Tue
Jun 2 2009
09:19 am
By: Virgil Proudfoot

Keith Olbermann made a good suggestion on his show last night--one that I've already been practicing for some time.

The suggestion: Whenever you're in a public place--a bar, a restaurant, a dentist's or doctor's office--and they've got a TV on showing the Fox Terrorism Promotion Channel, a/k/a "Fox News," ask them very politely to change the channel or to turn it off.

I've done this at my dentist's office, with immediate success, and I plan on doing it elsewhere.

If someone asks why, just tell them that you can't stand idly by while a TV network promotes domestic terrorism; if they refuse to change the channel, take your business elsewhere.

This could lead to a kerfluffle or two, especially in East Tennessee, where the poison of "Fox News" runs through the veins of many a public place, but it might be worth risking a little heat to make a worthwhile statement.

Me's picture

I make this request if CNN

I make this request if CNN or MSNBC is on. The most biased news networks out there. Personally I am glad to see Fox on when I patronize a business. There is a reason Fox News ratings are 3- 4 times larger than any show on the other news networks at just about any given time slot.

gonzone's picture

get a room

If you choose to abuse yourself with that trash, at least try to do it in private so we don't have to watch.

Speaking of bias, does anyone know the single most determinant factor in whether or not a person voted Republican in 2002, 2004 and 2006? [hint, FAUX News fanatic, sorry Rush] How's that for bias?

"If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?"

Brian A.'s picture

Breaking News

Fow News is stupid.

There is a reason Fox News ratings are 3- 4 times larger than any show on the other news networks at just about any given time slot.

Yes, the reason is because it is stupid.

And spare me the network biased stuff. A majority of the Fox News watchers are tuning in because it offers the bias they want to see.

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

Nobody's picture

3/4 of FoxNews is fluff,

3/4 of FoxNews is fluff, which explains why most people watch. Their ratings are also plummeting.

If I see it on in a public place, I ask that the channel be changed.

Mello's picture

McFaux

Anyone notice all the big screens going into McD's and they only broadcast one channel... Faux news...

Andy Axel's picture

M-m-m-mah-my

M-m-m-mah-my payola!

____________________________

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! Special holidays, Sundays and rates!

Terry Troll's picture

Freedom to choose

They don't if you reach up and change the channel. I eat one evening a week at a local McD's. Fox is always on. I get my food walk over change it to Chris Mathews and eat. Since McD is totally run by children (compared to my 60 something) no one ever says anything. Works for me.

adanovi's picture

I turn off EVERYTHING

LOL and I also ask them to turn off CNN and MSNBC and sometimes FOX too. I personally don't understand why freaking TV is everywhere now! It's truly to the point that people are afraid to be alone with their thoughts or to carry on personal conversations.

CNN and MSNBC are as bad to the left, now, and constantly praising a few very important Democrats and have been praising them to stratospheric levels for two years.

adanovi's picture

Keith Olbermann is a

Keith Olbermann is a disgrace and if you believe that CNN is actual news rather than far left-wing infotainment, then you need to turn off all TV, consider what the sources are the your are consuming for your media infotainment, maybe read a slew of different sources including some international papers, and just get out more.

Your own quote "True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite" suggests that you must NOT be happy. Liberals/progressives who point to MSNBC and CNN as bastions for unbiased, real, and substantive news are hypocrites, whether they realize it or not.

Andy Axel's picture

Um, reading is fundamental.

Um, reading is fundamental. The poster is neither a liberal nor is he claiming that CNN is anything approaching left wing.

And if you honestly believe that CNN is "far-left" of any sort, then the term has no meaning.

____________________________

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! Special holidays, Sundays and rates!

gonzone's picture

Perhaps

Perhaps "far-left" means anyone to the left of Dick Cheney?

This is the only explanation I can come up with to justify that statement.

But FAUX News are simply GOP stenographers. Right or left or whatever, they are firmly attached to a political party.

"If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?"

Andy Axel's picture

Since the poster in question

Since the poster in question feels free to hand out reading assignments (quite laughable and completely ignorant considering to whom she was issuing this directive), actual practicing leftism can be found online at places like Counterpunch.org and Zmag.org - and for what it's worth, there is no functional equivalent of the reportage found there on commercial or PEG television.

I stand by what I said earlier - labeling MSNBC or CNN (or, for that matter, Obama) as far-left is meant to strip the term of any meaning.

____________________________

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! Special holidays, Sundays and rates!

adanovi's picture

okay let's think about this

okay let's think about this for just a second. What is the point of a television network? Answer: To get viewers. Well, really it's to get sponsors. How do you get sponsors? You get viewers. How do you get viewers? You appeal to certain demographics and groups of people. Ideology/identity politics is what has been used.

Since Fox News cornered the market on the far right, especially just before and during the Bush years, it only made sense for CNN and MSNBC to increasingly move from a news network to a left-wing infotainment network. It's to make money! You are the pawn off of which the money is made. You are the demographic, the target audience, THE CONSUMER that is being targeted! If you watched any of CNN's coverage from oh about June of 2007 to today and you think they are "fair and balanced" then you are simply living in your little bubble pointing the finger at everyone else and screaming neo-con while you too are engaging in exactly the same activity that you accuse your percieved enemies of doing.

I'll tell you what, why don't we turn off EVERYTHING. TURN OFF THE TV! Besides that is what our president would say, right? Turn off the TV. We can all agree there needs to be less TV watching in this country.

adanovi's picture

Metulj, LOL no there is no

Metulj,
LOL no there is no left wing, just obamites. Same thing

adanovi's picture

So now you're going to use

So now you're going to use that against me. I thought it was interesting that stalin was cited earlier. Some media research has indicated that the Pro-bama media of 2007-2008 was worse than the media of the former soviet union. But, let's see might I offer the following:

1) "slobbering love affair" - just a fun quick read
2) "paranoid nation" - political analysis of politics and major political players.

My question to you as you get ready to hurl your jackhammer at me is: What have you done for the Democratic party lately? I know that I can answer that question for myself with confidence.

I'll tell you what you can do for this party and ALL of her members:
Support the College Democrats at Liberty University.

adanovi's picture

Great Metulj, I can't wait

Great Metulj,
I can't wait to see you helping to clean out the new office, working the yard sale, staffing the tables at the three different events we have coming up, walking in the fourth of July parade in Farragat and then both working and attending Truman Day in August. Have you set up your monthly payment plan to the party? Have you made your donations for the yard sale? These are all things Gloria is in charge of and she needs everyone's help!

BTW I had a lovely lunch one day on campus with an Russian American who talked with me about the work they were doing on the media analysis of 2007-2008 and it's pro-Obama bias.

adanovi's picture

So, let me get this

So, let me get this straight. First you criticize my questioning where CNN and MSNBC lie in the realm of "fair and balanced" while using my position of questioning why we need TV everywhere as some insult to you. Next you tell me that you think Gloria is doing a good job. I provide you with immediate opportunities to help Gloria, whom you openly admit is doing a good job, then you criticize me for "being a good little foot soldier."

Okay, we can all see where you stand.

You like Gloria. I would think you would want to help out Gloria. We also need to be phone calling down our old blue book to clean up information for votebuilder so that our party and candidates can run the strongest campaign possible. Perhaps you would be willing to do phone calling? I expect to be working on that next Thursday and Friday. Maybe you can help me with it.

Just let me know.

Andy Axel's picture

We also need to be phone

We also need to be phone calling down our old blue book to clean up information for votebuilder

Oh, that's just hilarious. Your info still isn't online???

Metulj, meet your coffee-stained index card file, a/k/a the "blue book." Blue-haired book, more like. This is the phone tree that about 90 out of the 95 counties have been running from time immemorial, and many have been holding onto like embedded ticks.

I know that the state party was trying desperately to have information loaded from the voter files from all 95 counties as early as 2000, where they were loading it into some drop-shot Visual FoxPro software (also called VoteBuilder if memory serves, but looks like they may have finally developed an XML backend), but to find out that one of the largest county operations is still working on this effort nine years later? Christ a-mighty.

How many disconnected numbers, deceased individuals, and party dropouts are on that list?

____________________________

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! Special holidays, Sundays and rates!

adanovi's picture

LOL, I've been on

LOL,
I've been on votebuilder, you know that thing that was funded by Terry McAuliffe and implemented by Howard Dean, for over 2 years.

I think you've exposed YOURSELF for EXACTLY what you are. Someone who blogs all day and does NOTHING to help even if the people who are in charge and asking us to do things are the people that you like and support.

GLORIA JOHNSON asked us to make phone calls. Gloria is the party chair that you like, remember? Why don't you get in touch with her and find out what you can do.

jcgrim's picture

"There is a reason Fox News

"There is a reason Fox News ratings are 3- 4 times larger than any show on the other news networks at just about any given time slot."

Snake-oil salesmen draw crowds, too.
jcg

Suz's picture

Tell 'em to turn off Fox

I asked the mgr at McD's on Western Avenue to turn the tv off Fox, but he said he was not "allowed" to change the channel.

adanovi's picture

McDonald's on Broadway

You have to choose the right side of town to watch CNN. McDonald's on Broadway has CNN on all the time.

I say why does McDonald's need TV at all?

adanovi's picture

Why does there have to be a

Why does there have to be a TV in McDonald's at all?

Bbeanster's picture

Why does there have to be a


Why does there have to be a TV in McDonald's at all?

Oh, for chrissakes. It's a Marxist plot orchestrated by Obama to turn Egg McMuffin eaters into commies.

Or mebbe something else.

If you really want to know, seems like you'd call the local McD's franchise and ask somebody who could actually give you an answer, unless, of course, they think you're a loon, in which case they'll make note of your number on caller ID for future reference.

It's hard to even figure out what your damn point is, except you cannot get past your candidate losing the primary lat year. This joint is replete with Democrats of every stripe, kidney and feather, but you're the one who makes my jaw drop with your free-flowing bitterness.

Rachel's picture

Oh, for chrissakes. It's a

Oh, for chrissakes. It's a Marxist plot orchestrated by Obama to turn Egg McMuffin eaters into commies.

Thanks, Bean. I needed a good laugh after watching a 3+ hour Council meeting

Mello's picture

I had to wee....

I had to wee and that big tv caught my eye.

Rachel's picture

MSNBC has three hours of

MSNBC has three hours of liberal content per day. THREE hours. It also has Morning Joe with that raging liberal Joe Scarborough.

CNN has turned into a sorry excuse for a news organization, but left wing they're not. They're not even liberal.

And metulj is right - there is no left wing in the U.S. any more, as my spouse is fond of reminding people. And anybody who equates Obama supporters with the far left starts from a big misunderstanding of where the middle is.

Rachel's picture

ANGELA Merkel. (Yes, I'm

ANGELA Merkel. (Yes, I'm anal-retentive)

JWB's picture

And what would you have...

them watch rather than Fox? Would they be any wiser? Would exposure to biased liberal news make for a smarter electorate? Look at the recent Daily Kos article on BO's approval of mountain top approval projects in WVA. Feel like a sucker? Best to turn it off altogether.

StaceyDiamond's picture

tv's

The Fox folks and Fox lovers think PBS and the NY Times and CNN are evil, it goes both ways, what if your doctor's office or McDee's was showing a PBS documentary or whatever and someone said turn off that commie junk. I'd rather just eat the greasy hamburger or whatever and leave than pick a fight. I guess that's why some businesses play muzak, its too bland to offend.

redmondkr's picture

the one who makes my jaw

the one who makes my jaw drop with your free-flowing bitterness.

And ignorant insults to an esteemed member of this community.


Visit us at:

The Home

Andy Axel's picture

And ignorant insults to an

And ignorant insults to an esteemed member of this community.

Er, co-founder.

____________________________

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! Special holidays, Sundays and rates!

Bbeanster's picture

And ignorant insults to an

And ignorant insults to an esteemed member of this community.

Gawd.
I'd forgotten that little gem.
Barf.

jcgrim's picture

I've been asking business to change the channel for about 2 yrs

especially, when I go to a restaurant & have to sit and look at the lying liars for a long time. The restaurant workers always change it. If you are worried about backlash from others read the following anecdote to show you there's little chance for a backlash (at least hear in East TN):

On Mon of this week my husband was waiting for his Toyota repair at the Clinton Toyota dealership and Fox was on in the TV waiting area. A woman came in a few min after he arrived, saw the TV, and said "I'm not watching this." Walked over & turned on CNN. He said no one in the waiting area said a word. Now there's a woman who knows how to take control of the remote.
jcg

adanovi's picture

LOL It's amazing the vitriol

LOL It's amazing the vitriol posted on here by some people. You all only want a discussion about Fox news. I tried to point out that there is too much TV in our public society, period. Just a few years ago, you could go into a restaurant and eat in peace. Now, there's a TV on every wall. I don't need CNN, FOX, PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, the History Channel, HBO, A&E, ABC Family, AMC, Animal Planet, BBC, BBC America, The Biography Channel, BET, Bravo, ESPN, MTV, or any other channel when I am eating in public (especially), shopping, working on my car, (most recently getting my computer fixed at a computer store), at the bookstore, or anywhere else. It is astonshing to me how much TV has become pervasive in our public society. That was what my comment about McDonald's was about which was the same question I have asked throughout this thread. Why do we need TV at McDonald's? How do I know that the TV at McDonald's on Broadway across the street from Sonic is always on CNN? I know because I use that McDonald's. You have to walk past the area where the TV is in order to walk up to the counter. It's always on CNN. Then there are always families sitting there like drones just watching it without a thought in their head. I like the TV in my apartment. I don't understand why I have to be inundated with television everywhere else. I was first exposed to this phenomenon at UT when music videos constantly played at the cafeteria. Now, they have TV specifically for college campuses pumped into the cafeteria in presidential.

Perhaps I made a mistake, this thread was about filling your head with CNN because you believe it's the real fair and balanced. My argument is why is CNN in your private home not enough?

CathyMcCaughan's picture

If the tv in McDonald's is

If the tv in McDonald's is so upsetting to you, quit going to McDonalds.

adanovi's picture

LOL, okay, the TV in

LOL, okay, the TV in McDonald's is an example. It was brought up earlier in this post that the TV in McDonalds on Western Avenue was on Fox and couldn't be changed. I said that you have to go to the right side of town to find a TV in McDonalds on CNN. I used the McDonald's on Broadway as an EXAMPLE.

I have continually asked the question on here, why do you need TV in every public venue of society, now?

What you and everyone else on here are proving is that you must absolutely must have a TV spewing things into your brain, it's just a matter of which channel you want hard wired in.

CathyMcCaughan's picture

How exactly did I prove that

How exactly did I prove that I need a television on at all times? You complained about the television in McDonalds and I suggested a solution to your dilemma. How does that prove anything?

Andy Axel's picture

I have continually asked the

I have continually asked the question on here, why do you need TV in every public venue of society, now?

Here's a nugget of an answer, which I realize might be a little beyond your ken: your question isn't really all that relevant to the people following this community webspace. Most of the people here that I know are avid readers, consumers of a wide variety of news sources, and most of all, independent and critical thinkers.

You seem really apt at consulting your biases, rather than actually reading what people have said here. It's rather stereotypical n00b behavior, and rather than slowing down and absorbing the vibe of this place, you choose to gripe about the supposed mentality of the herd (or at least the mentality that you firmly believe exists, informed solely by your prejudices).

Don't take this as a parochialist "you're not from around here" attitude, but you're really acting like you're here to dole out lessons without understanding the rhythm of the community.

What you and everyone else on here are proving is that you must absolutely must have a TV spewing things into your brain, it's just a matter of which channel you want hard wired in.

Hogwash. No one is "proving" squat. I haven't seen anyone defending watching corporate news channels, other than to say that they watch Olbermann from time to time.

____________________________

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! Special holidays, Sundays and rates!

BoB W.'s picture

Questions

If you are "continually" asking questions that you know will not yield the answer that you want, then why do you persist?

Andy Axel's picture

Apparently, to continually

Apparently, to continually reinforce the answers that she imagines and to call that "proof" of her point.

____________________________

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! Special holidays, Sundays and rates!

BoB W.'s picture

kerfluffle?

Virgil: I don't know what a kerfluffle is, but if it means the end of FOX, then I'm all for it. I've already complained loudly about FOX being on the TV at the eye surgeons' office that I visit frequently.
Kill the beast.

CannoKorn's picture

Keith Olbermann made a good

Keith Olbermann made a good suggestion on his show last night

So Proudfoot and the 7 other people in the country watching Keith Olbermann's show were asked by Keith to boycott Fox News, his biggest competitor with more viewers that MSNBC and CNN combined? Hmm.

Bbeanster's picture

The TeeVee fare would be the

The TeeVee fare would be the least among my complaints about Mickeyd's.
Hadn't ever thought about this before, but I have lived within three blocks of the McDonald's she's referencing since 1982, and i can count on one hand the number of times I've been inside. For that, my CV system's saying 'Thankyouvurrymuch.'

Nobody's picture

Nothing like liberals and open minds

If you don't like it, try to shut it up. Prefer to use government force. Jesus.

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