Fox Weather is low-hanging fruit, isn’t it?
Within moments of a New York Times story announcing Rupert Murdoch’s new streaming channel, social media unloaded with a tsunami of commentary.
In one tweet, a hypothetical Fox meteorologist tells the audience it’s sunny and perfect in Miami. Meanwhile, a tropical storm batters the city.
In another, a writer predicts Fox Weather will blame climate change on undocumented people at the border. (The channel will refer to them as “illegals,” of course.)
A third tweet speculates on how Tucker Carlson might comment on a tornado, by noting that they disproportionately strike areas where white people live. Carlson blames George Soros.
Another wit wonders if Fox Weather will offer hourly updates from “the former guy,” armed with a Sharpie, too close to the reality of 45’s explanation of Hurricane Dorian from 2019 to be funny.
My own imagination went to the nascent channel’s possible coverage of any protest outside the National Weather Service headquarters in Silver Springs, Maryland. There, a mob contradicts the reality of climate change and seeks to overthrow the meteorologists in charge.
Despite the presence of a noose on the lawn, by the next day the Fox
Weather team dubs the rioters “peaceful protestors” and “tourists.”
The jokes illustrate a few things. For one, they indicate why Mad magazine stopped creating new material a few years back. When topical humor can be shared seconds after an announcement or event, publishing similar schtick months later is pointless. (SNL has the same problem.)
On a deeper level, jokes about the new weather channel acknowledge how deeply Fox News has exploited its audience. For regular viewers, and especially those who watch Fox to the exclusion of everything else, the world is strikingly different from what the rest of Americans see.
Historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote earlier this week about the Republican Party’s embrace of Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and their “narrative in which Democrats were dangerous socialists, out to destroy home and family.” Cox notes that the network’s commentators have “skewed reality” for their audiences.
Certainly many Americans have strained relationships with parents, grandparents and lifelong friends due in large part to the broadcast crack-cocaine of various Fox personalities, who are profiteers in exploiting division.
The gulf between Fox viewers’ “consensus reality” and objective reality is perhaps best exemplified by a Reuters/Ipsos poll from mid-May. It found 53 percent of Republicans believe Donald Trump won the November election, despite zero evidence of widespread voter fraud. Only 3 percent of Democrats believe Trump won, and only 25 percent of all Americans. (That last is almost as concerning as the Republican number.)
Ironically, having whetted the appetites of a portion of the public for zany conspiracies, Fox News now finds itself on the outs with some viewers who don’t find the channel crazy enough. Hence, the rise of One America News Network, aka Fox without even a small shred of decency. Maybe this explains Fox’s decision to expand into weather.
Whatever Fox Weather’s intentions are – other than making gobs of money for Rupert Murdoch – viewers cannot afford to delude themselves on climate change the way they have on the pandemic and the election.
Encouragingly, at least for now, a majority of Republicans and like-minded independents (59 percent), in a Pew Research survey, believe human activity causes climate change (compared to 91 percent of Democrats).
The overwhelming consensus among scientists and researchers is that climate change is real and the world is rapidly running out of time to address it. America needs to be a leader in this cause, reversing the disastrous environmental policies of 2016-2020 and guiding the world away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner, renewable energy.
But if Fox Weather follows the trend of Fox News, look for junk climatology theories to receive more exposure, green-friendly policies to be criticized, and a new wave of anti-regulation candidates to flood the ballots.
In other words, a punchline for our children and grandchildren, who will find climate change is no laughing matter.
chris.schillig@yahoo.com
@cschillig on Twitter
The jokes illustrate a few things. For one, they indicate why Mad magazine stopped creating new material a few years back. When topical humor can be shared seconds after an announcement or event, publishing similar schtick months later is pointless. (SNL has the same problem.)
On a deeper level, jokes about the new weather channel acknowledge how deeply Fox News has exploited its audience. For regular viewers, and especially those who watch Fox to the exclusion of everything else, the world is strikingly different from what the rest of Americans see.
Historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote earlier this week about the Republican Party’s embrace of Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and their “narrative in which Democrats were dangerous socialists, out to destroy home and family.” Cox notes that the network’s commentators have “skewed reality” for their audiences.
Certainly many Americans have strained relationships with parents, grandparents and lifelong friends due in large part to the broadcast crack-cocaine of various Fox personalities, who are profiteers in exploiting division.
The gulf between Fox viewers’ “consensus reality” and objective reality is perhaps best exemplified by a Reuters/Ipsos poll from mid-May. It found 53 percent of Republicans believe Donald Trump won the November election, despite zero evidence of widespread voter fraud. Only 3 percent of Democrats believe Trump won, and only 25 percent of all Americans. (That last is almost as concerning as the Republican number.)
Ironically, having whetted the appetites of a portion of the public for zany conspiracies, Fox News now finds itself on the outs with some viewers who don’t find the channel crazy enough. Hence, the rise of One America News Network, aka Fox without even a small shred of decency. Maybe this explains Fox’s decision to expand into weather.
Whatever Fox Weather’s intentions are – other than making gobs of money for Rupert Murdoch – viewers cannot afford to delude themselves on climate change the way they have on the pandemic and the election.
Encouragingly, at least for now, a majority of Republicans and like-minded independents (59 percent), in a Pew Research survey, believe human activity causes climate change (compared to 91 percent of Democrats).
The overwhelming consensus among scientists and researchers is that climate change is real and the world is rapidly running out of time to address it. America needs to be a leader in this cause, reversing the disastrous environmental policies of 2016-2020 and guiding the world away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner, renewable energy.
But if Fox Weather follows the trend of Fox News, look for junk climatology theories to receive more exposure, green-friendly policies to be criticized, and a new wave of anti-regulation candidates to flood the ballots.
In other words, a punchline for our children and grandchildren, who will find climate change is no laughing matter.
chris.schillig@yahoo.com
@cschillig on Twitter
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