Monte wrote:
So, in your opinion, Fox News does not commonly lie to their viewers or distort facts?
This speaks somewhat to the disconnect that you experience with others. First of all, simply because you believe something to be true, does not mean that opposing (or orthogonal) views have to be untrue. Nor does it mean that what you believe to be true is actually that. Your particular brand of reasoning seems to revolve around what you feel. This tends to be at odds with the brand of reasoning that involves careful consideration. There is a good reason the brain does the thinking, and the gut does the digesting. What you contend, sometimes vociferously, to be true or false often has problems. Many times, you start with both a theory and a conclusion, and then find some intervening steps that link the two, often rather tenuously. Like the above, you are starting with the conclusion that Fox commonly engages in deceptive practices. Unspoken but implicit, due to the tone, is that they do so willingly and with malice aforethought. You left that out of your question, because you are trying to force others to agree with you. What you are hoping to have happen is that someone will say "Yes, but..." so that you can cut them off (a least as much as is possible in this venue where they're going to get their entire thought out whether you want them to or not) and crow about the point you scored. But that aside, you have your conclusion already. What you don't know about your conclusion is where the devil lies. What is being deemed misinformation? Why is it being deemed misinformation? Does that analysis hold up to scrutiny? If it's a valid analysis, how valid? And so on and so forth. All details that you, in your rush to judgment, are ignorant of, and probably uncaring of. Let us imagine a scenario. On the one hand is a proponent of an ideal that you hold dear. On the other is the opponent. Both present compelling cases in support of their view. Let us further suppose that the parties in the disagreement are equally credentialed, have put in equal time on their cases, and have equally valid corroboration. Do you choose to believe one over the other, or do you think that this particular ideal may have a degree of uncertainty involved? If you choose to believe one over the other, do you castigate those who accept the opposing view? What if the evidence shifts one way or the other to some degree? If it shifts to the opposition, at what point, if ever, do you accept that trend?