Less than nothing

This is your brain on Faux News.

Fox News viewers in the U.S. are less informed than those who watch nothing at all, a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll says.

But, lest ye think that Faux News is the only media outlet doing a disservice to its viewers:

Cassino again emphasized that none of the networks did a great job of informing its viewers.

“These sorts of media sources don’t actually help people learn. They are not giving people the basic facts to makes informed decisions about politics,” he said.

No, they're not. None of them are. Although I think Faux News was created to keep its viewers ignorant and that studies like this are an affirmation of its success, all news networks carefully control the dissemination of information potentially inconvenient to our ruling class.

Class, not party. Party affiliations are meaningless, as the major political parties no longer provide the electorate with meaningful choices. Perhaps the historical importance of the Obama presidency will be -- and I hope I am wrong about this -- that it showed that significant change cannot come from within a system designed to protect entrenched, wealthy interests who have no interest in change. Your political affiliation is meaningless. The only thing your party affiliation indicates is whom you blame for the economic distress you are currently experiencing: Democrats blame the rich, for seizing control of our government and using it to exploit and steal from the poor. Rich Republicans blame the poor, for not being able to figure out how to become rich. Poor Republicans blame people even poorer than themselves, for keeping taxes high or something.

In this system, political parties exist only to perpetuate the myth that you still have choices, still have some control over your life. In short, political parties are bullshit. In this system, money is the only metric that matters.

But since we at least started out talking about how well news networks inform their viewers, let's give credit where it's due: Only Faux News reported that pepper spray is "a food product, essentially." First on Faux. Congratulations on your scoop, Megyn Kelly, and thank you for providing information I wasn't getting anywhere else. And I mean anywhere.

I suppose, in Meg's mind, that when University of California, Davis Police Lt. John Pike soaked peaceful, apparently unarmed protesters with "food product," he was simply sharing some of his bounty, in the spirit of the season. Happy Thanksgiving, University of California, Davis Police Lt. John Pike, and happy Thanksgiving Megyn Kelly. Protecting the powerful from the oppressed is truly important work. Not everyone would trade their legacy and reputation, or gladly take such a prominent seat on the wrong side of history, to protect an aristocracy that is clearly in decline. I hope the elites are thanking God for people like you.