FOXNews as a political persuasion in its own right

by phil on Saturday Feb 10, 2007 4:45 PM

I can count on more than two hands the number of liberal friends I have that prefer watching FOXNews. While as FOXNews has been slammed for being biased towards pro-Republican points of view, I believe that FOXNews is a political persuasion in its own right.

For example, anti-anti-Americanism is a tenet of FOXNews politics. It's based on the belief (whether true or not) that we unfairly defer to foreign countries as models for how we should behave. For example, we may look to Europe for inspiration on how to have a more equitable distribution of wealth, and yet, we ignore how much racism there is over there.

Describing FOXNews as something separate from traditional left-right politics is convenient for a couple reasons. For one, it allows me to describe diverse aspects of my political persuasion without referring to Republican or Democrat talking points. For example, the other day, I justified why I have certain disagreements with the Democrats by saying, "See, that's where I'm very FOXNews." This is much preferable, to me, than saying, "See, that's where I'm a Republican."

I think FOXNews has a lock on a particular way of thinking that transcends politics. It's only coincidence that FOXNews is also a Republican mouthpiece. But my prediction is that within eight years, FOXNews will be a mouthpiece for Democrats:

• The Democrats will start to adopt glorious individualism (a FOXNews tenet) as a proxy for populist points of view.
• Nowhere is it more true than on FOXNews that "If it bleeds it leads." But aren't the Democrats the last word in "bleeding heart."
• The Democrats will use family values (yet another FOXNews tenet), as a way of pushing for more government regulation, such as censorship of video game violence.