Fox News has lost control of its viewers

[Caliman73]

51. They painted themselves into a corner...

Conservatives love to say that the media has a "liberal bias". To be completely fair and honest, liberalism is by far the dominant worldview and has been since the Enlightenment. The idea of taking in information, testing it against reality (what we can see, touch, taste, feel, etc...) and formulating ideas based on the rights of individuals balanced somewhat with the needs of society, is compelling. That is, unless you have a preconceived and long standing idea of what society should look like based on the monarchical systems of old. That second one is Conservatism.

Thing is, while both systems are not "natural" as Conservatives would have you believe their ideology and structure are, Liberalism tends to benefit most people in ways far superior to Conservatism (which favors the most powerful).

If you are a Conservative, you have already taken a rigid view of the world and you have tried to shoehorn information that does not comport to your worldview, or you have tried to reject it, in order for your world view to function.

Because Liberalism changes as the information on the ground changes, there is more flexibility in the mindset. While liberals do recognize difference in people, in terms of intelligence, strength, talents, etc... the balance is between rights and dignity, with the idea of meritocracy, where people are recognized for excellence. In conservatism, "excellence" is assumed by outcome (if you are wealthy, it is because you are worthy, even if you are scum like Donald Trump).

I disagree with what Marcotte says about "Fox has reshaped itself to appeal to its audiences ugliest desires..." Fox shaped and encouraged those ugliest desires and they did so for money and influence. They are not "victims" here. They absolutely knew what they were doing. When Roger Ailes proposed Fox to Murdoch, it was about money, but it was also in response to how Conservatism had just disgraced itself AGAIN with Nixon's debacle. Ailes and Pat Buchanan said, "Never again" and they were right, to a certain extent. Reagan, Bush Sr., Bush Jr., and Trump clearly broke the laws more than once, and have never been held accountable.

The problem with Conservatism is that once you start moving rightward and incorporating other extremist views (because you have to in order to maintain a coalition of non-wealthy people) you cannot stop. Fascists in Italy and Nazis in Germany realized it (too late). Right wingers here, have not learned that because they have not suffered the destruction and humiliation suffered in Germany and Italy during WWII.