I lost my Dad to Fox News...anyone else?

[kirra]

Jan 26, 2015 23:50:27 GMT -5 thinkofthesoldiers said:

Jan 26, 2015 23:41:09 GMT -5 candyland said:

Yes. I read the news and will look online at news sites.

so, what's the difference? If you are informed, then you know the horrors of the world already.

For me, there's a difference between reading it and seeing photographs vs watching video footage. It's not logical, but there's a different emotional impact.

I watched the news when I had cable, but since I have to go online for news now I might as well read it.

[shostakovich]

Jan 27, 2015 7:33:32 GMT -5 stellas said:

I wish we could go back to ethical journalism. There is nowhere to get a clear picture of what's going on in the world today. (Sigh)

PBS News Hour! They are more in depth, and always make a point to interview opposing sides on the more controversial subjects, but everyone remains civil (imagine!). It's all I watch in the evenings now.

[Jalapeñomel]

Jan 27, 2015 8:59:56 GMT -5 TR said:

God, I could send my mom that article and she'd call it the liberal media.

I posted on FB, and I thought I had all the Fox News watchers blocked...but alas, I did not, and this is exactly what one person said, and they also felt insulted that I think this way (I think it was a little too close to home for her).

[stellas]

Jan 27, 2015 8:59:56 GMT -5 TR said:

God, I could send my mom that article and she'd call it the liberal media.

To be fair, it's a giant wad of sensationalist bullshit, just like Fox News.

[aliciaflorrick]

My parents have been on the Fox News train for awhile. It is baffling because they are very intelligent and can't see that there is more to these stories than the channel presents.

[Jalapeñomel]

Jan 27, 2015 8:59:56 GMT -5 TR said:

God, I could send my mom that article and she'd call it the liberal media.

Here is the Father's response!



www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/03/07/gary-lyngar-my-son-is-dead-wrong-about-me-and-fox-news/

[beefcheeks]

After Obama won the last election my conservative Dad "gave up" - stopped watching Fox News, removed the conservative bumper stickers from his car (including the lingering McCain/Palin sticker lol), and swore off political talk radio. He's a lot more pleasant to be around. :-)

[auntie]

Dead on. Sadly.

Dad's 80. This is not the man he was years ago.

[Jalapeñomel]

I know plenty of smart and educated conservatives, and they generally agree that Fox News is the worst.

[dottyblue]

This is my mother. It pisses me off so badly that she has lost her everloving mind and is terrified of the "liberals". She used to be someone I could actually talk to about stuff. Now she just gets mad at me if I don't agree with her stance (Fox/Hannity/Limbaugh) on everything.

She has tried to get me to commit to homeschooling, tea party marches, and to repost all the anti-Obama crap she puts on FB (I blocked her).

[Jalapeñomel]

Jan 27, 2015 10:04:11 GMT -5 dottyblue said:

This is my mother. It pisses me off so badly that she has lost her everloving mind and is terrified of the "liberals". She used to be someone I could actually talk to about stuff. Now she just gets mad at me if I don't agree with her stance (Fox/Hannity/Limbaugh) on everything.

She has tried to get me to commit to homeschooling, tea party marches, and to repost all the anti-Obama crap she puts on FB (I blocked her).

I also blocked my father....I just looked at his FB page, and it's just a bunch of Fox News articles.

[lulu13]

My Dad is the complete opposite. He is very liberal and does not like Fox News. He does crack me up because politics are pretty much the only thing he posts about on FB. He taught government for many years and his inner teacher cannot resist educating everyone on politics. Fortunately he is very well read on it and reads all sides and makes logical arguments. He is 67 years old so he definitely has friends that are Fox News enthusiasts.

[Deleted]

My dad too. Life-long democrat turned republican a few years ago. A few days ago, he actually posted that "Billy" and "Barry" weren't intellectuals, W did just fine and Sarah Palin could do better. I was like, "um Dad--Rhodes scholar and Harvard Law Review; they're scholars." Then he just mutters. And he's got the script of feeling bad for the poor, persecuted white male down. I get a lot has changed in his lifetime, but there's just no talking rationally to him about world events anymore. It's scary and sad to see in action.

[Jalapeñomel]

Jan 27, 2015 11:45:22 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Jan 27, 2015 9:11:29 GMT -5 stellas said:

To be fair, it's a giant wad of sensationalist bullshit, just like Fox News.

I thought it was supposed to be funny!

eta: wait. I missed the half below the advertisement. Got a little too serious down there.

I still think it was supposed to be funny.  


DH's father was a die-hard Republican until they went the way of the super religious, and now, he weeps for the Republican party he once knew and loved. 

[cville]

My grandfather was a Fox News enthusiast (ETA:  except when he thought they were going too soft--for real) who also had alzheimers and was enormously violent (once the disease progressed). He'd always been way right, but I'd respected and loved him always and had SOME things in common. He was transformed entirely first by his Fox News obsession and then again once his disease progressed.


I don't think the sensationalist "it's worse than losing people to debilitating illness" is anything other than gross, but I felt the losses of my grandfather in very similar ways--it was the loss of any ability to connect.  The one was obviously worse than the other, but the upshot was that we didn't know each other anymore.  He would have hated me if I'd been honest about what I thought about the world.  Hated me.

[Jalapeñomel]

Jan 27, 2015 12:00:57 GMT -5 cville said:

My grandfather was a Fox News enthusiast (ETA:  except when he thought they were going too soft--for real) who also had alzheimers and was enormously violent (once the disease progressed). He'd always been way right, but I'd respected and loved him always and had SOME things in common. He was transformed entirely first by his Fox News obsession and then again once his disease progressed.


I don't think the sensationalist "it's worse than losing people to debilitating illness" is anything other than gross, but I felt the losses of my grandfather in very similar ways--it was the loss of any ability to connect.  The one was obviously worse than the other, but the upshot was that we didn't know each other anymore.  He would have hated me if I'd been honest about what I thought about the world.  Hated me.

[starlily]

My parents always voted Democrat, but after 9/11 my dad became a pro-Republican Fox News junkie.

He snapped out of it when Sarah Palin was nominated for VP, changed the damn channel, and started contributing to Obama's campaign.

My mom, who retained her senses those years, gave him so much shit for that phase - lol.

[granthamite]

Jan 27, 2015 7:11:53 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

It just makes me so sad. My dad was once a fun-loving, easy going guy, and that Dad is gone, possibly forever.

Yes, this. My Dad (72) has always been conservative, and Republican most of his life, but he's just so angry and bitter now. Fox is his default station. He comes to my house and turns it on on my TV. At that point I try to find some house project he can help me with or use the excuse that my six year old is in the room and he needs to change the channel. I love my Dad, but hate that he's become exactly what Fox News wanted him to be.

I remember being an early Fox watcher when they were somewhat moderate, but now it just makes me cringe.

[wambam]

Jan 27, 2015 8:31:49 GMT -5 pagas said:

My dad has become quite liberal in his old age. He loves listening to Stephanie Miller.

I nearly just choked.

There's a famous person with that name? 

Well apparently both my married and maiden names are famous.

[WOT?*]

"I Lost My Son to a Raging Liberal Academia."

Go Fox News.

I'd post this but then I'd have to hear it from my mom and my uncle (a history professor at UT Austin) and but thankfully my ILs aren't on FB and my nieces accept my liberal bias to a certain degree.