Just How Stupid is the FOX News Audience?
by Merl Moore
While it goes without saying that a huge percentage of the FOX News audience is clearly stupid as rocks that doesn't explain why some who believe the lies FOX News constantly spews (http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/tv/fox/) clearly are not. A better answer would be: If you play to people's pre-existing hates, fears, prejudices and religious beliefs they will believe just about whatever you say no matter how demonstrably untrue the statement. This is why the Republican Party is successful.
Conservationism literally means to "conserve," keep things as they are, fight progress in all it's forms because if you're a rich, white male things are pretty darn nice just as they are (no s--t, right?). So why would a poor white woman vote to keep things as they are? Because Conservatives constantly tell her that if she votes for that other party and there's any change in America (i.e.: progress) a black man is going to rape her (fear), marry her daughter (prejudice), kill her son (hate) and outlaw Christmas (religious beliefs) and I see right-wing memes (especially on Facebook) all the time trying to peddle this nonsense.
Although they endlessly play to the worst aspects of human nature (i.e.: fear, prejudice, hate, etc.), and it's damn effective (always has been) but what's truly most important to Conservatives is keeping the financial-structure the way it is or even, if at all possible, making it ever more lop-sided in favor of the rich. "Income disparity/inequality" - the amount of money/capital/property the poor and middle-class have (90% of the population) vs. the amount the rich have (1%) - is greater in the U.S.A. today than it's been since just before The Great Depression struck (and we all know how that worked out for everybody). Seriously. Even Republican's are starting to address it (don't worry, rich-white-guys, they're not addressing it effectively in any way and certainly won't any time soon).
Follow the money. The ultra-conservative Koch Brothers didn't put almost a billion of their dollars into the recent elections to force Macy's clerks to all say, “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays,” and if that's what you believe they did it for and believe in what FOX News is telling you than you have to ask yourself if you're more the first (i.e.: stupid as a rock) or the second (i.e.: effectively being played) and neither are anything to be proud of.
Merl Moore