So Ma and Pa Eldritch, Republican Faux-News adherents, are over for Thanksgiving...

[The Doctor.]

I'm lucky I guess... I have a Blue-Blood type family that's almost always cordial no matter what subjects come up. It's very rare that anyone even becomes irritated, but every once in a while, Ma says; 'Let's not talk about this right now.'.

So Pa sits on the couch and finds the remote.

He turns on Faux. He knows what I think of it, and their grandson got them http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=4462731#4464278">pretty good over the summer once.

So I start in... "Did you guys know that nearly 51% of Fox News watchers still think Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11?"

Ma Eldritch; "Why are you bringing this up now?"

"Well, so long as Fox News is on, I figure I'd share some 'Fox Facts' with you all."

Pa turned on the football game.

A little while later, Fox popped back on.

"Say, did you guys know that, according to The Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, Fox News watchers were the least informed news consumers in the nation? Apparently, if you watch Fox, you hold at least one of three major misconceptions."

*Click*... The Discovery channel.

While I'm in the kitchen finishing up a roue for the pearl onions, I hear the voice of one of the Faux news commentators.

"Hey, did you all know that Fox News falsely identified indicted and scandal-plagued Republicans as Democrats on three different occasions?"

*Click* - The History channel.


What's funny is that they know better than to challenge me by now. They know darn well I've got the goods. Yet somehow they still think that they're informed. :shrug:

All in all, it was a good holiday, and very pleasant.


But the MOST fun part was having Pa Eldritch watch a video of a collapsing building, listening to him explain to his grandson (who was in on the trap) how the building was a controlled demolition, you could tell by the way the center came down first, and only explosives could have done it.... and then watching his face when I told him which building it was and when it came down.
- But that tale is for another forum.


I know it's nearly a week later, but I thought it was amusing and ultimately decided to share the Fox News exchange. I hope everyone else had fun with their Faux-watching relatives this TG, and more in the coming holidays.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. wonderful way of dealing with Faux News watchers

I'm going to remember this.

[The Doctor.]

2. It was fun.

Just have the facts handy.

Here's my favorite way of dealing with them;

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Dr_eldritch/45

[orleans]

16. i just followed some of your links -- nicely done--the kid, your parents,

the summer at the cape, the other kid you won $50 from...very cute/fun stories.

[The Doctor.]

18. He's a very bright kid.

He's heavily informed, I'm just trying to get him to think independently of my opinions... however well-founded they are. Soon, his world will be nothing but music and girls. Just hope I can squeeze school and sports in there somewhere.

Glad you found it entertaining... I know I do.

[Ian David]

3. I have Fox "News" blocked on my televisions.

Along with Gracey Jane (I mean Nancy Grace) Morning Joe, the two racist guys on CNN and all the infomercials, Chocolate News, Frasier, Drew Carey Show, Price is Right and religious programs.

[The Doctor.]

8. Why the comedies?

Frasier? I always found it clever and mostly harmless. Something I don't know?

Chocolate News?

Don't want kids watching it?

[Ian David]

10. Republican shills. n/t

[The Doctor.]

11. David Allen Grier? Really?

Kelsey Grammar?

Hmmm... the second isn't a huge surprise, but Allen-Grier? Huh.

[Ian David]

12. Grier was in that anti-Michael Moore movie. n/t

[The Doctor.]

14. As a paid actor....

So, he lacks strong principles.

"Not everybody in Carol is a Republican--"I'm pretty sure David Alan Grier was appalled," says Zucker--but most were clearly energized by the esprit de Goldwater."

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/09/american-carol.html

[Ian David]

17. Still makes him a sell-out. n/t

[monmouth]

4. Bet Pa rues the day he paid for your tuition....Very smart and classy...n/t

[The Doctor.]

7. LOL! He only paid for the first year... said the rest was up to me.

He's always been the 'kick 'em out and let 'em swim' kinda Dad.

[ColbertWatcher]

5. "they still think that they're informed." I don't think that's why they keep going back to Faux.

It's habit or addiction.

They have been conditioned to listen for their instructions from the TV (and radio) for what to believe, how to react to the world around them and that fear is the only appropriate emotion throughout.

They have to be given their hourly "neocon catechism" otherwise they go into withdrawals.

[The Doctor.]

9. It's a comfort thing.

They stick to what's comfortable. My proving they're misinformed makes them uncomfortable, so they filter it out.

[ColbertWatcher]

15. But that comfort is from habit. They can start a new habit of being informed. n/t

[Lemonwurst]

6. Fox is blocked, my dad tried - but the real surprise was mine

It was said here before, and I think it's true - Fox's display format appeals to seniors. Also, their black-and-white, change-is-bad (read: RW) bent seems to ring true with many of apolitical types getting along in their years as well.

Though I have a story too - my Fox channel is also blocked, and my 70 year old dad, ordinarily a rabid RW'er who now knows enough to keep quiet around me, tried to find it on Thanksgiving night (he was staying over to drive home the next morning). It was late, and I could see the "station blocked" screen stuck on as he dozed, then woke up to try again, they dozed, and so forth. Eventually the TV was on a real channel, so I figured he simply gave up without asking me, and found something else just before he kicked off for good.

But the real kicker was the next day after he left, seeing that he left a recent Newsweek behind, the one with Obama's face and simply "President Obama" and "44." for cover text. I figured he just wanted to get it out of his house, but to my surprise he left some handwritten comments in the margins of the main Obama article, saying that I would be shocked to learn that he voted for Obama.

He was right - I was shocked, then a minute later both relieved and even proud. My dad used to be a smart and pragmatic (though conservative) dem, back in the 60's and 70's. Two divorces and some bad career luck made him bitter and generally less open-minded than his intelligence would otherwise allow. Then years of Fox, Hannity, Bill-O, etc. and the New York Post eroded his cognitive abilities even further until - well, I really don't know what. After years of avoiding talking politics, I will ask him when I see him next what is was about Barack that got his vote, his first for a Democratic candidate since Mike Dukakis back in 1988. Maybe he finally saw the idiot that Bush was, the way the administration was thumbing its nose at everyone, the way.... nah, it had to be something more two-dimensional. I'm really wishing on a star here to think my thoughtful, idealistic, broad-minded dad is somehow back again just because of this.

In all a happy story, funny only because of the Fox thing. And I'm sure my dad isn't giving up Fox anytime soon. But here again - Obama's broad appeal and his great campaign pulled off another small miracle. I just honestly don't know how...

[Missy Vixen]

13. Our Christian, right-wing neighbor voted for Obama

I almost fell over when she told me. I never thought I'd hear her actually admit to voting for a Democrat, but she said that she believed in Obama's message of "hope" and "change".

I think it's cool your dad voted for Obama, too. Let's hear it for people who are willing to look beyond the FAUX propaganda.

Julie