12.17.2010

Break from Reality...

There's no other way to describe the average Fox "News" viewer's perception of their understanding of the world, versus what they actually know...


 My good friend Chas. D. would suggest that it's not killing nearly enough...



According to the Alternet report

In eight of the nine questions below, Fox News placed first in the percentage of those who were misinformed (they placed second in the question on TARP). That’s a pretty high batting average for journalistic fraud. Here is a list of what Fox News viewers believe that just aint so:
  • 91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
  • 72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
  • 72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
  • 60 percent believe climate change is not occurring
  • 49 percent believe income taxes have gone up
  • 63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
  • 56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout
  • 38 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP
  • 63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear)


That is stultifying stupidity. Right up there with the 7 out of 10 Americans that believe they have an actual, corporeal fallen angel; and the 51% who can name all of the Simpsons but not more than three rights embedded within the First Amendment.

Alternet, not generally known for being a bastion of "fair and balanced" themselves, pretty well sums up how so much disinformation is available in the public's noggins.


Fox News is deliberately misinforming its viewers and it is doing so for a reason. Every issue above is one in which the Republican Party had a vested interest. The GOP benefited from the ignorance that Fox News helped to proliferate. The results were apparent in the election last month as voters based their decisions on demonstrably false information fed to them by Fox News.



1 comment:

  1. I just noted the mother of all Freudian Slips up there where I say "fallen angel" rather than "guardian angel".

    It wasn't intentional, but that makes it cooler. So, I'll just leave my typo in the ole' Google Cache :)

    ReplyDelete