you are an ignorant fool as YOUR name suggests.

Careful, HR.  That might just be his kinda thing.

I’m inclined to agree with you Patrick Henry, but not so much because it is ‘offense’ to THINKING people, but rather because of the damage done to people that don’t really think so much. (or at all).

Some will say that I’m exaggerating when I say that they are equivalent to shouting fire in a crowded theater, but I don’t think so. I can’t think of a whole lot worse than a totally misinformed populace, who actually believes this stuff, and is likely to act on it, in ways that affect the rest of us.

And, for anybody who still thinks that I’m being dramatic, consider the effects (if you can) of say a person with dementia, (Alzheimer’s) who has been relatively ‘normal’ for the better part of their lives, and they start going wacky, and coming up with things that are totally wrong, false, have no reality to them, but are NOT immediately recognizeable as such, because they’ve been normal for most of their lives, and not inclined to telling falsehoods.

I’m telling ya, it can cause more problems than we might ever be able to imagine, until it happens.

So, if seemingly reasonable people actually BELIEVE this stuff, for instance...John McCain actually believes the story of the mythical NAFTA “Superhighway” and so do many others, this could be very problematic. It’s already proven to be.

So, while it’s offensive on it’s own, to people who know better. It’s even WORSE for those who don’t. (and we might be surprised at how many don’t.)

bru…

I’m not even ENTERTAINED.Not by sitcoms, reality Tv, the soundbites, the catch phrases, or the cars or the viagra.

Well, I take that back about the Viagra. I do enjoy the ‘disclaimer’ that comes with the commercial, and I giggle everytime I think of my partner’s first response to it..He said, “Shit! All of THIS stuff that ‘might’ happen? Damn, I just wanna have a little fun, I don’t wanna DIE!”

Now THAT tickled me. Otherwise...nothing else on Fox is entertaining or informative.

These days pundits do not have to be right or accurate: their views and actions just have to have punch and/or strike the right vein in the majority of viewers, whether you agree with them or not.  It’s all about the attention. In that way they should remind us of the latest rich, shrill, doped-up, underwear-forgetting blonde, whomever that may be.  And they deserve no better regard.

I agree that FOX is, at best, “Infotainment.” But let’s face it - so are all other commercial news media, though arguably to a lesser degree.

Since the 1930s when the FCC decided that television would follow in commercial radio’s path, we have what is essentially a news media whose prime concern is selling toothpaste and laxatives, not informing (much less educating) its viewers.

For broadcast journalism, just like sitcoms and reality TV shows, it’s all about market share, viewer demographics, and time slots. Advertisers don’t want viewers to sit through the give-and-take complexiities of politics, to sit through the often long and nuanced dialog between politicians. They want sound bites, catch phrases, and simplistic (if inaccurate) explanations. This approach gets our attention, plays well, works our emotions and in the end, entertains us. This is why FOX News succeeds in ratings and fails miserably as a news source.

Has not the most often repeated complaint about public television news been that it’s boring? Most news IS boring but boring doesn’t sell cars or Viagra.

Until we find a way to separate commercial broadcasting from news casting, most of us will remain uninformed, ignorant, but entertained.

re: Frank, January 11 at 3:34 pm

At some point FOX should have to register as a lobby.  They are misleading with the misnomer “fair and balanced” as they imply.

Infomercials and Infotainment.  Hardly objective reporting. 

As long as News corp broadcast over public airwaves, equal airtime for counter point should be required.

Any thing else erodes the 1st Amendment to right of corporate propaganda.

Even Conservative Media Chorus Sings Obama’s Praises

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2 008/01/07/AR2008010702939.html

Sounds like heavyrunner and Patrick Henry are not so big on freedom of the press or the First Amendment when those exercising the rights don’t agree with them politically.  Fox and O’Reilly are free to be as biased as they want, just as Truthdig is.  If you don’t like their bias, don’t watch them. Personally, I prefer CNN, and almost never watch Fox, but I don’t complain about Fox being biased, because that is their prerogative under the first Amendment.

What I have learned from non-Fox sources, and which some of you seem to be unaware of, is that O’Reilly has had mostly positive things to say about Obama, as have many other conservative pundits. Many conservatives like the fact that he is a black candidate not shamelessly playing up the race card in his campaign, as Jackson and Sharpton did, and because Obama frequently and rather eloquently expresses a seemingly sincere desire to leave partisanship aside and work with Republicans to move the nation forward on common goals.  And of course, they like him because he is not Hillary, who is one of the most hated political figures among republicans.  Many independants and even republicans who would never consider voting for Hillary under any circumstances, would consider voting for Obama over a less-favored Republican, and not because his voting record or overall politics is remarkably different from HIllary’s. It is entirely a matter of personality, charisma, optimism, and simple newness that Hillary can’t match.

The final race I would most like to see resulting from the remaining field of Candidates is Obama vs McCain, because though their politics are very different, I would find no cause for despair from the election of either man.

The Secret Service should have tasered O’Reily and taking him to jail for depersonalization treatment of the sort O’Reily constantly promotes (at least the reports I read seem to indicate that is the sort of crap you would be exposed to if you watched him on TV).

I think “We the People” should start a 50 state petition to revoke FOX’s broadcast licenses from the various markets.

The spin, misreporting and misleading propaganda put out by FOX anchors, journalists and reporters are as offensive to many thinking Americans as the offhand comments by Don Imus were to the Rutgers volleyball team.

That is all.

Sure we should care. Fax has enough followers, and enough “operatives” if you will, to make it somewhat influential.

Just the other day a caller to C-SPAN repeated the “Obama is a muslim” smear; fortunately the host corrected the caller. This is just one example of the lies that are being created and spread against Democrats from people inside the GOP.

Fox News’ GOP leanings are well documented. Fox News’ lies are well documented. O’Reilly’s lies are well documented.

Yet much of the public—enough to influence elections and, believe it or not, state and local legislation—are true-blue (or “true-red") Fox believers.

Fox must be watched. Fox must be challenged. Fox must be boycotted by democrats.

Should we care? Fox watchers are so out of touch with reality that they would never vote for a progressive anyway. If you watch O’Reilly you are just as neocon as he is and can only see that view.

O’Reilly was just poking around trying to get some tidbit of negative spin on Obama.  When he could not get it he decided to get physical to try to crate a commotion. 

What a sad excuse for a human.  Anyone who really follows O’Rielly is as gullible as they come. He has about as much talent as a journalist as I do a professional singer (not)

But in American, land of the free, home of the brave and the world’s largest sheep population he has a huge following who really truly believe he is reporting “news”

He has more hate than the “liberal hate mongers” he chides daily. 

I sincerely hope Obama does not lend O’Reilley any legitimacy by acknowledging him.

Sincerely,

Proud to be an American, but lately embarrassed.