the painstakingly concocted poison that Fox pours into the eyes and ears of its credulous proselytes. The channel is deliberately tearing American society apart in an unseemly scramble for the almighty dollar. Unfortunately Dominion couldn’t provide it, but while protecting the First Amendment and free speech, the means must be found to attenuate their venom and counteract the impact of this carefully curated outrage and fury against other Americans.
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
England-South Africa Test series
1st Test England win by 211 runs at Lord's, London
2nd Test South Africa win by 340 runs at Trent Bridge, Nottingham
3rd Test July 27-31 at The Oval, London
4th Test August 4-8 at Old Trafford, Manchester
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
THE BIO
Family: I have three siblings, one older brother (age 25) and two younger sisters, 20 and 13
Favourite book: Asking for my favourite book has to be one of the hardest questions. However a current favourite would be Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier
Favourite place to travel to: Any walkable city. I also love nature and wildlife
What do you love eating or cooking: I’m constantly in the kitchen. Ever since I changed the way I eat I enjoy choosing and creating what goes into my body. However, nothing can top home cooked food from my parents.
Favorite place to go in the UAE: A quiet beach.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS
Bournemouth 1 Manchester City 2
Watford 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 0
Newcastle United 3 West Ham United 0
Huddersfield Town 0 Southampton 0
Crystal Palace 0 Swansea City 2
Manchester United 2 Leicester City 0
West Bromwich Albion 1 Stoke City 1
Chelsea 2 Everton 0
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Burnley 1
Liverpool 4 Arsenal 0
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQureos%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELaunch%20year%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E33%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESoftware%20and%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%243%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
The specs
Price, base: Dh228,000 / Dh232,000 (est)
Engine: 5.7-litre Hemi V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 552Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.5L / 100km
