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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