Ask A Genius 1100: “Based” Conservatives and “Woke” Progressives
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/08/25
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is the comparison and contrast between “based” happening in conservatives and “woke” that occurs to progressives?
Rick Rosner: The way I understand “based” is that it’s being aware of and upset about things that matter to conservatives or conservative pundits. It’s buying into what they talk about on Glenn Beck, Alex Jones, and Fox News and getting worked up over it. If you’re “based,” you buy into their statistics about how many undocumented immigrants have entered America. But you don’t call them “undocumented immigrants”; you call them “illegal aliens.”
And you believe they’re bringing gang violence, rape, and all that. You buy into that narrative—that’s being “based.” Whereas we know that’s bullshit and that immigrants, documented or not, have a much lower crime rate than native-born Americans. But if you’re “based,” you buy the fear and anger about conservative issues. Being “woke” is being aware of and pissed off about liberal issues.
Jacobsen: If you look at Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson, Fox News, Newsmax, etc., what do they get right? Or, what qualities do they have that are, in fact, admirable?
Rosner: Well, Newsmax and Fox News occasionally report the news. Fox Newshas probably—if you did some statistical analysis of their treatment of Trump—I would guess that, over time, they’ve had to more frequently say negative things about Trump as he gets worse, even though they broadly support him and his issues. Also, Fox has a show called The Five, which features five people discussing the day’s issues for an hour.
They generally have a token liberal. Right now, they’ve got Jessica Tarlov, who’s on every day, often one of the five. She’s good; she makes a lot of liberal points.
I don’t watch the show, but I’ve seen clips. She tends to hold her own, at least in the clips I’ve seen. So, people do have an opportunity—not always on Fox News, certainly not if you’re watching Hannity or Laura Ingraham—but there are opportunities to see more balanced perspectives about Trump and some of what the Republicans want to do. Even Newsmax occasionally stumbles into reporting something that isn’t complimentary to Trump.
They’d prefer not to, but “news” is in the network’s name. So, if Trump is trailing in the polls, they either have to report that or find polls where he’s not.
Rick Rosner, American Comedy Writer, www.rickrosner.org
Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Independent Journalist, www.in-sightpublishing.com
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