I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the News of the World scandal. (Actually, at first I was confused as to why there’d be a scandal over a 30+-year-old Queen album.)
I did see that Rupert Murdoch was testifying today, which has led to breathless fantasies in the usual places about the whole empire, including the especially loathed Fox News, coming down with a tremendous crash.
You know, because it’s sooo likely that we’re dealing with a transatlantic, institutional culture of illegal phone hacking here.
I encounter lots of liberals who are eager to profess their hatred for Fox News. (Most of them are delighted to throw “Faux News” in there too, as if they made it up.) But I almost never encounter one who has any idea what they hate. Sometimes they can’t even convince me they know that there are news shows and opinion shows on Fox News. It’s Fox. Fox bad. Bleat bleat bleat.
If their thought ever went any further, they might ask “hmmm. Why does Fox News have an audience in the first place?” Now I suspect there are literally millions who would answer “because Rush Limbaugh tells mindless right-wingers to watch it,” and they would believe what they were saying. The actual answer is that Fox News really does provide an alternative to an otherwise largely monolithic mainstream news machine that consistently operates from left of center.
That is why Fox News is not going away, and why wishing for such is a silly dream. Even in the case that an unfathomable amount of fruit lined up—civilly, criminally, and/or regulatorily—and the giant fell, he would be replaced instantly. Fox News has been around for almost 15 years as I type, and its sudden absence would create an imbalance that would stand for just about 20 minutes.
It really speaks to what I think may be the single biggest difference in how (many) conservatives regard (many) liberals in this country, and vice versa. (To be sure, there are opportunistic agitators on both sides, but I’m talking about walkin’ around folks right now.) For the most part, when I discuss politics with conservatives, it is readily acknowledged that someone who holds a liberal position on Issue X has come to do so thoughtfully. I may have relevant opinions on sources that person may have used, on fallacies s/he may have committed in arriving at his/her conclusions, and so forth. But it’s rare that I think a liberal has arrived at a belief without thinking about it, and I proceed accordingly.
Conversely, I believe it is a mainstream position of early 21st-century American liberalism that conservatives are stupid, willfully ignorant, or some combination of the two, which is why I think the real fantasy is that political discourse in this country will become more civil anytime soon. That’s never going to happen without mutual respect, and in my view, it’s a lot further to that table for the average liberal than for the average conservative.
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“I think the real fantasy is that political discourse in this country will become more civil anytime soon. That’s never going to happen without mutual respect, and in my view, it’s a lot further to that table for the average liberal than for the average conservative.”
Not in my family’s eyes. They LOATHE all things liberal … especially if it comes from any news source other than Fox News. Whether I thoughtfully researched, worked out, and arrived at my opinions, if I try to discuss an issue with them, anything I say contrary to the conservative side is code for them to automatically dismiss my opinions as being influenced by the devil. I gave up trying to discuss with them (including listening to their own reasonings and thoughts) how and why I believe the way I do about supporting certain liberal positions because to them, if it’s not from their sanctioned and blessed Fox News or their church pulpit, it’s wrong. End. Of. Discussion. It’s this mindset that I see being preyed upon by the extreme conservative talking heads.
I realize that my family is extreme (especially from the radical religious view), but I’ve run into this same conservative zealotry with the majority of my co-workers, neighbors, and a few no-longer-close friends. Can you blame this liberal-leaning but really more moderate woman for being a tad gun-shy because she’s expected to listen to the conservative point of view and yet, from her experience, they are not willing to listen to hers?
Then again, maybe it’s the tone and flavor of Fox News that sets my teeth on edge … kind of like triggers to a recovering abuse victim. I hear too much “the prophet speaks, the thinking’s been done, now just follow along” in their language. That’s my baggage from leaving a cult-like religious background. I may never get over it because I react at an innate level to all things relative to it with a well earned sense of distrust, especially if they use their belief in god as a reason for or against something. Even when the topic could, in fact, be harmless, to me it always sounds the alarms.
And yet I maintain my closest and longest friendship with an active mormon, albeit a think-for-herself mormon, which is walking a fine, fine line in that religion.
Things just aren’t black and white, liberal or conservative. I’m always trying to remember that there are all shades between the sides. But I feel like the conservative side thinks of it as their table and expects the liberal side to do more of the sifting and sorting and thinking and grovelling before coming to the table when really, no one side owns the table and the average liberal is probably no more away from the table than the average conservative. It’s the raving fanatics on both sides that skew the table settings and tend to get all the air time.
They bring in the raving fanatics for the ratings. Television is primarily about entertainment which is why I don’t watch ANY of the news shows…except occasionally local news. I get all my news off the internet and I’m pretty well able to stay on top of things. I’m a fiscal conservative and even though I don’t watch Fox News I’m glad it’s around so that there’s a little balance of opinion out there. I’m happiest when Government is tied up in knots…like right now. It still needs to be trimmed way down but not so much that corporations can run roughshod over us. The best we can hope for is that the powers remain balanced. If any side has all the power, be it liberal or conservative, bad shit happens.
I’ve got to agree with Bo. Business takes me to blue states fairly often, and the whole atmosphere when political conservatives are brought up is basically, “Those poor simpletons. Those uneducated, backwoods (Bible-thumping, gun-toting) hicks. If only they were intelligent and cool and progressive like us.”
Thank you, Bo. You’ve saved me a great deal of typing on the subject.
WXchick, I think that when you run into that zealotry, it’s often a result of chronic self-selection of information sources. Sometimes that presents the illusion of heterogeneity to the selector; other times, the selector is happy as a pig in excrement. Sadly—perhaps tragically—it’s easier than ever to read and hear whatever you want in order to validate whatever you think already. I’ve written of it before: if you head out to “that Internet” looking for support for x, you’ll find it.
Of course, this phenomenon is a primary factor in the institutional marginalization of conservatism, as well. Bernard Goldberg wrote of it in his still-excellent book Bias. These people live their whole lives in enclaves of leftism; consequently they don’t realize how isolated they are.
I maintain there are many, many more such liberals than there are conservatives, particularly of the ostensible “serious thinker” variety. The lockstep sameness in often clearly intelligent people is frightening, and speaks to the effectiveness of the machine.
Robert, sadly, I think you’re correct. Clearly, one party in power is a bad thing. This is largely because the Democrats are evil monsters, and the Republicans are spineless crapweasels.
Marianne, it doesn’t really bother me anymore, but it’s amazing how common it is. It’s a default “safe” conversation to have in most places around the country.
Kemtee, as always, my pleasure.