# Is it ok to dismiss someone for watching FOX? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 13, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593 "2010-07-13T21:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/201 "2010-07-15T16:59:54Z")
Huff Po was designed to counter the right wing slant of Drudge. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/202 "2010-07-15T17:02:36Z")
Well, then, where is the center? If Obama is far left, way out of the mainstream, how did he get elected? ACORN? Media is a business, like any other. If they are selling cheese-flavored popcorn to people who don’t like cheese-flavored popcorn, they will shrivel, no? So what do you propose is the motivation? Have Marxist MBA’s infiltrated the halls of business power, warping the minds of CEO’s so that they ignore their bottom line interests in favor of advancing the cause of Socialism? You’re not making a lot of sense here, **Shodan**. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/203 "2010-07-15T17:04:04Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > There there, dear - close your eyes and wish really hard, and the Blue Fairy will make the nasty ol’ reality go away. > > Regards, > Shodan What reality? When come back, bring substantive reply. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/204 "2010-07-15T17:04:26Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Indeed, while the site is recommended when dealing with political issues I have to warn many that the big blind spot for the Huffington Post are reports on medical and nutrition issues, they give too much space to woo proponents like anti-vaccine people. > > On edit: > > Well **Diogenes** , unfortunately on the anti-vaccination they do fudge the information, of course being a blog one has to put most of the blame on the posting anti-vaccination celebrities. I may be a partisan, but for me science triumphs, the Huffpo needs to clean their act a little bit more. Let the anti vacs speak. They are fading fast because evidence has disproved their claims. That is how it should be done.Not allowing them to speak would be anti-American. We are supposed to be able to voice unpopular opinions and let them die on their own. Like the tea gaggers. Bachmann and Angle should have all the press you can give them. Their idiocy should be aired as much as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/205 "2010-07-15T17:09:20Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Wrong, as even a casual read of the DU cite shows, and I already posted a cite that reported why corporate media is not a liberal friend most of the time. Your DU cite is a list of forum topics, so it takes a bit more than a casual read to figure out what you are getting at. As for your second point, we covered that before. You seem to be complaining that corporate media is “not a liberal friend”. The assumption that the media’s duty is to serve as a friend or advocate of the liberal agenda, whatever it is at the moment, is much of the problem. Still and all, it won’t hurt to use the tactics of the **Bricker** thread one more time. You have produced a cite from Democratic Underground, which you apparently believe is sufficient to refute something or other about liberal bias in the MSM. The following is completely adequate to refute you - [cite](http://www.mrc.org/realitycheck/archive.aspx). Wouldn’t you agree? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/206 "2010-07-15T17:09:26Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > When haven’t they? They have always gone on about how persecuted they are, about how the Reds/liberals/homosexuals/Jews/brown people/whatever are everywhere, secretly in control of everything and are persecuting them. Paranoia and a victim/martyr complex are nearly universal among rightwingers. This is such a generalization, I’m surprised you even had the nerve to type it. Yes there are some on the far right that believe in black helicopters, the UN being a proxy for one-world-government, etc, just as there are extremists on the left who believe that the World Bank and IMF are in league to impoverish Africans and continue the results of colonialism. I’m not one of the former, are you one of the latter? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/207 "2010-07-15T17:09:29Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I am sure that, just as the mods at the Hannity forums would deny that you were banned for being a liberal, the mods here would deny that they were anything but completely fair in their application of the rules of this board. Did you even read what I posted? I was banned for being a “retread”- which means that, supposedly, I’d posted on the forum before and had been banned. I never had. So either you’re calling me a liar, or you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about and are just throwing shit out to see what sticks. Which is it? On that forum, any Liberal poster is immediately met with “Retread check” posts in their “talk to the mods” subforum. THAT is partisanship. The “partisanship” you’re complaining about here just plain doesn’t exist. I’m sorry if this makes it harder for you to play the victim. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/208 "2010-07-15T17:13:16Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > What effort have the teabaggers made? Or Fox News? You pretty much mail in any chance you have of playing the reasonableness card or winning an argument when you call them teabaggers. This is akin to saying that Obama = Hitler - just as silly-soundign. I know that the children here like the snark and cleverness of the term, thinking that they are superior by using that word. As for Fox News, if you are referring to Fox News Sunday, they have 2 liberals on the panel (both from NPR… but remember NPR isn’t liberal… :rolleyes: ) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/209 "2010-07-15T17:15:15Z")
> [@Stoneburg](#): > > I’d say the SDMB has a leftish slant by American standards, but would be considered from moderately to very right wing by European standards. YMMV Maybe so, but I’m in America, we’re discussing an American broadcast Network, and for God’s sake Cecil is out of Chicago. Don’t misconstrue this as “America = Fuck Yeah”, but… the second we start talking about BBC 4 or whatever then you get to make that kind of argument. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/210 "2010-07-15T17:17:27Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > When’s the last time your hero, Sarah Palin, has ever given an interview outside the Fox News green zone or ever tried to debate anyone who disagrees with her? It’s the righties that are the cowards. Even on the internet, they’re cowards. Show me a conservative message board that doesn’t instantly ban dissenters. Well, FWIW, she did do interviews with Jay Leno and Oprah while promoting her book. Anyway, I have a friend who’s generally a pretty nice guy and a fairly smart person. But he gets most of his news from Fox, the Drudge Report and viral e-mails about how evil Obama is, and when it comes to politics he’s as dumb as a rock. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/211 "2010-07-15T17:17:44Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Did you even read what I posted? Well if he had, I’m sure it would have no impact on his response. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/212 "2010-07-15T17:19:03Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > You pretty much mail in any chance you have of playing the reasonableness card or winning an argument when you call them teabaggers. This is akin to saying that Obama = Hitler - just as silly-soundign. I know that the children here like the snark and cleverness of the term, thinking that they are superior by using that word. > > As for Fox News, if you are referring to Fox News Sunday, they have 2 liberals on the panel (both from NPR… but remember NPR isn’t liberal… :rolleyes: ) It’s a conservative term. > **[The evolution of the word 'tea bagger'](https://theweek.com/articles/494697/evolution-word-tea-bagger)** > > Tea Party activists are outraged by the revelation that Obama once used the term "tea baggers" to describe them. But the coinage wasn't always considered an insult... But this is just another in a long line of factual information nuggets that you will ignore so that your preferred fantasy can remain intact. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/213 "2010-07-15T17:22:04Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > A lot of people who are unable to defend their opinions claim persecution. > > This isn’t a pile on, this is what happens when your arguments are based on nothing but your desires. When the other side has facts and they keep rubbing your nose in them, it feels shitty. _It’s supposed to_. That’s when you’re supposed to re-evaluate your ideas and realize how utterly without merit your former position was. > > But you won’t do that, will ya? 😃 Well, I’ve used facts in this discussion. I notice you never addressed the fact that it took ‘conservative media’, to coin a term, to uncover the Lewinsky scandal, or more recently the Justice Dept playing politics by dropping the voter intimidation case against the Black Panthers. If the situation were reversed, I have no doubt that the left would be screaming holy murder. There is a huge part of the country that doesn’t trust the MSM, and with good reason (Q.E.D.). For those who think that the MSM is shooting them straight, read [this](http://people-press.org/report/543/) > [@](#): > > Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate. In the initial survey in this series about the news media’s performance in 1985, 55% said news stories were accurate while 34% said they were inaccurate. That percentage had fallen sharply by the late 1990s and has remained low over the last decade. And even worse > [@](#): > > Similarly, only about a quarter (26%) now say that news organizations are careful that their reporting is not politically biased, compared with 60% who say news organizations are politically biased. And the percentages saying that news organizations are independent of powerful people and organizations (20%) or are willing to admit their mistakes (21%) now also match all-time lows. If you care to address those issues in the first paragraph, now’s the time. Or you can wave the white flag. Whichever. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/214 "2010-07-15T17:22:12Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > …and for God’s sake Cecil is out of Chicago… Its becoming clearer now! Obama? Chicago. Cecil? Chicago. Saul Alinsky and Al Capone? Chicago! Wake up, America! Connect the dot! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/215 "2010-07-15T17:23:29Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > You pretty much mail in any chance you have of playing the reasonableness card or winning an argument when you call them teabaggers. This is akin to saying that Obama = Hitler - just as silly-soundign. I know that the children here like the snark and cleverness of the term, thinking that they are superior by using that word. You’re avoiding the question and hiding behind the Sarah Palin tactic of self-victimization. They called themselves “teabaggers” first. It’s funny, and it’s not like calling Obama a Nazi. > [@](#): > > As for Fox News, if you are referring to Fox News Sunday, they have 2 liberals on the panel (both from NPR… but remember NPR isn’t liberal… :rolleyes: ) That is correct, NPR isn’t liberal. having a couple of low key moderates on one show for ten minutes a week is not “engaging with the left,” and even that token is done on their own turf, under their own control. When do you see any of those clowns like Hannity or Karl Rove or fucking Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh ever engage any opposition, or answer any questions in a setting or format where they don’t have full control of the microphone and subject matter? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/216 "2010-07-15T17:30:11Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > If you care to address those issues in the first paragraph, now’s the time. Or you can wave the white flag. Whichever. Or simply repeat himself. He’s good at that. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/217 "2010-07-15T17:30:44Z")
There was nothing about the Lewinski affair _pe se_ that was newsworthy or scandalous. It only became newsworthy because the Starr Inquistion used it to engineer a perjury trap. The blow job, in itself, was not worth reporting on before the perjury trap. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/218 "2010-07-15T17:32:15Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Your DU cite is a list of forum topics, so it takes a bit more than a casual read to figure out what you are getting at. One item is relevant: [http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view\_all&address=109x38889](http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x38889) > [@](#): > > Next time someone tells you there is a liberal media > > Ask them how effective it is. > > Liberal Media accusations have been around for eternity, yet ask them > > – how many GOP presidents have we had since WWII? > – how strong are our unions? > – how anti-war is our foreign policy? > – how closely regulated are our capital markets? etc…etc… > > If Media is Politically liberal, and actively promoting a liberal agenda, I guess they aren’t doing that great of a job and people should stop complaining shouldnt they? > > Obviously complaining about a liberal media has to do with entertainment media (Hi Fox Entertainment and Movies) and as an excuse to ignore hard news in favor of tabloid news. > [@Shodan](#): > > As for your second point, we covered that before. You seem to be complaining that corporate media is “not a liberal friend”. The assumption that the media’s duty is to serve as a friend or advocate of the liberal agenda, whatever it is at the moment, is much of the problem. It is not for me, I’m making the point that conservatives have no trouble agreeing that FOX is their friend, **and even liberals can see that**. No such thing is happening for the liberals and any mainstream TV channel you can think of. You want to ignore it, but this is relevant to the excluded middle, a media that is centrist will attempt to be fair and miss as many news that the right wing considers important as it is missing for the left, resulting then in the next item: > [@Shodan](#): > > Still and all, it won’t hurt to use the tactics of the **Bricker** thread one more time. You have produced a cite from Democratic Underground, which you apparently believe is sufficient to refute something or other about liberal bias in the MSM. The following is completely adequate to refute you - [cite](http://www.mrc.org/realitycheck/archive.aspx). Wouldn’t you agree? > > Regards, > Shodan And that shows that you are still missing the point, you are refuting the wrong item, I’m already aware that you can bring those cites, but that does not refute my citations. Remember, we are dealing with mainstream network news. Both the right and the left have a huge beef with them. (And that is why I think they may be doing a good job in the end.) What you are denying is that last part. That the left does not see the MSM as their friend or ally does not exclude that a good chunk of the right also see them as their enemy. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/219 "2010-07-15T17:33:35Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > …by dropping the voter intimidation case against the Black Panthers. If the situation were reversed, I have no doubt that the left would be screaming holy murder. … I think my lefty credentials are in good standing, and I couldn’t have cared less. Point of fact: the New Black Panthers have no credibility or standing amongst the left generally. Many of us have some nostalgia for the Black Panther Party, for the work they did in that hardest of times. And we regret that they went totally off the rails, but they did, and that’s that. How much of that madness may be lain at the feet of thier persecutors, I leave to you. But the New Black Panthers are a pimple on the butt of politics, a storefront organization trying to sieze upon what remains of the original Panthers mystique. _Feh_, says I, and _Feh_! says most lefty. If you cannot read and understand our opinions, what on earth makes you think you can read our minds? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593/220 "2010-07-15T17:37:56Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > They called themselves “teabaggers” first. It’s funny, and it’s not like calling Obama a Nazi. Highly simplistic response. Feel free to [edumacate thyself](http://nrd.nationalreview.com/article/?q=Mjk1YmRjNzIxNmUwMTI0ZWYxZWU4OWU2MzFiOWJmNDE=). > [@](#): > > The first big day for this movement was Tax Day, April 15. And organizers had a gimmick. They asked people to send a tea bag to the Oval Office. One of the exhortations was “Tea Bag the Fools in D.C.” A protester was spotted with a sign saying, “Tea Bag the Liberal Dems Before They Tea Bag You.” So, conservatives started it: started with this terminology. But others ran with it and ran with it. (snip) > [@](#): > > The liberal media, to use a convenient tag, went after the protesters with glee. Take Anderson Cooper, the acclaimed anchorman for CNN. He was interviewing David Gergen, the political pundit. And Gergen was saying that, after two very bad elections, conservatives and Republicans were “searching for their voice.” Cooper responded, “It’s hard to talk when you’re teabagging.” He said this with a smirk. > > MSNBC had an outright field day. Rachel Maddow and a guest of hers, Ana Marie Cox, made teabag jokes to each other for minutes on end: having great, chortling fun at the conservatives’ expense. And here is the performance of another host, David Shuster: > > “For most Americans, Wednesday, April 15, will be Tax Day, but . . . it’s going to be Teabagging Day for the right wing, and they’re going nuts for it. Thousands of them whipped out the festivities early this past weekend, and while the parties are officially toothless, the teabaggers are full-throated about their goals. They want to give President Obama a strong tongue-lashing and lick government spending.” While I’m not a Tea Partier (or a teabagger, for that matter), it’s clear that it’s unnecessarily insulting and only used in lieu of real arguments by lefties. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-dismiss-someone-for-watching-fox/546593.md?page=12)