Fox's pole position on the PPP poll rests solely on one thing: the fact that conservatives are evidently petrified at the thought of having their worldview challenged in any way, shape or form. Therefore, they trust Fox. And only Fox.
Look at the very telling way in which conservatives responded on the issue of trust and American media outlets:
Conservative Trust Of Media Outlets (Yes/No)--PPP Poll 1/26/10
FOX NEWS: 75/13
CNN: 22/60
ABC NEWS: 16/67
NBC NEWS: 15/66
CBS NEWS: 14/68
Contrast those results with those among liberal voters, who seem to lack the near-universal faith in the infallibility of any media outlet that conservatives clearly have for the Fox News brand:
Liberal Trust of Media Outlets (Yes/No)--PPP Poll 1/26/10
NBC NEWS: 64/22
CNN: 63/21
CBS NEWS: 56/29
ABC NEWS: 50/31
FOX NEWS: 26/66
Generally speaking, liberals have more trust than mistrust of media outlets, but nowhere near the lopsided fealty that we see from conservatives. They also, not surprisingly, find Fox News to be the least trusted news source, and by a landslide.
Moderate Trust of Media Outlets (Yes/No)--PPP Poll 1/26/10
CNN: 47/31
NBC NEWS: 44/33
CBS NEWS: 41/33
ABC NEWS: 39/34
FOX NEWS: 33/48
Imagine that.
Let's be clear: with 61% of Americans (liberals made up 14% of the poll, and moderates made up 47%), Fox News is the least trusted name in news. And they are the least trusted outlet by a decisive margin. (Click the title to read the whole report from Daily Kos)
So to break it down, conservatives watch Fox News almost exclusively because they are scared shitless to see what the reality based news outlets might report about the issues. For instance they might accidentally learn that President Obama is not really a Socialist Muslim and that would really harsh their mellow.
However the moderates and liberals look for information from a variety of sources. Because, apparently, their attention span is too short to lap up the mental tapioca pouring out of the Fox cable news network 24 hours a day.
Could the liberals open minded curiosity be considered a deficit in this brave new world of message control and political purity? I mean when the conservatives need to know what to think they go to Fox News to receive their marching orders in seconds. But the liberals and moderates have to STOP and LEARN about the issues, before carefully DECIDING what position to take, and then whether they should carefully CONSIDER doing something in response.
By the time liberals have done all of that the teabaggers have already burned the President in effigy, had six poorly organized protests, and got a guy driving a truck elected to the Senate in a state considered a bastion of liberalism.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This simply reinforces the notion that conservatism is not based upon reality. Conservatism, or at least the hard core teabagger sort, very well might best be viewed as a mental defect. Recent studies have concluded that those who most strongly self identify as conservatives are far “more rigid and closed-minded, less tolerant of ambiguity and less open to new experiences.”
ReplyDeleteBut don’t just take my word for it. Here is an excerpt from the article posted online at PsychCentral.com, published December 20, 2007, entitled “Brains of Liberals, Conservatives May Work Differently”:
“The work, to be reported today in the journal Nature Neuroscience, grew out of decades of previous research suggesting that political orientation is linked to certain personality traits or styles of thinking. A review of that research published in 2003 found that conservatives tend to be more rigid and closed-minded, less tolerant of ambiguity and less open to new experiences. Some of the traits associated with conservatives in that review were decidedly unflattering, including fear, aggression and tolerance of inequality. That evoked outrage from conservative pundits.”
Hmmm. “Fear, aggression and tolerance of inequality,” why those are three of the four pillars of teabaggery. Add “imbecility” and you have the entire matched set.
See the whole article at:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/09/10/brains-of-liberals-conservatives-may-work-differently/1691.html
It stands to reason that those who are devoted acolytes of FauxNews would readily self identify as conservatives. Like GOP Rep. Earle Langrebe of IN who said of Richard Nixon in 1974, today’s conservatives say of FauxNews, “Don't confuse me with facts. I've made up my mind."
In as much as it has been documented that these very conservative folks do not use their brains to the extent that their liberal counterparts do, we can definitely say that conservatives - at least the rabid teabagger sort - are indeed mentally inferior to liberals.
Only morons close their minds to inconvenient truths.
What's that old saying? People and their news sources are like a drunk and a lamp post: they're more interested in support than illumination.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, the suggestion that popularity equates to quality is ludicrous. How many number one hits has Brittany Spears had?
" . . . that would really harsh their mellow" eh? Love that. Thanks. I'd never heard or read that before - ah, it's so nice to learn something new every day, particularly something so cute.
ReplyDeleteAlso - thanks for bringing the statistics to our attention. I agree with your conclusions and comments (as I almost always do - sigh).
How do you think the president did in his State of the Union speech?
ReplyDeletea) great b) fair c) terrible
Guess what 87% voted?
http://www2.foxnews.com/polls/poll_results/bg_results_viewervote.jpg__basic_2666.htm
I am guessing that Fox viewers must have been listening to a different speech than the rest of the nation.
I'm at a total loss trying to come up with a mental image of a single conservative commentator/pundit/news reader/poobah who doesn't constantly wear the same smug mug expression best typified by Hannity, Coulter, Palin and O'Reilly during one of their "clever" rants.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, maybe Glenn Beck is the only one: At least he varies his facial expressions a bit with looks of befuddlement, derangement, sudden fear that he's about to lose control of his bowels, etc.
The FOX Propaganda Channel is modeled after Hitlers use of propaganda in Germany....study the history. Mr. Murdoch knows exactly what he is doing. As long as he and Mr. Ailes are alive they will continue to divide this country with no regret for the outcome. It is up to us to be smarter than they are and to seek the truth.
ReplyDeleteI don't trust the cable Fox News, but our local news on the Fox channel is pretty balanced, with a few exceptions here and there, but I would give them a solid C.
ReplyDeleteI think most people around here just catch the local news programs.
Which reminds me -- A lot of cable companies don't offer MSNBC. Thankfully I have DirecTV.
Gasman, interesting studies. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteFoe Newz is a vacuous, slanted, sometimes downright false and fabricated "news" source. Their fans love it because they are unbelievably gullible, non-thinking, and intellectually challenged. They simply do not want to deal with ridiculously insignificant details like the truth. They like it skewed and distorted. It fills up the echoing emptiness in the skull where the brain would have been. Truth? Ha! Just wired that way, I guess, like the Whore of Babble-on...and on...and on...More incessant whining about how mean and jealous libruls and MSM are of their Quarrelsome Queen. Everybody else, other than Foe Newz, lies, I tell you. They just plain lie!
Now, what is Mandacious, O' Queen of Dumbdumb?
Thanks for doing this post. This should be on HP. We need to get objective, truthful stories out there.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I watched faux news was the last time I watched faux news. I tried to make it through an orushie hour, too, but that never happened. Such distortions and lies make me cringe.
ReplyDeleteAnother great post, Gryphen!
I cannot make myself watch Faux, other than the clips posted here, and even then sometimes I cannot make it all the way through. I have my blood pressure to think of! Excellent article Gasman; thanks for sharing. Yes, please don't confuse them, their minds are already made up!
ReplyDeleteSomeone else posted about this on Huff. The poll was done through landline phones. A large portion are older people who are at home watching TV. Most others get their news from the computer, tv, and various sources not just one channel.
ReplyDeleteI don't trust any of the corporate media.
ReplyDelete