Is George Bush the Fox Network of Politics?

GWB dumbed down politics - on purpose. He ridiculed intelligence. He bullied his opponents. He has no ethics. He has no problem denying reality. His aim was to divide the nation in order to exploit it. His only guiding principals are to money and power.

Add Christina Applegate and a laugh track and it could be Fox (Fox New-ish, Fox Business, NYPost, Page 6, etc.).

I have faith in the American people. We arent craving ignorance, we are only being fed poorly. In Canada and the UK there are hours of prime programming devoted to historic, cultural and nature subjects. And I tend to think we can make it creative and entertaining. In 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minow famously called television 'a vast wasteland'.

1961.

In 1995 Reed Hundt, then a former Chairman of the FCC himself, said:

Children became bullseyes for the arrows of electronic advertising. We began, as one European critic has said, "to raise our kids as consumers more than as citizens."

Sound familiar? He added:

Market values aren't necessarily family values. And when the FCC commits itself exclusively to promoting profit maximizing in broadcasting, it has not done its duty under the law for the kids and parents of this country.

Fortunately, we have a second chance to figure out how TV can help us raise our kids. Our second chance might be our last chance.

1995.