What I learned about Fox News from "Outfoxed"

[ottokbre]

nice graveleye. props to the rand comment also.

[andrew embassy]

Ayn Rand sucks ASS! Just kidding.

Seriously, though, graveleye, I appreciate that you don't like those guys; I have a hard time seeing how anyone with a bit of kindness can like O'Reilly or Rush, they're so obviously assholes of the Nth power. I know Moore sounds whiney (he is, but he's also a pretty damn talented filmmaker) and the other liberals are also without much action, but still, I'd rather someone who played to my sympathies and empathy than someone who played to my sense of self-entitlement and self-righteousness.

[DUC]

Bush is great... to poop on. I mean, to shit on. But I think the worst idiot is Sead Hannity. He's the biggest cocksucker of the bunch. A'hem.

I really don't give a damn about all media, the elite left and the bullshit right, but if I was to have a chance to kick someone in the face, it would be Sean.

[graveleye]

actually Sean is a friend of mine. We argue all the time, libertarian to conservative. He really isnt a bad guy though - he just has an abrasive personality, and loves to argue. I love to screw with him about his stance of legalizing drugs among other things. I tell him he must be on drugs to not see where legalizing weed would not cause the world to turn into mind-numbed zombies walking the streets... but I am a libertarian, not a republican. Certain shared values with both liberals and conservatives. I honestly think most of us come down closely with the libertarian tenents, but just dont know it. In truth though, Sean would give anyone the shirt off his back.. he's a good guy - if you know him- of course.

Someone above posted something that I find interesting though. I totally understand empathetic and sympathetic needs and desires, and the attractiveness of a caring and feeling leader.
But I just have to caution anyone who's life is based around trying to obtain the feel-good universe. You have to balance feel-good with common sense and reality. Go to far into the feel-good, and you head off into naivity, therefore making yourself vunerable. Emotions are a blinding aspect of human nature. I am not saying we need to be more like Spock, but it needs to be balanced between emotion and the facts of life.
Also, I think that sympathy and empathy are easier to fake than the cold hard facts. You have to be careful of the pied piper who is coming to make everything fair, and make everyone happy. Chances are he or she is a pretty good liar, or may want ot shake you down.
I really feel like the Hollywood stars who take up causes really care... but you have to wonder why. Its a marginalized form of publicity. I am inheritly suspect of that as well.
sigh. I jsut wish they would all shut up and let us alone to live our lives and prosper if we wish.
In fact, i think I am going to shut up now

[trashy]

As a liberal, I actually like Fox News. I know it's biased, but at least I know where they are coming from. They get ratings by being biased. The other news agencies get ratings by running stories they think people want to watch/hear/read, and by trumping up non-stories (like that part in "Bowling for Columbine" - what you don't know about escalators may kill you.) So, shit, it's either watch news about Martha Stewart or see some people who are actually reporting about Iraq - albeit with a specific objective. To me, that news is more real than the latest update on the Peterson trial.

[TrumpsHair]

I have been more energized by this presidential campaign than I ever have in the past, and I come out of the 60's. But I'll tell you this, what with the Sandy Berger episode, and all the shit and hatred that's hitting the fan, it has successfully worn me out. I am hereby 'turned off'.

Let the fools fight among themselves. I shall get comfortably numb and simply record my music.

[Electricide]

Hey GravelEye, does Hannity ever go over to http://mediamatters.org ?

I too wish pundits would get back to talking about the real differences in issues, instead of dismissing everything the other side does as wrong or immoral or treasonous. This nation can't possibly function without compromise and cooperation.

[trashy]

Hey GravelEye, does Hannity ever go over to http://mediamatters.org ?

I too wish pundits would get back to talking about the real differences in issues, instead of dismissing everything the other side does as wrong or immoral or treasonous. This nation can't possibly function without compromise and cooperation.

EXACTLY!!! The left is just as guilty of this as the right, though. Speaking just in terms of American politics, it's crazy how many people feel that those of the opposite political spectrum are the enemy. Didn't one of the editors of the New Republic resign after a meeting among his fellow editors revealed that most of them thought that Rumsfeld was more of an enemy to the U.S. than Bin Laden? Liberal as he was, he just couldn't take the crap anymore. I listen to Savage Nation almost every day, and there's no doubt in my mind that that guy actually thinks every single liberal in the U.S. is a spy and a traitor.

I wish I could teach the entire country. It would be one class, a semester long, on John Locke. Our country was founded on his philosophies, and both major parties - and almost all of the bigger "third" parties - still hold to his beliefs. We just disagree on the way to implement his view of government. So on 99% of things liberals, conservatives, greens and libertarians agree, but we concentrate on that 1% as if that's the only thing that matters.

But that's just me, your average pro-2nd amendment, pro-choice, pro-gay rights Christian Liberal Democrat.

I'm Phil Anker and I approved this message.

[graveleye]

Well put Trashy. I need to buy you a beer or something.

One thing I think you are saying, is that there is a middle ground that is 100% unrepresented. You know why? Because it is boring. Truthfully.

If say, I were a talk show host it would be the most boring talk show in the world. I have my points, but basically I have a lot of liberal ideals, and a lot of conservative ideals.
example:
I love the environment. I love nature and the environment, and believe in preserving it with all your might. But, I dont have a problem with hunting and logging and even mining either... so long as it is in moderation of course. actually thats not a good example, because I pretty much think most people would agree we must take care of the earth... blah - I am rambling now.

BORING... see my talk show would suck because I am a man who grazes on both sides of the pasture.

talk radio, and talking head shows on FOX, CNN MSNBC etc are meant to insight and inflame to get people to watch and hold thier attention long enough to absorb some commercials.
And watch they do, both sides, fueling the fires of anger and bitterness and it all goes for lining the pockets of the media owners.

I believe to the depths of my good natured heart, that the media, both sides of the aisle are ruining the soul of this great land. Its not doing any good for sure.

[Electricide]

Phil. is savage nation on where you work? Or do you willfully listen to him?

[Mr PC]

I'm a righty who paints apartments for work, so I listen to Rush and Hannity, and find them to be entertaining and sometimes insightful. One shouldn't expect neutrality from commentators. Limbaugh and Hannity are up front acknowledging their conservative points of view. They aren't on the air to give straight news.

I think Michael Savage is a nut-case.

My favorite mag is National Review (see their recent cover story on why pot should be legalized, btw).

I don't feel any sense of entitlement or self righteousness (a specialty of many liberals, if you ask me). I just follow the issues of the day (News Hour being the best source, I think), and call them as I see them.

I just wish news sources would be honest about their biases. Fox uses "Fair and Balanced", but I don't think they would shrink from being described as to the right of major network and print news, which are decidedly to the left in this one guy's opinion.

It is a good thing that Fox and talk radio are there to balance out the major media outlets, who all seem to say the same things.

[ottokbre]

I think Michael Savage is a nut-case.

thank god you said that. at least Limbaugh can be funny even if he doesnt mean to be.

I also read the National Review, online of course. Along with far more extreme right sources in the bloggsphere. One thing I always appreciated about the right is their amazing indoctrination process. They can make a catch phrase stick in no time, and it does give them an amazing unification.
The Dem's on the other hand, still have yet to learn the tricks. So many of them are bought off by the same corporations. To think that they are all that differant is a joke. But maybe things are changing, the Clintons really are the Dem's Regean era. The touchstone of embelished history to reminise about. Ug.....

my favorite bloggs right now are:
www.empirenotes.org
www.underthesamesun.org

right now, those are unbeatable.

[the velour fog]

One shouldn't expect neutrality from commentators.

I do. I think that usually makes the more insightful and 'balanced' programs where you have an objective moderator, and then bring on one rep. for each side. you know, like debate. you still get people inflamed from the debate the two people are having, but you also have the moderator to keep it on track, and hopefully keep the two sides civil. i'm sorry, but hannity inviting someone who isn't very knowledgeable in the first place and then berrating him into silence is not good commentary.

[Mr PC]

. i'm sorry, but hannity inviting someone who isn't very knowledgeable in the first place and then berrating him into silence is not good commentary.

I do understand that. You want a better debate. I was just saying that commentators aren't billed as objective, so the viewer doesn't expect straight news. News Hour rules, they always have opposing sides on issues and the discussion is thoughtful and civilized, and the moderators are pretty damn neutral. Every once in a while, I think the show might be a bit liberal. That is either my own bias kicking in, or it is so slight that it doesn't matter.

I don't have cable, so I don't see the cable commentary shows. I have heard from reliable sources that the news show with Britt Hume is pretty straight, but I haven't seen it.

Keep on rockin in the free world-

Mr. PC

[the velour fog]

I do understand that. You want a better debate. I was just saying that commentators aren't billed as objective, so the viewer doesn't expect straight news.

Well, the commentators on Fox News are billed as being objective...err 'fair and balanced' i mean. and you'd be surprised how many people take what comes out of those guys' mouths as fact, not opinion. at least I was surprised.