It’s a scientific conclusion researchers at the University of Maryland have arrived at. According to the data of their study, faithful watchers of Fox News are more susceptible than others to believe falsehoods, which is something we’ve known all along. What’s more, their level of ignorance or of misinformation is proportional to the number of hours they spend watching the Ruper Murdoch’s channel. In short, the more you listen to Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity, the more wrong you are.
I’ll cite in the text below what daily watchers of Fox News were more likely to believe (falsely) during the 2010 elections, as opposed to those who never watch the channel:
Most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely).
Most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points).
The economy is getting worse (26 points).
Most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points).
The stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points).
Their own income taxes have gone up (14 points).
The auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points).
When TARP came up for a vote, most Republicans opposed it (12 points).
And that it’s not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points).
Daily watchers of MSNBC, NPR and PBS were for their part more susceptible to believe (falsely) that it had been proven that the Chamber of Commerce of the United States had given Republican candidates money from foreign sources.
The shift now underway is unlikely to take the form of a dramatic collapse of American power in the Gulf. It is more likely to be subtler and, for the region, more unsettling.
America’s Achilles’ heel is internal. If it loses this war, it will likely be because much of the media, politicians, and even some of Trump’s allies do not fully understand his policies.
Israel must reduce its military dependence on the United States as much as possible and deepen its technological, military and moral value in American eyes.
European autonomy - military, technological, economic, and financial - is beginning to take shape as Europe hedges against current and future fluctuations in [U.S.] policy.