John Cleese explains Fox "News" (One Minute Video)

[Scuba]

[planetc]

1. Kick Cleese, and Python forever, while I'm at it.

[awoke_in_2003]

43. Just wish Graham was still with us. nt

[mountain grammy]

2. Too stupid to know how stupid they are... perfect!

[1step]

3. That would Explain a Lot!

[displacedtexan]

4. This was an Ignobel prize study!

Dunning-Kruger won the Ignobel for this study. Even when presented with absolute fact, the stupid people in the study couldn't comprehend how stupid they were.

[BB1]

22. Although,

the effect is far larger in North America and Europe. Apparently the reverse is going on in (some parts of) Asia, where the really smart people think they are less smart than they are, for almost the same reasons. "If I know how this works, someone else must know it, too. I'm not thát special."

[awoke_in_2003]

44. Wonder if it is a cultural thing...

The Christian world seems to be more egocentric than the Buddhist world.

[displacedtexan]

46. The smarter you are, the more ignorant you know you are.

Hope this makes sense.

[BB1]

48. Yup.

It's the short version of what John Cleese had to say about it

[marym625]

5. Haha!

Awesome! K&R

[Fred Sanders]

6. Clapper was right about folks, in general, which is why the outrage by the RW protecting their voting base.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

7. BRAVO!

Mr. Cleese has a wonderful new book out which I heartily recommend: So, Anyway.

[beemer27]

8. Fox gave us a Christmas present this year

Fox pulled itself off Dish Network. That was one of the nicest presents they could have given. Thank you Fox.

[Unknown Beatle]

32. Not so nice.

Dish replaced Faux Noise with beck's the Blaze.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/glenn-becks-theblaze-replaces-fox-news-during-dish-dispute/

[beemer27]

37. Don't worry.

Beck is very boring. The only people who are going to watch him are those that he had brain-washed when he had a radio program. He will not fare well against almost any decent programming. I wonder who will replace him. If you take the time to watch him, you will see that he is like Rush. He preaches to the choir, and repeats the same drivel over and over.

[jdenver_2624]

9. As usual, Cleese is 100% spot on.

Well done sir. Just another reason why I love your work, hilarious stuff.

[mopinko]

10. explains a lot about the republican party, too.

[nichomachus]

11. Fox people are not necessarily stupid

Not all of them anyway. Thinking so is a huge mistake. I know Fox people -- some in my own family -- and some of them are very bright.

What happens with Fox, to a large degree, is what is known as "amygdala hijack." The amygdala is the portion of the brain that processes fear. When the amygdala is overloaded, it short-circuits rational thought. Fox just pumps out fear, fear, fear 24 hours a day. And like a drug, it convinces people that they need to watch Fox, until that's all they do.

My sister and BIL, for example, put on Fox when they get up and leave it on, even when they're not actively watching. But the fear is being pumped into them. My sister is actually quite bright, but has been totally poisoned by Fox. When it comes to certain issues, she can't think logically and only repeats Fox talking points.

The mother and father of a good friend of mine are the same. Someone asked his mother why they watch Fox from morning to night. She said that it was important to know these things, and that Fox was the only place they could get the truth.

To show you the level of fear, my friend travels a lot -- a LOT -- on business internationally. He has a mountain of frequent flier miles. He offered to give his parents first-class tickets to Italy to see their granddaughter who is living there with her service-member husband. His mother told him that they couldn't possibly go, because they would probably die. "ISIS is everywhere and they're just waiting for Americans to leave the country so they can kill us."

It's simply too easy to say that Fox is appealing to stupid people, although I'm sure so Foxies are. It's actually much more pernicious that. Saying that Foxies are just stupid downplays how dangerous Fox really is.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. Wolf Blitzer was claiming there were terrorist cells EVERYWHERE and it wasn't safe to go outside.

[Enthusiast]

14. Seriously?

Hard to imagine, even for an old fool like Blitzer. OMG!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. Right after 9/11 he was in full Haaretz Mode....

The slogan was "stay tuned to CNN for all of your security needs". He made EVERY news item sound like it was terrorism related. My favorite was when he interviewed some local Andy Taylor type sheriff about a bank robbery. (Wolf claimed bank robbery was how terrorists fund their operations.) He kept grilling this poor guy to admit it was POSSIBLE that it COULD BE linked to terrorism and the sheriff wouldn't play along so then Wolf said IF it were what would be the proper procedure like he was challenging the guy's competence. He finally got the guy to say something about having to go to the newly created Department of Homeland Security, etc. and Wolf cut away and rambled on leaving the viewer who was only half listening the impression that an active terrorist cell operating within the United States had just robbed a bank.

BTW: Remember when they talked about stealing crop dusters to poison our cities? Wolf loved repeating that one.

[Enthusiast]

19. I remember the crop duster thing.

Such concepts have to have been sown from above. Sounds like something Rummy or Cheney would initiate. Idiots!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. They used to sit around thinking up worse case scenarios...

Whoever came up with the scariest crap would rule the day.

To top it off, you just KNEW they didn't take it seriously themselves. In the middle of what they described as being like WWII, a fight for civilization itself, they held hearings on the use of steroids in sports.

[Enthusiast]

39. It's like being in the middle of movie, a comedy. One that fails to be funny.

[zeemike]

31. Yep they all do it, but some are more sophisticated than Fox

Who go strait to it because their audience is not.
When Fox covers a fear the others do to...just less shrill about it.

[BobTheSubgenius]

41. I agree completely.

I know someone who is undeniably smart; has an impressive amount of knowledge about telecom, computers, and tech in general, as well as a LOT of the technical know-how to function in the modern business environment. That he lacks whatever is needed to take that knowledge and turn it into a useful skill set is kind of beside the point, and the whole point at the same time.

He also believes completely in whatever Fauz Noise tells him, and once told me that, in order for evolution to be true, the Colorado River must have flowed uphill at some point.

You don't have to be stupid to live in that world, but it sure helps.

[SheilaT]

42. This is a subset of the problem of people having the TV on all

the time. They get up in the morning, turn it on, and don't turn it off until they go to bed. Many people actually change channels, and watch the various programs that they like. There is nothing terribly wrong with that, but when it comes to the point, as it does with so very many, that they feel lost without the background noise of the TV being on, then they're losing a lot, missing out on a lot, and in general abdicating control over at least some part of their lives.

As someone who doesn't have a TV, I really notice this when I'm visiting people. I actually watch a fair amount of television over the internet in some way, but what I don't have is a TV set in my home, and if I'm not actually watching a show, the computer is tuned to something else (like DU) or not on at all. Or I'm emailing or writing something.

I do listen to music I like, but even that isn't a constant. It's the need for background noise that bothers me a lot. I think it alters some very fundamental brain function, and it's not been studied at all.

[Scuba]

47. +1,000

[Quasimodem]

12. Actually, the Dunning-Kruger Effect explains two errors in judgment.

It explains how the people who are too stupid to understand what is required in any particular field of endeavor believe they comprehend the problem and can formulate solutions with the same facility as as anyone else, Meanwhile, the people who really are are intelligent and can easily solve complex problems, underestimate their difference, believing everyone can comprehend problems and formulate solutions with the same facility.

What society winds up with is dumb people who are sure they know the answer, and bright people who question their abilities.

I believe both the eras of George W. Bush's Administration and the Tea Party movement can be explained by the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

[Enthusiast]

15. Excellent post.

I think. Hopefully I'm not a victim of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

No, just kidding, I think your analysis is spot on.

I know this one guy......................

[jakeXT]

17. Unknown Unknowns ?

[randys1]

27. Every time I saw him on TV I could see his right arm slightly going up and down

while his hand was out of camera view.

Talking about killing innocent Brown people did excite him so much he was unable to stop masturbating to it even while on national television.

[LiberalArkie]

20. I think you are absolutely correct.

Smart, thinking people are always reevaluating their thought processes to see if it is correct. That is what science is all about. The stupid people just think "well that is the way it has always been".

[Enthusiast]

16. K&R! Thanks, Scuba!

[Go Vols]

21. K&R

[alfredo]

24. Off to Facebook and Twitter.

[chrisa]

25. The last line is perfect, but it's not just Fox News.

It's the entire news media. We have jokers on air asking in airplanes flew into black holes, entertaining the thought that the universe is 6000 years old, and asking if the government is going to do door-to-door raids in UN uniforms to take people's guns away and put them in FEMA camps. The hosts are derpy, and the supposed "experts" brought on these news programs are just as derpy too.

Honestly, anyone who thinks they know everything about a subject doesn't know enough about the subject to know that there's more to be learned about the subject. The same is true of intelligence - if you think that you're the smartest one in the room, you're probably too stupid to understand that you aren't the smartest one in the room. It doesn't matter what your IQ is or what school you went to - if you need to cling to those things to prove that you're smart, you probably know nothing and you never will.

Intelligence is understanding how little you know, not always being right.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

26. Well said.

[Jerry442]

28. I'm convinced I'm no good at sports...

...so to know I'm no good at sports, I must have sports skills, otherwise I'd think I was a helluva athlete.

Must be some other reason I always get my ass handed to me when I try anything athletic.

[hunter]

33. But I'll bet you *could* be pretty awesome at some sport if that's what you chose to practice.

There are plenty of sports, suitable for every age and physique.

I've seen eighty year olds totally destroy idiot kids who thought they could do better in lawn bowling or bocce.





The stupid person is the overweight, never exercises guy plunked down in front of his television set who thinks he wouldn't have screwed up as badly as the athlete, coach, or referee he's mocking.

The stupid person is the Creationist arguing with the Paleontologist or Astrophysicist that the entire universe is only 6000 years deep.

[chrisa]

38. It's funny when the right wing tries to explain evolution and the big bang theory.

"You're telling me that humans came from monkeys? How is that possible? There's monkeys around right now!" and then "If the big bang happened, then when what caused the big bang?" The last one is especially funny because it's one of the few commonly used examples of where someone tries to solve a paradox by offering a solution with the same paradox.

[yuiyoshida]

29. K&R for John Cleese

I saw this in another thread. Pretty Right on! He lives in Santa Barbara California now.

[Dont call me Shirley]

30. The idea of "specialness" (I'm special so I get to have and you don't) is what causes stupidity.

"Specialness" says I am especially smart so everyone else is stupid. This is how many people function in their daily lives. This is crazy-making thinking.

[Unknown Beatle]

34. That is how the 1% view us.

Just because we're not wealthy like them, we must be stupid.

[hunter]

35. The "God is on my side, not yours" is among the very worst sort of stupid.

Much evil on this earth arises from that.

[Dont call me Shirley]

36. I'm saved and you're not...

[samsingh]

40. kick and recommend

[icarusxat]

45. Stupid is as stupid does...

I recently gave a little talk my students. I told them that there are stupid people in this world. Most of them are so stupid that they don't realize how stupid they are. Here is one way to tell if you might be stupid...You take stuff that doesn't belong to you. I had two students come up to me after the talk and apologize for taking stuff that wasn't theirs. They then made reparations. Funny how 12 year olds want to learn how the world works and will surprise you if you give them the chance.

[JonLP24]

49. Reminds of the great Will Ferrell Casa de mi Padre

(Paraphrasing) You're stupid. If you were smart you'd know that.