In the second day of my visit with my elderly parents, I finally let them know what I think of their Fox News viewing habit - it's on probably at least half of the time the TV is on, with the rest being devoted to sports and soap operas.
This is a bit of a poignant time for me as I am assisting them with preparing to move from their home of almost 50 years to a senior residence. Coupled with this is the recuperation and physical therapy of my father who looks frailer than any time I have seen him as the aftermath of surgery. While they profess to look forward to moving to a housing arrangement that will surely make it physically easier for them, I can only wonder what they truly are feeling in the midst of these fundamental changes.
But to the subject of this diary, in past visits here I usually stay in my childhood bedroom while helping them do home repairs and other work requiring an able-bodied male. We talk about family news from their other children and revisit the past while having meals but the majority of their time is spent in front of the TV. Which is tuned to Fox News.
As most of you would agree, Fox News is little more than political pornography and GOP message shilling. The lies flow off the tongues of O'Reilly, Hannity, Chris Wallace and the nameless bimbos as easily as those people breathe. I have no patience with the channel and its content and I do not watch with them.
The latest grist for this pack of liars is the subject of Nancy Pelosi and her alleged knowledge of torture practices, what she knew and didn't know. It smacks of the type of inquisition where the facts are totally represented out of context and the circumstances that surround it are rewritten to infer that a cover-up or crime was committed.
I happened to walk in while O'Reilly and Chris Wallace were doing their little staged news duet about whether Pelosi was being thrown under the bus and whether Democrats were looking for a way to get rid of her, how the Democrats were beholden to her for 'leading them out of the wilderness'.
As if! The Democrats ascended to power because the people finally got fed up and saw the light about what GOP management of government has resulted in terms of a nation on the brink. Pelosi had nothing to do with that. Bush, Cheney, McConnell, and the lot of GOP congressmen who were turned out of office were responsible.
I finally got up, announced that I couldn't stand the constant barrage of lies and told them they were wasting their time listening to that garbage.
I don't think it will make much difference but it sure is sad to me to see two people who have been responsible parents and citizens so unquestionably accept the pack of lies that is delivered by Fox 24/7. As I've grown older, I've come to see the human flaws of the people I loved and worshipped and that while they may have encouraged us to do critical thinking, they themselves fell a bit short in that area.
They won't hold my outburst against me and I don't think I'll bring it up again while I'm visiting. In the meantime, I'll watch the stream from my home TV using a HAVA place shifting box and tune into MSNBC.