Weapons Of Mass Stupidity - (Or only stupid people watch FoxNews - Barf)

Creative Loafing (Charlotte) ^ | June 4, 2003 | HAL CROWTHER

[TaxRelief]

Fox News hits a new lowest common denominator

...The wondrous blessing God bestowed on Gustave Flaubert -- and on America's own great chroniclers of contagious stupidity, Mark Twain and H.L. Mencken -- is that they lived and died without imagining a thing like Fox News. It's easy to laugh at Rupert Murdoch's outrageous mongrel, the impossible offspring of supermarket tabloids, sitcom news spoofs, police-state propaganda mills and the World Wrestling Federation.

Fox News is an oxymoron and Cheech and Chong would have made a more credible team of war correspondents than Geraldo Rivera and Ollie North. Neither Saturday Night Live nor the 1973 film Network, Paddy Chayefsky's corrosive satire of TV news, could even approach the comic impact of Geraldo embedded, or of Fox's pariah parade, its mothball fleet of experts who always turn out to be disgraced or indicted Republican refugees. If Ed Meese, Newt Gingrich and Elliott Abrams couldn't fill your sails with mirth, you could count on the recently deposed Viceroy of Virtue and High Regent of Rectitude, my old schoolmate Blackjack Bill Bennett.

With its red-faced, hyperventilating reactionaries and slapstick abuse of lame "liberal" foils who serve them as crash dummies, Fox News could easily be taken as pure entertainment, even as inspired burlesque of the rightwing menagerie. But the problem -- in fact, the serious problem - is that Fox isn't kidding, and brownshirts aren't funny.

Harper's reports that Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly became so infuriated by the son of a 9-ll victim who opposed the war -- "I'm against it and my father would have been against it, too" -- that he cursed the man and even threatened him off-camera. A Fox TV anchor, one Neil Cavuto, celebrated the fall of Baghdad by informing all of us who opposed the war in March, "You were sickening then, you are sickening now." If reports are accurate, these troubled men are neither bad journalists nor even bad actors portraying journalists -- they're mentally unbalanced individuals whose partisan belligerence is pressing them to the brink of psychosis.

[TaxRelief]

This man, in one endless rant, bashes American institutions like Mark Twain and Oliver North. He declares all watchers of Fox News stupid, bigoted and frightened little children. He wails on Rupert Murdoch and every thing he touches. He slanders our president and the entire White House and ridicules patriotism the way atheists ridicule Christianity.

What an amazing and calculated attempt to turn the "intellectual elite" away from fair and balanced news.

However, all is not lost, because Mr. Crowther's endless vitriolic destroys any chance of his aspirations to be just like Maureen Dowd.

[hole_n_one]

Crowther...

[ChadGore]

Re: What an amazing and calculated attempt to turn the "intellectual elite" away from fair and balanced news.

"The problem with our liberal friends is not that they know so much, but that they know so much that isn't so."
--
Ronald Reagan

[TaxRelief]

Crowther's caricature of Murdoch:

[hole_n_one]

I swear I hate to stoop to Nazi analogies; but if Joseph Goebbels had run his own cable channel, it would have been indistinguishable from Fox News.

What a miserable, despicable soul he is.

[TaxRelief]

How insulting to most Americans, including everyone who enjoys FoxNews...

[Reagan Man]

Hal Crowther is a POS!

This post belongs over at DU. Not on FR!

[BfloGuy]

The critics of Fox News never mention Brit Hume or Tony Snow who are the real news there. They can only criticize the issue-oriented shows that admittedly have a bias.

[Buckeroo]

I want you to post "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain upon FreeRepublic on a separate thread devoted to the discussion of the book and tell me what happens.

[zip]

MEGA BARF ALERT

[TaxRelief]

What is a POS?

BTW, I think people need to see the tactics used to stop our young people from hearing the conservative point-of-view. A lot of Freepers have kids in their 20's and 30's and they need to know what their kids are being blind-sided with.

[Texas_Jarhead]

"Harper's reports that Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly became so infuriated by the son of a 9-ll victim who opposed the war -- "I'm against it and my father would have been against it, too" -- that he cursed the man and even threatened him off-camera."

I didn't need to read any furhter than this. I saw this interview and I was thoroughly disgusted by the kid's gushing anti-Americanism. O'Reilly took him to task but all the punk could repeat was Zinn/Chomksy propoganda. He really was a piece of trash.

[Texas_Jarhead]

POS = piece of something

[lonestar]

You prefer the propaganda of CNN?

[NormsRevenge]

they're mentally unbalanced individuals whose partisan belligerence is pressing them to the brink of psychosis.

It takes one to know one!

[Sparta]

I want you to post "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain upon FreeRepublic on a separate thread devoted to the discussion of the book and tell me what happens.

Do it then.

[TruthFactor]

More evidence that FOX News is making an impact and that the liberals are worried about it.

[longtermmemmory]

I swear I hate to stoop to Nazi analogies; but if Joseph Goebbels had run his own cable channel, it would have been indistinguishable from Fox News.

** ***** ***** *** * * * *

We have that. But the Nazi inner circle was a bunch of homosexul butches. We have it on all the Network Channels. We have it on Lifetime and Oxygen and every "oprah" show. The regressive left has given us hate crimes and "mandatory acceptance or its a thought crime". The regressive left attempts to steal our children with glsen and making mother and father four letter words. The Nazi's were leftist socialist darwinians, a fact lost on democrat party talking points and socialist faithful.

[Buckeroo]

Are you the same person over on LibertyPost that rants&raves?

[Huber]

I especially like the following quote from the article:

"Liars with secret agendas are treating Americans like frightened children. If that sounds like a cry from the Left, get a transcript of Sen. Robert Byrd's remarks to the Senate on May 21. Byrd, nobody's liberal by any stretch of the imagination, accuses the White House of constructing "a house of cards, built on deceit," to justify its war on Iraq."

I feel reassured now that I know that Robert Byrd is not a liberal.

[mylife]

I didn't need to read any furhter than this. I saw this interview and I was thoroughly disgusted by the kid's gushing anti-Americanism. O'Reilly took him to task but all the punk could repeat was Zinn/Chomksy propoganda. He really was a piece of trash.

I saw it too that guy was a Smarmy lil git.

[Huber]

This guy is a great example of Sowell's "Vision of the Annointed". Only the leftist elite is qualified to make decisions for the mentally impaired masses!

[Reagan Man]

POS stands for "piece of s**t".

JimRob doesn't want this type of crap on his website. As conservatives, we know what the leftwing is all about and don't need endless rhetorical reminders.

Here's a selected piece from Mr.Robinson.

" ... liberals and liberal causes. This board was established for discussions by conservatives of events and concepts that are important to us. The media is dominated by liberals. The government is infested by liberals. Our educational institutions are overrun by liberals. The liberal viewpoint and liberal "debate" is forced upon us every day from every news broadcast, TV program, newspaper, school room, congressional debate, and on and on, ad infinitum. We are not suffering for a lack of liberal input. We do not need liberals coming in here to "inform" us or to "debate" with us on the need for so-called gay rights, abortion rights, gun-free rights, or to expand our minds to any other mushy liberal feel good concepts. There are no such rights in natural law, common law or the Constitution. We are well aware of your immoral and perverted desires, believe me. We do not need to hear it again. Your vanity posts on such subjects will likely get deleted, and you will likely get booted if you are a liberal and come in here thinking that we owe you a soapbox. This is not a government funded or approved project and we do not need to offer you equal time. If you are a liberal and want to post on FR (and several long-time posters are), you'd best watch your step and take care not to offend anyone, especially me. I have a very short fuse when it comes to tolerating anyone who wants to deprive me of my Constitutional rights, my God, my livelihood, the fruits of my labor, my children, my unborn grandchildren, my American Heritage, my freedom of association, my freedom or my Liberty.

Here's the LINK.

[savedbygrace]

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose."

[Buckeroo]

---

"I feel reassured now that I know that Robert Byrd is not a liberal." -- Huber

---

But do you feel assured about GWBush being a conservative? I mean wasting one trillion US taxpayer dollars going after OBL and Saddam and not one thing has turned up, yet. BTW, where are those WMD, promised by GWBush?

[KCmark]

More evidence that FOX News is making an impact and that the liberals are worried about it.

---

This is such a canned response. So what you're saying is everytime a thread on Clinton comes up on the board he is "making an impact and the ....." Sounds kind of silly if you say it out loud.

I see this canned response too often.

[Jay D. Dyson]

JimRob doesn't want this type of crap on his website. As conservatives, we know what the leftwing is all about and don't need endless rhetorical reminders.

With all due respect, it is wise to hold your friends close and your enemies closer.

-Jay

[TaxRelief]

POS = piece of something

Right...and, Right!

But back to the article, this guy was out of control with his insults:

Fox News is an oxymoron and Cheech and Chong would have made a more credible team of war correspondents than Geraldo Rivera and Ollie North.

[mylife]

Well Im not gonna defend Whoraldo, but this article is about as whack as it gets

[Weimdog]

He's in Charolette...who cares?

I don't think people are turning to a weblog in N.C. to get their news and opinions.

[Blue Collar Christian]

"Only the leftist elite is qualified to make decisions for the mentally impaired masses!"

That's right. If these leftists have their way, we'll be just like France.

How many Americans immigrate to France versus how many French immigrate to the US?

[hole_n_one]

That analogy is simply preposterous.

To equate the two circumstances requires mental and verbal gymnastics not seen even in the Summer Olympics.

[Huber]

I don't think that the discussion is going to be liberal dominated at all, and I know for a fact that TR is no liberal! This article is chock full of amunition (eg: my earlier noted gem about Byrd being "nobody's liberal") to pass on. This is easy pickins and a great opportunity to build on the momentum from the recent New York times debacles!

[nutmeg]

.

[Buckeroo]

---

"How many Americans immigrate to France versus how many French immigrate to the US?" -- Blue Collar Christian

---

Actually, the question is: how many American soldiers are spinkled around the world to save America as a result of national security lies. I will wager the number is many times over any immigration issue.

[Reagan Man]

Conservatives are well aware what's going on. There's absolutely no point in posting this trashtalk that I can see. I don't like giving time and lending credence to the mindset that creates this garbage.

PresBush understands and appreciates the old adage of keeping one's friends close and one's enemies closer.

[magglepuss]

Pablum.

[Blue Collar Christian]

What's with you, Buckaroo? You been here since '99 and I cannot find any of your replies?

[Lijahsbubbe]

Well we all know how credible Dan Rather, Aaron Brown and Peter Jennings and the rest of the stuffy good old boys are.

This guy has his undies in a bunch because a Fox figured out that most viewers have grown way past believing that just because a news anchor looks as if he smelled a fart and speaks in a condescending manner to the little people, he must really know what he's talking about.

Those old boys are through, finished, and it's a hard pill for some to swallow.

[Huber]

He's in Charolette...who cares? I don't think people are turning to a weblog in N.C. to get their news and opinions.

Says who?!?! PING!!

[Stopislamnow]

This canned response is perfectly proper.

The left is in the throes of a meltdown due to Rush, Fox News, and internet forums like Free Republic.

Just because it's a commonly used response doesn't make it less true.

Rupert Murdoch, Rush, and JimR have done a great service for our country. They deserve our praise and support and some kind of recognition nationally. Maybe Congressional Medals of Freedom.

[dark_lord]

It is all part of a coherent plan.

1st, continuously run down Fox News (and any other nonliberal media) so that the "faithful" don't even bother switching channels. Thus they "know" that Fox News is just what this guy claims. Not that they ever watch it, of course, since they already know that it is bad, right?

2nd, try to restrict access to Fox News (and any other nonliberal media) to population areas that do not currently have it. That means trying to keep it off of the cable channels where ever possible.

Finally, we can expect to see more and more lawsuits against web sites that are conservative in nature whenever they post anything from a liberal media organ (for copyright violation). The leftists haven't really caught onto this game yet, but over the next 5 years I predict that we will see more and more of that. The goal will be to sue out of existance forums like this one.

[xm177e2]

I don't think Crowther bashes Mark Twain. And, he is right about O'Reilly and Geraldo. Other than that, he's full of it.

[The Wizard]

this is just a hit piece because everyone watched Fox news and not CNNABCNBCetc.

[Blue Collar Christian]

I smell something like fish bait. You know, for trolling.

[Buckeroo]

You are lucky .... I guess.

But I will say this, I laid piles of articles here from 1999 until 2001; some of the best articles dealing with individual liberty, freedoms and rights as a function of natural conditions from our creator and based upon the US Constitution.

I don't swear by any political party .... even the cheapshots that call themselves "republicans" ... political party of Abe Lincoln: mastermind of the Great War between the North and the South.

Does that tell you something about me?

[Reagan Man]

You misunderstood my post.

I didn't call anyone a liberal. The point being, we don't need to post this liberal crap on FR and we don't need to give someone like Hal Crowther any space on the foremost conservative website around, so he can spew his gutter rhetoric.

Take it somewhere else.

[mylife]

But the scariest thing about Fox and Rupert Murdoch, the thing that renders them all fear and no fun in a time of national crisis

Does this strike anyone else as ironic?? Is there anybody that describes better than the Libs? The Sky is falling..The Sky is falling!

[Huber]

But do you feel assured about GWBush being a conservative? I mean wasting one trillion US taxpayer dollars going after OBL and Saddam and not one thing has turned up, yet. BTW, where are those WMD, promised by GWBush?

IMHO, SH's WMDs (n/i MCLs) are AWOL in Iran so we're SOL for now unless we get there PDQ, OK?

:->

[ladyinred]

Hee! It is almost fun sometimes to listen to the misery of the leftists! Now they know how we felt for 8 years. The only difference is, we had a real reason to suffer, their's is just imagined, and totally political!