Look at that face. Welcome to America, a country run by old white men who all have the temperament and visage of spoiled rotten 3 year olds. Ted Koppel confronted Hannity, and the usual tantrum ensued.
Koppel asked Hannity why he was pushing a “highly partisan agenda” on Fox News.
“Honestly, I think liberalism has to be defeated,” Hannity opined. “Socialism must be defeated in a political sense. We don’t want a revolution in this country.”
Right, can’t be getting any liberalism in the fascism, that would be bad! And of course, revolutions don’t figure into the history of this country at all, no. I do think we need a revolution, one in which it is pounded the fuck home that socialism is not bad. Socialism works great in other countries, which are stuffed full of happy, healthy, well educated people. That’s something to be desired and worked for, not defeated. The unreconstructed assholes have had way too much time to denounce anything which helps its citizens as some sort of horrible commie plot. There should not be pride in remaining backwards, in the face of all evidence showing you that you are wrong, wrong, wrong. The people in this country are dying young, drowning in poverty and violence. America’s answer: more guns, no social safety nets at all, let everyone descend into poverty, yeehaw! Jesus.
“What more do you want?” Koppel wondered. “You’ve got the White House, you’ve got the House, you’ve got the Senate.”
“And we have angry snowflakes,” Hannity replied. “And then we’ve got a Democratic establishment. I say the press in this country is out to destroy this president.”
Koppel traced the roots of the problem back to President Ronald Reagan’s abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine, which forced television and radio programs to present balanced points of view.
Hannity, however, argued that the American people deserved credit for being intelligent enough to seek out alternative viewpoints.
Oh, right. Like the fucking idiots who still persist in believing that “pizzagate” is a real thing? No, a lot of American people do not deserve credit for being intelligent, full stop. Too many of them are certainly not intelligent enough to even bother with news from credible sources, let alone actually think about any given issue. Too many American people don’t give one tiny shit that people like Hannity and others don’t ever bother to actually get their facts right before twisting them out of all credibility. Far too many Americans are devoted to obscurantism, even if they don’t know what that means. Anti-intellectualism could be considered to be a particularly American trait. Just ask someone who isn’t American, if you know anyone who fits that description.
“You’re cynical,” Hannity said, observing Koppel’s disdain. “You think we’re bad for America? You think I’m bad for America?”
“Yeah,” Koppel stated without hesitation.
“That’s sad,” Hannity complained.
Oh, look at that vocabulary! Oh, the clarity of expression! Not only do they look and act like terribly spoiled tots, they talk like them as well.
Full story here.
Daz: Uffish, yet slightly frabjous says
No no no, this cannot be true.
Socialism = commeenism = Stalinism. Bad. Bigly bad!
Caine says
Daz:
Yes, because we here in America know that it’s very, very bad to move on. Progress bad. Very bad.
Giliell, professional cynic -Ilk- says
Well, I don’t think we have Socialism in Europe. We have capitalism on an ever lengthening leash.
Caine says
You have a helluva lot more socialism than we do. America is a bad example to all the other countries, but does really appeal to the greedy and bigoted.
Giliell, professional cynic -Ilk- says
As I said, our capitalism is still on a leash. But I think it’s important to differentiate between something being a social policy and socialism as a social and economic system. Remember, Germany is home to some of the worst global players out there: Deutsche Bank, Siemens, Daimler…
And that’s not even talking about the Brits, or the right wing government in Denmark…
Joseph Zowghi says
“The snowflakes! We have to protect you from the snowflakes!”
Yeesh.
Caine says
Giliell:
Yes, you’re right. How do you even have a discussion though, when the moment you say ‘social policy’, people start having a screaming attack about creeping socialism? That’s a problem here.
Daz: Uffish, yet slightly frabjous says
Giliell, professional cynic -Ilk- #5:
We did used to have something approaching a decent socialist system. Sadly, thirty-odd years of Conservative and New Labour (i.e. Conservative-lite) government by the rich and for the rich has seen most of it sold down the river or virtually destroyed through de-funding. *sigh*
Daz: Uffish, yet slightly frabjous says
An interesting take on Trump at northierthanthou. (I’d not heard of Jane Elliot, but the video about her which Daniel links looks interesting in its own right, as well as in light of the comparison he draws.)
emergence says
That’s the problem. The US has such a skewed perspective that having government-funded health care and paid maternity leave seem revolutionary.