Foxing The Old Folks

An amusing, if depressing, article, on a conservative website, written by a conservative. He coins the term "Fox Geezer Syndrome."

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been keeping track of a trend among friends around my age (late thirties to mid-forties). Eight of us (so far) share something in common besides our conservatism: a deep frustration over how our parents have become impossible to take on the subject of politics. Without fail, it turns out that our folks have all been sitting at home watching Fox News Channel all day – especially Glenn Beck’s program.

Used to be I would call my mom and get updated on news from the neighborhood, her garden, the grandchildren, hometown gossip, and so forth. I’ve always been interested in politics, but never had the occasion to talk about them with her. She just doesn’t care.

Or didn’t. I don’t know when it happened, exactly, but she began peppering our conversation with red-hot remarks about President Obama. I would try to engage her, but unless I shared her particular judgment, and her outrage, she apparently thought that I was a dupe or a RINO. Finally I asked my father privately why Mom, who as far as I know never before had a political thought, was so worked up about Obama all the time.

“She’s been like that ever since she started watching Glenn Beck,” Dad said.

A few months later, she roped him into watching Beck, which had the same effect. Even though we’re all conservatives, I found myself having to steer our phone conversations away from politics and current events. It wasn’t that I disagreed with their opinions – though I often did – but rather that I found the vehemence with which they expressed those opinions to be so off-putting.

Then I flew out for a visit, and observed that their television was on all day long, even if no one was watching it. What channel was playing? Fox. Spending a few days in the company of the channel – especially Glenn Beck — it all became clear to me. If Fox was the window through which I saw the wider world, for hours every day, I’d be perpetually pissed off too.

I've had similar experiences, though not with my folks, who never lost their liberal -- meaning thoughtful, fact-based, well-read -- sensibilities. The more people listen to any of the RWS™, I've found, the harder it is to talk to them.

I don't sense advanced age in most of my readers. But the contrarians, many of whom seem congenitally unable to find fault with any of Beck's paranoid delusions, sure seem like geezers.

Truth is, though, it's not really a laughing matter. We have a lunatic (or a very cynical, egotistical, moneymaker) to whom many people, inexplicably, give credence. The results are sad at best, and pretty scary in fact.