I really, really don’t like Fix (“Fox”) News. Not because it is conservative. It just has too many people from morning ’till night who have no concern for facts or for accuracy.
What really bothers me at the moment is their war on the poor fueled by misrepresentation and stereotyping.
The poor, they say, are lazy (“sitting on their couches eating bom-boms” is how they put it), and if unemployment benefits are extended again, the unemployed will soon be doing the same thing.
Never mind that as of 2011 there were 10.4 million low income families that fit the category of the “working poor,” meaning someone in the household was in the work force for 27 weeks or more, but the family income still fell below the federal poverty level.
Never mind that millions of working poor families survive because one or more members work two jobs, or that up to this year none of them had healthcare.
Never mind that most of the individuals considered “poor” are children and single working women. (I just don’t know what we’re going to do with so many lazy children who refuse to work, or mothers who leave them at home alone while they go to work.)
Never mind that people refuse a part-time job that pays less than the $256 per week unemployment compensation they get because their family cannot survive on less and also because they need to look for a full time job.
Did you know, according to Fix News, that 99% of poor families in this nation have a refrigerator? Call Social Services!
But here’s the thing. While complaining about the poor and the way unemployment compensation is encouraging people not to look for a job, these same commentators insist that it is unfair to characterize everyone on Wall Street because of a “few bad apples.”
Liberals, take note!
Hmmm. Maybe not so fast.
Here’s what John Stewart had to say about Fix News commentators taking shots at the poor while defending the rich.
“I think I’m beginning to get it,” he said. “If it’s a policy that benefits the rich, then it doesn’t have to be paid for, should last forever, and is good for America. But if it benefits the poor, we can’t afford it, we should end it as soon as possible, and it will destroy our nation from within.”
Which brings me back to where I started.
I really, really don’t like Fix News. It just has too many commentators who don’t give a fig about truth or accuracy.
And that’s why I think their war on the poor is, well, it’s simply morally disgusting.
