A Toxic Force in Our Political Climate

[George Costanza]

We've watched as Fox News has gone from a conservative-leaning news source to an active political player -- but over the last two years, Fox has taken an even darker turn, aggressively pushing outright lies, over-the-top attacks, conspiracy theories, and heated, violent rhetoric. This sharp turn for the worse is epitomized by Glenn Beck, the self-described "progressive hunter" who paints the network's political adversaries as poisonous threats to freedom, faith and the Constitution.

Beck's falsehoods and dark prophecies of the nation's destruction have already had dangerous consequences. Beck's message inspired Byron Williams to embark on a mission of violence -- an attempt to "start a revolution" by killing staff at progressive organizations, including frequent Beck target the Tides Foundation.

Advertisers who sponsor Fox programming aren't just putting ads on a television network. They're actively paying to support a toxic force in our political climate, enabling the worst kind of incitement and deliberate misinformation.

Thousands of you have signed up to join our campaign to get advertisers to drop Fox. Companies who sponsor Fox need to make a choice. And they need to hear that from you.

So says Media Matters. How say you?

A request - please try and include your thoughts on the ISSUE here, along with the obligatory bashing of Media Matters. Thank you.

 

[Moon]

I don't think it's possible to have a meaningful discussion concerning the attack on one media outlet by another without being able to explore the agenda or motives of the attacker.

 

[Trajan]

these people are still in search of a brain; beck for instance is not Fox NEWS....what a joke this site is, really.

its very simple to simple for those simpletons perhaps- go add up all of nthe viewership nightly for cnn, abc, nbc, cbs, well mslsd too I guess than ad up foxs...the nets etc. have a HUGE advantage, but thats not enough you see, there will be NO opposing views allowed. And of course all of their programming is sweetness and light. buffoons.

 

[masquerade]

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,734,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,720,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,296,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,284,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,244,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,154,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,190,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,087,000
MSNBC O'DONNELL 1,048,000
MSNBC SCHULTZ 724,000
CNNHN GRACE 670,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 628,000
CNN COOPER 591,000
CNN KING 560,000
CNNHN BEHAR 339,000

His ratings are still up there.
Sure, a lot of times he can be doom and gloom, but a toxic force?

 

[George Costanza]

I don't think it's possible to have a meaningful discussion concerning the attack on one media outlet by another without being able to explore the agenda or motives of the attacker.

First post in response. First ad hominem. Congratulations.

 

[George Costanza]

these people are still in search of a brain; beck for instance is not Fox NEWS....what a joke this site is, really.

its very simple to simple for those simpletons perhaps- go add up all of nthe viewership nightly for cnn, abc, nbc, cbs, well mslsd too I guess than ad up foxs...the nets etc. have a HUGE advantage, but thats not enough you see, there will be NO opposing views allowed. And of course all of their programming is sweetness and light. buffoons.

Your argument that since Fox News has a larger viewing audience than the other networks, it must, therefore, be the best network is, well, laughable, I'm sorry to say.

Using that test, country and western music would be far superior to Mozart.

 

[Moon]

I don't think it's possible to have a meaningful discussion concerning the attack on one media outlet by another without being able to explore the agenda or motives of the attacker.

First post in response. First ad hominem. Congratulations.

Please point out the ad hominem in my post.

 

[George Costanza]

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,734,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,720,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,296,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,284,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,244,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,154,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,190,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,087,000
MSNBC O'DONNELL 1,048,000
MSNBC SCHULTZ 724,000
CNNHN GRACE 670,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 628,000
CNN COOPER 591,000
CNN KING 560,000
CNNHN BEHAR 339,000

His ratings are still up there.
Sure, a lot of times he can be doom and gloom, but a toxic force?

Yes, a toxic force. And it precisely BECAUSE his ratings are so far up there, that he is a DANGEROUS toxic force.

Might does not always make right, you know. A large viewing audience only means there are a lot of people who watch him. It says nothing about the content of his show or the intellectual capacity of his audience.

And an example of how Beck's blather is a toxic force is contained right in the OP quote:

Beck's message inspired Byron Williams to embark on a mission of violence -- an attempt to "start a revolution" by killing staff at progressive organizations, including frequent Beck target the Tides Foundation.

 

[George Costanza]

I don't think it's possible to have a meaningful discussion concerning the attack on one media outlet by another without being able to explore the agenda or motives of the attacker.

First post in response. First ad hominem. Congratulations.

Please point out the ad hominem in my post.

You are attacking the source rather than addressing the issue. The issue is whether or not Fox News and Glen Beck are "toxic sources" in today's media. Well, are they? Or are they not? If so, why? If not, why not?

Attacking the "motives" of Media Matters totally avoids any consideration of whether what they are saying is true or not. I could just as easily have left out any reference to Media Matters and just put that quote up there. What would you have done then?

Look up ad hominem - you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

[George Costanza]

beck for instance is not Fox NEWS....

Oh? Last time I looked, that's where his show is located. Fox News. Beck.

Like so much of what Fox News does, it intentionally obscures the line between news reporting and news opinion. I would venture to say that quite a few people equate whatever Beck says to legitimate news reporting even though it obviously is not.

 

[Mad Scientist]

First post in response. First ad hominem. Congratulations.

Please point out the ad hominem in my post.

Attacking the "motives" of Media Matters totally avoids any consideration of whether what they are saying is true or not. I could just as easily have left out any reference to Media Matters and just put that quote up there. What would you have done then?

We'd have asked you where you got it from, THEN you'd have posted the link and source. But you KNEW that Media Matters is a Soros funded, biased Democrat front so you tried to preempt it but it didn't work.

Yes Georgie, the source matters as much as the content itself.

 

[masquerade]

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,734,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,720,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,296,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,284,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,244,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,154,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,190,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,087,000
MSNBC O'DONNELL 1,048,000
MSNBC SCHULTZ 724,000
CNNHN GRACE 670,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 628,000
CNN COOPER 591,000
CNN KING 560,000
CNNHN BEHAR 339,000

His ratings are still up there.
Sure, a lot of times he can be doom and gloom, but a toxic force?

Yes, a toxic force. And it precisely BECAUSE his ratings are so far up there, that he is a DANGEROUS toxic force.

Might does not always make right, you know. A large viewing audience only means there are a lot of people who watch him. It says nothing about the content of his show or the intellectual capacity of his audience.

And an example of how Beck's blather is a toxic force is contained right in the OP quote:

Beck's message inspired Byron Williams to embark on a mission of violence -- an attempt to "start a revolution" by killing staff at progressive organizations, including frequent Beck target the Tides Foundation.

I'm sorry, but I don't blame Beck or his program for one deranged individual hell-bent on starting a revolution. I've watched Beck enough to know he promotes peace, not violence.

 

[Avatar4321]

Fox is a toxic force? What? For sharing an alternate point of view?

And Media matters isn't toxic? Them lying doesn't matter?

The people are corrupted and until we as individuals start getting off our butts and cleaning up our own lives, our politics will continue to be corrupt and destructive.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Like so much of what Fox News does, it intentionally obscures the line between news reporting and news opinion. I would venture to say that quite a few people equate whatever Beck says to legitimate news reporting even though it obviously is not.

Like so much of what Media Matters does, it intentionally obscures the line between news reporting and news opinion. I would venture to say that quite a few people equate whatever Media Matters says to legitimate news reporting even though it obviously is not.

 

[Avatar4321]

I'm sorry, but I don't blame Beck or his program for one deranged individual hell-bent on starting a revolution. I've watched Beck enough to know he promotes peace, not violence.

And they have yet to watch Beck. But that doesn't matter. He exposes their friends. He has to be stopped at any cost.

 

[WillowTree]

We've watched as Fox News has gone from a conservative-leaning news source to an active political player -- but over the last two years, Fox has taken an even darker turn, aggressively pushing outright lies, over-the-top attacks, conspiracy theories, and heated, violent rhetoric. This sharp turn for the worse is epitomized by Glenn Beck, the self-described "progressive hunter" who paints the network's political adversaries as poisonous threats to freedom, faith and the Constitution.

Beck's falsehoods and dark prophecies of the nation's destruction have already had dangerous consequences. Beck's message inspired Byron Williams to embark on a mission of violence -- an attempt to "start a revolution" by killing staff at progressive organizations, including frequent Beck target the Tides Foundation.

Advertisers who sponsor Fox programming aren't just putting ads on a television network. They're actively paying to support a toxic force in our political climate, enabling the worst kind of incitement and deliberate misinformation.

Thousands of you have signed up to join our campaign to get advertisers to drop Fox. Companies who sponsor Fox need to make a choice. And they need to hear that from you.

So says Media Matters. How say you?

A request - please try and include your thoughts on the ISSUE here, along with the obligatory bashing of Media Matters. Thank you.

Have you looked at Media Matters? Without Fox News they'd have nothing to bitch about. Doesn't that give you a clue?

 

[Claudette]

We've watched as Fox News has gone from a conservative-leaning news source to an active political player -- but over the last two years, Fox has taken an even darker turn, aggressively pushing outright lies, over-the-top attacks, conspiracy theories, and heated, violent rhetoric. This sharp turn for the worse is epitomized by Glenn Beck, the self-described "progressive hunter" who paints the network's political adversaries as poisonous threats to freedom, faith and the Constitution.

Beck's falsehoods and dark prophecies of the nation's destruction have already had dangerous consequences. Beck's message inspired Byron Williams to embark on a mission of violence -- an attempt to "start a revolution" by killing staff at progressive organizations, including frequent Beck target the Tides Foundation.

Advertisers who sponsor Fox programming aren't just putting ads on a television network. They're actively paying to support a toxic force in our political climate, enabling the worst kind of incitement and deliberate misinformation.

Thousands of you have signed up to join our campaign to get advertisers to drop Fox. Companies who sponsor Fox need to make a choice. And they need to hear that from you.

So says Media Matters. How say you?

A request - please try and include your thoughts on the ISSUE here, along with the obligatory bashing of Media Matters. Thank you.

Sound like a bunch of bullshit to me.

Don't watch Beck so I can't comment there.

I do however watch FOX. I find them to be much more balanced than the other networks.

I also watch Joe Scarborough on MSNBC.

Tried to watch Chris Matthews and Olberdouche but I can only stand their bs for so long before its bye, bye. I do catch Maddow once in a while.

Used to watch Lou Dobbs and Campbell Brown on CNN.

Since I don't pay attention to MM I won't comment on that either.

 

[Moon]

First post in response. First ad hominem. Congratulations.

Please point out the ad hominem in my post.

You are attacking the source rather than addressing the issue. The issue is whether or not Fox News and Glen Beck are "toxic sources" in today's media. Well, are they? Or are they not? If so, why? If not, why not?

Attacking the "motives" of Media Matters totally avoids any consideration of whether what they are saying is true or not. I could just as easily have left out any reference to Media Matters and just put that quote up there. What would you have done then?

Look up ad hominem - you'll see what I'm talking about.

I'm aware of what ad hominem means, but I haven't attacked anyone. I've seen other hit pieces by Media Matters and I've seen how they take things out of context or completely misrepresent the facts. So yes, their agenda and motives should be considered in any honest discussion about accusations or characterizations they make about one of their usual targets.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

George Soros is on a Jihad against non-State run media: Fox, Beck, Wall Street Journal, the Internet.

Right now he's running a coordinated attack on Fox and Beck through his subsidiaries: Media Matters, MoveOn, Huffington Post, etc.

Thankfully, the First Amendment is bigger than the ravings of a sociopath, no matter how wealthy he might be

 

[George Costanza]

Please point out the ad hominem in my post.

Attacking the "motives" of Media Matters totally avoids any consideration of whether what they are saying is true or not. I could just as easily have left out any reference to Media Matters and just put that quote up there. What would you have done then?

We'd have asked you where you got it from, THEN you'd have posted the link and source. But you KNEW that Media Matters is a Soros funded, biased Democrat front so you tried to preempt it but it didn't work.

Yes Georgie, the source matters as much as the content itself.

Thank you for your opinion. It is wrong, of course, but thank you anyway.

OK - regardless of the source, do you deny the allegations made in the OP? Or do you admit them? It is so easy to simply dismiss something becasue it comes from a source you consider to be inadequate. That way, you can completely avoid discussing the issues raised.

Only cowards hide behind ad hominems. Only cowards take pot shots at the source while refusing to face the issues raised. Surely you are not a coward, are you?