What I've Learned From Collecting Stories of People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News

[douglas9]

It was somewhere around the 100th response that my brain turned to mush.

Last week, I devoted an installment of my newsletter Welcome to Hell World to a dozen stories from people who, like me, had close relationships that had been strained or ruined by family members who’d become obsessed with Fox News.

No matter where the stories came from they all featured a few familiar beats: A loved one seemed to have changed over time. Maybe that person was already somewhat conservative to start. Maybe they were apolitical. But at one point or another, they sat down in front of Fox News, found some kind of deep, addictive comfort in the anger and paranoia, and became a different person — someone difficult, if not impossible, to spend time with. The fallout led to failed marriages and estranged parental relationships. For at least one person, it marks the final memory he’ll ever have of his father: “When I found my dad dead in his armchair, fucking Fox News was on the TV,” this reader told me. “It’s likely the last thing he saw. I hate what that channel and conservative talk radio did to my funny, compassionate dad. He spent the last years of his life increasingly angry, bigoted, and paranoid.”


http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/i-gathered-stories-of-people-transformed-by-fox-news.html

[safeinOhio]

1. No living relatives and few friends.

Not one that watches it in my world. Life is good.

[greymattermom]

2. This happened to my brother

who voted for Paul Wellstone. He's 67, retired, and his career has been ok, but not as good as either of his sisters. He thinks of his own pleasure a lot, and he likes to look up skirts. He doesn't "believe in" climate change. Fox tells him that old white men are great. Rinse, repeat. And he can look up skirts while watching. Interesting, though, he likes his own representatives, Amy Klobuchar and Ilhan Omar, so maybe there's hope.

[underpants]

6. Skirts - you nailed it. I was just about to post on that.

Last edited Wed Apr 10, 2019, 01:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Ailes knew what he was doing with his choice of on air "talent" and camera angles. Just above a peek.

O'Reilly was Behind a desk, Hannity is behind a desk, in the 9:00 slot formerly was Megan Kelly and her clear lucite desk. No mystery there.

This is what draws in the old guys and even some younger. When it first came on the air I remember the common take from my friends was that it was biased as hell BUT easy on the eyes. The old guy can sit there "watching news" thinking his wife doesn't know what he's really doing. Then the repetition sets in and they are brainwashed.

[whathehell]

9. "just above a peek"?

Ailes clearly showcased the legs of his attractive female "talent", but the suggestion that one could "peek" up their skirts strains credulity.

[Dustlawyer]

27. The brainwashing is on point!

The Fox News viewers are programmed which explains their loyalty and inability and unwillingness to listen to facts or other opinions.

[calimary]

50. There's one show on there I call "the salad tongs show."

I don’t and WON’T watch Pox Noise - just on principle - but I’ve seen glimpses of that show at times while randomly changing channels.

I don’t know what the real name of the show is, or exactly when it’s on. Nor do I care. But just one glimpse is enough to be revolting to me. You have a set with sofas and the glass coffee table in front of it. There are five “co-hosts”, a man and four women. He sits in the middle. And around him are splayed these glossy women, wearing very tight-fitting, very short sheath dresses or skirts, and they sit, bare legs crossed at the knees, with fancy spike-heeled what we used to call “fuck me” shoes on the ends of all those legs. And the legs aren’t crossed demurely, like the royals sit, legs crossed at the ankles and over to the side. These have the feet wide apart, so from the knees down all you see are these extended salad tongs. Four pairs of ‘em.

And it took only ONE time seeing that to switch on a “and what the hell are they messaging with THAT image?????!?!!?” indignant reaction in me. Literally ALL YOU SAW were those four pairs of legs displayed in wide “v” configurations from locked-together knees down to the fancy-ass shoes at the end of each leg. And they’re always tanned and slink-looking and the skin is always glossy and oiled. And it goes through my mind: “Okay, who are you trying to appeal to? I get it. Horny old men. Right? And just exactly what is being inferred here? The subliminal messaging you’re dishing up with those four fancy pairs of glossy oiled salad tongs... yep. I get it. I know what you’re trying to do here.”

And I’ve gotta say, it leaves me feeling so disgusted and turned off - and PISSED off - that I immediately want to grab a protest sign and find a march somewhere.

[underpants]

57. I know the show you are speaking of

Outnumbered I think is the name.
It’s fairly new and your take is spot on. It’s clearly a leg and profile shot show. I call it the “truckers mudflat” show - the silhouette of a faceless basically nude woman.

It’s very clear the point of the show.

[snort]

72. .

?

[Raster]

80. GAG...

...

[Maraya1969]

74. This

[calimary]

82. Yep. And at least one set of salad tongs must be topped by a sleeveless sheath.

And must be form-fitting.

[whathehell]

7. Please tell him that, should the opportunity present itself

it would be best not to "look up the skirt" of either Amy Kobachar or Ilhan Omar.

[AllaN01Bear]

22. ill bet theyd pop him one .

[whathehell]

23. Yes..

He sounds like a brainless dick.

[HubertHeaver]

43. And right through the TV screen.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I don't listen to nor view any blabbering pundit on any

channel. All 24 by 7 'news' is worthless.

[Butterflylady]

13. Agreed

A lot better for it. I do not know why they keep showing hie evil face, all I know is it makes physically ill looking at him, especially when they show him in the Oval office.

[DownriverDem]

39. Rachel

Rachel is excellent as explaining what is going on.

[Duppers]

67. Even Rachel?

She's outlines details in her nightly verbal firing-squad attacks. Besides, she has great Dem guests.

[sinkingfeeling]

71. No. I will analyze and form my own opinions without the TV.

[Duppers]

73. So, you only read news reports?

And Maddow only reports "opinions"? That's news to many here.

Here's a relevant question: Why do you bother to read and post on DU if you're not interested in anyone else's opinions or analysis?

[starphlo]

76. 24/7 news put cheetolini in

and continue to only talk about him. You have to look elsewhere for what's really going on. Democracy Now is pretty good...although I have been somewhat addicted to watching msnbc. I'm trying to cut the cord. It is all so crazy and I can't tolerate seeing the orange clown.

[Sherman A1]

79. Yup

It is just Infotainment designed to fill airtime between ads for drugs we never knew we needed.

[snowybirdie]

4. I'm the old liberal

And a child and two grandchildren are the Faux watchers! At this point, my child is totally estranged from his parents and siblings. Don't know him anymore. Very painful but I know he's wrong.

[renate]

52. I'm so sorry about the estrangement... that must hurt so much

[ginnyinWI]

5. My dad, too.

A conservative but not very political, he started watching FOX and listening to conservative talk radio after retirement when he got into his 70s. I always wonder if he was only looking for an outlet for his frustration about getting older, or if those outlets caused his negative outlook and anger.

I won't ever know which caused what, but he would get on email and write angry screeds at me and the world. I'm the only one in the family who had switched and started voting Dem. It caused at least one big blowup during the Kerry campaign, and after that things were never the same.

He even went as far as to say he was glad that he was going to die soon when he got into his 80s. Imagine that--being glad you are going to die, because you are convinced that Obama was going to ruin America within 8 months of taking office!

I feel sad that he was victimized in this way, sucked in by people telling him what he wanted to hear. He didn't live until the age of Trump. I wonder if he would have been a MAGA hat wearer and if he would have ever realized his mistake.

[Farmer-Rick]

14. Watching my Uncle die, as he got sicker and sicker, his mind got less and less sharp

He died peacefully and expectedly. But as he approached the golden gates, his mind seemed to have gotten too tired to question authority. Maybe it was his medications, or maybe he was just generally tired.

His was a great logic puzzle whiz. But there at the end he couldn't do them.

But the reason I bring it up is that if he had been exposed to Fox, as if it were real news, during this time, he would have bought it hook line and sinker. I could see how he took people on face value where before he was skeptical of most people's motives. He stopped questioning or examining the world. I think there at the end he might have even believed in a god though all his life he was a proud atheist.

And before he became bed ridden, he was kind of angry. I teased him and called him an angry old man. He would smile and say at his age he had a right to be angry, and get off my lawn....he was 86. I think being angry is a symptom of a tired mind, at least at that age. You are too tired to think through what is happening so you get angry at it. Fox would use that built in anger to their benefit.

But Fox takes advantage of people like him. Whether they are naturally inclined to not question life or if it's caused by injury, disease or medication. Fox cons these people and sucks them into their fantasy world. It's a world where all the questions are answered and all the problems are caused by someone else. Your only real responsibility in this fantasy land is to vote like you are told, Hate...really hate, the people they tell you to hate and don't question their scrambled thinking. Then the world will be perfect, until the next problem.

[ginnyinWI]

15. And anger is often the way men express depression.

My dad was always the jack-of-all-trades who could fix anything, do anything with a lot of energy. Then he got old, diabetic, and because of that depressed. Maybe it was also his meds because he took a lot of them at the end. So more and more it was sitting in the recliner railing at the world those last few years.

To him the world was "right" when white men were in charge. Never a woman or a black man. Fox fed right into his notions. Both he and my mom thought that the world went wrong after WWII when the women didn't want to just go back to their kitchens and raise babies. And black men were best suited to be porters on trains and tap dancers.

[erronis]

34. It makes me scared to get old, tired, cranky, and irritable - a fox viewer

I'm a bit over 70 and think I have a sharpish mind (not a stable genius, tho) but I can sense a bit of slowness and less resilience.

Maybe I'll just turn on Rachel as an antidote.

[DBoon]

53. Fox is just another scam that takes advantage of the elderly

Just like the fake calls pretending to be from Social Security, or the imposter pretending to be a grandchild that needs money

[Collimator]

64. Your description of your uncle reminds me of wasps at the end of Summer.

This was a point that I made to a friend years before Whats-his-face rose up on the political scene.

I was describing what I saw as a rise in the virulence of racist rhetoric. Wasps at the end of summer become even more aggressive than their standard norm. It is almost as though they know that they are dying off. In speaking to my friend, I was trying to take hope in the fact that racists seemed to be louder and uglier because a younger generation was coming along that didn't buy into their ideas.

Part of me still want to hope that the generations to come will set aside such ideas. Whats-his-face made them proud of their hate and anger. It's scary as hell, but the rotting ugliness beneath is clearly displayed. Responding to it without resorting to ugliness oneself is the challenge of our times.

[certainot]

36. you mention talk radio - liberals way overestimate fox's part in this disaster. there are choices

for politics a click away on tv. and fox is not locally coordinated like rw radio to attack local dems and distort and lie about local issues all day like rw radio. it doesn't compare, it's like visual icing on talk radio's lie turd pie.

only talk radio can do the repetition and it's a lot easier when driving and working and doing chores - passive listening catching the same shit over and over from different racist liars.

to get a taste of the alternate reality liberals might check on fox and they turn away in disbelief that it could have any national effect or be believed by anything but an insane minority but they, especially city liberals miss the pervasive national buzz from 1500 think tank-coordinated (now even russian) radio stations with a few hundred ignorant racist liars hiding behind call screeners knowing their jobs are secure as long as they don't cross limbaugh. they can go a lot further than the fax blockheads when it comes to attacking immigrants for instance. and the ad industry keeps paying for it with apathetic advertisers giving up location and timing control for package discounts.

and that buzz is what amplifies feeds and reinforces fox and makes it acceptable. limbaugh and sons effluence gets a block head and a blonde perm.

i'll bet most of the liberals visiting relatives will find the radios in the cars and basement workshops preset to the limbaugh station.

[DownriverDem]

44. My local fox

doesn't attack local Dems. If they did, I would watch another channel.

[certainot]

59. they may weigh in to spread rumors or distort local issues but they can't do anywhere near the

damage the rw radio stations can

[DirtEdonE]

8. They're all being radicalized by fox

fox is the American taliban - a radical terrorist organization disseminating propaganda and helping overthrow democracies around the world.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/03/magazine/rupert-murdoch-fox-news-trump.html

[2naSalit]

24. That's worthy of

it's own OP.

[47of74]

10. Thankfully no one in my family is all that interested in news channels

[lostnfound]

11. Lack of meaning and purpose

Sometimes I think that there’s a crisis of purpose and meaning in the lives of a LOT of Americans.
We need to find a way to connect the untapped strength and abilities of people who WANT to do something useful and purposeful with the big untapped needs of our time: sustainable carbon-neutral lifestyles that are convenient (!) for all, equitable resilient economies for all, mental health and family support for all, justice for all.

I think of trump phenomenon as the “revenge of the D-students.” The d-students (and the c’s, and some of the a’s)...have been experiencing a declining lifestyle for thirty years. They’ve never felt that they were part of something “big”. Chanting at rallies and ranting like fox makes them feel they are revolutionizing the country and thereby giving their life some larger purpose. They think they are taking their country back from the elites and the liberals. It gives them an organizing purpose.

Otherwise they are adrift and without a cultural “home”.

[Woodycall]

21. I've been thinking this for some time.

It's not so much "owning the libs" as "owning the smart people" It goes back to high school or before. People with unstable personalities and those from the left-hand side of the IQ bell curve led and manipulated by sinister white-collar crooks for the crook's benefit. The 3 C's of the modern Republican Party - Criminals, Crazies, and Cretins.

[FailureToCommunicate]

12. So true. I have a neighbor who is otherwise a nice old lady, but she blasts Limbaugh et al

through her open window day and night. She has gotten more and more bitter over the years. It is impossible to talk with her anymore about anything other than the weather (but NOT global climate change of course!)

So sad.

[Blue_Tires]

16. My lifelong best friend's case is slightly different

instead of Fox, the only place he can get his "real" news from is youtube... He starts with Russia Today and the predicative algorithms take him right down the rabbit hole to the more nutty conspiracy "news" channels...

I looked at some of the videos he linked me to and they are surprisingly well-produced in a generally professional manner -- It's no longer a webcam of some dude ranting in his grandma's basement or some public access set with a couple of kitschy chairs and a coffee table... For folks who don't know better (like my friend) by looks and sound alone it could damn near pass for legit news.

[AllaN01Bear]

17. dad was a democrat , left when ronald ray gun left ,

hated ca . moved as far away as possible kingman az deep red state . fox news and rush limburger all the time .

[marybourg]

35. AZ is not a deep red state.

Kirsten Sinema is one of our two senators. And look at our House delegation.

[SWBTATTReg]

18. A shame. People need to turn off the TV and enjoy what time they have away from the TV, games, ...

computer, etc. Join the botanical gardens, do something else. Don't let these time wasters (TV) suck your energy away from you and dictate your life. Instead, you drive the narrative and show them (faux and other time stealers) who is the boss, you!

[defacto7]

41. We've never had a tv in the house, my childen never grew up with one.

My kids read voraciously. I won't go into the long list but I will say that our family can attest to the advantages of being a "no-tv no-cable" house. My kids actually limit their own computer time. We have so many other things to do just by default.

[SWBTATTReg]

49. Wonderful! And one would be amazed how fast time flies when you are doing other ...

things besides watching tv, playing online games, on the computer (unless for work reasons) etc. Life is too full of things to do to just let it go by. Again, good for you!!

[zanana1]

19. I think alot of these people were thinking that way all along.

Then Trump came on the scene and they felt vindicated and "came out" of the conservative closet. I know that my sister did. I hate that we have this "wall" between us.

[extvbroadcaster]

20. CNN history lesson

To understand the FOX influence, look no further than the Gulf Wars. Gulf War I - no FOX. CNN actually said they were a global news network and would report on the war and not take "sides" - unbelievable but true, look it up. Gulf War I was a response to Saddam and his obvious aggression. And after driving Saddam back to Iraq daddy Bush did not want to open that can of worms and left Saddam in power. Next up, Gulf War II. Only now you have Fox. They are waving the flag, all gung ho and USA all the way! What does CNN do? They jump on the bandwagon too, and forget their past "neutral" stance. Meanwhile, there were some voices that questioned the WMD. Phil Donahue, you were right. Even MSNBC could not take the heat and fired him. Now without Fox, would CNN and MSNBC have done a better job? Maybe. Maybe they would have been more questioning without the competitor and the need for ratings (Ted had long lost CNN by then). We will never know. Fox interjected itself into the debate, took a stance, and the other news outlets fell in line. It is a shame what FOX has done to the cable news business.

[marylandblue]

30. Probably did matter, but it's not a new thing

In 1898 newspapers owned by Hearst and Pulitzer ran slanted pro-war articles to sell newspapers and drag America into war

[2naSalit]

25. Subliminal messaging?

I suspect that they are using this technique to hypnotize their followers.

[Codifer]

37. Vance Packard

wrote of this in the late 50s/early 60s.

I can't remember what the title was but the major thrust of it was messaging in advertising. Research into psychological political warfare had been a "thing" for many decades before that. Toss in some "Network", some wrestling and "coochie shows" and there is the core of the faux news carnival.

Just remembered the title, "The Hucksters".

[2naSalit]

38. It used to be against the law to use it too.

Guess not so much anymore. And cable has different rules for such things anyway due to the idea that the term "broadcast" is finite in its application.

[FiveGoodMen]

47. I don't know whether that works or not, but...

1) I'm sure they've looked into it, and...

2) If it does work, they're using it right now.

[Mr Tibbs]

26. This happened to my oldest brother

FOX made him very angry all the time

[Texin]

28. The common thread is the feeling of isolation and feeling irrelevant in the aging population,

and often it manifests in hostility and fear. Of all of these, I honestly believe it's fear that is the single factor that allows them to be brainwashed. They are losing their vitality and physical strength and they've lost their place in a system that values people who work, and they feel that they're just waiting for the inevitable. I think the feeling of isolation and vulnerability makes it very easy to convince that the bogeyman is a threat, and everything that is "other" is the bogeyman.

[Perseus]

29. Great article

The difference though, between Fox and Maddow is that Fox promotes hate, she reports facts. It is not that I am biased, but Maddow even goes to extremes to avoid stories that might be seen as hateful or divisional, Fox makes up crap to foment hate and division.

[greymattermom]

31. My brother lives in Minnesota

and is looking forward to global warming. There is still ice on the lake where he spends his free time. Ice out is a big thing to him, and it will probably happen in May.

[the_sly_pig]

32. I don't need FOX to be paranoid....

Rupert and his Davos friends got together sometime in the 1970’s to determine the fate of the world. This cabal decided there will be ‘have’s and have not’s’.

For their plan to work peaceful religion had to go. You can’t generate hate and mistrust with a peaceful God.

The cabal needed a more docile population. Divisions needed to be created within education. Defunding education became a priority. Melding education and religion would blur the lines between science and faith.

Any organization that revealed the true power of the people must be destroyed. Collective bargaining must not be allowed.

They also needed to weaken the forces of democracy that considered all men equal. The cabal knew that all men are not equal. The beacon of light, the land of opportunity, its principles, with all its faults, must be reduced in global stature along with its allies.

In the immortal words of Lord Baelish, “Chaos is a ladder”.

I could be wrong, but if it walks like a duck......

[Duppers]

69. Bingo!

[ananda]

33. I'm one of those people.

It happened to my dad, who was a fairly reasonable
conservative until after my mom died, and he remarried
a crazy bible thumper.

[LakeArenal]

40. Frank Luntz happened....

I feel he created Fox Talking points.

[yaesu]

42. I broke off all contact with tRumpster relatives & friends over 2 years ago

Don't plan on ever seeing them again. My very progressive parents passed on years ago so I have no interest in keeping caustic relationships going.

[Duppers]

70. Same here....

Except for my brother who is otherwise a sweet person and has helped me out. However, we totally avoid discussing anything political; otherwise, I think we would get dueling pistols and kill each other!! He's a brainwashed, uninformed idiot who has a HUGE amount of misplaced anger.

[Bradshaw3]

45. Great doc by one woman on the brainwashing of her father

Who went from being a kind man to the typical hateful Fox viewer. It is worth watching and will show there is hope for some (probably not most) who get addicted to this sick propaganda:

http://www.thebrainwashingofmydad.com/

[The Genealogist]

46. I don't really have the experience others do

My dad's side is conservative Republican and has been since at least the McCarthy era. They watch FAUX, they listen to the hate radio, but it really just reinforces what they have believed all alomg. My mom's side is Democratic mostly, and just don't watch or listen to all the crap. My stepbrother, especially the elder one, have become more ridiculous. For instance, the elder step is all about the Koch efforts to rewrite the constitution. They don't discuss politics with me any longer.

I think what happens is that you have people who have not lived up to their own expectations or have not gotten in life what they think they deserve. FAUX and hate radio swoop in to provide the reason: people who are not like you are taking what is rightfully yours.

[Aristus]

48. I don't know if my father ever took up watching FOX news, but he sure acted like it.

My father always had a free-floating, unanchored political ideology. He always drifted with the wind. After 9/11, he did a hard turn to the right. He started talking about 'killing all the Arabs' (this despite being stationed in places like Libya and Jordan and developing a solid respect for Arab culture), and strongly supported the War in Iraq.

He finally came back to solid ground after a few years, and I know for a fact that the last Presidential vote he ever cast before dying in 2009 was for Barack Obama.

But still, for a while there, it seemed like someone else was doing his thinking for him...

[CrispyQ]

51. Limbaugh & his ilk appeal to people who feel like they've played by the rules,

but the system as let them down anyway. Limbaugh will point to the uppity women, POC, & gays & say, "They are your problem. They are the reason why the system doesn't work for you anymore."

My mom was a Kennedy democrat and then two decades later she had a run of bad luck, some of it from bad decisions she made, some of it genuinely bad luck. She got a job where they listened to Limbaugh every day on the radio & in 18 months I hardly recognized her. I remember asking my sister if she'd noticed a change in Mom & she said, "It's that crap she listens to at work."

There are huge areas of the country where AM radio is dominated by messages of hate. Fox is just the evil spawn of hate radio. The dems/left have ignored this issue for over 30 years & continue to do so. Until we address this, or at the very least, counter it on our own radio stations with messages of inclusivity, we will never unite this country.

[hunter]

54. Sorry, all television news is FUBAR.

Television is the worst possible medium for daily news because there are parts of our mind that can't distinguish between whatever is on the television and reality; can't distinguish television personalities from someone sitting in the room, or television from horrible things seen out the window.

Television news can't be boring or nobody would watch it. This applies to less commercial news services like PBS or the BBC as well. Every story is edited to provide that bong hit, to keep you sitting there in front of the television. Yes, Fox News is vile, but MSNBC or CNN are still delivering the same sort of couch lock.

It's impossible for television to deliver the news in a fully rational, objective way because it has to appeal to the more irrational parts of the human mind, and it has to do so in a way that little imagination and mental effort is required.

I read all my news. While reading news on the internet I rarely play any embedded videos, and usually it's for things like science news; asteroid fly-bys and such.

For a little over a decade our family television has been a commercial free movie player, DVDs and Netflix, that's all it does. I have no exposure to "traditional" cable or broadcast television and I feel much happier and better informed for that. The only television commercials I see are some of the more clever ones sometimes posted by people here on DU as Youtube videos.

[MosheFeingold]

62. Concur

Except for the weather, they’re all pretty useless.

I just read my news — and read a variety, including some more rational conservative sites (e.g. — the National Review which refused to become a trump robot site).

[hunter]

65. I get my weather on the internet.

I subscribe to https://www.wunderground.com/ so I don't see advertising.

In some weather related catastrophe where the internet goes down I have several radios capable of receiving NOAA broadcasts, but I've got to admit, the usual automated voice is boring!

https://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/info/newvoice.html

When I was a kid these weather broadcasts were actual people.

[MosheFeingold]

66. Well

I've been relocated to the desert southwest by my children/grandchildren who think NYC is a bad place for a nonagenarian to live alone.

We get a local Spanish station, and I admire the female meteorologists, even in my dotage.

[Hassler]

55. I'm glad my dad died before the FOX grip could take hold of him.

He was an angry, right winger even without the cable morons. El Limpo was bad enough. Cable would have made my mom even more miserable. Though, I think his rants are what encouraged her to train for marathons--lots of quiet time away from the house.

[mahina]

56. We got one back. My uncle started drifting into wingerland

Around 2003.

Trump brought him back from Fox.

[GoneOffShore]

58. A longish read, but well worth it. Luckily I don't know any FoxBrain people.

If I did, I would most likely distance myself from them, if not outright punch them.

[tulipsandroses]

60. Thanks for posting

Good read

[ffr]

61. The constant gaslighting is taking a toll on our once great nation.

MAGA at the expense of the majority. How is that MAGA!

[Blue1963]

63. My father was recently hospitalized

with a stroke, my uncle shows up to visit and the first words out of mouth were "Well I can't run for office because OAC says I'm in the Knights of Columbus"! What?!?!?

[yuiyoshida]

68. I hate Fox news...

[Pepsidog]

75. Murdoch and Ailes will burn in hell

[Jake Stern]

77. Have RW relatives but the change that broke my heart the most

Was of my once close friend Jackie. She was a sweet, compassionate woman who came out the other end of 6 years and two Afghanistan tours a die hard Trumper who now rages about "illegal aliens" and "socialistic" Democrats who want to take away her guns.

I don't blame Fox News, I blame the US Army for taking someone so wonderful to be in the presence of and transforming her into a bitter right wing nut job.

[Cosmocat]

78. My mother

She was a JFK Democrat, Hated Reagen with a passion. But really liked Ollie North for some reason, was really big into CNN when cable news first started, about mid-1990s I noticed her watching Fox more.

Took her out to lunch during the 2004 primary, we started talking politics a bit, and she got real angry about how big of an embarrassment Howard Dean was, after the quote scream Scandal unquote. Dean was her kind of democrat, cool like the 60 70s kind of people she had been into. That point I kind of knew she had been lost.

[mwb970]

81. Reminds me of the trump cultists I deal with in various comment sections.

Angry, paranoid, obscene and strikingly immature. They're ALL like this. Fox "News" has clearly negatively affected the mental health of the American public. It is a truly evil organization that destroys lives and threatens our nation. And there is NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.

Great.