Why has Glenn Beck replaced Ronald McDonald in Central PA?

[kpete]

The TV in the Four Points Sheraton only receives ONE channel – FOX. All other stations, including other news stations, are blocked.

Same thing with the TVs in ALL of the McDonald’s restaurants here in the south central part of PA – and the managers at the local MickyD’s say that FOX is the ONLY station they are allowed to show, as per orders from company headquarters, though the company headquarters, Delamor Enterprises in Chambersburg, PA, denied that this was the case when I wrote to them this summer.

One store associate in Waynesboro, PA told me that that FOX is the only station they are allowed to show because FOX is a "family friendly" channel that appeals to all ages. I wasn't aware that preschoolers are now into Glenn Beck, but then, maybe I'm behind the times.

So, who exactly is paying all these hotels and restaurants to show only ONE point of view in their dining rooms and lobbies?

The funny thing is (and I’m giving away my age here) that back during the Cold War, we were taught in school that one major feature of COMMUNISM was that in Communist countries, they had only one or two TV stations, which broadcast the party line. We were taught that this was a BAD thing.

more:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/8/29/897192/-Why-has-Glenn-Beck-replaced-Ronald-McDonald-in-Central-PA

[Brickbat]

1. I hate TVs in public places. I just hate them. I don't care what it's tuned to.

I hate going to a restaurant and seeing families all staring up at the TV instead of talking with each other. Of course, they probably do that at home, too.

The exception being, of course, a sports bar with the big game on. I just think it's stupid to have TVs on all over the place.

[SoCalDem]

8. There was a time when NO tvs were on ANYWHERE

except in the TV section of department/electronics stores.

Even radios were not that common "at work".

work was for work..not watching tv or listening to radios.

I hate the intrusion of piped in tv or music .

We quit going to a restaurant we actually liked, because they refused to have ONLY Fox on their tv.

[enough]

2. k&r (nt)

[mmonk]

3. You need to join the campaign to stop the showing of Fox.

[MajorChode]

4. They don't call it Pennsyltucky for nothing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsyltucky

[sofa king]

7. There is actually a geographic equivalent of the Shenandoah Valley in Penn.

If you look at Google Maps, you can actually follow the Valley of Virginia (which includes the Shenandoah) through West Virginia, Maryland, and into Pennsylvania all the way up to and past Harrisburg. You could call it a "redneck trail," I guess.

That enormous geographic feature made for an easy migratory path, and the Shenandoah Valley today actually boasts large numbers of the same religious sects for which Central Pennsylvania is famous. During the Civil War, Stonewall Jackson had to cut a deal with the Dunkers and Mennonites in the Shenandoah Valley, making them wagon-drivers and laborers rather than soldiers, partly because they were pacifists, partly because they were uninterested in fighting their kin from the northern half of the greater valley.

Jed Hotchkiss, one of the premier topographers of the Civil War, was a New Yorker who at a young age was teaching just north of Harrisburg, PA. He also migrated down the same path to the Shenandoah Valley, and famously sided with the South during the war.

The geographical similarities, I think, make for political similarities as well. Mountain valley communities everywhere tend to be small, insular, distrustful of outsiders, highly cognizant of limited resources but also fiercely self-entitled to exploit them, and heavily armed. That's just as true of Afghanistan and western Canada as it is of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

[MajorChode]

10. ... but not the intellectual equivalent

[sofa king]

11. Heh. I don't know....

Sometime way back Virginians hit upon the idea of encouraging colleges to open in smaller cities (in Virginia, cities are jurisdictionally separate from the counties in which they are located, and can be very small). The result is visible in every election map: the smart people live in the cities next to the colleges and vote Democratic; the... less well educated citizens live in the counties and vote Republican.

Middle Pennsylvania has much the same situation. In little towns up that way you can find Lafayette, Moravian, and a host of other fine small colleges in small towns and cities. And, I am sure, one can find lots of ignorant Republican fools living outside the city limits, just like here.

Honestly, I think education and close-quarters living are the key to Democratic success. Only by having to deal with others can we learn to empathize with them and tolerate those unlike us. Those who don't have to deal with others on an equal footing are the only ones who have the luxury of being Republicans.

[walldude]

5. Why are there TV's in McDonalds?

I mean really... this is getting.. um... weird. Why would you need a TV in a "FAST FOOD" place? Isn't the whole basis for those places to eat and run? Why else would anyone buy that crap they call food?

[bbernardini]

6. The solution, of course, is TV-B-Gone.

http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_main.php

[ladjf]

9. Is PA running short on "Beck Bug Spray" ? nt