[lbo-talk] Rolling Stone: How Roger Ailes created Fox News starting in 1968

SA s11131978 at gmail.com
Tue May 31 18:33:53 PDT 2011


On 5/31/2011 9:00 PM, Michael Smith wrote:


> The "corporate elite" is not a monolith.

True.


> Neither group could have cared less about the ADA or the
> "Socialist Party," or given a minute's thought to "pushing"
> these hapless souls anywhere.

True.


> The ADA and the Harringtonites
> were self-pushers, deeply committed to the worship of crackpot
> realism.

Crackpot realism - meaning a Vietnam bug-out and a full-employment guarantee.

Okay, then it sounds like we agree: the development of a strong left in the 60's caused the ADA to shift from stridently anticommunist growth-liberalism to anti-anticommunist Harringtonite socialism. And they pushed themselves, no elite signals necessary.


> No comparison at all. Fox News viewers are nearly all poor
> powerless ignorant shut-ins, stuck in the anal-sadistic
> stage of psychic evolution, enjoying a compensatory TV fantasy
> of tough talk and power-projection. Guys who can afford
> helicopters are generally a rather different breed of cat.

This is venturing onto another subject, but you're really wrong about this. Ironically, this is the standard liberal line about Fox conservatives: they're all poor and ignorant. In reality, they're more affluent and better educated than average. And if you haven't noticed, among the billionaire crowd there are lots of Fox News conservatives. Beyond a shadow of a doubt more of them are Fox News conservatives (e.g., the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Carl Lindner) than ADA or MoveOn liberals (whether of the 1949 or 1969 or 2011 variety).


> Matter of curiosity, SA: How old were you in 1969? I was 21.

I was well into negative territory, but I do study the history of the period as my vocation.

SA



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