Question - why are so many DUers obsessed with what Fox says? n/t

[malaise]

[SCantiGOP]

1. Know your enemy.

N/T

[defacto7]

44. But there's nothing there to know..

[Dave Starsky]

61. Exactly.

FoxNews = not(truth)

It doesn't get more nuanced or mysterious than that.

I can also tell you what Rush Limbaugh has to say about any given subject.

[Wiseman32218]

46. The Talking Points Do Not Change????

[Honeycombe8]

54. I agree. It's important to know what info others are exposed to,sometimes the only info they get.nt

[hlthe2b]

2. Because they have a not insignficant audience that drinks the koolaid

including SOME who are quite DANGEROUS.

That said, Fox has been blocked on my tv for more than 15 years. I appreciate that others bear the burdon of walking and reporting, but I simply CAN NOT do so.

[lame54]

3. Because their lies are effective

[bluepen]

4. Why would anyone remain willfully ignorant of

what the opposition is doing and saying?

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” - Sun Tzu

[anneboleyn]

5. Thank you as I have a feeling the OP was directed at me. I think we need to know what Fox is

saying as they have the biggest audience in cable news.

[bluepen]

6. Having just replied to your post

I wondered if that had anything to do with it as well.

I watch Fox very infrequently so I appreciate the info you shared.

[anneboleyn]

16. Thank you bluepen! That makes me feel better. I hate to feel discouraged on DU as we need to

do everything we can to be aware of what the Repubs will be doing (and fox is their mouthpiece)

[Wiseman32218]

47. Totally agree!!!!

[Honeycombe8]

55. +1.nt

[Docreed2003]

60. This

It’s easy in the bubble here on DU...when we go out into our RL the world becomes much more complex. How many of us work in places that have Fox News on all day? How many of us live and work around folks that consume Fox News as their authority for news choices?? We need to know what messages are being pushed out there so we know how to combat them in our daily lives with the people we interact with!

[defacto7]

48. Nothing wrong with information...

But there's a whole lot wrong with creating links to FOX that increase their visibility in search engines which makes their news more visible and even makes them money.

Copy and paste text, repeat what's read, but page links and video links are not about knowing your enemy, it's feeding the enemy.

This is a fact of life on the Internet. Not my opinion.

I never need to know what FOX is doing or saying because I can imagine the worst and it wouldn't change my opinion either way. I know what they are.

I don’t know if there are links involved in any of these posts. I should hope not.

[Trust Buster]

7. It's nice to know what talking points I will be confronted with from wingnut nation.

[The Wielding Truth]

8. I don't think it's an obsession. It's hard not to speak out when you

know that lies are being sold as truth to millions.


FOX NEWS should not be able to claim they are news unless they source their stories and prove their accuracy. It is a propaganda machine.

[bdamomma]

9. I can't

watch Fox, they insult my intelligence!!! State propaganda station, I won't even call it news.

I give those who watch kudos.

[diva77]

10. good article at this link on Fox's misinformation effect

https://www.salon.com/2012/04/10/foxs_misinformation_effect/

Fox’s misinformation effect
It’s not just the programming. Conservatives are more likely to seek out outlets that affirm their views
Chris Mooney, Alternet04.10.2012•5:00 AM
This article originally appeared on AlterNet. It is an excerpt from Chris Mooney’s new book “The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science and Reality.”

In June of last year, Jon Stewart went on air with Fox News’ Chris Wallace and started a major media controversy over the channel’s misinforming of its viewers. “Who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers?” Stewart asked Wallace. “The most consistently misinformed? Fox, Fox viewers, consistently, every poll.”

snip
Iraq War

In 2003, a survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland found widespread public misperceptions about the Iraq war. For instance, many Americans believed the U.S. had evidence that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had been collaborating in some way with al-Qaida, or was involved in the 9-11 attacks; many also believed that the much touted “weapons of mass destruction” had been found in the country after the U.S. invasion, when they hadn’t. But not everyone was equally misinformed: “The extent of Americans’ misperceptions vary significantly depending on their source of news,” PIPA reported. “Those who receive most of their news from Fox News are more likely than average to have misperceptions.”

snip

Global Warming

At least two studies have documented that Fox News viewers are more misinformed about this subject.

In a late 2010 survey, Stanford University political scientist Jon Krosnick and visiting scholar Bo MacInnis found that “more exposure to Fox News was associated with more rejection of many mainstream scientists’ claims about global warming, with less trust in scientists, and with more belief that ameliorating global warming would hurt the U.S. economy.” Frequent Fox viewers were less likely to say the Earth’s temperature has been rising and less likely to attribute this temperature increase to human activities. In fact, there was a 25 percentage point gap between the most frequent Fox News watchers (60 percent) and those who watch no Fox News (85 percent) in whether they think global warming is “caused mostly by things people do or about equally by things people do and natural causes.”

SNIP

-----------
many more misperceptions documented in this article - important to be aware of the damage their propaganda causes rather than just dismissing it

[NCTraveler]

11. They repeate and often generate talking points for the right.

They are also the rights main source of releasing propaganda, which is inline and often the same as the talking points. They have been out in front pushing Republicans message in real time.

I don’t watch but do read some of their crap. Nothing wrong with understanding their messaging and game plan.

[milestogo]

12. Because many of us have friends or relatives who have been totally brainwashed by Fox News.

[anneboleyn]

18. Definitely the case in our family/friends (former friends as in Facebook contacts but still we need

to be able to counter the crap they pick up from Fox)

[wasupaloopa]

13. Fox and those who watch it are an important piece of what is going on

in our society today. If we are ever to turn things around we have to understand them

[anneboleyn]

14. Are you talking to me? Because Fox has the biggest cable news audience, and Trumpers get all info

from Fox (especially if they are over 45 or so). Even Alex Jones and his ilk get ideas from Fox. Much of the anti-democrat talking points that a random Trumper or garden variety right winger will espouse will have come from Fox. Fox is given talking points by the Repubs, and they repeat these points as a mantra. Trump and his actions will follow very closely.

I have no idea why we wouldn't pay attention to them. My intention was to give everyone an idea just so we can be aware of the bullshit they are trying to spin and ideally counteract it and/or at least be prepared to respond when a coworker or Facebook contact repeats the Fox line. I don't post every single day about Fox; I don't think anyone here is "obsessed" with Fox. But I do think it's important to know what they are saying during major news events with major political implications like this one.

[malaise]

17. Not specifically -I understand wanting to know their talking points

but it's not just DU - Fox doesn't repeat what's on the other stations while they repeat Fox crap lies.

Rachel Maddow has more watchers than Fox

[anneboleyn]

23. It's "not DU" to discuss how the left is being grotesquely malinged by a massive media empire

that impacts the political discourse in this country in a major way? That effects friends and family? That seems odd to me. DU seems to me to be the place to point out and be prepared for these lies and their propaganda since it does have an unfortunately wide reach. I think that is just being realistic. I also repeated a tiny portion of one show. I didn't link to it or discuss every show or paraphrase hours of coverage. I was repeating the part that seemed to me to be important for us.

[malaise]

27. Sis I like your posts

and I was not attacking you. I just don't get why that lying crap station gets so much attention.

[defacto7]

49. So you think adding visibility to their news

by increasing their Internet ratings through passing links which add financial support to their media empire is helping the cause of real journalism?

I do not.

[octoberlib]

15. I have friends who love to hatewatch Hannity and then tweet about it, making

fun of him. I wish they wouldn't because it just drives up their viewership. I think it's useful , though to know what the enemy's saying.

[malaise]

19. That's my worry - it drives up their viewership

[cwydro]

20. I have often wondered the same.

I simply cannot stomach that channel.

[malaise]

22. We don't even have it

by choice

[cwydro]

26. I havent watched it except when I see it at the gym.

I just turn my music up.

Truly, I think they’re vile. That’s fantastic you don’t have it.

I don’t either where I live now.

[LakeArenal]

21. I already know what the have to say..

They have been saying it for decades.. Never watch. Never view the videos. Never switch it on..

Making me.... "willfully ignorant" I guess.

I tune in for things posted by malaise...

[malaise]

24. You need a way better source

than malaise but like you I never ever watch Fox.

[spanone]

25. sometimes i'll look over there and it's just amazing how far they are detached from reality.

[malaise]

29. I can't watch them

They disgust me

[spanone]

31. me too...

[SJMULE]

28. Curiousity

about how warped their narrative can get in the face of Facts. To each his own I guess. I am curious why you are curious.

[flyingfysh]

30. I like to keep up with what my relatives are hearing

Some of them are diehard Trump fans.

[QED]

32. Vincente Fox? His trolling of Two Scoops is the best!

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[vi5]

33. They actually think they are doing something....

...as misguided as that something is. The lame-ass excuse is always some variant of "I need to know what the enemy is saying!!!" or some other such bullshit. And it is bullshit because I don't watch any cable news yet I somehow always find out what they are saying through Media Matters, TPM, or any other reputable blog or source that reports on that stuff. There's no reason anyone who is not one of those sources should be watching their bullshit, and DEFINITELY don't need to be posting breathlessly about it on here day in and day out. And that goes for Morning Joe even more so.

[malaise]

34. You win the thread

[malaise]

35. I used to post Morning Joescum stuff but I got sick of the RETHUG talking points

I can post what they are going to say without watching.

[defacto7]

50. This

[Dave Starsky]

62. Yep.

The same right-wing idiots show up on other channels, as well. They all say the same stupid things, given that they all work from the same basic playbook.

[bluestarone]

36. seems like every where i go

there tv's are set on that fucking channel (business's i mean tire change oil change buying car you)

[underpants]

37. Until recently they had a remarkable influence on much of the MSM

All the cable and networks followed them repeatedly down rabbit holes. The big Papers did as well often.

[malaise]

40. I never understood that

and never will

[underpants]

42. Follow......

[KY_EnviroGuy]

38. No obsessed, just amazed and curious.

Don't watch them because I feel it's sexist, bigoted, racist, and nothing but propaganda. I see enough summaries on DU, Crooks & Liars, Raw Story and others. Have been reading those for years.

It's been a long-standing (amateur) scientific project of mine to try and understand the Republican mindset just for psychological relief. I ain't there yet, but continue to study. Fox and talk radio just feed bullshit to the established mindset daily, by the TON.

So long as several very shadowy right-wing billionaires continue to feed this beast, not much will change.

[TomSlick]

39. I don't have the stomach to listen to Fox

but I appreciate those who can do so reporting to the rest of us what is being said.

[PSPS]

41. LOL. Really! It seems that DU members comprise the largest audience for Fox, Rush and the rest.

[CentralMass]

43. I have not tuned into Fox since the 2008 primaries. Currently

I have internet, a Roku box, a digital antenna, and a $25 SlingTv subscription that gets me CNN. I have no interest in ever watching Fox and I only occasionally try to find MSNBC online now and then.

[Mediumsizedhand]

45. I have not listened to them since the 90's.

[VOX]

51. Not obsessed, but envious that the GOP has an exclusive state media outlet...

And I hate what Fox News has done to the country. (It’s not really news; it’s a right-wing talking nightlight.) Every day/week brings fake outrage, anger and fear. They spread hate and division, and then boldly say it’s all (everything) on the Democrats.

If anything, I’m envious of that kind of mouthpiece. I wish Democrats had such an effective weapon in their arsenal. And as good as some of MSNBC’s people are, it doesn’t match it in terms of reach and influence. (Even if Rachel’s program has been doing well in the ratings.)

Most importantly, Rupert Murdoch has played a HUGE role in dividing America. Fox has really been pushing an alternate reality narrative since the last election. They are ignored at our own peril.

[dhol82]

57. Agreed, however....

I think that a lot of the reason that Fox is so successful is that conservatives tend to have a regard for authoritarianism and will subsume to the Borg.

Democrats (progressives) tend to be more geared to entropy.
Best quote from Will Rogers: “I am not a member of an organized political party, I am a Democrat.”

[VOX]

58. True. And nicely put.

And I DESPISE authoritarianism!

[dhol82]

59. As well should any rational person hate authoritarianism

[defacto7]

52. I have no idea.

But I surely refuse to feed them. Clicks are money.. and it gives rating credibility to misinformation.

[ornotna]

53. Because DUers love to wring their hands and gnash their teeth

[greatauntoftriplets]

56. I've never watched Fox.

[TrollBuster9090]

63. Because one third of the country believes it, and acts upon it. And yes, the Sun Tzu quote applies.

If you want to disarm a political propaganda bomb, you first have to understand how it works, and what it's doing at present.

[betsuni]

65. Not ignoring Republican disinformation propaganda affecting many Americans is "obsessing"?

Whatever.