All right, I am going to confess. I have a secret vice. One so heinous my friends and family are shocked and appalled. Others just ask "why, oh why do you do that?!?" I have justifications, things I tell myself to make myself feel better about what I'm doing. But I don't think they understand.
I watch the Fox News Network. There, I said it.
Yes, I'm talking Hannity and Colmes and The O'Reilly Factor. And when I can't get enough, I can sometimes switch over and get some more from Joe Scarborough. If I'm really lucky, while I'm channel surfing among the other not-so-fair-and-balanced channels, I happen upon an Ann Coulter interview on Chris Matthews or Donny Deutsch. Those are some good times . . .
Why do I do it? I like to think it's something noble; my newspaper-man uncle tells me we should watch to hear what the "other" side is saying. It almost makes it sound like I am respecting other people's opinions when said like that! But the truth is, no, I don't respect other people's opinions, especially not Sean Hannity's.
I do it because I like to yell at the TV. I like to tell them what idiots they are; I like to tell them why they are SO wrong. I can't do that in real life. When I'm on a rampage that people agree with, ok, they love my passion, but not if we disagree. My husband has told me it's my "tone." People only like my tone when it is saying something they agree with, and then they adopt the tone too.
But the Fox News Network can take it! I can dish it out and they can take it! It's almost as if they are not even listening. They go ON AND ON, no matter what I yell at them. In fact, they can drag out a "story" long after everyone else has put it to rest. You want to see some more stuff on the Reverend Wright "scandal"? Well tune in to Fox tonight, I'm sure they will work it in somewhere. And lest you forgot about the hugely controversial comments made by Sen. Obama where he actually equated pregnancy and STD's! (By basically saying they were two conditions teenage girls don't want to have.) They will talk about that again tonight I'm sure. And not to single out Barack, but Hillary's "sniper fire" is still the top issue in her campaign on the Fox News Network. And this is all so great because I keep thinking of more and more retorts when the stories are so old. If they came up with anything new, I would have to get some new material to yell at the TV!
But don't worry, after I feel my blood pressure rising to dangerous heights, I simply turn to the other Fox and catch an episode of Friends until my heart rate returns to normal.
With a title like "My Dirty Little Secret," I had to read this before I shut down the computer for the night. This is even worse than I thought.
Sounds therapeutic to yell at the TV...though I had an ex who took it to extremes, calling a local judicial candidate a "b*tch" whenever her campaign ads came on. The O'Reilly Factor was his *actual* favorite program. Ah, so many reasons he's an ex...
Posted by: Elizabeth | April 02, 2008 at 09:35 PM
My DH loves Bill O'Reilly. I usually leave the room and take a bath. I scream at my husband. Not the TV. If you want to watch a great news show, and one then tells it like 'it is' tune into Glenn Beck on CNN Headline News. The guy is fantastic! I just wrote a post on him today (like minds think alike)
http://wastrelshow.blogspot.com/2008/04/want-to-hear-truth-about-economy-tune.html
Posted by: boomie | April 03, 2008 at 09:58 AM