I have been wondering about something the past couple of days.

Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch weren't controlling a lot of what gets broadcast.

for way too many folks. I also think that far too many people do not feel the need to go any where else for their news thus continually reinforcing their innate racism and actual hatred for anyone espousing even the slightest so called liberal positions on issues.

I can't say Fox is solely responsible for the rightward tilt ( jolt really ) but it sure is a clearing house for RW talking points.

I like this:

"some people do not feel the need to go any where else for their news thus continually reinforcing their innate racism and actual hatred for anyone espousing even the slightest so called liberal positions on issues"

As it happens, I'm just back from a vacation visiting some family and their friends, most of them hard-right wingers; so it's still fresh in my mind. That quote is the exact dynamic that I noticed. Their opposition/other side/boogeyman doesn't reflect reality at all: They're all caricatures formulated inside their bubble...and boy do they feel besieged. They're out of touch and don't even know it because the confirmation bias from watching Fox steels their resolve all the more. They're going to get their collective asses kicked in 2016 ( as they did in 2008 & 2012 ) and still think everyone else in the country is crazy but them.

They've changed. They have become paranoid and suspicious. They hate -- yes, truly hate! -- everyone who thinks or looks different, and it's getting so hard to have any sort of normal conversation with them. They've acquired guns, lots of guns. They talk about god, but it's a god with a machine gun. They believe every conspiracy theory without question. Facts are dismissed as leftist lies, I don't even mention evolution, or global warming. They think the federal government is unnecessary, they want local rule, describing something like the city-states of ancient Greece. The only thing they want to pay for is the military.

They weren't always like this, but the one common denominator they all share is their obsession with Fox news. They've all been brainwashed and there's nothing I can do about it, but it's a tragedy and it just makes me weep.

The divide was crossed under Reagan.

The "Reagan Revolution" made it politically and socially acceptable and even virtuous (for some) to hate.

Confirmation bias at its finest.
If the news or news organizations supports my view, then it is a well thought out and proper report.

If it goes against what I believe, then it's biased and wrong for the world.

Honestly I think talk radio is far worse than Fox and a lot more people are exposed to it than watch Fox.

Fox is mild compared to the stuff on AM hate radio all day every day.