In the video below Glenn Beck cites a litany of cases as examples of how "choice architects have changed your life" through supposedly excessive regulation. This is Fox News, which says that it is fair and balanced. It is anything but fair and balanced.
These are rants not journalism.
Since its 1996 launch, Fox has become a central hub of the conservative movement's well-oiled media machine. Together with the GOP organization and its satellite think tanks and advocacy groups, this network of fiercely partisan outlets--such as the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal editorial page and conservative talk-radio shows like Rush Limbaugh's--forms a highly effective right-wing echo chamber where GOP-friendly news stories can be promoted, repeated and amplified. Fox knows how to play this game better than anyone.
| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 10:05 PM | Permalink
The sad thing is that Beck has been conclusively revealed as a grifter and a charlatan, even down to demonstrations of how he makes himself cry to order on television. Yet millions still adore him as some kind of genuine man of the people motivated by nothing but love of country. I saw the same phenomenon at first hand on the NSW North Coast with respect to Pauline Hanson.
"...millions still adore him as some kind of genuine man of the people..."
People adore these loons because they WANT TO adore them. The need.... really need... some loud, opinionated, high-profile figure to speak out for them. They NEED someone to articulate their bigotry, pettiness and sense of victimhood. They NEED someone to tell them where to direct their anger. They NEED someone to tell them it's okay to feel confused and frustrated.
But, most of all, they NEED someone to assure them that it's okay to be angry... about BEING REALLY ANGRY!
What they DON'T need is some tree-hugging egghead who just deals in facts.
"As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities" ~Voltaire
Sadly, that high-profile tosser SHOULD be taken seriously. It's only a matter of time before one of his deluded "fans" takes things too far.