FOX News Attempts to Troll Guy at Art Fair

[ErikJ]

Jess Watters World on OReilly yesterday gets trolled while trolling the art fair. They edited out most of the guy's (in bright red jacket) replies. The political part starts at 1:35

FOX News Attempted to Troll Me at ABMB
http://artfcity.com/2015/12/11/fox-news-attempted-to-troll-me-at-abmb/

..................clip

And so I’ll attempt—to the best of my memory’s ability—to transcribe what didn’t make the cut. This is as close to verbatim as I can remember the exchange, including me being awkward:

Jesse Watters: Why do you think the art world tends to lean left, politically?

Me: Because they’re grounded in critical thinking, observation, and discourse.

JW: And the Republicans aren’t?

Me: No. The Republican Party is busy debating whether or not they would kill the baby Hitler but not abort the fetal Hitler. That’s a ‘real’ thing… That they’re actually talking about.

JW: Well, yes… I mean, they’re talking about that…. but not in the actual party debates…. um, anyway, if the left is so good at critical thinking why is there so much income inequality in this country even though we have a Democratic president?

Me: Because we have a right-wing congress that holds actual legislative power and irrationally blocks every attempt at policy.

JW: And you think the right-wing’s policies aren’t better at addressing income inequality and the economy?

Me: What policies? The Tea Party wants a Libertarian Theocracy. The only other country in the world I can think of that has a Libertarian Theocracy is Somalia, whose economy isn’t doing so great.

JW: (Flustered) So what, you think we should just tax the rich more and have Socialism?

Me: Yes, I would say that secular Socialist states are a pretty tried-and-true tactic to improving income inequality. Look around this room, it’s full of people who have more than enough money to spare.

JW: So you think Socialist countries have better economies?

Me: Yes. Compared to Libertarian Theocracies? I would say so.

JW: Really? Socialist countries are doing better than small government?

Me: Compare Sweden and Somalia.

JW: I mean, income inequality is huge there…

Me: In Sweden?

JW: …. I mean, unemployment.

Me: So you think Sweden has worse income inequality than Somalia?

JW: Anyway, Obamacare.

Me: What about Obamacare?

JW: Why doesn’t it work?

Me: It’s not perfect, but it’s working better than the system we had before. This is the first time in my adult life I have health insurance. It could be better, if it hadn’t been gutted by the Republicans in congress.

JW: Well, what if it’s not working out for me?

Me: Really? It seems to be working for you.

JW: Why do you say that?

Me: You seem healthy, you look like you have money. You’ve clearly had a lot of elective cosmetic dentistry.

JW: Uh, thanks. Yeah…. I have a great dentist.

Me: Must be nice.

JW: Anyway, so why do you think Liberals think climate change is a bigger threat than terrorism?

Me: Because it is.

JW: WHAT? How can you say that after 150 people died in Paris last week?

Me: Because climate change kills thousands of people, it will kill millions of people. Look at New Orleans, how many more people died in Katrina than in Paris?

JW: So we never had hurricanes before the Industrial Revolution?

Me: No, that’s a huge simplification. Now we have more frequent hurricanes with greater strength. Do you understand how hurricanes work? Do you know what makes a hurricane?

JW: (Ignoring that question) Anyway, what about ISIS?

Me: Climate change is one of the causes of terrorism. Are you aware that the Syrian civil war was preceded by a record-breaking drought that caused a catastrophic famine? ISIS filled that power vacuum.

JW: Uh, no I wasn’t. I mean, really? Is that real? So you think if we all stop driving SUV there wouldn’t be terrorists?

Me: No, but maybe if you stopped driving SUVs you wouldn’t be supporting oil economies like Saudi Arabia who do fund terrorists.

(At this point the camera man started to laugh and Watters realized he should wrap-up the interview, because a small crowd was forming and filming/agreeing with my responses)

JW: So I guess you agree with the Black Lives Matter protestors.

Me: Uh, if I didn’t agree with the Black Lives Matter protesters, what would my stance be? “Black Lives Don’t Matter”? Are you asking me if I think black lives don’t matter? (This is when I started to lose my temper and more camera phones came out)

JW: No, I mean do you agree with the phrase “Black Lives Matter” or “All Lives Matter”?

Me: (Sarcastically) Oh definitely just Black ones. Fuck white people. And Asians.

(At this point the small crowd that had gathered started laughing)

JW: So why do Black Lives Matter protesters only care when white people kill black people?

Me: WHAT? Are you kidding me? Do you even know what you’re talking about? We marched in the streets demanding justice for the police who murdered Freddie Gray. Half of those officers were black.

JW: Really? I did not know that.

Me: Yeah you seem pretty uninformed about a lot of things.

JW: Yeah I guess this interview is over. Let me ask you this: What do you think would be a great artwork? A bunch of naked Republicans tied up here in the convention center for you people to throw things at?

Me: I’d love to throw things at Republicans but I can’t think of a single one I’d like to see naked.

JW: Not even Rush Limbaugh?

Me: Uh, no.

JW: Do you watch “Watters’ World”?

Me: The Kevin Costner movie about sea level rise?

JW: No, this. This is “Watters’ World” and you’re in it!

Me: Uh okay. Thanks. I’ve never heard of it. I’m really, really curious to see what you can use from this interview. I’d love to see what ends up on your cutting room floor.



Watters looked genuinely embarrassed. I didn’t think they would use any of the interview. But apparently the several seconds of me reacting incredulously to a painting purportedly about “Obama’s ‘red line’ in Syria” were worthwhile television, yet actual political discussion was not.

This is why those of us in the art world tend to swing left—we really are grounded in critical thinking based on observation and intelligent discourse. FOX News doesn’t want to air any of that—they’re content to cover up their own admissions of ignorance with fart sound effects and footage of people wearing “wacky” pants.

Which leads to the most childish aspect of this all—they obviously don’t give a shit about art. They were just there to troll. We don’t go to NASCAR rallies and ask their viewers to defend the intellectual merits of watching cars drive around in circles. And it’s obvious that trolling is what their entire political platform is based on—from absurd questions about fetus Hitler to marching through college campuses with assault weapons to pretending to give a shit about who has sex with who or lives on the wrong side of an imaginary border line. Jesse Watters, if you’re reading this, I want you to know that I’ll always treasure that look of sheepish panic on your face when you shook my hand at the end of our interview. You know you’re full of shit, and you know we know it too.

[byronius]

1. Proudly stupid and cruel.

What a dick.

And Sylvester Stallone makes himself look really, really bad. Pathetic.

Really, what a window into the fuckhead culture.

[juxtaposed]

2. I would pay a lot of money to be in a ring with both those guys!! I know it sounds stupid, but what

fun it would be to deal with a-holes like those two!...
I would be the first on behalf of the Building Trades.. If the Building Trades would let use kick some asshole ass.

[byronius]

3. I have to agree. Guys making money destroying all that is green and good need to be punched.

Right in the nuts. Bill O'Reilly especially. Gutter-minded, vicious enemy of democracy.

[navarth]

4. BAM! POW!

Man I wish I was smart enough to do that. A SPECTACULAR breakdown of this Fox Fool.

Wonderful.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Notice the cheap trick / head-gap of using binary all-or-nothing thinking and framing

Example: If we ALL stop driving suv there would be NO terrorists?

It's a variation on the "Have you stopped beating your wife" question. The damned if you say yes / damned if you say no question.

Don't fall for it in chats with friends and coworkers or debates online or in interviews.

The way to respond to it is to call out the binary thinking / trick trap, and then to say "If the question were properly framed as 'If many of us stopped driving SUVs there would be less terrorism?' then the answer would be Yes."

[WhoIsNumberNone]

6. Ah. Finally it comes clear to me.

At first I was thinking 'What's up with Billo lately?', but now I see; although it sounded at first like he was scolding the excesses of rich people fiddling while Rome burns, but now I see he's actually disparaging the art community for being a bunch of hippies getting millions of dollars for paintings of soup cans, and by extension, the entire political left. The world makes sense again...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. "You’ve clearly had a lot of elective cosmetic dentistry."

You mean he's NEVER been punched in the mouth?

[paleotn]

10. That can be remedied.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding....well partially.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. I'm old enough to remember brass knuckles.

[paleotn]

17. Me too.....

Normally, I'm a very passive guy, but some people make it very difficult to keep my normal persona.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. Try hanging out with Teamsters.

[hibbing]

21. That line killed me, too funny n/t

[underpants]

8. That was a classic tear down

[Spitfire of ATJ]

9. This is also perpetuating the myth that Liberals are all rich while Conservatives are working class.

[paleotn]

11. Outstanding!! Hats off to ya!!

[retrowire]

13. I hope to God this conversation really happened.

You're my hero either way.

[ErikJ]

20. Well he did have lots of witnesses

he said it it attracted a small crowd taking pics.

[Live and Learn]

14. K&R nt

[sonofspy777]

15. F***ing Awesome!

Other words fail.

[BlackM]

16. She's literally too stupid

for TV - with the exception of O'Reilly's show (she's a perfect fit for that level of stupidity).

[Hulk]

19. Such pompous, narcissistic assholes...both of them

Sad part is they think they are so clever, so above it all; when actually they appear like a pair of chortling idiots. So happy with themselves.

Watching the loud mouth bully with dEnnis mIller the other night, I thought sure he was going to load his depends, he was trying so hard to laugh at the word comic who is about as funny as a soup of bor and waters.

Reich wing humor is so sick and lacking.

[Thespian2]

22. Best Line

"You know you’re full of shit, and you know we know it too."

About sums up both O'Really and Wetshispants...

[livingonearth]

23. This just made my day!

I love it! You're right...they were not there for art.

[dembeatle]

24. Waters is a smarmy asshole

Thank you ErikJ

[sulphurdunn]

25. Why is conservative humor never funny,

except as a parody of itself?

[cheapdate]

26. Best thing I've read in a long while! Bravo! Thank you! n/t