Cross-posted to my blog
DemWrite
As a writer/journalist, I'm a big fan of the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution. It says, in part:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...
As Voltaire once said, "I may not like what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." That said, I think FOX News should go away.
More below the fold.
If you've seen the movie Outfoxed, you've probably already come to the conclusion that FOX needs to cease to exist. They're only fair and balanced if you're a Republican who has his head in the sand and can't deal with reality very well. They say some of the most outrageous things and expect people to believe it. As an example of the kind of things I'm talking about, these are quotes from the last few days.
Brit Hume, on his thought when he heard London had been attacked: "I mean, my first thought when I heard -- just on a personal basis, when I heard there had been this attack and I saw the futures this morning, which were really in the tank, I thought, 'Hmmm, time to buy.'"
Most people's first thought, when they heard of the attack on London, was something like, "Oh, how awful. The terrorists have killed innocent people." Not Brit Hume, boy. He's thinking about his wallet.
Brian Kilmeade, talking about how great it is the terrorists attacked London: "And he [British Prime Minister Tony Blair] made the statement, clearly shaken, but clearly determined. This is his second address in the last hour. First to the people of London, and now at the G8 summit, where their topic Number 1 --believe it or not-- was global warming, the second was African aid. And that was the first time since 9-11 when they should know, and they do know now, that terrorism should be Number 1. But it's important for them all to be together. I think that works to our advantage, in the Western world's advantage, for people to experience something like this together, just 500 miles from where the attacks have happened."
Kilmeade's incredulousness at the audacity of a group of world leaders to talk about something other than terrorism is apalling. Even more disgusting is his assertion that London being attacked was a good thing, to give the Western world an "advantage".
John Gibson, saying why he thought Paris should have been awarded the 2012 Games: "By the way, just wanted to tell you people, we missed -- the International Olympic Committee missed a golden opportunity today. If they had picked France, if they had picked France instead of London to hold the Olympics, it would have been the one time we could look forward to where we didn't worry about terrorism. They'd blow up Paris, and who cares?"
He said this on Wednesday's edition of
The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, which he was guest-hosting. You're probably thinking that he was just blowing smoke out his ass, that he didn't know London would be attacked the next day. Well, that's what makes his comments the next day on his own show that much more revealing into his and Fox's attitude.
"The bombings in London: This is why I thought the Brits should let the French have the Olympics -- let somebody else be worried about guys with backpack bombs for a while."
It's enough to make one wonder what France ever did to Gibson to get this kind of smackdown.
Now, what FOX News is doing isn't illegal, but it is irresponsible journalism. They like to try acting like they know what they're talking about when they're really just making stuff up as they go along, and they make people like me look bad. The really sad part? There are people who believe this stuff and treat it like the gospel. They have been brainwashed so badly by FOX News that when they are presented with the truth, which is usually the exact opposite of the FOX News slant, they deny it and then call the person holding that view a traitor. But that's not too surprising. As Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean said in response to Vice President Dick Cheney's attack on him in an interview on FOX News...
"My view is FOX News is a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and I don't comment on FOX News."