1 Samuel 17 is an inspiring Bible account of a righteous underdog, David, defeating an evil giant, Goliath. (I originally called this a fairy tale and was correctly callout out on this since there are people who take the Bible and similar texts with accounts of events literally and not as metaphors the way I do. I apologize for this.)
Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.
Our fearless leader Markos Moulitsas wants us to consider unsubscribing from cable to have an impact of the revenue of Fox News. I think it is the equivalent of David slinging a stone at Goliath Philistine, bringing him down, and cutting off his head.
Kos crunches the numbers and makes a case that we can still be entertained using paid streaming services and possibly even save money. Of course we really need to be entertained by TV more than ever now that we are homebound, and that watching coverage of the pandemic incessantly is anxiety provoking and depressing.
My cable is bundled with my Internet and part of the service provide by the senior community where I live, but even if it wasn’t I wouldn’t sacrifice being able to watch MSNBC on the big OLED screen so much that its logo is burned into it (right). I could watch segments of MSNBC online on my laptop after they are aired but I want to watch live and on the big screen.
Besides, if I didn’t watch MSNBC so much I might have missed this show:
Because I live in Oregon I don’t even have to stay up past my bedtime to watch the full evening lineup when the shows are repetitious. I can even start watching Morning Joe at 3 AM.
If I could easily cut my cable and keep MSNBC I would do it since almost all of the other TV I watch is on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu. I also have OnDemand should I want to suffer through commercials to watch other entertainment shows.
When I want to see how Fox is covering a story I just click on their website. As Sun Tzu taught, it is crucial to understand what the enemy is doing to defeat them. It could be argued that this also benefits their revenue stream too, but when I do this it is often because I want to include their take in a story I’m thinking about writing.
I keep up with local news on the websites of two Portland, Oregon stations. I do boycott the third because it is owned by Trump loving Sinclair Broadcasting.
I think that a boycotting advertisers on particular Fox News shows, especially after a host takes an egregious position or makes a reprehensible comment, is a better way to go. I would have rather Kos had made a case for readers to join Twitter. Polls I posted show that large majority don’t. If you do boycott particular advertisers you should let them know by tweeting the reason.
Mother Jones published a list of the companies that advertise the most on Fox News so you could try an overall boycott after this: The US editor of the Financial Times is calling for a boycott of companies that advertise on Fox in the wake of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and the pipe bombs sent to leading Democrats.
“The most effective thing Americans can do is boycott companies that advertise on Fox,” Edward Luce tweeted Saturday. “They bankroll the poison that goes from the studio into Trump’s head. The second is vote.” From VOX
The subject of the effectiveness of boycotting a particular show’s advertisers is open to debate. For example:
Why Advertisers' Boycott Of Tucker Carlson's Show May Not Produce The Desired Effect, Forbes, Mar., 2019.
All companies have Twitter accounts. You can send them messages not only about what shows that are sponsoring but about other things. For example I shouldn’t have to explain why you might want to send this company a tweet:
.
Effective or not, the benefit of tweeting may be mostly getting the feeling that at least you are doing something even if hardly anybody sees your tweet. If you get really, really, lucky like I was you may get lots of people to see your tweet. Mine was made as a reply to @realDonaldTrump’s tweet about Mitt Romney and was a short definition of The Dark Triad: Proof again that Trump is the exemplar for the Dark Triad. 1) Narcissism: grandiosity, pride, egotism, lack of empathy. 2) Machiavellianism: exploitation of others, immorality, callousness, self interest. 3) Psychopathy: impulsivity, selfishness, callous, remorselessness.
From that story:
My impression is that many Kossacks basically boycott any pro-Trump websites in part because they don't want to give them “clicks” which help with their advertisers, and in part out of lack of interest. The only pro-Trump website I look at periodically is Fox News to see how they are covering a major negative story about Trump.
This poll is turning out how I thought it would.
I believe in the famous advice from Sun Tzu on the right. To truly know Trump in order to defeat him it is important to know about who influences him and how they do it.
I encourage you to take a look at some of the websites that Trump follows, and even if you can stand it, tune into Fox News occasionally. I don’t but have a friend who does and lets me know what they are saying.