Dec.05

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Why Do People Watch Fox "News"?

Fox "News" doesn't actually have a lot of actual news on it, so why do millions of people watch it? Psychologist Michael Bader, who doesn't agree with anything said on Fox, actually watched Fox for a month to try to understand why it is the most popular cable network. He wrote up his findings on Salon, which is as far to the left as Fox is to the right (but that doesn't really negate his observations).

According to Bader, almost everything on Fox revolves around one or more of these seven deadly sins:

1. Illegal aliens are flooding the country and pose a threat to everyone else.
2. Democratic-run cities are exploding with homelessness and violent crime.
3. The FBI and DoJ have been weaponized to persecute conservatives, especially Donald Trump.
4. Joe and Hunter Biden are gangsters who have surrendered to America's enemy, China.
5. Gender-affirming care is a ghoulish form of castration and butchery.
6. Schools are making kids feel guilty about America's history of racism, sexism, and homophobia.
7. Poor people want free goodies and the government is giving it to them.

There are a few more, like the climate change hoax, but these are the biggies. The common threads running through all of them are fear and envy, two powerful emotions that cannot be combatted with mere facts. Many people feel powerless in their own lives. This is what they see. Prices are going up and their wages are not. Social changes that they consider not only immoral but preposterous are considered to be progress. The media are telling them that driving the SUV they are struggling to pay for will destroy the planet. Crime appears to be everywhere. The government hates people like them. The list goes on.

Naturally they try to understand how this is happening. Fox tells them. It is the liberal elite/deep state/Democrats who want all these things and they are powerful enough to force their views on decent hard-working Americans who don't want them. They are outraged and bitter. Fox very intentionally keeps them outraged and bitter. It is addicting to be a perpetual victim with none of your troubles being your own fault. At the same time, viewers are envious of all the material and other advantages the liberal elites and immigrants are said to enjoy.

With this story repeated hour after hour and day after day, viewers become furious. Other networks, like CNN and MSNBC, don't feed their victimhood at all. They don't even recognize it. Then when Donald Trump comes along and says: "I understand how you feel and I can fix the system so it doesn't screw you anymore," they respond to him and forgive his many sins since only he understands they are not deplorables, but the salt of the earth. (V)