You could probably tell reliably how people will vote by asking them about their favorite news source.
Our MAGA friends, of course, are locked into the Fox channel – its name "Fox News" is as misleading as the slogan they used to use: "Fair and Balanced." They were never fair, always extremely unbalanced, and they seldom do actual news. When lies are built into your channel's very name and slogan, there is little good to expect from its general content. Note that this is the channel whose whole business model is to make lots of money by making people angry and afraid. It's working for them; they are making lots of money. I hope it's not working on you or those you love. Being continuously angry and afraid is not a pleasant way to live.
Remember too, that they are the only news channel that had to pay a fine approaching a billion dollars because they knowingly lied to their viewers. And they had to admit that in court, pleading guilty before a trial could start for fear that, if they didn't, even more incriminating information would become public at the trial.
I try from time to time to watch the Fox channel to see what they are doing, but give up quickly, since I easily identify five lies in the first 10 minutes – or is it 10 lies in the first five minutes?
But for some it's even worse. At FarmFest I spoke to a MAGA supporter and suggested he was hooked on the Fox channel. Oh, no! he said, they are too liberal. He gets his "news" from sources even farther right. I suspect if it's from some internet site named "Patriot something-or-other," the chances are good that it's coming straight from some guy sitting in the basement of the Kremlin making stuff up that's intended to distress the American electorate.
It may be impossible to convince these people how much happier their lives would be if they could get themselves away from those "news" sources. They go there to get the messages that they love to hear, and sadly they are messages of rage, fear, and hate. What kind of people is MAGA turning them into? These are nice people, our friends and neighbors. I am deeply concerned about them.
To be sure, the other news sources – CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, BBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and others – are not perfect, but unlike Fox they don't just make stuff up; they generally follow the principles of good journalism (which I taught in college media/journalism classes for many years), and if they mess up badly they try to make corrections. We news consumers just need to use our "principles of good sense" to judge the sources and tell truth from lies.
There are lots of lies out there, so this is not easy work. But if you have loved ones hooked on the sources of the lies, you can do them a big favor, performing an act not only of love but of patriotism, by nudging them to get off the Fox channel. That would not only increase their happiness and well-being, but it would be good for our country.
Bình luận