General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We must find a way to rid our society of Fox news. What to do? [View all]jmowreader
(51,151 posts)The biggest problem with "getting rid of Fox News" isn't that we are at least nominally on the side of free speech. The Constitution doesn't say "you have freedom of speech as long as I approve of what you say." There are a BUNCH of people on the other side of the Grand Canyon that passes for political discourse in the 21st Century who would gleefully wrap a roll of duct tape around your liberal mouth and mine for talking about abortion rights, gay rights and how much we like Hillary Clinton.
The real issue - and this one is enormous - is Fox News is the quietest pipe in the Mighty Wurlitzer. The real action is online. An easy example is Glenn Beck. After he got kicked off Fox News, he started The Blaze and went even farther to the right than he was on Fox. Look at Jim Bakker. At Alex Jones. Limbaugh. Adam Kokesh. If we shut down Fox, the people who currently watch Fox will find InfoWars or Adam vs the Man.
Another example: Last week I talked about Heather Ann Tucci-Jarraf and Randall Beane, two sovereign citizens who were convicted of trying to rob a bank with a cellphone. The logical person would think, "they got convicted of trying to use the secret accounts that no one I know has ever been able to get into. Maybe those accounts aren't real after all." The people who believe these accounts exist (pro tip: they don't) now believe one of two things: that the government convicted them to hide the truth of the secret accounts, or Heather just didn't do it right and you can get into the accounts if you really try.
Only if the hard right receives a very hard, PERSONAL setback will they stop to question their beliefs.