Fox News: A Myth in the Unmaking

I hear ya, ruthru

Reminds me of a Radiohead song:

"Karma Police, arrest this man
He talks in math
He buzzes like a fridge
He's like a detuned radio...

This is what you get. This what you get.
This is what you get WHEN YOU MESS WITH US"

Giovanna; 143 years later, Americans still haven't learned a thing. Maybe Alfred E. Neuman was right.

Some say only 2% of white southerners had the money to own slaves but they convinced the ignorant 98% to do the dirty work for them. I like your style, Giovanna.

RichM, drift,

Could either of you make out any of that psycho-babble? Flamers and trolls have been clearly defined, but we need a new term for incoherency of that intensity. From this time forward, let it be known that flamers incoherently spewing gibberish will be known as temps.

Freedumb,
Unless you're a solipsist, it shouldn't hurt to know that there are others out there seeing what you're seeing. It's one of the first stages of changing things.

The truth IS out there...

I admit it...I want to argue with all of you, it hurts to have to agree with people who seem so sure of what they say when most are repeating what they have "heard" whether from FOX or NPR, or anywhere else.

Ezflyer:
Brilliant response! Would that he had said that!
But he didn´t...

Giovanna:
It´s not tha tI disagree with you at all. I believ however the "elite capitalist" argument sacrifices complexity for simplicity. There are certainly no longer a simple, two class economic argument to be made. You may wish to check out any of Michael Alberts excellent work in that regard. (there are workers, and there are owners...there are also a "coordinator" class which include the media, and the well educated lawyers, doctors, etc.)

But for this discussion ,I tried to inject another way of seeing it, that there is a political class which responds to pressure, simply because they want your votes. LBJ understood that in the 1940´s and he was a Texan in an area where racism was quite "popular." They simply want your votes. Through out the Dems and you watch how quickly they beg you to come back. That´s my suggestion. ALong with real organizing, in real life, not virtual life.

Kivals:
Thanks. Ben Franklin said, "Either we hang together or we hang separately." Cultural differences are plain silly simply because we all fit into one of those three classes above. The coordinator class knows who butters their bread so they generally favor the owning classes interests. But politicians are in that group and if you force them to pay attention to your real, united class interests, they can have a profound effect on your life.

The reason Edwards is taking so much heat amongst the top three is because, while I have no reason to believe he really believes anything he says, the fact that he says it scares the owning classes, in whose pocket are safely seated Clinton and Obama. If Edwards wins Iowa, people just might go his way and that is a threat simply because he articulates some of the things progressives desire. Personally, I am a Green and don´t vote for Dems, but if you vote for him in the right numbers, you own him and can push him in the direction you desire. I live in Europe so I can´t march or caucus but were I in Iowa I might help his campaign just to scare the shit out of the Dems. The real deal is (in my opinion) defeating Pelosi with Sheehan. That´s a BIG message and people would know we mean business.

Kucinich could have replied "Who instructed you to marginalize me?" or some such, instead of falling into the UFO trap. Not even Dubya falls for that crap.

Uninformed and easily manipulated Americans have been voting for people and supporting agendas that run counter to their own best interests for years. The fact that Americans continue to do this today is no surprise. Who benefits from the economic wars we wage today in countries where our business interests run? Elite capitalists, of course. Who owns the media conglomerates? Elite capitalists, of course.

Look back at the Civil War for instance, a war fought to maintain free labor for greedy capitalists in the South. A small group of elite, wealthy plantation owners (capitalists) were able to convince (manipulate) thousands of poor, unemployed white males to fight and die in a war in support of a brutal, inhuman, unconscionable, and abhorrent institution, slavery, that if successful, ultimately would have kept these same men poor and unemployed! Rattling the nativist, xenophobic, and racist prejudices of these uneducated whites to hate people who were 'guilty' only of having a different skin color was all it took. Judging by US history circa 1970- present, history is certainly repeating itself. FOX news is simply a propaganda/PR service of the corporatacracy. MSNBC and CNN and the so-called mainstream network news and numerous newpapers are no better. MSNBC and NBC, for instance, are owned by General Electric, the largest supplier of nuclear weapons in the world. You do the math.

Recommended reading:

*Profit over People by Noam Chomsky

*Confessions of an Economic Hitman by Joseph Perkins

Have always called Foc News, Fox News for Dummies.

nodozejoze,

Wonderful comment. My own evolution has led me to a similar place. The culture wars have been killing the US left for decades and too few see it. I even sense that the corporate oligarchy recognized that some time ago and has been doing its best to throw fuel on the culture wars' fire.

STAR,
Sorry, didn't realize I had anyone by the throat. I was just asking questions. And I really was interested in how temp would answer them. I just don't think I got anything except some vague populist sentiment that doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

And I love to see a classical economist come on a thread here and defend their "dismal (psuedo-) science." I'm just itching to debate things like externalities, disaster capitalism, and true-cost economics. I really do believe there have been few figures in the 20th century who are as culpable for environmental degradation, needless wars for resources, and the massive transfer of wealth upwards as Milton Freidman.

And to return to the subject at hand here, the Chicago School's fanatical devotion to the so-called free market, and deregulation is what led to the sorry state in the current media ownership environment that has given us figures like Ruport Murdoch.

The airwaves are a public trust, not a private asset. As such, they require regulation in the public interest. This is one reason we have governments in the first place.

Care to respond, temp?

Starofthesea: I tried this once before on another thread, but don't think you saw the message: Sensing an affinity, I'd like to chew over a few things, offsite, maybe contact deepart2000 (at) hotmail and share a few words? And thanks for your 'Momma impersonation', I do (generally) appreciate where you are coming from! I too love unity, -seeing it as an essential component in our struggle to *progress*.

________________________________________

As to the remarks about 'sewer blobs', well, I have to admit I kinda enjoyed 'em! (c:
I certainly emphasise, because I saw those words as a natural expression of *righteous rage* at having our (potentially) useful, healthy, and truthful mass media, being wrecked by awful degenerates such as Murdoch & Co.
I'm not 'as mad as hell' at Murdoch, ~ but more 'as mad as Heaven' with him! ;)

I don't think I have any 'enemies' on this planet, - but if I were to choose just one, I think it would have to be Murdoch. He seems to have spent his entire life twisting and usurping *truth* for his own selfish and deranged reasons.
Being a belligerent advocate of ruinous warfare, he has apparently been supportive of every ghastly event and every nasty politician extant on this long-suffering planet, -so he and I seem to be at complete polar opposites in terms of ideology, outlook and opinions as to what is either 'good' or 'bad' in this world.

I don't 'hate' Murderoch, (I actually hate no one at all) but I am deeply repulsed by everything he says and does via his 'diseased organs' of TV and print broadcasting, so I'm much looking forward to the day when he finally 'falls off his perch'! - and live in hope that his sons, - (to whom he's bequeathed his noxious empire) will somehow be less impervious to *Light*, and might try to honor *Truth and humanity* more than their contemptible father ever has.

If this could happen, (I pray, ~ I so much PRAY!!) then a major stumbling block, -ever thwarting beneficial change on this planet, would then be removed.

Ooh. Bring THAT on please!

Alexnosal and Shanti,
Thanks to you both.
An alternative media is certainly one solution and here we are talking to one another on such a medium. Is it enough? No. But it´s one start.

However, I do not believe "Hollywood" is much of an answer at all. From 1989-1994 I worked at Warner Bros. Feature Story Dept. and saw the process firsthand. (I was a clerk and then a union president) As a whole, Hollywood is not "progressive" in anything but the most elitist and socially inoffensive ways.

The suggestions I made, in the long run, are far more sturdy than hopeful dependence upon a potential list of rich benefactors who come in and "save us." (Or politicians of the flavor-of-the-week variety) Emiliano Zapata (one of my heroes) once said, in effect, "A weak people need strong leaders, a strong people need no leaders."

Real solidarity takes place amongst people, face-to-face and usually begins (and is sustained through)in the workplace, in our places of worship, and in the shared-community activities we engage in. This takes time and usually requires alot of give and takes and far less zero sum thinking.

How many people in this list are in a union? How many have tried to organize in their workplace if they are not? How many sit with people who ostensible don´t agree with your politics but are on decent terms wherein you can at least discuss your views civilly? People who watch FOX, for example?

One of the great lessons of the 60´s is how the "new Left" squandered a huge opprtunity (which was cynically manipulated by Nixon, et al.)to unite with working class average folk by (over)emphasizing cultural differences (drugs, sex, identity politics) over shared class interests. I saw my father, for ex., a Navy veteran of WW2, a real left-leaning sympathiser for working class solidarity (and virulently anti Vietnam War) disheartened by that very phenomenon because he was considered too "square."

Now I see the makings of a very similar phenomenon of raking over the coals those NASCAR watchers, evangelicals, economically hard-pressed industrial workers, etc. in favor of whales, amnesty for political prisoners (often in other countries) and lifestyle liberation. I am not critical of those things at all, but we are squandering the very real possibility of class unity to make some significant changes in the system by not bringing those folks in. It´s happened before, and it can happen again.

@jpbreeze November 19th, 2007 2:28 pm: "Murdoch and the rest of his Australian "Christians" are trying to take over our country."

Murdoch and the Australian "Christians" may well be trying to take over our country, but Rupert is a Jew, not a Christian.

Re:nodozejoze "Working class USAmericans love FOX" Absolutely! Yu are correct in stating that USAmericans are FOX friendly and the reasons are symptomatic of the effectiveness corporate America sways over an ignorant public. Chomsky or Kucinich are NOT household names amongst working class Americans, yet Bill O'Reilly and Rupert Murdoch are. To raise the consciousness of an entire nation that has been brainwashed for generations is not an easy task. To copy FOX and make a show that uses the same manipulated techniques to promote the 'left' viewpoint, would be self defeating by definition.
Hollywood is one answer. If the major film moguls simply produced scripts that enlightened the general public to the types of mental fleecing they receive from networks such as FOX, perhaps then Americans might actually begin questioning what they watch. The biggest hurdle here though is that the corporate media is far more skilled at delivering propaganda than Hitler of the Soviet Union ever were. Very few real news outlets can compete with such deep pockets.

I am starting to feel like we need a referee here on this thread. DRIFT----this is you mother talking and I want you to "simma daan na!" Okay, I'm not your mother, but let TEMP out of the headlock, okay?

SHEESH you fellows sure do love to tussle! (smile)

I just keep thinking, " We aint gonna get there from here."

SHANTI it's just fine if you like KO---no need to apologize. He can be alittle bit stuck on himself, I hear, but hey, at least he's expressing a tiny portion of our outrage. Now if he'll just tackle a few of the stories no one else will touch, we can ALL become his acolytes.

temp,

You were the Chair of a department at a major university?... And you write sentences like these?:

What they need is some doctoral candidate in Renaissance Literature to straighten their Wall-Mart, NASCAR, and Sunday-go to meeting selves out. I fear that your "elite" are over, but poorly educated snobs and that your "We the People" deletes the Jeffersonian nobility of the common man, "a form of cynical populism that appeals to the lowest common denominator.

What does this mean? We've got some serious issues here with run-on sentences, basic grammar, and cogent thinking. But hell, what do I know? I've only got a measly BA.

Anyway, RichM, I enjoyed your post, and your colorful imagery. You needn't apologize. Most of us were picking up what you were putting down.

Sadly, canuckchuck, a partial answer to your question "Who the hell is this weasel Glenn Beck" from Wikipedia:

Glenn Beck (born February 10, 1964) is a conservative talk-radio and television host.

His radio show, The Glenn Beck Program, is syndicated by 267 radio stations and on XM Satellite Radio channel 165 talk radio, which airs from 9 am to 12 pm (ET). The Glenn Beck Program is the 3rd highest-ranked national radio talk show among adults of ages 25 to 54, according to Premiere Research/Arbitron.[1] He is fifth for overall listeners with 4 million a week.[2]

Beck also hosts an hour-long television show, Glenn Beck on CNN Headline News, launched on May 8, 2006. Glenn Beck airs nightly at 7 pm Eastern time, repeating at 9 pm and 12 am.

On January 9, 2007, Beck became a contributor to ABC's Good Morning America.[3]

Sad, isn't it?

starofthesea

Well, I recently retired as the Chair of the Economics Department of a significant State University that will remain unknown least it be trashed by posting on CD. That said, I miss the "conflict" of inter academic meetings and intellectual turf wars. And then, again, I coached football during graduate school.

RichM---I applaud your restraint and attempt to clarify. Alas, aren't we all guilty at times of an ill-chosen word or phrase? Would that we were all circumspect and careful to offend no one, but I fear we would not be human, and hells bells! This site would be awfully boring.

TEMP---we really do welcome your presence here at Common Dreams. We can be a abit prickly at times, but it's because, perhaps, like you, we often feel under-represented in the larger forum---like say the mainstream media, and we get resentful.

I am a plumber's daughter and was for 21 years, a dairy farmer. I have never thought of my place in society being anything resembling elite.

Perhaps you might consider spending a week reading some articles on this site (of your choosing, of course). Not sure where you get your views, but you may find some surprises here. People who post here are human like you, and can get testy, but I know most everyone realizes that we are all in this mess together so we need to reach out. Hope you'll consider a friendly handshake from this poster.
giving this a chance.

Aww, I seem to have gotten some CD'ers upset. I can easily apologize to starofthesea, whose search for common ground I appreciate & respect.

But I'm not quite sure what I said that Mr temp found so objectionable. If it was my pointing out that Russert is a whore, while Mr temp thought he was a "true Newsman," there's not much I can say -- because Russert is unquestionably a whore. It's not just a matter of opinion.

So I guess it must have been the NASCAR crack. But there, I merely said that "If you like NASCAR and sewer blob fascists, you pick Fox." The key word is the "and." I didn't say that everyone who likes NASCAR is a fascist; and I didn't say that everyone who watches Fox is a fascist. I merely said that "if you like fascists (AND also NASCAR)," you might well pick Fox as your favorite source of fake news.

More importantly, I said that ALL American mainstream media is fake news; that only the flavor & style varies, but never the underlying doctrine.

I fail to see anything objectionable about that!

drift
By golly, both Limbaugh and RichM decry the MSM as stooges of the "other side." Perhaps Limbaugh is RichM's evil twin. "Over the last 40 years the average middle class and working class American has been duped into supporting" stuff against their own best interest., huh? You and P.T Barnum got it correct, "No one ever lost money under estimating the intelligence of the American people." What they need is some doctoral candidate in Renaissance Literature to straighten their Wall-Mart, NASCAR, and Sunday-go to meeting selves out. I fear that your "elite" are over, but poorly educated snobs and that your "We the People" deletes the Jeffersonian nobility of the common man, "a form of cynical populism that appeals to the lowest common denominator.

NODOZEJOZE: from my perspective, you are right on target. We can preach to the choir all we want want but what is needed is to reach the people that are being brainwashed by Foxy news. Progressives can never gain anything by opprobriating these people. TEMP: what makes you think Russert is exculpatory? I never said I was an acolyte of Olbermann, only that he was an antidote to the miasma of foxy news.

Thankfully, my cable provider deemed FOX News something I had to pay extra for...so I don't have it.

I guess they don't want that fluff hitting the airwaves in Ontario.

Temp:You say that Russert is a better newsperson than Keith Olbermann. If that's true why has Russert in all of the interviews he has done with both Democrat's and republican's NEVER NOT EVEN ONE TIME has Russert ask a question about Global Warming?.Russert is a closet republican don't be fooled by him. Look at the Network he works for.

temp,

Who exactly is this intellectual elect? Aren't these just right-wing code words for everyone to the left of the American Enterprise Institute?

In most other endeavors of the human experience, being "elite" is usually a good thing. Like an elite athlete, doctor, or even, NASCAR driver. Why should being an elite intellectual be a bad thing in the arena of world affairs and politics? Isn't this really just a form of cynical populism that appeals to the lowest commom denominator? And isn't that how over the last 40 years the average middle class and working class American has been duped into supporting economic interests that have left them impoverished and disempowered? Lot's of folks, lead by the noses by the likes of Blitzer, Russert, et al voted for W on the basis that he was the one they'd like to have a beer with.

Perhaps Rich M's word choice is a bit colorful. But you haven't addressed the very obvious points he's making about the compliance of the the MSM in this country in our steady slide toward fascism.

RichM---Gosh dear, looks like you pushed someone's button. Please, please, please, no slugfest. There's enough blood being shed all over the world.

We all know here that you're smart, and I must say witty. I'm just not as into debating as you are---silly me, too often looking for some sort of common ground.

This taunt is really beneath you, though, OKAY????

PHUCK FAUX! I've tried to watch this channel, but even the cristal clear sound on my new flatscreen can't be turned up loud enough to hear noosecasters who are trying to speak with their heads firmly embedded in their rectums.

No time needs to be wasted discussing whether Fox is a cesspool. What's interesting in this article is the nauseating quality of Pelosi's "wan" response to Tomasky's question about Fox. And what's more important still is that the entire American media -- even excluding Fox -- is not much better than Fox.

Wolf Blitzer, for example, is in many ways even more repulsive & does more harm to the public interest, than even the blobs of sewer filth over at Fox. The Thomas Friedmans, the NYT, the WaPo -- all these voices, supposedly much more "respectable" than Fox, did just as much to help steal the 2000 election; to launch the Iraq War; to support the occupation; etc etc, as Fox did. Basically, the US media is a highly specialized marketing device, carrying more or less the same message to all sections of the market. If you like NASCAR and sewer blob fascists, you pick Fox. If you have intellectual pretensions, you might subscribe to the NY Times. The message is pretty much the same; only the style differs.

Someone above called Tim Russert "a true Newsman." As karlof1 notes, that's a real howler. This would be the same Russert who recently asked Kucinich the debate question about UFO's, to marginalize him as a "moonbat." Russert can play a newsman on TV, but he knows exactly where the lines are drawn, & which side his bread is buttered on. He never challenges basic America-uber-alles doctrine -- never. You can't be a big time "news personality" in this society, if you do that -- and they all know it.

Karlof1
And who, pray tell, would you put forth as and outstanding Newsperson? Aren't you the guy who overdoses on Kati Couric every night?

Mirf,
I never suggested these questions were novel. But you miss something completely:

The "Left" in the US has never understood why working USAmericans regularly get their information from outlets that have no respect for them, shop at places that are union busting, worker unfriendly (WalMart), and vote against their own interests (Reps…and Dems)So ask yourself, why this is?

This is not because corporations own everything, it is because the power elites in govt and their paymasters in business (corporations) have successfully created a facade of "democracy" by allowing a "free press." Then the "free press" limits options, frames debates and people, thinking they are ostensibly "free" vote for the only choices offered.

Thus it is simpler to collectively organize with people, average people (thus my suggestions) and to stop voting either Dem or Rep. That alone would cause a titanic shift in the system.

Thus to your other point, about the Dems: I never suggested they were a "Left" (they are not) but there remain many who still call themselves that in the Dems. (Hayden, Kucinich, etc.)They stay there because the system is rigged that they would otherwise get no voice. And Dems (or Reps) don´t want PR or any other better system. But there is another "voice" that has been used--of the people. And each time it is mobilized, it is incredibly effective. What has happened now, is that people think they can mobilize within the Dems. And they think that every 4 years. I´ve seen it since 1968.

You can´t get the system you want by (always) voting for people who don´t want that system.

Get out of the system, take a few Dems down now (Pelosi, feinsteinn are good starts) and get to know your neighbors face to face, away from this screen. That´s a start...

RichM
What hubris! And those clever ad homonyms, what a wit you are. I'll bet you are all the rage at the gatherings of the intellectual elect. Do they hang on every word of your repartee? I guess when that Red Neck NASCAR, sewer blob fascist says, "Who made you god," you reach for your credentials. Have no fear; many people make a good living trading on pseudo-intellectualism and sophistry.

"Russert ... is a true Newsman." That's the biggest howler I've seen today.

no doze,

everyone already knows the answers to these questions that you introduce as novel. it's so simple it's painful.

corporations own the media. corporations own republicans. corporations own democrats.

The entire political establishment has sold out to corporate interests to stay in office.

Now, when you say "the left needs to do this or that" -- that excludes the Democratic Party, which is currently merely a faction of the one right-leaning Corporatist Party.

But, the real left already knows all the answers to these questions you are presenting as if novel.

If you accept that the whole thing is geared to advance the corporate agenda, the operation of the machine makes perfect sense.

Shanti
Olbermann? Olbermann is a pedantic shill for the Democratic Left, at his best an ESPN sports jock. But, at least he and MSNBC make no pretences about objectivity. The problem with O'Rilley and Fox News is their claim to be fair and balanced. Frankly, I find Olbermann to be sophomoric and officious compared to Russert who is a true Newsman.

Fox is only the most easily unmasked/most blatant of the various corporate media outlets, and it's unfortunate that CommonDreams doesn't do more to unmask their false stories, although that might be more work than the site can afford.

Here are two very recent examples of writers doing their best to expose the propaganda networks used to manufacture consent. The first is Farideh Farhi, whose Informed Commet: Global Affairs blog entry about the recent IAEA Iran report's deliberate misinterpretation and outright lies made by various US media was picked up by Zmag and should be read by as many folks as possible, http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=67&ItemID=14321 The second, also published by Zmag, details media lies and misrepresentation of Venezuela's constitutional reforms and its very democratic process, http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=14325 that have signaled the onset of a coup on previous occasions; this should also be read and forwarded to as many folks as possible.

On and on, week after week, we are subjected to similar distortions, lies and distractions. FAIR's reports were once standard fare here at CD; what happened? The increasing frequency of lies and deceits tells me that the elites are losing control primarilly because of their many lies and deceits.

Perhaps like everything else that is extreme and blighted by distortion, FOX, the most egregious of the MSM, will eventually lose its allure. I do not own a TV but got my first exposure to FOX in March of 2003 in the final days of lead-up to the war. I was with my daughter in Orlando on vacation. I know, bad choice. FOX was the only news channel we could find at the motel. We were appalled by the slanted coverage, not knowing anything about FOX at that time, and turned it off reflexively in disgust.

Rotten things eventually break down, friends. It can't come soon enough for many of us, but perhaps it is best at this point to try to laugh at the folly of FAUX news. Last I heard their ratings were dropping----would be great if it meant people were turning off their TV's, or tuning instead to Keith Olbermann at least. In any case, only a very small group of "true believers" will swallow this lethal cocktail of propaganda indefinitely. Why else have they showcased such ranting fools as they do? In the end it will be just too boring and predictable to hold on to many of its viewers. Think short attention span!

Murdoch and the rest of his Australian "Christians" are trying to take over our country. If you thought evangelicals are a problem, then you haven't noticed the Aussie invasion over the past 20 or so years. Mel Gibson does his best, making movies about war, the excessive blood-letting of Jesus, an Aussie christian goup based in California translates the Bible into every language imaginable, so that they can put it into a recording and travel the world preaching their ideology. And then we Murdoch, or as I call him, the Anti-Christ! Nuf said!!!

Hillary Clinton is a corporate, tennis shoe Democrat. She will bend over and grab her ankles and take Long Dong Murdoch's schwanz up her ass so long as it enables her to look through a glass greenly. She is as thoroughly rotten as Bush and Cheney and that, purely and simply, is why she took Murdoch's money. This is what the Democratic party and the majority of its supporters have come to. You might as well vote for the Republican candidate. For at least a generation this nation has been sprinting toward the edge of the cliff, on fire to commit national suicide. If the death wish is true for individual human beings, it is certainly true for nations as well.

lwhunt330 said "Then Republican servants (headed by John Bolton)crashed the election office..."

Don't forget, if you review the video of that episode, you will see our own current Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts shouting and creating chaos at the door of the election workers counting chads.

Justice?

Why did Hillary Clinton take money from Rupert Murdoch? Why?

Michael Tomasky writes this article as if this is something new; as if there finally might be some proof that FOX is a Republican propaganda network; as if proof is somehow needed after all of these years. Spare us. He neglects to mention that it was Roger Ailes who declared Bush the winner in Florida in 2000 after the election was called in Gore's favor. Then Republican servants (headed by John Bolton)crashed the election office (headed by the Republican brunette plastic surgery officionado) and shut down any further counting or recounting. All of this was simultaneous with FOX declaring Bush the winner and pressuring the other news newworks to follow their lead. Wow, maybe we'll finally get some "proof".

My question is: Who the hell is this weasel Glenn Beck, and exactly what qualififcation does he have to be commenting on ANYTHING? I can get more intelligent comment on current events from the homeless wino our behind my building.

Recently, while waiting for my car to be serviced at the car dealership, I visited the TV area and sure enough Faux news was on. No one was in there, in fact there were only two customers in the whole place (can't be a good sign for the economy, but a good sign for the environment.) The cable provider includes the Houston public cable stations, one of which airs Amy Goodman's Democracy Now show. I happily found the channel and was able to watch Michael Moore explain the problems with our healthcare system at my car dealership.

I left Democracy Now on the TV for the next customer. That gave me a really good feeling.

Chuck...Working class USAmericans love FOX "news". They love all FOX shows and anyone denying it needs to merely walk across town (or for those who spend too much time on lists like this, leave the computer screen). The mass entertainment provided USAmericans is perfected by FOX, sleazy, one hit, exaggerated, apoplectiice, etc. It drives me crazy and it might you, but FOX is very, very popular...

So now we must think. Why is this so? Emotions are certainly a part of it. FOX makes little pretense to appeal to thoughful viewers but to those who want sensationalistic coverage of an event in as quick and hysterical a manner as they can get. In other words, people who are tired from work and need their quick fix. Most USAmericans, in fact.

The "Left" in the US has never understood why working USAmericans regularly get their information from outlets that have no respect for them, shop at places that are union busting, worker unfriendly (WalMart), and vote against their own interests (Reps...and Dems)So ask yourself, why this is?

Why is it that USAmericans just don´t get it? The rest of the world does, by the way. Out here (I live in Europe) we see how the States receive worse information (CNN needs to be included here) most distorted view of the rest of the world and are incredibly aggressive. Now ask again, why is this?

When the Left begins to tackle that question, it will begin to win again. But there are a few things that can get people started: learn Spansih, join a union, join a church (temple, synagogue, whatever) go bowling, watch NASCAR. Do those things and you´ll be around most USAmericans and you´ll be in a position to listen to their concerns and speak with them--not to them--and when they join you, you´ll win. Otherwise, while I absolutely agree with the criticisms against FOX, its merely a symptom of a larger problem, one best addressed by honest dialog and not elitist condescension.

WE DISTORT, YOU DECIDE. At least Olbermann is doing his part to be an anathema.

Here is the deciphered code:

"Fair and Balanced" actually means:

Fair: to be fair haired, of fair complexion...in other words...WHITE

Balanced: as in to have a good bank balance in other words RICH

therefore Fair and Balanced = White and Rich

Fox is a GOP whorehouse, filled with whores who will willingly bend over and happily accept payment. Fox is successful because it panders to people's lowest common denominators. It wants to entertain rather than challenge. If it challenges viewers it will lose them which means less advertising revenue. Fox's audience in America are the ignorant far right conservatives who want to blindly worship at the feet of their elected leaders. "Good Germans" in the making.
Hoa binh