So This Is Christmas So this is Christmas And what have you done? Another year over And a new one just begun And so this is Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young. A very Merry Christmas And a Happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear And so this is Christmas For weak and for strong For rich and the poor ones The road is so long And so Happy Christmas For black and for white For yellow and red ones Let's stop all the fight. A very Merry Christmas And a Happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear So this is Christmas And what have you done? Another year over And a new one just begun And so Happy Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young. A very Merry Christmas And a Happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear War is over! If you want it War is over! War is over, Now! "So This Is Christmas" Written by John Lennon

Martin L. Miller December 13, 2005

“Outfoxed”

My first response after or I should say even as I was watching the film Outfoxed was WOW! After watching Outfoxed a person is sure to feel violated and manipulated. To see how the truth is altered and twisted, and in some cases maliciously eliminated or omitted is scary. The movie with its revelations on how Fox News operates has truly changed the way I watch the news today. I am much more careful how I process what I see or read in the newspaper today. I need to think of whether or not if this sources a liberal view or conservative, what is their hidden agenda? If they even bother to hide it, in which case I would respect their view more. The truth and opportunity to be objective would be a nice format to give the public. But does that pay as well. OPPS here we go again MONEY. It’s all about what sells. Sensationalism!
You’ll notice that our local Fox Station channel 25 portrays the news in this manner. For instance if there is a car accident where people were taken to the hospital: they will pan the scene to maybe show a sneaker on the ground to emphasis the seriousness of the accident. The person might not have even had those sneakers on when involved in the accident. They love to show gory stuff because people watch which causes their ratings go up therefore allowing them to charge more money for their advertisements. If being honest with themselves they consider this practice unethical or even immoral they justify it by the profit and their responsibility to their stockholders.
Outfoxed focused part of their film on the obnoxiousness of Bill O’Reily. I believe this man should not even be on television but people watch him. I think they just want to see whom he is going to disrespect next. He is truly a master at his craft of twisting the truth casting doubt and suspicion on opponents. Republicans who constitute 87% of the guest he has on his show almost always agree with his opinion. This way they deceive the public in getting their agenda to the public. So the movie was letting us know that the Fox network has its own agenda and will stoop to any lengths to achieve that agenda. One of the phrase that they use to deceive was “ some people say “ the use this to validate the point they are trying to make. This seems to be the power of suggestion in saying “some people say”. It implies that people agree with whatever point of view the network is trying to portray to the public. Whether it true or false doesn’t seem to matter.
The movie was an eye opener for me. It has definitely changed the way I view television and read the newspaper. I will definitely be looking at who is communicating and why after watching this movie.