Fox News Viewers: I’m Sorry

I regret referring to Fox News viewers as “idiots” in the post linked above. Obviously, I’m not a fan of the franchise and what is often called its “politics of hate and exclusion,”  and I unapologetically do think its followers would do well to look elsewhere and seek out sources of information that are more based on fairness and truth. But what I wrote here was reckless, irresponsible, and insensitive. 

Sadly, most people, and I include myself, tend to seek information that confirms, rather than disconfirms, our hypotheses that explain how the world is the way it is and what ought to be done about it.  Very few people are comfortable actively going about attempting to prove themselves wrong, i.e., disconfirming what they believe—even though far more learning takes place where we’re strong enough to do exactly that.

Fox News panders to people with a certain perspective, one with which I disagree.  But am I any better?  I’d like to think my outlook on the world is more enlightened, but my ways of gathering information and reflecting critically upon it certainly aren’t.  I get a newsletter every morning from DailyKOS, every line of which is about slamming conservatives; there’s no effort to do anything else whatsoever.  At the same time, how much time do I spend on RealClearPolitics.com, or watching Fox News itself?  Not too much.

Again, I’m sorry for the unfair generalization.  As I’ve noted many times, I don’t remove stupid things I’ve written, though there have been many times I wish I had a different policy in that respect.  This is one.