Fox News tried to tear my family apart: How they failed to incite my father

[DonViejo]

Murdoch’s news channel invited my dad on to slam me for being liberal. Instead he proved my anti-Fox points for me

EDWIN LYNGAR

A pundit on Fox News was so upset about my recent Salon piece, “I lost my dad to Fox News: How a generation was captured by thrashing hysteria,” that she invited my dad on the network to blast me. The ham-handed attempt failed, and gave me new respect for my father. Next to the lunatic Fox News host, Andrea Tantaros, my dad looked like a textbook case of decency — even when he was dismissing evolution.

After my post on Salon about my dad’s destructive Fox News habit, my Twitter feed and email exploded with people sharing their sad stories of lost loved ones. The sentiments were near universal: That is my father, mother, spouse or other loved one. It seems I could start another political party of Fox News orphans, and we’d be bigger than the current Republican Party.

For every five nice comments, there was at least one furious note of some kind or another. Some had a point. I was insensitive comparing the loss of a parent to Fox News to that of a cancer patient, and I’d reconsider that choice of metaphor if I could. I would also say that I was too focused on the older population. It’s true the median age for Fox viewers is 68, but I should not have dismissed those people who are middle aged or younger caught up in the impotent fury of Fox News. Sadly, hysteria crosses generations.

There were other comments that only served to prove my point about manufactured outrage. Many Fox defenders dismissed me as a liberal, a socialist or a communist — those magic words that hold sacred power to so many. Some people got silly; one person called me a graphic female body part.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/12/fox_news_tried_to_tear_my_family_apart_how_they_failed_to_incite_my_father/

[LWolf]

1. “Fox didn’t warp me,” he said.

“I created Fox News so I’d have something to watch.”

What a nugget of pure genius. Dad has always been conservative, although as I said, not to the extent that he is now. He and like-minded conservatives created a “news” source that would tell them what they wanted to hear, without calling into question their preconceived notions. Confirmation bias is a much different thing than news.

This <snip> is indeed a nugget of pure genious, and not just for FOX "news" and conservatives. You can see that same confirmation bias at work here at DU any day of the week.

[scmoore120]

4. I agree.

[zipplewrath]

11. Some are paid to

Some are paid to provide confirmation bias, and Skinner doesn't care.

[Flying Squirrel]

16. Yeah, I get so sick of those made-for-fb graphics

That I finally started putting people on ignore who constantly post them.

[Lint Head]

2. I'm in that same circumstance with my sister and her husband. It's so sad for me.

I want my sister back but she is so lost in the propaganda even deep sea sonar couldn't find them.

[Rozlee]

7. I'm in the same boat with my sister.

It's maddening because we're Hispanic and she's very pro-immigration rights and other Latino concerns. But, it's like she has an 'off' switch and can tune them out when they go off on subjects she disagrees with. She used to be liberal except for being anti-choice. Then, she started associating with more extreme elements she'd meet at abortion rallies and we lost her. She's highly educated with a degree as a nurse practitioner and once believed in science. Now, she refutes the validity of the Big Bang and evolution. FOX News does brainwash its viewers.

[Scuba]

3. "Certainty is the most dangerous emotion a human being can feel in politics and religion."

Certainty is the most dangerous emotion a human being can feel in politics and religion. Certainty stops all outside thought or reason. It closes the door and is a metaphorical spit in the face of anyone who disagrees. Changing one’s mind is the essence of critical thinking. As Thomas Jefferson himself said, “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.”

As was said so often of our only Chinese President, Dim Son, "he wasn't always right, but he was never in doubt."

[thesquanderer]

10. Dim Son sounds a bit like George W Bush. (n/t)

[Tsiyu]

5. Someone I care about seems to be catching on

in his Fox-induced haze:

"You know, it dawned on me last night, it's like they're trying to set us all against each other," he said, "so we'll fight each other instead of fighting the ones really in control of everything."

I just nodded my head. I wanted to shout "BINGO!"

[The Wizard]

13. For the infoxicated

it's like step one on the road to rejoining normal society.

[LittleGirl]

6. Oh the stories

I could tell about my freaking crazy assed siblings...

[zipplewrath]

12. Old girl friend

Old girl friend/prom date of mine from way back. We parted fairly friendly. I see her on facebook occasionally.
She reposts all that T-bagger crap. I'm dying to say something but figure it would be pointless.

[LittleGirl]

14. my old neighborhood is full

of Obama Haters too! I have unfriended most of the racist ones and the ones that 'don't care what they post crap' from my feed. And from my life in particular. If I wanted to see or read that crap, I'd go looking for it. Otherwise, I don't want to see it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Wow, median age 68? Means only half of Fox viewers are under 68. nt

[Beartracks]

9. "Confirmation bias is a much different thing than news." Yep. n/t

[arcane1]

15. "It’s a criminal waste of retirement."

Well-put.

[kelliekat44]

17. Nice read. I now will post this on my sig page

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.” TJ