This is not really related to parenting, but has been on my mind of late. It goes back to what I said in an older post that we seem to give the most attention to people who shout or otherwise behave badly. We mothers are guilty of giving more attention to the whiny, cranky child at the expense of the calm easy-going one. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, I know, and I am sure there is some survival-of-the-fittest theory behind it.
The same thing is now happening in the media. The nuts on Fox News such as Beck and Hannity, and the protesters they incite seem to be getting all the media attention. Other networks, congressmen, even the president seem compelled to respond to these idiots and their ridiculous biased rants. What this attention given to Fox results in is that whatever the wing-nuts decide to get mad about becomes the topic de jour in our national conversation. Fox News claims that more people watch Fox news than any other news on TV. They are probably right, but I also suspect that those who watch that network are the only people FOX has influence on. Everybody else is put off by them. David Brooks agreed with that in his op-ed today. I particulary like how Joe Gandelman framed it "Rage and attack mode are OK for those who already agree with you, but they don’t win over those who are pondering both sides and don’t like what they see on either of them." Judith Warner said something similar about Michael Moore in her op-ed as well.
People who don’t watch Fox News probably don’t get their news from TV anyway so they are not watching any other show either which explains Fox’s numbers. If you are sane enough to think Fox News is far from "Fair and Balanced", then I bet you are capable of thinking for yourself and you can easily see that CNN is equally ridiculous, and Olberman’s rants don’t sway you either. So here is my appeal to thinking people – can we ignore Fox News just as we would a tantrum-throwing child?
Raising kids in a non-native environment while constantly worrying about striking the right balance.
3 comments:
While I personally ignore Fox News, I don't think that we as a culture can ignore them, because too many people *are* watching. Like my neighbor who really does think Fox is "Fair and Balanced." I think those folks need to hear the other side. However I think we as a culture *can* at least pay *less* attention to Fox than we've been, rather than letting wingnut-of-the-day take over the national conversation.
I hope.
but that is my point - the people who watch Fox News, and think that it is fair and balanced, don't have and will never have an interest in the other side.
For whatever it's worth, my neighbor says she actually *is* interested in hearing the other side. I think she means it. But still I have to wonder, because if she's really listening to anything else then it seems like she'd have to notice that there is something wrong with Fox News. I dunno -- her world view is so different from mine that I have a hard time understanding.
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