General Discussion

Pluvious

(4,323 posts) Sun Nov 12, 2017, 02:01 PM Nov 2017

"What I Learned From Three Weeks Watching Fox News Nonstop"

Not myself - I'd still be catatonic - but by Justin Peters, the intrepid fool that made the self sacrifice, taking his brave foray into that putrid sewer, just for our enlightenment...

For the past three weeks, against my better judgment, I have been watching Fox News non-stop. I have come away from the experience with a persistent headache, an irrational fondness for The Five, and a keen sense of the many ways in which we all are screwed.

The network flatters its viewers’ sense of moral superiority while validating all of their latent resentments, cultivating in them a constant state of righteous rage that can be easily exploited by wealthy demagogues.

The network persuades through repetition. Some people think that Fox News poisons the minds of viewers, like a drug slipped into an unwitting victim’s food. It’s more accurate to say that the network wears them down.

“The problem with the argument that Democrats are making,” said Republican strategist Evan Siegfried in a devastatingly perceptive segment on Outnumbered Overtime last month, “is that the argument takes longer than a bumper-sticker slogan to make.”

http://www.slate.com/blogs/watching_fox/2017/11/03/the_lessons_of_watching_fox_news_for_three_weeks_non_stop.html

11 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

"What I Learned From Three Weeks Watching Fox News Nonstop" (Original Post) Pluvious Nov 2017 OP

Brave soul! Big Blue Marble Nov 2017 #1

Tobin Smith - Fear and Unbalanced. Trying to crowd source a book publication now Roland99 Nov 2017 #2

We've known for years Fux loves a sound bite. LakeArenal Nov 2017 #3

Lazy-boy-cowboy. Yup. Bulls-eye. lindysalsagal Nov 2017 #4

Is Fox Ruse able to stay on due to unregulated cable BigmanPigman Nov 2017 #5

THE key point: is that the argument takes longer than a bumper-sticker slogan to make. bitterross Nov 2017 #6

So 'yee-haw' is a strategy, after all C_U_L8R Nov 2017 #7

Christopher Hitchens' view is apropos of Fox: "All politics is yokel." ancianita Nov 2017 #8

I remember when William Rivers Pitt did a report on a long session of watching that garbage Skittles Nov 2017 #9

and once again, i somehow agree with a Republican 0rganism Nov 2017 #10

The difference is that Peters watched with the intent to analyze ProudLib72 Nov 2017 #11

Big Blue Marble

(5,151 posts)

1. Brave soul!

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 02:17 PM

Nov 2017

It is a well-written and frightening piece explaining what we are fighting.

The obvious question is how to we counter this propaganda and restore our
union?

Roland99

(53,342 posts)

2. Tobin Smith - Fear and Unbalanced. Trying to crowd source a book publication now

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 02:28 PM

Nov 2017

FEAR & UNbalanced: Confessions of a 14-Year Fox News Hitman
How Roger Ailes & Fox News Got Rich Scamming America’s La Z Boy Cowboys and Selling Out America’s Soul

https://medium.com/@tobinsmith_95851/how-roger-ailes-fox-news-scammed-americas-la-z-boy-cowboys-for-21-years-1996ee4a6b3e

LakeArenal

(28,847 posts)

3. We've known for years Fux loves a sound bite.

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 02:44 PM

Nov 2017

Limited deep thinking of the fans...

lindysalsagal

(20,733 posts)

4. Lazy-boy-cowboy. Yup. Bulls-eye.

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 02:47 PM

Nov 2017

"cuz Ize holdz muh gunz win ah wach fam-u-lee-feeood."

BigmanPigman

(51,635 posts)

5. Is Fox Ruse able to stay on due to unregulated cable

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 03:34 PM

Nov 2017

or because it is something that Reagan started and can't be undone? I read an article in Rolling Stone where they interviewed Obama after the election and he said, "When F*X News is on TV in every bar it is an uphill battle for Dems in any election".

bitterross

(4,066 posts)

6. THE key point: is that the argument takes longer than a bumper-sticker slogan to make.

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 03:41 PM

Nov 2017

He is so right. MAGA really did help that unqualified person win.

We have to message to the audience. We can still have intellectual talks but we have to speak to the lowest common denominator too.

C_U_L8R

(45,021 posts)

7. So 'yee-haw' is a strategy, after all

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 04:05 PM

Nov 2017

There sure are a lot of suckers out there to be had.

ancianita

(36,137 posts)

8. Christopher Hitchens' view is apropos of Fox: "All politics is yokel."

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 04:39 PM

Nov 2017

Skittles

(153,202 posts)

9. I remember when William Rivers Pitt did a report on a long session of watching that garbage

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 08:11 PM

Nov 2017

I wonder if he could even take it now

0rganism

(23,971 posts)

10. and once again, i somehow agree with a Republican

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 08:16 PM

Nov 2017

from what i've seen Evan Siegfried is correct. until Democrats find a way to express our arguments, positions, and platform, point by bloody point, in easily digested combinations of 6 words or less, we will be at a terrible disadvantage.

ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)

11. The difference is that Peters watched with the intent to analyze

Reply to Pluvious (Original post)

Sun Nov 12, 2017, 08:18 PM

Nov 2017

Real viewers have sponge like brains that just absorb the constant trickle of pee that is Faux Nooze. If you aren't aware of the rhetorical strategies, you will be molded into a RWNJ jihadist.

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