Even in Downtown Bellevue ...

Even in Downtown Bellevue …

I spent about six weeks this summer working in Bellevue, in a downtown office building. Bellevue is generally considered to be the conservative wing of the Puget Sound region, affluent and regarded as a bit snobby to its neighbors. So, it came as little surprise to me that in the lounge area of the building lobby there was a television and some recliners with the television stuck on Fox News.

For several days I would walk past the lounge on my way out to lunch and to and from the bus. It struck me as odd that rarely were there any people using the lounge area while Fox News was on. However, one day the channel was changed to the US Open, and a few days later to CNN Headline News, and suddenly there were people using the lounge area and watching television regular like. Bear in mind, this is a financial center type of building in Bellevue. I found this to be a bit out of place given the general perception of who would be working in Bellevue and what Fox News is supposed to represent.

I just can’t watch that channel. I have tried. It is on something called cable, which I do not have, so it has had to be at other times and in other places than at home. I cringe when I see any story that seems leading, regardless of the source. Fox is just not something I can stomach to watch. I would be embarrassed as a conservative.

But, Fox is “Fair and Balanced” ™, just ask them, they’ll tell you. So, it must be true. But, I just can’t seem to get an image out of my mind. I just picture their anchors all giggling off camera every time they have to say that line.

I don’t care if Sean Hannity is to the right, that is his job in a commentary program. He is a prick that equates anyone who is to the left of him with evil. No, a commentator being opinionated is not the point. It is the news coverage itself that is what makes me cringe about Fox News. They have not only catered to the Bush Administration, they have been its mouthpiece. They don’t even pretend any more to be fair and balanced. They hold their own viewers in such low esteem that don’t even pretend to be anything other than what they are. It is amazing just how much utter contempt those in political power on the right have towards their own voters. The right thinks its own voters are stupid. Fox News is laughing at them every day.