I guess it depends which show though. I know most staunch libertarians could care less about the ideological propaganda spread across cable television and most of the analysis is empty and hollow. But actually, for me, it is a little more fun seeing it from the perspective that it is a load of bullshit.
I mostly watch Fox News because I grew into that habit when I used to be a conservative. I am still a loyal viewer of The O’Reilly Factor even though I think O’Reilly is a buffoon (and to think I used to admire him ). At any rate, the hard news coverage is just a tad better in my opinion, but it is pretty negligible across the board. Nobody is talking about anything substantiative. But for instance, the reportage on the Arizona Bill has been accurate. Not that I like border enforcement, but if you’re going to grant the legtitimacy of the State, then grant the legitimacy of the welfare state, I guess it makes sense to limit those benefits to citizens. At any rate, there is no inherent racial profiling in the bill and I think Fox has been good on that.
Okay, that was a tangent. But whenever I’m watching Fox News and a piece of their right-wing bias comes through I just tell myself, “oh, that was biased.” Even though the analysis is vapid, I do have to have some clue of what my government is doing so I’m kind of forced to watch the news semi-regularly. Do you guys watch the news at all and, if forced to choose, which mainstream outlet do you prefer?
I can’t stand mainstream news, so I do not watch them, I don’t watch tv at all. I sometimes read my local news on the internet, but I really have to be in a mazochistic mood to do that.
I also flick to Fox News sometimes for a bit of a laugh, but I can’t take more than about ten minutes of someone like O’Reilly or Beck before I get a headache.
The other mainstream news channels are dead boring, aside from anything else. At least Fox adds a bit of flare and a sense of impending doom to your daily dose of propaganda.
I find myself more addicted to MSNBC just because its like being immersed in an episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. I wind up talking to myself while watching the bizarro world of Chris Matthews or Ed Schultz. It’s like a bad car wreck -revolting yet I can’t look away.
When a Republican is in the White House, I’ll watch Fox News for the same effect.
Caley, it doesn’t. That’s why I said IF you grant the legitimacy of States, then I guess people in the State may find illegal immigration to be an issue because it violates the “law of the land.” The reason it’s the “law of the land” has mostly to do with welfare benefits that the people can’t afford, but it also has to do with their irrational fear of illegal immigrant crime (which is not that high relative to their population).
I watch Stossel and Freedom Watch. Does that count?
I used to watch FOX and MSNBC because CNN is just too boring.
Glenn Beck-Makes a good point sometimes but other times he’s just too loud, redundant, and chalkboardy. And he calls himself a libertarian, but he’s not. Very capitalist though.
O’Reilly-Good guy but he’s too much of a neocon.
Hannity-Can’t stand him. “America is great. Bush is great. Liberals are worse than terrorists.”
Keith Olbermann-Idiot douchebag. Most stubbornly biased guy out there.
Rachael Maddow-Thought she was pretty entertaining a few times but then I got bored of her brainwashing strategies. “Blah blah blah, FOX news, blah blah blah, this is what the right does.”
And yes I know that these aren’t the actual news shows but they are the most distinct ones.
Oh I agree definitely with that. Beck strikes me as “mildly loony” if that description applies, but every so often when has somebody from Cato or Mises or recommends an Austrian book, he does do libertarianism some good. I agree on O’Reilly that if you actually watch his show, he isn’t nearly as arrogant as his infamous clips on Youtube would suggest. Maddow doesn’t talk about much that interests me and like you said, Olbermann is a giant douche.
Chris Matthews from Hardball is probably the best of the worst statist newscasters, mainly because his show is called Hardball but it seems to me that it is only hardball for the republicans, and sometimes it doesn’t even seem that hardball-y at all.
That Olbermann guy got it all wrong - you won’t convince Texans to stay by listing all the government agencies the federal government has to offer . Lol