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This jumped out at me too. To a non-American, it seems like everything that is wrong with American politics: being so unable to empathize with your fellow Ameri

This jumped out at me too. To a non-American, it seems like everything that is wrong with American politics: being so unable to empathize with your fellow Americans that one would treat them as an enemy and refuse to help them in any way.

thatcat 8y ago
If you were familiar with fox news, you would understand that it is mostly propaganda driven content targeting the under educated and elderly.
- jerkstate 8y ago
  The shows named in the article are for entertainment, not information (that's why they need collaborative editing so much - because most of what they're doing is "punching it up" not fact-checking or adding additional factual information). News just happens to be the topic they're riffing on. Jon Stewart admitted as much on Crossfire in 2004, and just last Saturday Night, Michael Che said basically the same thing on Weekend Update while taking down Buzzfeed's latest missteps. Of course there is also a lot of mainstream media (that does purport to be serious news) that is slanted and biased to the point that much of it is misinformation and propaganda and there isn't a whole lot of value. But the comedy news shows are explicitly that - comedy. And at this point, it's rote, saccharine, safe, and played out. Unlike Infowars, which is hilarious and subversive and dangerous all at the same time.
  - thatcat 8y ago
    I'm not sure the distinction between entertainment and news is clearly discernable for those audiences and seems to just use comedy as a platform for a predefined political agenda, more like Bill Mahr than Jon Stewart.
cm2012 8y ago
The genuine con artists on Fox News (Hannity, Tucker) are not the the same thing as the conned viewers.
- chrisco255 8y ago
  Hannity and Tucker are both political commentators / entertainers. They don't claim to be anything but.
justin66 8y ago
> To a non-American, it seems like everything that is wrong with American politics: being so unable to empathize with your fellow Americans that one would treat them as an enemy and refuse to help them in any way. I wonder where you're from, that America seems particularly bad in this regard. Things are noisy in the media here but our politics and the crap surrounding it is quite mild relative to most of the world.
m12k 8y ago
As a non-American, it looks to me like one of the primary reasons why America has become so divided and tribal these days is Fox News. It makes a living selling white working class people their own fear and prejudice back to them in order to get them to vote against their own economic self-interest. I think Fox News is one of the few things in this world that you can hate with a pure heart. Hating its viewers would be different though, and that's not something I would agree with (in fact I think one of Democrat's top priorities should be to fund much better public education in rural states) but I don't think that's what was meant by the quote in the article.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
  You just described the platform strategy of the GOP which is a bigger core issue than Fox News fanning the flames.
  - tomcam 8y ago
    Citation please?
- SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
  I see your understanding of America is vintage 2008. “Fox News is the devil” was brought to you by The Daily Show that got a lot right, but also hid a lot as they transformed from exposing narrative to pushing it. Here is some 2019 for you... FoxNews is probably less biased than CNN. Fox as a whole is fairly Anti-Trump, because Fox as a whole is NeoCon and they are NeverTrumpers. Fox opinion has been dialed back, while MSNBC, CNN, and CBS have been dialed up.
  - gjtorikian 8y ago
    > Fox as a whole is NeoCon and they are NeverTrumpers This is full of shit. Trump regularly appears on Fox and Friends. Hannity regularly talks about or interviews Trump (not to mention sharing the same lawyer). Carlson regularly defends White House policy.
BurningFrog 8y ago
Even refuse to make money from them!
jbkrule 8y ago
Someone doesn't want to profit off of something that they feel is against their own moral code and that becomes "everything that is wrong with American politics"? Wow. So am I to believe you have no concerns with how anything you create is used?
- yellowapple 8y ago
  Personally, given that I release most of my code (and all of the code for which I hold the copyright) under free software licenses, my concerns about how people use the things I create (and who those people are) tend to take a backseat.
rtpg 8y ago
This comment only makes sense in a world where politics are just a personal preference, instead of an power struggle with actual effects on others lives. This position should be as non-controversial as not wanting to sell matches to arsonists.
- darkengine 8y ago
  The trouble with this argument is that both sides agree with it.
- labster 8y ago
  Why not both? Politics are a power struggle with life-and-death consequences, where most people choose leaders based on personal preference and likability.
analogmemory 8y ago
I don't feel that snake oil salesfolk deserve any empathy.
runamok 8y ago
I disagree. If you disagree with an actor's moral/political/ethical/what have you stance you can choose not to engage with them economically as a form of criticism and embargo. Saying 'everyone's money is green' is far more worrying to me...

thatcat 8y ago

If you were familiar with fox news, you would understand that it is mostly propaganda driven content targeting the under educated and elderly.

jerkstate 8y ago
The shows named in the article are for entertainment, not information (that's why they need collaborative editing so much - because most of what they're doing is "punching it up" not fact-checking or adding additional factual information). News just happens to be the topic they're riffing on. Jon Stewart admitted as much on Crossfire in 2004, and just last Saturday Night, Michael Che said basically the same thing on Weekend Update while taking down Buzzfeed's latest missteps. Of course there is also a lot of mainstream media (that does purport to be serious news) that is slanted and biased to the point that much of it is misinformation and propaganda and there isn't a whole lot of value. But the comedy news shows are explicitly that - comedy. And at this point, it's rote, saccharine, safe, and played out. Unlike Infowars, which is hilarious and subversive and dangerous all at the same time.
- thatcat 8y ago
  I'm not sure the distinction between entertainment and news is clearly discernable for those audiences and seems to just use comedy as a platform for a predefined political agenda, more like Bill Mahr than Jon Stewart.

cm2012 8y ago

The genuine con artists on Fox News (Hannity, Tucker) are not the the same thing as the conned viewers.

chrisco255 8y ago
Hannity and Tucker are both political commentators / entertainers. They don't claim to be anything but.

justin66 8y ago

> To a non-American, it seems like everything that is wrong with American politics: being so unable to empathize with your fellow Americans that one would treat them as an enemy and refuse to help them in any way. I wonder where you're from, that America seems particularly bad in this regard. Things are noisy in the media here but our politics and the crap surrounding it is quite mild relative to most of the world.

m12k 8y ago

As a non-American, it looks to me like one of the primary reasons why America has become so divided and tribal these days is Fox News. It makes a living selling white working class people their own fear and prejudice back to them in order to get them to vote against their own economic self-interest. I think Fox News is one of the few things in this world that you can hate with a pure heart. Hating its viewers would be different though, and that's not something I would agree with (in fact I think one of Democrat's top priorities should be to fund much better public education in rural states) but I don't think that's what was meant by the quote in the article.

kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
You just described the platform strategy of the GOP which is a bigger core issue than Fox News fanning the flames.
- tomcam 8y ago
  Citation please?
SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
I see your understanding of America is vintage 2008. “Fox News is the devil” was brought to you by The Daily Show that got a lot right, but also hid a lot as they transformed from exposing narrative to pushing it. Here is some 2019 for you... FoxNews is probably less biased than CNN. Fox as a whole is fairly Anti-Trump, because Fox as a whole is NeoCon and they are NeverTrumpers. Fox opinion has been dialed back, while MSNBC, CNN, and CBS have been dialed up.
- gjtorikian 8y ago
  > Fox as a whole is NeoCon and they are NeverTrumpers This is full of shit. Trump regularly appears on Fox and Friends. Hannity regularly talks about or interviews Trump (not to mention sharing the same lawyer). Carlson regularly defends White House policy.

BurningFrog 8y ago

Even refuse to make money from them!

jbkrule 8y ago

Someone doesn't want to profit off of something that they feel is against their own moral code and that becomes "everything that is wrong with American politics"? Wow. So am I to believe you have no concerns with how anything you create is used?

yellowapple 8y ago
Personally, given that I release most of my code (and all of the code for which I hold the copyright) under free software licenses, my concerns about how people use the things I create (and who those people are) tend to take a backseat.

rtpg 8y ago

This comment only makes sense in a world where politics are just a personal preference, instead of an power struggle with actual effects on others lives. This position should be as non-controversial as not wanting to sell matches to arsonists.

darkengine 8y ago
The trouble with this argument is that both sides agree with it.
labster 8y ago
Why not both? Politics are a power struggle with life-and-death consequences, where most people choose leaders based on personal preference and likability.

analogmemory 8y ago

I don't feel that snake oil salesfolk deserve any empathy.

runamok 8y ago

I disagree. If you disagree with an actor's moral/political/ethical/what have you stance you can choose not to engage with them economically as a form of criticism and embargo. Saying 'everyone's money is green' is far more worrying to me...