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LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance

by the stormy present
Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 05:55:51 AM EST

Thanks to Elco B for posting this video in last night's open thread:

There's just too much gold there, too much. My irony meter is overloaded. Such a witty comeback by the Fox anchor! "You can get all the news you can at Fox News." Uh, yeah. And then cutting away to the half-naked Star Trek chicks. I couldn't make this shit up.

Googling around to find out more about my new favorite comedian on the planet, I found his blog post on alternet about the Faux News "incident." More after the jump.

Lee Camp

I then left the building without speaking to anyone. Following the break, intrepid newshound Clayton Morris pretended on-air as if he had thrown me out of the building. Here's the clip: He says something like, "I had to get rid of that guy!" The other anchor then says something like, "Well, it shows we have both sides of the issues here at Fox News." They then go on to interview the naked Star Trek chicks. So first of all, Fox "News" shows that it feels the solution to someone speaking their opinion is violence, but then they say it shows they have all viewpoints on their network. Within three seconds they stated that they accept all viewpoints and that they physically throw opposing viewpoints of the building. I'm impressed they're able to walk when they're that deeply drenched in hypocrisy.

If I wasn't there to speak my mind, I would have no justifiable reason to be on their network. Sure, I would like to be a regular comedian commentator on any network (it's good for my career), but I have no desire to support a propaganda machine that has facilitated the false election of George W. and the unwarranted invasion of Iraq. In all honesty, I thought saying this stuff would hurt my career, and maybe it still will, but I knew I didn't have a choice. Too many people have died for me to look the other way and tell asinine jokes on their couch. Until yesterday I had not seen Montel Williams's appearance on Fox "News," but apparently he also felt he could not sit there and talk about celebrity news while ignoring the truth. (Besides, asinine jokes are my day job. I take weekends off.)
This helps answer the last question - Wasn't my tirade a little rude and lacking in class? A few people who agree with what I said have asked this. My own mother said I should have warned the nice news people that I was going to trash them. My view of a lack of class is knowing that nearly a million civilians have died in Iraq and yet then reporting that 80,000 have. My view of unrefined is calling peace activists "anti-American." My view of barbaric is being aware that genocide goes on in Darfur but refusing to speak about it on-air because the people funding it are your corporate friends. My view of disrespectful is calling the first probable African American nominee for president "Muslim" in hopes that it will inspire enough racism in your viewers to defeat him in November. My idea of vulgar is creating false "news" stories that have some relation to naked women so that you can show clips of those women while you discuss it in a "professional" manner.

I officially love this guy.

There's more on his YouTube page, including an earlier appearance on Faux News that includes a few good zingers, and his appearance at Yearly Kos.

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LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance (4.00 / 5)

I wouldn't have known about the Montel Williams story if it weren't for this.

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 05:58:01 AM EST

Re: LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance (4.00 / 3)

Here is the Montel Williams clip from YouTube:

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 10:22:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance (none / 1)

Snap!

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 11:18:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance (4.00 / 6)

Montel Williams:

And a great (for me) quote from Lee Camp:

AlterNet: Blogs: Lee Camp: Why I Called Fox News "Propaganda" While Live on Fox News

I realize I'm a comedian, and I realize my job is not to tell the truth. But in a situation like this, I feel it's a crime not to. Plus, all the best comedians have spoken the truth - Bruce, Carlin, Pryor, Hicks.

Bruce, Carlin, Pryor, Hicks. Yeah!

What I found interesting in the Montel Williams section is the conversation between Montel and the woman (don't know who she is):

Montel: Those are the guys who are over there dying, and we're gonna sit here and speculate about a young man who passed away who's...somebody's child

(I think the woman goes "Mmm hmmm" [affermative])

...who's somebody's father, has not even been buried yet

(one of the men says "It's true")

...and I think it's gone way too far--

Woman: But why do we do that as a society, I mean look at--

Montel: It's our voracious appetite to bring home ratings. That's what it is, we know it, we know it as a fact, let's be honest about it.

Woman (my emphasis): Of course it's ratings, but it's the appetite, we're feeding the beast--

Montel: Cart before the horse, horse before the cart, I don't know who drives it, I think if right now, if we woke up this morning, and instead of talking about Keith-- Heath Ledger we talked about the troop who died last night by the IED--

Man (my emphasis): Montel, Montel, we have numbers and look, I...er...er...it's kind of a sad reality, though, I mean, troops have been dying in Iraq since March of 2003, correct?

Montel: I wanna talk about 'em.

Woman: Well I--

Man: We talk about the war plenty, I mean I was in Iraq, I was actually embedded, I was there for the invasion--

Montel: I gotcha

Man: I mean, we...I think everybody in this country knows we're at war.

Montel: Nobody in this country knows who died yesterday. And if I know about Heath, I want to know about the troop.--That's it.

Lee Camp says:

(By the way, they clearly had not done their research. They knew I was a left-wing comic, but if they'd looked up my earlier work, they would have known I despise them.)

Which I find positive, it means the brain drain in Fox World is large (this may be my fantasy), and intelligent people (who have access to such things as...the internet!) are speeding up, moving beyond...I like this idea of appearing, smiling the smile, then making the point and off--no re-appearance after the ads.

I think people (including me) have a tendency to believe what they hear: the assumption is that people wouldn't lie to our faces, and they don't, they bend and twist what has already been bent and twisted by those who did tell a lie--but bending and twisting is better than the straight lie such that all the way back it's bending and twisting--but then these brief breaks are like the glitch in the Matrix:

heh...

But then the paranoia strikes--yet seeing intelligent balanced people state the nature of the game during the game--and getting wholehearted agreement from one of the other players!--

And there's this part of the article:

AlterNet: Blogs: Lee Camp: Why I Called Fox News "Propaganda" While Live on Fox News

I then left the building without speaking to anyone. Following the break, intrepid newshound Clayton Morris pretended on-air as if he had thrown me out of the building. Here's the clip: He says something like, "I had to get rid of that guy!" The other anchor then says something like, "Well, it shows we have both sides of the issues here at Fox News." They then go on to interview the naked Star Trek chicks. So first of all, Fox "News" shows that it feels the solution to someone speaking their opinion is violence, but then they say it shows they have all viewpoints on their network. Within three seconds they stated that they accept all viewpoints and that they physically throw opposing viewpoints of the building. I'm impressed they're able to walk when they're that deeply drenched in hypocrisy.

I guess that the fox news workers have bills to pay and play the game as everyone plays the game where not playing means not working (= all jobs); so for me it was interesting that the woman wholeheartedly agreed with Montel, a spontaneous gesture between two people "in" the system, except that Montel no longer seems to be "in"--

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 11:18:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance (4.00 / 8)

Just in case there is anyone reading who doesn't know who Bruce, Carlin, Pryor, Hicks are (everyone gets the pleasure of the first time once!):

Lenny Bruce:

George Carlin:

Richard Pryor:

Bill Hicks: (might have to wait a couple of seconds)

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 11:29:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance (4.00 / 4)

I knew I could count on you! :-D

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 12:05:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance (4.00 / 2)

two fans.

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 07:51:07 AM EST

Re: LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance (4.00 / 3)

I found this video by chance in the online media section of a major Flemish conservative (centre-right)paper; De Standaard.
I was surprised.
Only explanation I have is there are editors here making statements by their choice of clips.

Anyway, glad to know Lee Camp now, indeed a guy to treasure.

The struggle of man against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.(Kundera)

by Elco B (elcob at scarlet dot be) on Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 08:27:58 AM EST

Re: LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance (4.00 / 4)

Absolutely unconscionable that this "comedian" would abuse the sacred trust given him directly, through Mr. Murdoch's US flagship, from jehovah herself.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 08:32:40 AM EST

Re: LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance (4.00 / 4)

I agree with your criticism of Fox, bias and all, but that network's coverage of everything except things that really should matter is shared with most of the other American MSM, particularly television news. It's the whole dumbing down of everything destined for consumption by American society. It's just disgusting to me. I can understand having honest debate and even the lack of fair coverage (I don't applaud it), but this form of manipulation of public opinion that occurs on a daily basis all across America is hard to take. It's just the old bread and circus routine, except that now the masters are too stingy to even provide bread so it's mostly just cheap circus.

I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears

by Gringo (stargazing camel at aoldotcom) on Fri Feb 29th, 2008 at 03:57:10 PM EST

LQD: Fox News - Festival of Ignorance | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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