# This country is fucked: Survey says Fox now most trusted name in news. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 26, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580 "2010-01-26T22:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/181 "2010-01-29T16:53:43Z")
Look, kid, we know you want to try out for the position of Right Gadfly, get out there and mock the pretensions and hypocrisy of the left. Sure you do, this is the SDMB, the big time, downtown. But you see, kid, what we got here is what they call a “deep bench” for that position. We got guys been suiting up and hitting the line for years now! Have you considered some of the new franchises, you know, the kind that post pornographic ads on other message boards? A start-up, you know? They might have an opening. Think of it as a triple-A farm team, get some razzle-dazzle going, learn some new chops, 'cause right now you’re really weak on razzle, and dazzle you ain’t got. Look, we’ll keep you file, and if **Shodan** and **Starkers** and **Ivn** all get hit by meteors on the same day, well, maybe… ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/182 "2010-01-29T17:48:53Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Look, kid, we know you want to try out for the position of Right Gadfly, get out there and mock the pretensions and hypocrisy of the left. Sure you do, this is the SDMB, the big time, downtown. But you see, kid, what we got here is what they call a “deep bench” for that position. We got guys been suiting up and hitting the line for years now! > > Have you considered some of the new franchises, you know, the kind that post pornographic ads on other message boards? A start-up, you know? They might have an opening. Think of it as a triple-A farm team, get some razzle-dazzle going, learn some new chops, 'cause right now you’re really weak on razzle, and dazzle you ain’t got. > > Look, we’ll keep you file, and if **Shodan** and **Starkers** and **Ivn** all get hit by meteors on the same day, well, maybe… My, such a high opinion you have of yourself! The self-annointed Decider In Chief! I completely understand that, after having lost the argument, calling me ‘kid’ might provide a little comfort to you. I’m happy to oblige, although I’m 42. In fact I generally don’t engage the kids on this board ( **Lobo** being the prime example… although he continues to post at me; at least it keeps him off the Jabba The Hutt fanboy sites). So for the record, and to see if you’ll even answer one question before changing the subject, do you or do you not attribute any of the blame for the OP’s poll to the legacy media? [] Yes [] No ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/183 "2010-01-29T17:54:05Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Nope, but when they employ extremist techniques like the pre-polarized question you just asked me, I can be pretty confident that there’s a wingnut in the house. > You want to claim the mantle of the moderate? > Start being moderate in your invective. > So far you’ve failed miserably, so I don’t believe you. > > Perhaps you could try claiming the mantle of “socially conservative libertarian” that was so popular a few years ago, when Bush started taking it in the shorts? It’s not much used anymore, so is freely available. > Of course no one ever really believed that schtick either. > Oh well. ☹ OK I’ll bite: how was what I asked you pre-polarized? I’m trying to determine where you are in the political spectrum. If you absolutely hate everything about every conservative, fine, it’s a free country (assuming you are American). If my invective seems immoderate to you, perhaps that’s a _YP_, not an _MP_ (little Boogie Nights reference there). Or maybe you could go back and re-read all of my posts in this thread. I have hammered Fox almost as much as I’ve hammered CBS and CNN… but most of this board only reacts to one side of the hammering, the half that fits your template. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/184 "2010-01-29T18:19:53Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > In fact I generally don’t engage the kids on this board ( **Lobo** being the prime example… although he continues to post at me; at least it keeps him off the Jabba The Hutt fanboy sites). One might note that instead of addressing my very simple concerns, specifically that you ignore and deflect when you are proven wrong, you attack. Since you’re 42 shouldn’t you be man enough to face facts? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/185 "2010-01-29T18:28:12Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Since you’re 42 shouldn’t you be man enough to face facts? A man? **Mistress Mashy**? Oh, now I see; I’ve been reading it wrong… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/186 "2010-01-29T18:32:26Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > …I’m happy to oblige, although I’m 42… Puppy. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/187 "2010-01-29T18:41:02Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Now in keeping with your M.O., you’re too much of a lying coward to stance yourself honestly. But then again, you refuse to admit when you’re wrong and you just run away and deflect when it’s pointed out. My favorite technique of his is when he is caught spouting misleading statements, and then tries the superiority dance of “you just don’t understand poor boy, so I win.” Transparent, and a bit funny to watch, really. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/188 "2010-01-29T19:04:11Z")
still waiting for an answer to post 182… But go ahead, please, change the subject some more. And throw in some more ad hominem. I mean, after all, it’s pretty much your only weapons. The only one who even attempted an answer to the question which is at the crux of the OP (except venting, as he hates Fox) was **Kobal**. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/189 "2010-01-29T19:06:54Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > OK I’ll bite: how was what I asked you pre-polarized Ask yourself how casually pairing Daily Kos and the Huffington Post with the Propaganda outlet of the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics migt _possibly_ be an indicator of polarization on your part. If you can come up with an answer, you’re well on your way to understanding the stupidity behind trying to claim being a moderate and pairing those to the right of Howard Dean with Pat Buchanon. You know, if Stalin, Mao, Hitler or Pol Pot were around today and posting on the SDMB, they’d _all_ be claiming to be moderates. Words are cheap, but any observant poster would notice that despite their claims of moderacy, their rhetoric frequently turns radical. Your rhetoric has a decided tendency to match that of the radical right, rather than that of an _actual_ moderate. Let me ask you, do you run afoul of the [Reagan resolution](http://kansasliberty.com/opinions/editorials-from-other-kansas-leaders/others/2010/rnc-reagan-resolution/) on any issues? Do you consider the [unanimous opposition of Republican senators to a return of PayGo](http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00012) to be an affront to their claims of fiscal conservatude? If you are indeed a moderate, can you show us some actual sign of moderation? ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/190 "2010-01-29T19:24:00Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > still waiting for an answer to post 182… > > But go ahead, please, change the subject some more. And throw in some more ad hominem. I mean, after all, it’s pretty much your only weapons. This would be the lying, cowardly, deflection I was talking about. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/191 "2010-01-29T21:24:52Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Ask yourself how casually pairing Daily Kos and the Huffington Post with the Propaganda outlet of the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics migt _possibly_ be an indicator of polarization on your part. OK, let me ask the question again > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **TheSmartestGuyInTheRoom** > In your eyes, is anyone to the right of Howard Dean automatically Pat Buchanan? > > Or to put it another way, can you name 3 conservatives you respect? or 3 conservative ideas you can get behind? ---
**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:** [January 29, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/192 "2010-01-29T21:29:37Z")
> [@](#): > > If you are indeed a moderate, can you show us some actual sign of moderation? Hmmmm, OK: - Pro choice - Against continued OIF - Big fan of Barney Frank (because he’ll make my online poker legal again) - Against 10 commandments, other religious stuff in schools, courts, etc - For the re-importation of pharma (or better yet, let Gov negotiate pharma prices direct) that enough? That puts me solidly in the center, I think. You? ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/193 "2010-01-29T21:39:44Z")
People who watch Fox are more likely to think that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 some, that Obama was not born in the US, that some Republicans voted for the health care bill, and that there were death panels. If you run a news organization that makes people less well informed, then you are either doing it deliberately (what I think) or are a bunch on ignoramuses (I had to look that one up in the dictionary. It was next to czar). ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/194 "2010-01-29T21:43:03Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > Or to put it another way, can you name 3 conservatives you respect? Not addressed to me, but I can’t anymore. I used to respect McCain and George Will, but they have drunk the kool aid. I guess I still respect Olympia Snow, but less and less every day she continues to caucus with the Republicans and enable gridlock. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/195 "2010-01-29T21:46:24Z")
[Fox devotees were the least knowledgeable](http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/international_security_bt/102.php) of all network news watchers about the Iraq war rationalizations. [The stream of lies swallowed whole continues](http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/19/fox-news-viewers-misinformed/) about health care. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/196 "2010-01-29T22:11:48Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > That puts me solidly in the center, I think. Nope, you could still be a birther or some such. I read about those in Pravda. There are lots a ways to be radical while still holding a few centrist beliefs. Is your disdain for those slightly to the left of you, like KOS, and Huffington a sign of a “big ten centrist” or a “little tent centrist”? What the hell is a little tent centrist anyway? Those guys are supposed to get along with other people near them on the political spectrum. You don’t. **DanBlather** : Yes, McCain even voted against PayGo this week. Of course he’s running under 50% approval in AZ, and being primaried from the right, so he’s got to toe the radical line. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/197 "2010-01-29T22:54:16Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Well I certainly feel less bad for making you look like a moron in that watch thread now. 😃 Reminder: > [@](#): > > No harassment of other posters > > If you have a quarrel with a poster in a particular thread, fine. If you follow that poster from thread to thread and attempt to pick fights, that’s harassment and may get you warned or banned. > **[Revised Forum Rules for the BBQ Pit: read this before posting](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=507985)** > > The BBQ Pit is the forum for rants about the outside world or quarrels between posters - often the first turns into the second. Although the standards of discourse are looser than in the other forums, the Pit is NOT a free-for-all - you don’t have to... I think this is the first time you’ve brought up the watch thread, so it probably doesn’t amount to following him around from thread to thread. Yet. Consider this a friendly reminder that the rules prohibit doing that. No warning issued. **Gfactor** Pit Moderator ---
**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:** [January 30, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/198 "2010-01-30T00:11:23Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > There are lots a ways to be radical while still holding a few centrist beliefs. From my perspective, and the perspective of most of the country, you’re the radical. You understand that, right? ---
**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:** [January 30, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/199 "2010-01-30T00:41:54Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > From my perspective, and the perspective of most of the country, you’re the radical. You understand that, right? You understand that argumentum ad populum is a fallacy, no? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580/200 "2010-01-30T00:45:04Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > From my perspective, and the perspective of most of the country, you’re the radical. You understand that, right? I believe that you believe that. We’ve seen since 9/11 that people believe all kinds of different stuff. Lots of folks have belief systems with huge contradictions wrapped into their very structure. Heck, Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann probably see themselves as ‘moderates’. I recall reading in “[How to win friends and influence people](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People)” how Al Capone saw himself as a good, upstanding citzen. Everyone wants to believe in their own virtue, their own ‘moderation.’ Yep, people believe all sorts of crazy stuff, but the mere belief does not make them right. These days, the right desperately wants to believe they’re the ‘silent majority’ . In part, that comes from the insecurity that causes em to be conservatives in the first place, but another big hunk off it comes from realizing how badly they’ve screwed up this past decade. They want so much for that to be invisible that they pretend that it _is_ invisible, and that everyone loves them for being just what they are. Sorry to burst any bubbles, but the so called ‘moderate’ right is still running around in public, downtown, without their pants, and much of the nation knows it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-country-is-fucked-survey-says-fox-now-most-trusted-name-in-news/526580.md?page=11)