Does Watching MSNBC Make You Ignorant and Bigoted?

It's like cola-wars. But really, I find the MSNBC crowd the worst out of all of'em. It's only "racist" if anyone else does it type of attitude. They are hypocrites.

But the one thing that I find bizarre is how most of the male anchors sound almost exactly alike. Seriously. Then, these hipster, black-framed glasses and pink button-up shirts. It's like some sort of uniform so that they can tell each other apart.

Then you have the female anchors; Many are bleach-blonde and dress like upper-scale hookers. Of course there are exceptions to the rule like Patty Ann Brown. Mmmm Hmmm. Patty Ann Brown is so fine. Robin Meade is just okay. Nancy Grace.......DOH!!! There's the salt peter. Just ruined it all!!

In an ultra-connected world being lazy makes you bigoted and ignorant.
Anyone who gets their news or info from once source is doing it wrong.

originally posted by: Metallicus
Turning on a TV is in itself an ignorant act. Other than sports my propaganda box lies silent.

I guess I'm ignorant then for watching Cartoon Network.

I'm sure someone could say the same about turning on the tv to watch grown men play games that kids play at the park or playground.

I find the best way to get my news is to catch "headlines" on any MSM, just pick one.

Every country has a government that has their hand in the media, all to bolster public opinion in favor of a certain point of view, and to give people the illusion of there being at least two-sides. This way, if you don't agree with one side, there is another to align with, even if you don't totally agree with it.

So, when I want to know what's really going on in my country, I look at news from Russia, China, South America, parts of Europe.

When I want to know what's happening in Europe, I'll look at news from South America, the Middle East, India and Russia.

When I want to know what's happening in Russia, I'll look at news from Europe, India, China, South Korea.

I never look at just one source for information.

I take in perspective from each source. I apply some critical thinking, separating what is speculative and opinionated from facts. In other words, anything that says "we believe... I think... they are concerned... there is reason to believe... they... them... etc", I almost completely ignore.

I pay closer attention to contextual information that relates to dates, times, authors, citations, data, sometimes pictures. When someone is quoted saying something, I will almost immediately dismiss the quote without first seeing a full context in which it was said. What came before and after the quote is just as relevant as the quote itself.

With all of that being said, and I am diametrically opposed to the two-party illusion, I only watch MSM to hear the main things I want to find out more detail on. I actually depend on ATS as my "go-to" source first for seeing what's happening in the world and what I'm interested in.

~Namaste

Before I joined ATS I knew some of the stuff that was on the news was bs. I just couldn't fathom that so much of it was crap. I have noticed over the last year that some of the news is getting a little better at portraying the truth. I guess the stations are having their deception thrown back in their face a lot because of the net. Their version of news is not the only version anymore, facebook and other sites are observed a lot now. They can't get away with it.

But then you have fox and MSNBC and a few others seem strongly tied to politics. They parrot what they are allowed to say knowing the government will back them Someday they may be the only news sources we are allowed to view.

I can see changes coming in the future, a country that deceives so many people can not survive if people can find the truth....I feel the internet may someday be highly censored....for the good of the people. Yeah right....which people

There are some people in congress and the state legislatures that would like to have the truth come out so they didn't have to sit under that two tons of garbage held up by a piece of twine.

Following a news source hasn't made me bigoted, but life experience has.

For example, I live in an apartment complex (my first mistake), and parking is limited to two cars per unit. This apparently doesn't apply to the Pakistanis, who live 10 to a unit and have waaaaay more cars than they're supposed to have on property, you know, out of consideration.

I literally watch them sit outside and wait for other cars to leave, then they send someone to get a car parked farther away and move it up closer. God forbid they have to walk 100 feet....

I've confronted them on it, went up to 10 of them standing outside, yet they didn't want to admit it. They couldn't even talk about it, and told me to go the f@$& away. LOL. I said why don't you make me go the f@$& away, any and all of you. None accepted, I let them all know they were a bunch of cowards, and stopped wasting my time and went back inside.

Before everyone calls me a racist, just know that nobody else here does that, yet everyone seems to say the same things about them. There are other examples of them being a bunch of turds, like how they speak in their own language when people walk by and laugh and look at them.

I wish they'd all go back to the Middle East. They don't like us, we don't like them. That's the brutal truth. There are exceptions of course, but few and far between.

I appreciate that you created a thread to counter my "Fox" thread, but I can't help but notice you must have missed the overall premise.

We can agree that both sides of the political media are biased, they fabricate, lie...etc, but Fox has drummed-up so much hate and disinformation against Muslims that someone actually had to produce an article telling it's readers that it's ok.....your Muslim neighbor is only cooking breakfast at 3am due to his faith, not making bombs.

I've never seen an MSNBC piece telling it's readers "don't worry, just because a Catholic priest walks by a daycare doesn't mean he's looking for his next victim". Or something along those lines.

So I believe there is a distinct difference.

I'd also like to point out that it seems like every time someone points out a flaw in a news media outlet or political ideology, the other side comes up and says "ya, well the other guys do it too". That may be true, but you are willfully refusing to admit that your side is doing it and are trying to direct attention away from yourselves. If it's bad for one side to engage in shenanigans, it's bad for the other side to do so as well, right?

But I suppose we are more forgiving if it's "our side", huh?

originally posted by: FlyersFan
a reply to: Kukri
I agree with ya'. It's all the same. I'll tune in to (left) CNN and then (right) FOX ... then mush them together and take the middle of the two as 'news' ... and then only believe half of that anyways. [/quote


I'd do the same but call it comedy. I just can't tolerate any of it actually defiitely prefer Canadian news as it actually has to be factual by law.

a reply to: FlyersFan

No, no more really than watching Fox does, I don't think. It does, however, much like watching only Fox, reinforce a very one-sided viewpoint and creates a sort of bubble.

I am, however, much more terrified of the hard left. There's some basic reason and common sense on the right, even the hardest of the hard, some shred of pity in most of their hearts. While many on the left claim to be tolerant and accepting of other cultures, the cultural differences that result in poor Republicans voting the they do are lost on many hard leftists and the left talks about those folks like they're animals. It's really, really scary.

a reply to: FlyersFan

ahahahahaha!!! awesome post FF!

they didn't even go to court to lie!

that's the stuff i been talking about in my other posts.

originally posted by: sheepslayer247
I appreciate that you created a thread to counter my "Fox" thread, but I can't help but notice you must have missed the overall premise.

We can agree that both sides of the political media are biased, they fabricate, lie...etc, but Fox has drummed-up so much hate and disinformation against Muslims that someone actually had to produce an article telling it's readers that it's ok.....your Muslim neighbor is only cooking breakfast at 3am due to his faith, not making bombs.

I've never seen an MSNBC piece telling it's readers "don't worry, just because a Catholic priest walks by a daycare doesn't mean he's looking for his next victim". Or something along those lines.

So I believe there is a distinct difference.

I'd also like to point out that it seems like every time someone points out a flaw in a news media outlet or political ideology, the other side comes up and says "ya, well the other guys do it too". That may be true, but you are willfully refusing to admit that your side is doing it and are trying to direct attention away from yourselves. If it's bad for one side to engage in shenanigans, it's bad for the other side to do so as well, right?

But I suppose we are more forgiving if it's "our side", huh?

oh bs. fox doesn't drum up muslim hatred. they call it like it is.

i bet you don't hear the word "terrorist" on that station. unless it's related to americans.

i won't even mention what they think happened to flight 370.

a reply to: tsingtao



I guess I should thank you...considering you have just illustrated exactly what I was talking about.

It's mainstream news, what do you expect?

They're all going to throw cheap shots at each other to rile everyone up to help bring in ratings. Anytime there's a controversy no matter how dumb it is, it benefits them. Get people angry and interested is good for business, it catches peoples attention. Especially when there's nothing better to cover at the time.

Left wing, right wing, it doesn't matter. Both are guilty of doing it. I see Fox News in particular as far as a right-wing news station doing the same thing. Some of the things that they say make me want to bang my head against the wall for having heard complete idiocy. But that's what "news" has come to in this country. It's more about political/social ideology more than actual news.

The majority of the members here decry the mass media, and how evil they all are. But yet as soon as someone makes a thread calling out Fox news, that same majority instantly gets their jimmies all rustled and jumps in to defend Fox News.

I've always wondered why that was?

For the record, I am not defending MSNBC with this reply.

Just saying, before anyone puts words in my mouth.

a reply to: muse7

muse7 dear, I don't wear jimmies
But I've found that most people who watch the MSNBC and read Huff,,,, come to my clinic and after a treatment of Acupuncture I normally prescribe.

a reply to: FlyersFan

Both Fox News and MSNBC are opinion and propaganda pieces. Do not think that one is without thinking the other is. Saying MSNBC is a propaganda channel is true, but it does not make Fox News any better.

Just go to either www.foxnews.com or www.msnbc.com and read their story selections. It isn't that hard to figure out.

I'm not going to be persuaded that either one is a good news outlet by an attack on the other. I do want to point out that MSNBC might be a little better at hiding its bias than Fox News, which isn't even trying.

To the O.P. FlyersFan: I hope you don't think Fox News is legitimate, but I am glad you brought this up.

" "Does Watching MSNBC Make You Ignorant and Bigoted?" "

Depends what level of "Captivity" the watcher is up to......

The fact is that most people do not want to go through life feeling helpless and oppressed.

It is far easier psychologically to convince yourself that you are not really oppressed at all, and that you send the government half your money because you WANT to, not because you HAVE to.

Government and the Stockholm Syndrome


Corporate Stockholm Syndrome

Hey, I have an idea, let's look at some objective data to determine if viewing Fox or MSNBC makes one ignorant and bigoted, to wit, check out this article on a study conducted by researchers at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Study on news sources and their viewership's knowledge level

Although it found that people who rely solely on MSNBC are less knowledgeable than people who get their news from other MSM sources, NPR or a varieties of other news sources, these people still were more knowledgeable than people who didn't watch or read any news at all. BUT, people who got their news solely from FOX KNEW LESS than people who got no news at all!!!. That purdee much proves that relying on Fox for one's news does indeed make you schtupider, which is not the case with MSNBC. QED. Game over, man.

Obviously if the OP or the ditto heads chiming in, piling on MSNBC, got their news from somewhere besides FOX they would already know this fact and would not have made themselves look more ridiculous by creating this thread or "amen'ing" the OP's thesis.

Yes, MSNBC does traffic in a lot of opinion, but it also does news as well. Unlike Fox, however, MSNBC does tell the truth and acknowledges when it makes a mistake.

I guess this thread was made in response to some thread to the same effect about Fox; the difference is that the thread about Fox is true. This thread is but an ill-conceived, reactionary one in response, which is patently false.

I'm curious, Fox lovers/MSNBC haters, can you tell me anything -- without googling first -- about the legal shenanigans involving North Carolina governor Pat McCrory and Duke Energy, or what the law actually says regarding the tax status of 501 C organizations, which is what the supposed IRS scandal is all about? If not, then you should be watching some MSNBC -- you might just learn something.

And yes, there are some blowhards on MSNBC, and yes, it is in large part a propaganda organ for the establishment wing or the Democratic party, but at least when it does report, it reports the truth. And unlike Fox, it doesn't foster hate and bigotry.

Geez, just look at the loon Fox just had on that was suggesting that the World Cup is somehow a ploy by the Obama administration to distract Americans from issues regarding US policy. Crackpot nuts like this do not get air time on MSNBC -- except when a Tea Party representative or a elected official supporting the Tea Party is given air time.

I give this thread a very hearty two thumbs and two big toes down.

originally posted by: sheepslayer247
I appreciate that you created a thread to counter my "Fox" thread, but I can't help but notice you must have missed the overall premise.

Nope. I missed nothing. You made your point and opinion very clear. So did I.

But I suppose we are more forgiving if it's "our side", huh?

I don't have a side, but apparently you do.

originally posted by: MrInquisitive
Obviously if the OP or the ditto heads chiming in, piling on MSNBC, got their news from somewhere besides FOX they would already know this fact and would not have made themselves look more ridiculous by creating this thread or "amen'ing" the OP's thesis.

My opening post wasn't ridiculous and I don't look ridiculous, neither do those who have commented that they also see the lies and bigotry spewing from MSNBC. I started this thread as a snarky response to the FOX thread. But the information in the opening post is accurate. Deal with it.

Yes, MSNBC does traffic in a lot of opinion, but it also does news as well.

If you had seen the information in the opening post, you'd see that only 15% of what MSNBC pumps out is actually news and not opinion pieces. FOX has a 50% rating of news vs opinion. CNN has an even better rating.

Unlike Fox, however, MSNBC does tell the truth and acknowledges when it makes a mistake.

Now I know you didn't bother reading the information in the opening post. MSNBC does NOT tell the truth and it does NOT acknowledge when it makes a mistake. Your claim fails.

This thread is but an ill-conceived, reactionary one in response, which is patently false.

No hun ... this thread was a snarky fun response to an anti-FOX thread. Funny how MSNBC lovers can't handle the truth about their shill-machine but they just love to point out the problems with FOX. Hypocrisy. Oh ... and just because a person can see the severe issues wrong with MSNBC doesn't mean they are a FOX lover. That's silly.

As I said ... FOX and MSNBC are both bad and untrustworthy (CNN is improving).
Too bad certain MSNBC fans can't accept the truth of that statement.