Won't FOX be surprised as hell when all that the bombings do is make the majority of Britons even surer that they need to leave Iraq and concentrate on getting Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

The sickest thing about it is that its so predictable. Fox News exists precisely to exploit serious news stories into precisely the sort of too-soon-to-know, knee-jerk, emotional reactions instead of providing the analysis and information necessary to get past such initial reactions.

Its the opposite of news.

Its also full of people who don't have any experience or desire to be news reporters; no knowledge on which to draw; no skills for research or analysis.

So when an unscripted event takes place, they are sure to provide the sort of idiotic gut reactions that most people cringe when they hear from their in-laws or doddering uncle at a family reunion.

to unlock the motive

the thing that bothers me is that so many right wingers depend on Faux News for all their news.

Yesterday morning I caught Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC re the London bombings saying that she thought in her poll-of-one opinion that the bombings would play to Bush's strengths and increase his poll ratings.  She also said that she believed that the bombings would increase support for the war in Iraq.  Who know?  Maybe they will, but it seems rather heartless to focus on Bush's poll ratings on the day of the bombings.

And why are her personal opinions considered news anyway?

I could not find a transcript, so this is from memory, but it was unbelievable.  It's not only Fox News.

We fail, so we suceeded. We are losing the war in Iraq so it protects us from the terrorist domestically. The attack yesterday, almost 4 years after 09/11, of UK civilians shows that the liberals should have supported us. The attack yesterday shows that we were right about the Islamofascist, and, therefore, our policies were right. People are brought together by fear.

Which of the prior statements is Orwellian? It's a trick question.

Andrew Sullivan has been wetting in his pants from this since he first heard about it. I mean he seems giddy about it. Fear is the great motivator I guess for what he claims is the modern conservatives, which he claims is not like the Christo-conservatives, but oddly enough, they act the same way.

Meanwhile, better policies are not being made. And the terrorists continue to terrorize. I will attempt my own form of Orwellian logic: They terrorize us, because we want to be terroized. We can feel justified in not having to think through our policies.

 Whatever their motives are, one result of this type of coverage is that anyone besides American citizens- the French, British Muslims, Europeans, "etc.",- become increasingly dehumanized by their regular viewers. It's a deliberate manipulation. If you see other people as, well, not as people, it's easier to get behind (or at least ignore) policies that cause them harm, or to simply be indifferent to their existence. It worked for the Nazi's quite well.
 Not to belabor the obvious, but the Mainstream Media, led by Faux, is simply out of control.
 We should make identifying possible solutions to these problems an automatic response after identifying them. What is needed here is a well publicized boycott of their advertisers' products and services.  

Fox, and MSNBC, show themselves to be shallow, self-involved, hypocritical, mean spirited, self serving, demonizing propagandists and you're surprised?

What did you expect them to be? Honest?

I am a Londoner, and anyone who is discussing our attacks with any political motives should be ashamed of themselves. If after 9/11 or the Madrid bombings people had been running around saying things about how good it was, because it consolidated opinions on terrorism, they would have been dragged out into the street and shot. Most Americans didn't have an opinion on terrorism until 9/11 because it never entered their little U.S centric worlds, whilst we in the U.K. have been putting up with I.R.A. bombings for decades.

What happened on Thursday was a tragedy. But it was also an example, because it showed the rest of the worlds media how they should behave. Keep the public informed without inciting panic, feeding the fear and playing right into the terrorists hands. If only American media had any idea of how to present news without feeding into the cycle of  fear. Oh sorry, I forgot, that's all that American  media is. Or at least, that's the way it seem. To anyone with an I.Q.

I'm not surprised at illuminati buttboy Brit Hume's bottom feeding comment. He is a slime of the first water. I just read an excellent piece of writing today that's related to all this. It is surreal to begin with but then it all falls together at the end. It's at http://smokingmirrors.blogspot.com/

I'm forever grateful to the world of bloggers with their exposure of the lies and their solutions to the problems. Maybe the first thing we have to do is just turn off the TV. But is anyone going to do that? And if they don't aren't they going on lining up for more injections of bad info that poisons their ability to reason?

Hell, if I didn't know any better, I'd think this story was from the Daily Show or something. Alas, 'tis true.

My grandmother is religious, so she is a Bush believer.  Her preacher tells her to be a Republican.  When I go to her house thats what she has on, FOX news.  That or PAX.  We can't get her to watch anything else because she thinks its evil. My father early on in the election was thinking Bush was an okay guy until I convinced him otherwise.  In the process my grandmother has taken to telling my dad that if she ever disappears its because she has been called up...assuming of course that my father won't be called up along with her.  I'm Agnostic so I think that whole bit is a little funny.  ButI digress.  When I go out to eat at a place that has a TV it is usually showing FOX news.  Probably because the owner is a Republican trying to spread the message.   I know FOX news is pure propoganda.  At one point in time I didn't know that.  I just slowly became frustrated with the message and hatred on that channel [with the Anne Coulter commentators and the people who think vicious attacks on character are somehow debate]...and I watched "Outfoxed".  I am now seeing that MSNBC is going the same way as FOX and even CNN and headline news are going bad though I still watch those last two.  Anyway, I guess my message is that the statements referenced are good.  Just like the post about how right wing blogs don't allow comments because they expose the nasty underbelly of the far right.  The more statements like those mentioned the better because maybe, just maybe, my grandmother will finally see it for what it is...EVIL! (while I'm Agnostic I do believe in good and evil)  I'm sure long before that she will believe some of the truly nasty statements and even believe in the message.  But the wheel has to keep turning even if it has to run my grandmother over in the process.  Let FOX News say these things.  Don't point it out and let them feel comfortable in forming their message until they hang themselves.  The more people point out their mistakes now the longer it takes for them to hang themselves.  They need to go so over the top that even they can't spin themselves out of it.  I'm fairly depressed with the way things are.  I don't believe that the true believers on the right will ever be convinced they are wrong by people on the left or in the middle.  They are too far gone, we are evil, they are good, they cannot listen to evil which is why they only listen to themselves.  I will never convince my grandmother she is wrong.  I think that they will go so over the top that they will never get another convert from the middle or left and then the hope is that even some of them see the light and this whole period in American history can slowly fade.