"He also watches Fox News. I have had many conversations with him about his beliefs and how he arrives at them. In a nutshell he sees basically two choices for news and information. Nightly News Dan Rather types saying that in spite of a few little things everything is basically fine in the US. The other choice is the Bill O'Reilly type saying everything is fucked up and it's the fault of NOW, Arabs, Jews, affirmative action, queers, blah, blah, blah. Mike (the UPS drivers name) knows that everything is not fine, it is in fact fucked up. He therefore listens to the talking heads that report that since he knows it to be true."
I thought this was very interesting, but also that you are putting a very optimistic spin on it.
Judging from the big titty TV hits out there...the "I'm mad as hell and I won't take it anymore" shows, the reality shows, the makeover shows, the survivor shows....there is certainly an awareness that something is deeply wrong, but at the same time there is an incapacity or unwillingness to identify the real cuprits. It's not just that O'Reilley is steering everyone wrong, it's that it's way easier to blame NOW or folks on welfare, or minorities, than to blame the ruling class...because most people don't think they have a chance to win against the ruling class. I'm not sure that's exactly how people think, but it sure seems to play out that way.
Joanna