Christmas in a home without Fox News (Dish Network)

[underpants]

My mom's house. They know that we don't agree politically but there is usually something slipped into the conversation. And yes I usually respond.

This year - no Fox News. CNN is back on the Dish Network and Glenn Beck's The Blaze is being offered without subscription. They think he "has gone over the edge" me:"He's a con man".

We've watched Christmas movies, talked about sports, talked about new babies in the extended families, etc.

My mom at one point said "What do you do for news?" Me: "check out Al Jazeera" (as a joke) but my mom actual had looked into it.

I did have to research "There is a controversy about Winnie the Pooh not wearing pants" - turns out it was one town in Poland.

I love my folks obviously but it is interesting to see them basically without ammo. They simply don't have their daily briefing or have it continually reinforced.

[WhiteTara]

1. hmm, I wonder if over all hate crime rate is down from this? nt

[SheilaT]

2. What do you do for news?

As if Fox is the only possible choice.

Many years ago, in the 1970's, long before cable, I didn't have a TV. One particular friend at work was convinced I must be completely ignorant of what was going on in the world because of that. So he'd sort of quiz me, and to his amazement I generally did know what was going on. He was even more amazed when I demonstrated that I knew all sorts of things about various topics that he had no clue about. That was because I read the local paper (The Washington Post), various magazines, and I read books. Lots of books. Many of which were non-fiction.

There are so very many sources of news and information, and those who own a one-channel (Fox news) TV, and who never read, miss a lot.

These days I also don't have TV and remain pretty well informed about lots of things.

When I'm with family members I'm often bored to a stupor because they are mostly discussing the latest scandal or some reality show. These are also people who are pretty liberal politically, so I don't have to deal too much with right wing ignorance, but it's clear they get most of their view of the world from TV.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. You Read The Newspaper?

What a novel idea!!! Actually back in the 70's and 80's i didn't watch the news except coverage of some major event in the moment. (First Gulf War starting up. Hurricane coverage. That kind of stuff.)

Mostly i read both the Chicago Trib and Sun-Times. I had no doubt i knew what was going on. I even used to write LTTE's that got published.

Quaint, huh?

[SheilaT]

5. Not just quaint, but downright strange these days.

Worse yet, I read the physical print newspaper. Sometimes I do some reading on line, but not that much.

Oh, and I still read print books. No Kindle or Nook for me!

[ProfessorGAC]

15. Weirdo!

Why do you hate america?

[SheilaT]

18. It's much worse than you know.

I don't follow professional sports. I'm indifferent to who may be in the World Series or the Super Bowl. I should be lucky they haven't yet passed laws to deport people like me.

[Jackpine Radical]

26. I don't watch TV & don't follow sports.

People talk about football, I start talking about brain injuries & the shortened lives of our highly-paid gladiators.

[SheilaT]

27. Sometime not long before I had my first child,

I saw a show -- probably on NPR -- profiling two professional football players who'd had they typical short career playing in the NFL. And now these still young men were basically crippled from their injuries. I don't think either one of them could pick up their young children, and they were in constant pain.

I vowed then I'd not want any sons of mine to play football, definitely not at the pro level. I was glad both of my sons turned out too small to play even in high school, and they actually attended a small private school that had soccer but no football.

Older son runs some, younger son runs, hikes, plays ultimate frisbee, and while he recently broke a finger playing that last, neither one has ever done serious damage, for which I'm very grateful.

The only down side to not following sports is that sometimes you don't have anything to talk about with a co-worker, but that's a very small price to pay.

[Jackpine Radical]

28. I guess we use sports and the weather as conversational neutral ground

with people whose political, philosophical or religious sentiments are either unknown or incompatible with ours. It gives us a way to connect on a shallow personal level, and that is no doubt useful.

[world wide wally]

4. Funny this topic should come up today.

Just yesterday, I was thinking about a time before there was cable tv and we had only a choice of 3 national channels and one or two local channels in bigger markets. Yet people were much more informed than they are now.
The national newscasters would all do a half hour news show followed by local news for another half hour. All three channels programmed their news at the same time so if we were watching tv at that time, we were forced to watch the news.
Besides those factors, the news itself was far more honest and informative. Of course, Fox leads the way in dishing out pure propaganda and dumbing down America.

[appalachiablue]

7. Agree. So much better and different then. Higher quality, consistent time so everyone knew what

was going on. Now I regard our news much like the vast amount of other cheaply made, poor quality consumer items - food, household products and clothing- there's a lot of it, but it's mostly JUNK.
For TV news it's Thom Hartmann and Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! programs carried on the FSTV (Free Speech TV) Channel on Dish, and some MSNBC, Bill Moyers on PBS, several international TV news programs.

[appalachiablue]

6. We're Dish subscribers and the best news is the the FSTV (Free Speech TV) Channel, on Dish 9415

here in the metro DC area. FSTV runs the Democracy Now! program with Amy Goodman daily, and Thom Hartmann's daily program, M-F, 12-3pm ET-which is also carried on Pacifica Radio stations and some cable.
TH also has a 1 hour evening program, M-F, 7pm ET, called The Big Picture, shown on RT (Russia Today) news channel from the RT studio in DC where he lives. He's a wealth of information and knowledge, how I learned about DU and more.

Occasionally we watch Al Jazeera, BBC, France 24, evening MSNBC and Bill Moyers on PBS. Very little M$M.
Your family might enjoy another point of view from FSTV if it's carried by Dish in their area. FSTV also shows documentaries and other progressive news.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. +1 “News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.”

“News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.” Lord Northcliffe

[UTUSN]

8. "basically without ammo" - excellent phrasing!1 n/t

[Blanks]

9. I'm more informed than Fox News viewers...

Because sometimes I just sit in a quiet room with no video or sound inputs.

At least I'm not being misinformed when I'm doing that.

[LWolf]

10. I guess I'm just lucky.

Of course, my family is small: my mother, my two grown children, their SOs and extended family, and my grandchild. We certainly don't all agree on religion and politics. But then, we generally are focused on other things when we get together, and don't TALK religion and politics. If someone's extended family member/s are there, and do, my family listens politely and moves on without comment. They've been raised to be okay with differences, and to know how to move around someone who wants to create obstacles at a family gathering.

Nobody in my family discusses tv news or radio; we read our news, and sometimes talk about current events, but are generally more focused on each other, our lives, and our particular interests when we get to spend time together.

An example: we played a trivia game yesterday; the answer to a question had something to do with a Kardashian. Of the 6 people playing, only one knew enough about them to know that they have a tv show. It wasn't me. Half had never heard of them at all.

[hunter]

14. I'm lucky that way too, even with a larger family.

T.V. and Radio "news talk" isn't on the family radar, and it never has been.

The most conservative vs. most liberal, the Catholics vs. Protestants vs. Altruistic Atheist, they simply don't tune into mass media channels.

This Christmas was good compared to some of the Christmases of my childhood which would sometimes end abruptly in extreme religious warfare, people leaving early, wounded physically, mentally, spiritually, much of it originating in the Irish "troubles."

I still carry a lot of Christmas PTSD, but this year the theological storms were very mild.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. Dirty old men everywhere are also missing out on their upskirt videos.

[underpants]

22. Bingo!

That is the whole key to Fox News

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. ....breakin' the law, breakin' the law....

Foxettes On Parade: Is Fox News Breaking The Massachusetts Upskirting Law?

http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=11638&

Keep in mind that their target audience is 70+.

[madokie]

12. 83 at our holiday meal

two weeks ago. We don't talk politics or religion and we all get along great. 9 of us kids that my mother gave birth to still alive. Oldest is 84 youngest is 62

We rent the community center for our get together as we've out grown any of our homes.

[underpants]

20. Wow that sounds great

Sounds like a lot of fun

[madokie]

21. It is

I have to admit that I have grand nieces and nephews, great grand neices and nephews that I don't know anymore. just too many kids to keep up with

Its aways a good time. All my brothers and sisters live close enough that we see each other quiet frequently, like every few days actually. Some of the younger kids I only see occasionally when we run into each other somewhere or for the ones who live a ways away once a year, sometimes twice.

[cascadiance]

16. I'm having to do everything on a cracked cell phone

Visiting my sis and mom for Christmas in Cali. I like having Dish back home, but sis just moved to a new place a few days ago. No television service, no internet. I think I'll need to walk to a place with public wifi soon... it's a long story... About the whole view of the outside world is through this broken cell screen. Can't wait to get back home and be able to use a real keyboard as well. At least my family doesn't have right wingers in it.

[Bluenorthwest]

17. Most Americans don't watch FoxNews at all, they have a small niche market that is larely elderly

So while many people believe Fox has an enormous audience and network news is 'of the past' the fact is that Fox News draws about two million viewers to 'Special Report' at 6pm. Each of the three broadcast networks news hour gets between 6 and 8 million, so about 20 million more people watch the Network news than watch Fox News. Too many Democrats believe Fox press releases and think they have massive viewership. They do not. End of lecture.

[underpants]

19. Fox News is #1 in ratings - yes mostly elderly

The news business is copycat like at other industry so everyone follows #1. Fox News sets the agenda and the news is sadly directed by them.

[47of74]

25. My parents are getting into that age group now

Mom is 68, Dad is 66. They're in pretty good shape - especially Dad since he's been working on a farm for most of his life and is quite physically fit. Even though Faux "News" is on DirecTV neither one of them watches it. They're moderately conservative but not frothing at the mouth teabaggers. The only news they really watch is the local news and maybe ABC or NBC "news."

[Cha]

24. HOw awesomely refreshing for you underpants!