Fox News used to make me nervous. And for good reason. For the past decade they catered to ignorance and fear by twisting words and exaggerating half-lies like “Only George Bush can keep you safe,” “John Kerry is a flip flopper,” and “Democrats will raise your taxes.” They targetted the uninformed, the stupid people who could latch onto vague bullshit like that and take it as truth. Just taking a minute to imagine the vast amount of stupid people I know in real life, it became clear that Fox News could easily convince 50 milion people to vote against their interests and trust the “Fair and Balanced” Network.
But since that strategy apparently hasn’t worked for the last two elections, Fox News has given up on The Dumb and now directs its programming squarely at The Insane. Now, it’s “Obama has a secret plan to take away all your guns,” or “Obama is a Communist,” or “Obama reminds me of Hitler.” It is horrifying to watch if you take it at face value, but is the new programming turn aimed at the mentally unstable really something to worry about? The other day after watching yet another sobbing, hysterical rant by Glenn Beck, I thought about all the truly insane people I know. Thankfully, that number is a lot less. While there always will be enough stupid people voting for the other guy,  there are not 50 million crazy people capable of doing the same thing.
So now I can turn on Fox News and laugh. Sure, 20% of the people in this country may still believe what they say, but that will never be enough to have any actual influence on society. After just a couple minutes of watching their circus clowns debate the doomsday scenarios of our new “fascist” government, I have realized they are just ensuring that those people will never control the levers of power again.