Fire Fox

I really hate Fox News. No, REALLY hate. And I try not hate anyone or anything. There is very little in the world that I hate. Fox News is one of the few.

I know, this seething, blinding rage that boils in my blood for Rupert Murdoch and all things Fox-y is extremely un-Christian. And I will pray for forgiveness on Sunday. But for now, I hate Fox News. There is something about blindly reporting whatever opinions support your world view as fact that makes me mad. But this? This is right up there with Jerry Falwell blaming 9/11 on "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians": totally invented and designed only to scare the bejeezus out of people.

Ever since I saw Bowling for Columbine I've been hyper-aware of the tendency of news, especially local news, to focus on the horrific instead of the informative. And every May and November every report that begins "Your child may be in danger" sets my teeth on edge.

By and large we live in a safe society. The things that we really should fear are poverty, racism, and the loss of civil liberties. But instead for whatever inane reason we focus on kids killing kids, drugs, pedophiles, break-ins, and terrorists. C'mon people! 3,000 people died in 9/11. Over 40,000 people die each year in car accidents. Why are we so obsessed with terrorists?

Or maybe all the bad drivers who cause fatal accidents are terrorists! That's it! They're going to burn down California and kill of the rest of us with bad driving! Quick, call Dick Cheney! We've got to invade Detroit!