Americans Are Afraid And Ignorant (Please respond to this idiot)

Before the CRTC's decision to allow the Fox News Channel into Canada, there was some speculation about whether conditions might be attached.

I wonder what conditions might possibly apply -- that it be less hilarious? After all the fuss and anticipation, I think most Canadians who are curious about the Fox phenomenon will be a tad disappointed with the alleged news coverage. What they'll see is a lot of blustering and badgering, a good deal of boasting, and not a lot of news. But they will be entertained.

This is, after all, the channel whose star pundit, Bill O'Reilly, referred to this newspaper as the "far-left Toronto Globe and Mail." The same gent (and I use the term advisedly) roused himself to comment on the coverage of Fox News in this paper by declaring, "Hey you pinheads up there, I may be pompous, but at least I'm honest."

Later, when the "pinheads" comment was taken to refer to Canadians, O'Reilly declared he was referring to staff at The Globe, not Canadians. As for me, he called me "a Canadian intellectual." It was meant to be an insult. I was very flattered and amused.

It was all very amusing. But the core of the Fox News attitude and its bullying, often barking-mad pseudo-news style was revealed to everybody earlier this year when Fox News began its mad dance with Canada and Canadians. Bizarrely, it started when remarks in my column came to the attention of O'Reilly and the matter snowballed.

Me, I simply welcomed the possibility of Fox News arriving in Canada, because its biases and bluster are so darn funny. O'Reilly took umbrage and started name-calling. On air, he said of The Globe, "That paper has consistently taken liberal positions on almost every issue."

Over the next few days I was inundated with e-mails from the United States. Most were abusive and some were outrageously so. I was called "a douche nozzle," "a douche bag" and many variations on the theme. I wrote about the mail, pointing out that it was both nasty and unimaginative. This story received some attention in the United States. I began hearing from Americans by the thousands. Most apologized for their fellow citizens, declared their admiration for Canada, and bemoaned the idiocy of Fox News and its supporters.

Next, The New York Times stepped in. Intrigued by the story, the Times wanted to know more. I gave the Times access to the mail I'd received. In a Sunday feature, the Times then chronicled the back-and-forth between O'Reilly and me, and printed examples of the sort of American mail that came my way. The Times provides stories to newspapers around the world, and this story duly went international. Soon, I was hearing from people in Australia, Britain, France and many other countries.

On Fox, O'Reilly mentioned the Times story. Somewhat chastened by the ignorant, poisonous vitriol of his supporters, he tut-tutted about that sort of behaviour. That was it, really. But the upshot was clear: O'Reilly was revealed as a buffoon, and fans of Fox News were shown to be belligerent crackpots.

Can anybody here possibly take Fox News seriously? Hardly. The channel describes itself as "fair and balanced" when it clearly is not. Its other slogan is "We report -- You decide." That, too, is a joke. There isn't much on Fox News that most reasonable people would describe as "reporting." There is an awful lot of talk. There is shouting, bullying and blather. It is all so ostentatiously over-the-top and biased that it's wonderfully funny.

While it's funny, it is also important that we see it. Fox News Channel has easily overtaken CNN as the most-watched news channel in the United States. It didn't achieve that position by being a sober, diligently objective newsgathering operation. It achieved it by adding an operatic quality to the news -- apparently the future of civilization hangs in the balance, and if the Fox News pundits don't get their way, democracy and decency will disappear.

A lot of Americans are afraid of the rest of the world, afraid of change, and ignorant about what happens in other countries. What they want to hear is a news service that agrees with their suspicions and tells them that, basically, people in other countries are stupid and envious of the United States. Fox News does precisely that.

Fox News undoubtedly helped re-elect George W. Bush. In one instance, O'Reilly interviewed Bush and reminded viewers that the President was brave because he had agreed to be interviewed.

In another instance, a report by a Fox News correspondent was posted on the network's website, just after the first presidential debate. The story claimed that John Kerry had boasted about his manicure and described himself as "a metrosexual." The story was bogus; not a word of it was true. Yet, for a time, Fox News presented it as a legitimate report.

Now in Canada, we're not so small-minded, petty and unsophisticated that we'd even consider making an issue about some guy's manicure. Also, we don't hate France. Loathing of France seems to be the bedrock of Fox News.

I've got a funny feeling that it would be a head-slapper of a revelation to the Fox News Channel that Canada is officially a bilingual country and, for many Canadians, French is their first language.

In fact, I've got lots of funny feelings about Fox. It's going to be hilarious to have daily access to its preposterous view of the world.

Nice switch! The only thing that makes the story false us the candidate in question was HOWARD DEAN! So if this guy gets called on it, all he has to do is claim a minor error in identification, not the naked slander he's guilty of if he doesn't get called on it. .

I haven't bothered with Drudge for quite a while ,,, Scroll down on this site

http://www.bourque.org/

Welcome to Free Republic.

People like you are worth your weight in titanium. When I accuse liberals of being like the old communists, I get challenged by some liberal. When I ask them if they would like to defend their actions in front of someone like you, they say no.

63 posted on 11/22/2004 5:59:17 AM PST by Grampa Dave (Writers of hate GW/Christians/ Republicans = GIM members, GAY INFECTED MEDIA!)

64 posted on 11/22/2004 6:03:08 AM PST by Grampa Dave (Writers of hate GW/Christians/ Republicans = GIM members, GAY INFECTED MEDIA!)

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