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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Bill Maher Storms Into Washington D.C. and Calls Out Faux News For Polarizing America

bill maher fox news polarized america
Bill Maher made media folks in D.C. uncomfortable by speaking the truth about how Faux News has polarized America.
Video:
Maher said, “I wonder, people always talking about Washington, and politicians can’t get along. I think maybe that it’s the people who are polarized, and the politicians just reflect that, and I feel like the reason the people are so polarized is Faux News. I think of all the things that changed in America, Faux News changed the most. Used to be the John Birch Society came to your door once a year, now they’re in your TV, in your living room everyday, and we don’t even know how to talk to each other. It’s like we have a language barrier, because what they are hearing on Faux News. To sane people, it’s like what? Saul Alinsky, we don’t know who that is.”
Panelist Andrea Mitchell pointed out that the members of Congress are not reflecting the American people. repugican Haley Barbour brought up the wingnut’s favorite media boogeyman, Bill Maher. Jerry Seinfeld said that Maher’s argument would be better if he said that he each side only listens to their own side, and to blame it all on Faux News didn’t seem completely fair.
Maher knocked down the idea that he is opposite of Faux News, “With all due respect, the opposite of Faux News is not really me. It’s MSNBC, which does not get near the ratings of Faux News, because I think there is something in the wingnut brain that wants to hear the same thing over and over, and doing the same thing over and over.”
It is a debatable whether or not Faux News is solely responsible for the polarization in the country. In my view, the country was already polarizing during Bill Clinton’s first term before Faux News was on the air. What is undeniable is that Faux News has moved the media to the lunatic fringe. Faux has injected repugican shrieking points and wingnut conspiracy theories into mainstream political media coverage. Faux News has destroyed the media’s objectivity. Because of Faux, journalists don’t view it as part of their jobs to challenge repugican lies anymore.
Faux News has been able to reinforce and exploit the political polarization in the United States. It is impossible to say with certainty that Faux News started the polarization, but they have definitely reinforced and expanded it. Bill Maher went to D.C., and he discussed something that the mainstream corporate media doesn’t want to hear. The media, led by Faux News, has fed and worsened the political polarization in this country.

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