Frothing at the mouth liberal tirade against Fox News

charlotte.creativeloafing.com ^ | 6.4.03 | Hal Crowther

[jaime1959]

Fox News is an oxymoron and Cheech and Chong would have made a more credible team of war correspondents than Geraldo Rivera and Ollie North. Neither Saturday Night Live nor the 1973 film Network, Paddy Chayefsky's corrosive satire of TV news, could even approach the comic impact of Geraldo embedded, or of Fox's pariah parade, its mothball fleet of experts who always turn out to be disgraced or indicted Republican refugees. If Ed Meese, Newt Gingrich and Elliott Abrams couldn't fill your sails with mirth, you could count on the recently deposed Viceroy of Virtue and High Regent of Rectitude, my old schoolmate Blackjack Bill Bennett.

With its red-faced, hyperventilating reactionaries and slapstick abuse of lame "liberal" foils who serve them as crash dummies, Fox News could easily be taken as pure entertainment, even as inspired burlesque of the rightwing menagerie. But the problem -- in fact, the serious problem - is that Fox isn't kidding, and brownshirts aren't funny.

Harper's reports that Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly became so infuriated by the son of a 9-ll victim who opposed the war -- "I'm against it and my father would have been against it, too" -- that he cursed the man and even threatened him off-camera. A Fox TV anchor, one Neil Cavuto, celebrated the fall of Baghdad by informing all of us who opposed the war in March, "You were sickening then, you are sickening now." If reports are accurate, these troubled men are neither bad journalists nor even bad actors portraying journalists -- they're mentally unbalanced individuals whose partisan belligerence is pressing them to the brink of psychosis.

But the scariest thing about Fox and Rupert Murdoch, the thing that renders them all fear and no fun in a time of national crisis, is that they channel for the Bush administration as faithfully as if they were on the White House payroll. Like no other substantial media outlet in American history, Fox serves -- voluntarily -- as the propaganda arm of a controversial, manipulative, image-obsessed government. To watch its war coverage for even a minute was to grind your teeth convulsively at each Orwellian repetition of the Newspeak mantra, "Operation Iraqi Freedom." I swear I hate to stoop to Nazi analogies; but if Joseph Goebbels had run his own cable channel, it would have been indistinguishable from Fox News.

[jaime1959]

This is an excerpt from a frothing-at-the-mouth liberal, ranting about Fox News and evil brown-shirted Republican conservatives. I would have posted a BARF ALERT, except that it’s more amusing and pathetic than angering.

[Puppage]

and even threatened him off-camera

Says, WHO?

Hmm, funny but no where is Fox called LIARS.

Just like with Bernard Goldberg's book.....they vilified him endlessly, but NEVER was he called a liar.

Interesting, no?

[Petronski]

I can't find it right now, but this has been posted already. I remember the author's error on the release date of Network, which was 1977, not 1973.

[poet]

"Fox serves -- voluntarily -- as the propaganda arm of a controversial, manipulative, image-obsessed government. To watch its war coverage for even a minute"

What a a-hole this guy is. He doesn't mention cnn, abc or nbc promoting the leftist liberal agenda. Payback is a bitch!

Like all libs, he has his two feet firmly planted in the air,

[cruiserman]

brownshirts aren't funny

I guess he forgot that the Nazis were socialists.

[cwb]

Quote:

"But the scariest thing about Fox and Rupert Murdoch..."

Is that they are kicking the liberals butt. They are exposing the lies and misrepresntations that the liberals have had a monoploy on for over 3 decades. It wasn't Foxnews that exaggerated the quagmires, the fractured supply lines or the looting of Iraq's treasures. It wasn't Foxnews that had to retract or correct misrepresented quotes...nor have they had to reprimand their executives. For a group of people who taut diversity as the cornerstone of liberal ideology, the diverse opinion that is Foxnews is such a threat to these folks. The liberal media meltdown continues...

[RedWhiteBlue]

The ususal rantings of the left. All accusations and ad hominem attacks, but no specifics given with facts that attempt to prove their opinions or observations. As always, a total disconnect between feelings and thoughtful reasoning. Trite, boring, devoid of logic, and totally unconvincing.

[Cyber Ninja]

Mr. Crowther has felt the sting of talented media people who appose his views stating theirs. It is like pouring salt on a slug – frothing. Fox is doing a good job from my point of view, as indicated by this loony-lefty’s rant. He is right about one thing though, Joseph Goebbels was talented. CB^)

[rudypoot]

"...they're mentally unbalanced individuals whose partisan belligerence is pressing them to the brink of psychosis."

And I suppose the author thinks this article is "fair and balanced" too.

[Jeff Gordon]

WARNING!

Set your coffee down before reading this article. Upon encountering the following:
Byrd, nobody's liberal by any stretch of the imagination
I burst out laughing. Unfortunetly, I had a mouth full of coffee. What a mess!

[TC Rider]

Poor Hal, the old, washed up king of the Independent weeklies. I wonder if it bothers Hal that most people pick up the weeklies to see when the next indy film opens and to 'hook up' with other deviants than to slog through his tired prose.

At least Ted Rall has figured out the mentality of the pulp rags and only publishes his cartoons there.

[dfrussell]

Hal Crowther is an old, angry, tired uber-lefty of long standing. He was a staff writer for one of the leftist free rags that were thrown about the Raleigh - Durham - Chapel Hill area for years.

*No* one should take him seriously.

[CaptRon]

Fox serves -- voluntarily -- as the propaganda arm of a controversial, manipulative, image-obsessed government

Was there ever a more image-obsesses administration than the last one?

[paltz]

oh. I get it. This No-name calls Fox a bunch of Nazis. He gets invited on to the O'Reilly Factor to duke it out with Bill and then gets a following there after. How cute.

[alnick]

All accusations and ad hominem attacks, but no specifics given with facts that attempt to prove their opinions or observations.

I haven't heard the one about Cheney doing business with Saddam as late as '99. Liberals are creative little devils, aren't they.

[alnick]

Upon encountering the following: Byrd, nobody's liberal by any stretch of the imagination I burst out laughing. Unfortunetly, I had a mouth full of coffee. What a mess!

That and the idea that Cavuto is bordering on the brink of psychosis. LOL

[gcruse]

and even threatened him off-camera

Says, WHO?

I remember that interview, and O'Reilly was
apoplectic.  He could very well have threatened
the little POS off camera.  So would I have.

[Puppage]

I remember that interview

Oh, so do I. Vividly.

He could very well have threatened the little POS off camera>

That's true, however that fact that it COULD have occured, does not mean it DID, as the poster stated. That's what I was responding to. He seemed to think that in fact HAD occured.

[nutmeg]

This is the same Hal Crowther article I pinged the FoxFan list to a few days ago (Weapons of Mass Stupidity by Hal Crowther - June 4, 2003). This is a different thread from the other one, though.

Pinging again, just in case you missed this priceless leftist screed, plus there are a few new members on the FoxFan ping list.

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent FoxFan list.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!