Sounds like my parents and grandparents. When I call my family and bring up anything that deviates from the Fox News script, they literally find a reason to get off the phone with me. Serious programming happening.

I'm convinced there are subliminal messages or something being beamed to his brain. If there was a choice he would watch Fox news 24 hours a day. The same stories over and over again. It's kinda messed up.

This is exactly what my parents do. The TV is always on Fox or hockey. We're Canadian, so the hockey thing makes sense.

Yea, it's crazy!!

Oh yeah. My mom (who is 70) sounds like a Fox News morning show host (on immigrants, Putin, fracking, Ron/Rand Paul, blacks, LGBT, etc.). Twenty years ago she never had these opinions.

What I don't understand is how people can hear an interesting (or provocative) opinion on some issue and not be compelled to do any independent research before forming their own opinion.

lol

It's best to take him out back and just put him down.

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End of Old Feller

always maek me cry

No County For Old Men.

Finger his ass slow

All MSM is brainwashing, just different brands of bullshit.

My parents, too. They play it 24-7 and just try explaining that something said on TV is not true. My Mom is usually pretty receptive to my views, if not in agreement, but my Dad will get crazy angry with me sometimes. It's really, really weird, too, as they're generally very intelligent people.

One thing I've tried to do is when the TV news states something completely false that's easy to refute, refute it, and provide sources. Also, one thing Fox does A LOT of is put footage that has nothing to do with the story being told on. Like, they'll talk about women being raped by immigrants in Sweden and show Ukrainian protests, not Swedish (or show footage of Swedish women protesting in SUPPORT of the immigrants, assuming no one can read the signs, which is quite choice). Point it out when you see it.

Eventually, hopefully, you'll break through a little.

This political cycle has been a little less stressful, though, because at least we can all agree that Clinton and Trump are The Worst^tm and there's some common ground. But when it gets to the Fox News race-baiting stuff or ANYTHING non-cartoonish about Syria (evil, says Fox) or Israel (always right, says Fox) or Saudi Arabia (a great ally, says Fox) or ISIS (no way we or our allies have aided and abetted them, says Fox), all bets are off.

Yea i'll try to poke holes in the fox news façade here and there but not much gets through. If I talk too much while they are watching they just tell me to shut up and that's the end of that. I've gotten in arguments with them over Israel but it is pretty much a hopeless battle.

I'm pretty sure that it's just some confirmation bias shit going on. They were probably raised with, or adopted views similar to what Fox News espouses. Fox is pretty extreme in their views, as are a lot of older people who are interested in politics, and they're just circle jerking and affirming their beliefs.

Fox News watchers are people who hate "the government" but are dependent on it. So they think they're libertarians, but they're fed neocon talking points.

So he doesn't like big government, but he makes his money off of the defense industry. This means his indoctrination is going to be closely tied to xenophobic fear mongerging which right now is mostly anti-islam, anti- russia and anti-china. Probably not a lot you can do on the foreign policy thing, because he's too dependent on the war machine.

What you CAN do though, is focus on the civil liberties aspect- places where fox news is hypoctical. Play up those things. Focus on the points Andrew Napolitano is making. Refute the conflicting points that Krautheimer and Hannity are making.

edit: your father probably dislikes "the blacks" and "the mexicans", so when I say "civil liberties", I basically mean that he doesn't want to pay taxes.

his indoctrination is going to be closely tied to xenophobic fear mongerging which right now is mostly anti-islam, anti- russia and anti-china.

Yea...China...right up until he needs a new (insert consumer product here), then it's "off to Walmart". 5000 "made in china" labels under his roof. Wouldn't buy an American-made product for a dollar more. Unbeknownst to him, he's a traitor and as unAmerican as they come.

Start a fist fight with him over it. If you lose, wait 24 hours and then go back to request a second fist fight. Repeat until a change in the status quo.

It seems to be the only way now a days.

Others have had your very problem. Don't worry. He can change.

There is a movie about this very phenom. It's called, "The Brainwashing of My Dad". It's a kickstarter movie (I helped fund) that's been limited-released in movie festival circuits and will be out soon (March 18, 2016). Trailer is here

Wouldn't surprise me. I mean that is the point of boot camp/other training.

If he was a defense contractor, then his livelihood depended on constant war. When his paycheck is dependent on that system then you are going to have a really hard time persuading him to see things from 'another angle' and in fact if you could convince him that FOX is a war mongering propaganda machine, it would force him to call into question his whole life. People avoid this kind of existential crisis like the plague. Would you want to be convinced that your lifes work was part of an evil conspiracy? You have to consider the psychology at play here.

Your assessment is spot on pretty much. I try not to be too hard on him but sometimes i'll let it slip that I think 9/11 might of been a fraud and he pretty much just tunes me out haha.

If you really want to get through to someone like that, its an uphill battle. You have to be very subtle. You cannot be direct, you cannot drop big meaty bits of information or they will be actively opposed. Instead, you need to drop a breadcrumb trail that will lead them to the truth. You need inception to make them think the idea came from them, by following your trail of clues.

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Yea I've tried emailing him articles from alternate news sources. He will look at drudge report here and there but i'm pretty sure he only reads the right wing stuff.

Television is used for mass hypnosis.

We (my family) were like this, a slave to the MSM; that is until recently. In the last two years we have all actively searched for different sources and the change it has made is astounding. I have learnt more in these two years than in the twenty before it. It is truly scary when I hear the propaganda on MSM being spouted by sheep. I try to show people facts and encourage honest, informed debate...it is scary that people, even when presented with facts, will just not except a change of narrative.

Send him videos of Judge Napolitano when he was on Fox Business. He was canned after exposing some deep truths (you could often find his videos on this very subreddit when he was on the air,) but you can still find some on YouTube. Also, another show on Fox Business called Kennedy is an anti-war, libertarian perspective that could change his views if he's a pro-war type-a-guy. There's also Stossel on Fox Business, which is the same. Maybe just switch the channel from Fox News to Fox Business when you're with him. It's a small step in the right direction.

Interesting stuff. Thanks.

It's not that these poor brainwashed boobs won't think about other points of view -- they can't think about other points of view. Their minds instantly reject alternate viewpoints without consideration. That's the conditioning at work.

Yea OPERATION MOCKINGBIRD comes to mind. Fox News may be a continuation of that project.

Flicked it on the other night...

Bill oreily vs trump debate

Fuck me sideways

Welcome to the club!

You need to get him drunk and high to lower his barrier.

Hey at least it's not CNN or MSNBC.

I think that most people are middle of the road types that have a few issues they are passionate about. Then they hear some talking head espousing the same beliefs and begin to identify with that personality. "If (Pundit) agrees with my beliefs on this, what does he/she have to say about X?" Other, more like minded voices are drawn into the average person's social circle. Then it becomes an issue of groupthink. The average person is lectured on other, more fringe beliefs and is drawn further to a political wing.

This is really sad man please check if he feels his life is ok and that economic turmoil is immonent is he reaponds with no, then i feel so sorry because im starting to get the idea of the general public its a bad situation, his days were more likely propaganda, at least our young generation has a liberty movement. God Bless and please try asking Jesus. (Here comes some mocking) but be independent and dont let highschool kids tactics of bullying make you feel embarrassed, i will assure you prayer is the way. Be like me, do t care what others think of you why? People will always hate you, the point of life is to seek meaning and truth, Jesus is t a faitytale he is real, please please please seek him out. The world does t look too good right now does it. Just give him a chance, try, try please, do it for yourselve and your mom and dad they need you to start, all your prayers will be ansewerd i promised and he promised he will draw near to you if you draw near to him. God Bless you i love you because God created you and you are in his image. Most of all God loves you dearly. Sorry typos im typing on a phone and other things go on when you talk about God.

He won't argue with the person but he will not listen at all.

Here's a different tactic you can try. When Fox says something that doesn't make sense, think about it for a while. Then go ask your dad questions about it.

The thing about asking someone questions is that it gets them thinking again. In fact, when you are curious about something or questioning thing, that's when your mind is really alive. That's the time when you're truly thinking.

You might find your dad doesn't like to answer a question about something on Fox. He might even get annoying at you for "bugging him" with your questions. That's because his mind is starting to wake up. When this happens, he'll begin to realize that things don't quite add up and it will cause some serious mental discomfort.

If this happens, maybe back off with the questions for a while and give him a break. Then start up again a few weeks later. If you're lucky, your dad will begin to regain his ability to question and think for himself.

Kill the TV.

The plural of "media" is "medium" and one of its definitions is "people who communicate with the dead".

Mine too. It wasnt the defense contractor job that brainwashed him... it was Fox. My dad is starting to see things a little differently now.. but everytime i see him i have to tip toe around anything political or governmental...

You are not alone. Many of us have lost family members to Fox News.

What particular viewpoints of your father's do you disagree with?

Well I'm pretty much a pacifist. I don't believe we should be fighting wars in the middle east at all. I have my doubts about 9/11 and feel like special interest groups are profiting from the war on terror and that is why it will continue indefinitely.

Have you brought up the Mandela Effect to them yet?

Nope but you just gave me something pretty cool to read about. Thanks.

That may not be the ideal route to pursue...

Fox's neocon brand of brainwashing is annoying--but far less toxic in my opinion than MSNBC's brand of race-hate programming and "speech code" indoctrination.

Not to let Fox off the hook, but I don't see them dignifying race-hate like MSNBC does with Al Sharpton race-hustling and their promotion of anti-European rhetoric with stuff like "white privilege" and "whitesplaining".

MSNBC's attempts to instill self-hate into the host-population is (in my opinion) far more toxic than anything Fox has ever done.

• Footnote: And, by the way, I have long since been unable to tell an aging Rachel Maddow apart from CNN's Anderson Cooper. With thick necks, pinched heads and lizard-y noses, it's getting harder and harder to distinguish one androgynous news personality from another. http://unicornbooty.com.207-244-69-7.creativehaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/maddow-cooper.jpg Maybe they represent a new advance away from our traditional binary system of journalists, with male and female anchors. As in linguistics, words fall under "male," "female" and "neuter". In the future all our anchors, will be look-a-like "neuters". That way, stations can save costs on hiring both a male and a female anchor-person for the desk. Just combine them into one, as a cost-cutting measure. CNN and MSNBC are leading the way into the future!

Yea I stopped watching MSNBC and CNN as soon as the Michael Brown shit started. Truth is, a multi-cultural society just does not really work. The different races are like different alien species is the way I see it. The idea that they will all live mixed in with each other in peace and harmony is a fantasy. I think we all need to accept each others differences and make the best of it though. Your right in that outlets like CNN that talk about race 24/7, THEY are the ones that are actually being racist no matter how much they try to tell you otherwise.

A thing about CNN. Younger people think CNN is liberal but CNN just goes where the money is and usually is the first to back the white house. Look up older CNN reports just after Bush announced the Iraq war. You will see that CNN was just like Fox is today. They where the first big network to back the Iraq war and call anti-war activists anti-American. Basically CNN is a chameleon that will shift political sides depending on what party is in office.

Tell him he is a sucker for believing left or right wing news outlets are giving him unfiltered journalism. Right wing news has actually been better than the left wing outlets in more recent times (about a year or so). Considering how sneaky right wing media usually is the left has hit new extreme lows. Left wing news does not give a fuck about facts any more, or about the letting you know the truth. The Huffington Post is now less legitimate than Fox.

Watch it with him. Sit with him and try and see his perspective. He might surprise you and you may even learn a thing or two.

I'll usually watch some of it at dinner. The Five is ok I guess. Not a big O'reilly fan. Meghan Kelly is kinda annoying.

Yea I've tried emailing him articles from alternate news sources. He will look at drudge report here and there but i'm pretty sure he only reads the right wing stuff.

It seems to be the only way now a days.