I really hope it’s just an act, but I’m afraid it’s not, which makes this guy a huge prick; which would be fine, because I know that there are real jerks out there, except this particular individual has his own television show. That would also be fine, because there are assholes out there who have their own television shows, but this particular individual’s television show is broadcast on a 24-7 news network. That’s right, “We report. You Decide.” FOXNews. The cable news network that leads the country in ratings. This man has the power to influence millions of individuals who believe that his word is fact – because he’s on the news.
FOX has done everything in it’s power to lend credibility to not only this man, but to everything that is broadcast from their station. Let’s begin with one of their older slogans, “Fair and Balanced.” I believe it was Joseph Goebbels who coined the line “When you repeat a lie enough times, it becomes the truth.” FOX seems to have learned this lesson well, and before they changed their slogan, they repeated it on end. FOX has people believing that they are, in fact, fair and balanced; a perfect place to begin the control of and brainwash of their viewers.
Now that FOX has it’s viewers convinced that they are receiving fair and balanced news, they’ve changed their slogan to “We report. You Decide.” I’ve got to hand it to the people who came up with this; it’s brilliant. I couldn’t have done a better job laying the foundation for the erosion of liberties that’s taking place. Suppose you want to control a population. What’s the best way to do it? Convince your people that they have all the power, and that they are the ones making the decisions about themselves for their benefit. With their trustworthy status and number one ratings in hand, FOX has been subtly feeding lies that make their viewers want to push for things like the renewal of the Patriot Act, all the while hiding their own intentions; because they’re simply ‘reporting’. It’s you who is deciding.
In fact, FOX has so much control over their viewers, people like like Mr. O’Riley can say things like
Yes, I am part of the 1 percent of Americans that paid an astounding 40 percent of all federal income tax in 2006. According to recently released Internal Revenue Service figures, about 50 percent of my fellow Americans paid no federal income tax at all that year. My fellow 1-percenters and I covered for them…
…That means people who drink gin all day will get some of my hard-earned money. Folks who dropped out of school, who are too lazy to hold a job, who smoke reefers 24/7 all will get some goodies in the mail from Uncle Barack and Aunt Nancy, funded by me and other rich folks. [Full Article]
Mr. O’Riley is refering to the proposed repeal of the Bush tax cuts. He classified fully 50% of Americans as lazy, stupid, pot-smoking alcoholics, and there’s no way that those lazy, stupid, pot-smoking alcoholics should get his hard earned millions! How outrageous. As incendiary as this commentary is, I’m sure it’ll give him another ratings boost, even though he just insulted the very same people he relies on for those ratings.
Let’s assume for a moment that FOX News is watched by more people in conservative leaning states than in liberal leaning states. I’m using the 2004 electoral map as a guide to determine if a given state is liberal or conservative leaning. I’ll also use the 2006 GDP on a state by state basis to determine which states paid the most federal taxes.
Excluding the District of Columbia, of the top 18 grossing states, thirteen are liberal-leaning. A number of the liberal leaning states are also major population centers, as can be seen by the number of electorial votes given. One can argue that the states that pay the most taxes are liberal leaning, and as such, Mr. O’Riley has slapped the collective faces of the poorer conservatives who so adore FOX News. This is just the latest in one man’s quest to purport his own agenda, greed and need for power.
Sure, this is just an example of how one man is using the media to preserve his own wealth, but what if one had more sinister intentions? What if one wanted to plant the seeds to lead a nation to war…
