It’s time for an “American jihad”

Billy86

Wompa1 wrote: »

How many people watch Fox News? Out of over 300 million people, how many people are actually watching it?

Fox News is popular because it's an entertainment network. Not for it's news content. Have you watched CNN and CNBC in the states lately? They are the exact same as Fox, only with a left stance. All of it is crap. Television News, Radio News and Print Media are dying here.

Out of 300 million people, Fox probably gets less than an average of 2 million viewers and that's a guess because the Nielsen ratings system that's used is complete and utter ****e...Jon Stewart gets about 2.5 million viewers. John Olivers new show which to me, is probably the closest thing to an actual news program on the air...and it's a comedy show is getting over 4 million views.

So, go ahead and write off everyone in America because a tiny percentage watch Fox News.

A lot of that also has to do with television news programmes being fairly redundant in the age of the internet, social media and the smartphone though. On radio the right wing nut jobs are still doing very well for themselves recently - Rush Limbaughs show has been the most popular in US commercial radio for 20 odd years apparently, averaging over 13mn listeners. Sean Hannity who is one of the poster boys of FOX News has over 12mn, and Glenn Beck who was so absolutely insane that Fox even had to dump him has well 7mn. They said traditional radio is also going the way of the Indians, especially with smartphones allowing for easy access to basically any station in the world, and podcasts allowing people to listen to whatever they want, whenever they want.

Edit: by the way of you like John Oliver's show, you should check out 'The Bugle' comedy/news podcast he does with another English comedian most Fridays.

Areyouwell

Davarus Walrus wrote: »

You should probably head outside for a walk or something. Take a break from being an online social justice warrior.

I think you need to drop the keyboard and do some deep breathing exercises.

the_dude_1

The majority of the people who posted on this thread are anti-american. It would be a good bet they have never even visited the country.

It's a great country. And in terms of freedom, Ireland is far behind.

My name is URL

the_dude_1 wrote: »

The majority of the people who posted on this thread are anti-american. It would be a good bet they have never even visited the country.

It's a great country. And in terms of freedom, Ireland is far behind.

What exactly are people in Ireland not free to do that those in the US are?

Get out of here with your bullshit

Eutow

the_dude_1 wrote: »

The majority of the people who posted on this thread are anti-american. It would be a good bet they have never even visited the country.

It's a great country. And in terms of freedom, Ireland is far behind.

Register just to post that did you? How exactly is the U.S.A. the most "free" country in the world?

sparksfly

the_dude_1 wrote: »

The majority of the people who posted on this thread are anti-american. It would be a good bet they have never even visited the country.

It's a great country. And in terms of freedom, Ireland is far behind.

The United States Bureau of the Census figures for 2012, released in September 2013, confirm that more than one out of seven people in the USA are living in poverty (defined as less than 2 US dollars a day) In 2012, 46.5 million people were living in poverty in the United States.

Using the 2 dollar a day guide, 15.5% live in poverty in the US compared to 8.3% in Iran, 5.5% in Ireland.

The Commonwealth Fund (a private U.S. foundation promoting a high performing health care system) ranked the United States last in the quality of health care among countries. In a 2013 Bloomberg ranking of nations with the most efficient health care systems, the United States ranks 46th among the 48 countries included in the study.

In the same year according to the US Office of Management and Budget, the $682 billion spent on the military was more than the combined military spending of China, Russia, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Saudi Arabia, India, Germany, Italy and Brazil.

Yep, its a great country alright, we are far behind.

Tail Docker

"Jihad a Dream........that one day..........."

Elmer Blooker

the_dude_1 wrote: »

The majority of the people who posted on this thread are anti-american. It would be a good bet they have never even visited the country.

It's a great country. And in terms of freedom, Ireland is far behind.

The old anti-American card ..... yawn.
If you want to know what anti-Americanism is read this book.
By the way, the author served in the US Air Force in WW2 and lived his entire 87 years in the US of A!
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html

bnt

For most of its history, the USA had no real immigration controls: none until 1890. After that people from Europe had to go through Ellis Island, which wasn't a problem if you weren't a known criminal, insane, flat broke, or seriously ill. About 98% of all who landed became Americans. They basically let anyone in, and it shows.

That included a lot of Irish people - such as the ancestors on both sides of "right wing Americans" such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. Both are Catholics, and Hannity is only two generations away from the Emerald Isle. Until last year, Fox News was owned by News Corp i.e. Rupert Murdoch, who has some Irish ancestry too (along with Scottish and English). So if you're looking for someone to blame for the right-wing Fox News bias, try looking a little closer to home.

K4t

super_furry wrote: »

Hasn't America been pretty much doing what he's asking for, for the best part of a century? It's part of the reason that so many people want to blow them up.

You know you're doing something right when those people want to blow you up.

The reality is we probably wouldn't even have computers or even the right to engage in this conversation today if not for the US. We owe the US and should aspire to its core ideals set out by the founding fathers.

oppenheimer1

bnt wrote: »

For most of its history, the USA had no real immigration controls: none until 1890. After that people from Europe had to go through Ellis Island, which wasn't a problem if you weren't a known criminal, insane, flat broke, or seriously ill. About 98% of all who landed became Americans. They basically let anyone in, and it shows.

That included a lot of Irish people - such as the ancestors on both sides of "right wing Americans" such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. Both are Catholics, and Hannity is only two generations away from the Emerald Isle. Until last year, Fox News was owned by News Corp i.e. Rupert Murdoch, who has some Irish ancestry too (along with Scottish and English). So if you're looking for someone to blame for the right-wing Fox News bias, try looking a little closer to home.

It's a bit of a stretch to say Irish Americans are behind the rise of the right in the USA. Irish Americans are traditionally democrats.

oppenheimer1

K4t wrote: »

You know you're doing something right when those people want to blow you up.

The reality is we probably wouldn't even have computers or even the right to engage in this conversation today if not for the US. We owe the US and should aspire to its core ideals set out by the founding fathers.

That is one of the most ridiculous comments I've ever read on this site, which is a fair achievement. The reason the USA has so many enemies is because it has gone on so many wars for extra territory and resources.

porsche959

Interesting to see the hysterical reaction to The_dude_1's post above.

Actually, he is right, the US has much freer media than in Europe due to constitutional protections on freedom of speech. Maybe we should not emulate the Americans on everything, but their constitutional protections on free speech are certainly to be admired.

Most Irish people are ignorant of this because they rely on far left sources like the absurd RTE, Irish Times, Guardian, etc for their news and views.

The Americans have managed to prosecute their War on Terror for 15 years now without any of their politicians seriously suggesting they censor the media and free speech. Bill O'Reilly has interviewed Islamists on his show (granted, largely to criticise them, but still). We, pathetically, caved into the censorship brigade with our absurd Section 31 during 'the Troubles'.

I see a number of posters punting around the canard that the US has always been imperialist, that idea is garbage I'm afraid and provably so. You could make the case that the US has operated in an imperialist fashion since World War II, but even that is a debatable proposition. Well, not to the likes of Noam Chomsky and his fan club, but to more even-handed analysts, yes it is.

kowloon

K4t wrote: »

You know you're doing something right when those people want to blow you up.

The reality is we probably wouldn't even have computers or even the right to engage in this conversation today if not for the US. We owe the US and should aspire to its core ideals set out by the founding fathers.

The earliest computers pre-date the USA as an entity, as for more practical machines people like Zuse and Turing would want a word.

/pedantic mode

porsche959 wrote: »

Actually, he is right, the US has much freer media than in Europe due to constitutional protections on freedom of speech. Maybe we should not emulate the Americans on everything, but their constitutional protections on free speech are certainly to be admired.

We badly need a reform of our constitution.

Links234

porsche959 wrote: »

Most Irish people are ignorant of this because they rely on far left sources like the absurd RTE, Irish Times, Guardian, etc for their news and views.

LOL! :pac:

My name is URL

porsche959 wrote: »

Actually, he is right, the US has much freer media than in Europe

Ireland is ranked 16th in the Press Freedom Index

USA is ranked 46th

http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php

Any other claims you'd like debunked?

porsche959

kowloon wrote: »

We badly need a reform of our constitution.

Agree completely but sadly if there is one I would not be optimistic of enhanced protections for freedom of speech. The trend if anything is going the other way, we will probably copy the Brits (as we usually do) with their absurd "anti-trolling" (really, anti free speech) laws.

porsche959

My name is URL wrote: »

Ireland is ranked 16th in the Press Freedom Index

USA is ranked 46th

http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php

Any other claims you'd like debunked?

Extremely surprised by this. I would like to know more about their methodology.

My name is URL

porsche959 wrote: »

Extremely surprised by this. I would like to know more about their methodology.

It's all included there on the site, you can download their methodology. Haven't looked at it myself but Reporters Without Borders are a well respected organisation.

**** like this probably didn't help the US this year - http://www.newsweek.com/journalists-arrested-assaulted-and-teargassed-ferguson-264610

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqqp_LAVklA

Grayson

porsche959 wrote: »

We, pathetically, caved into the censorship brigade with our absurd Section 31 during 'the Troubles'.

It was hilarious watching Gerry Adams being dubbed.

Karl Stein

porsche959 wrote: »

You could make the case that the US has operated in an imperialist fashion since World War II, but even that is a debatable proposition.

Debatable? It's without question. What else you would call toppling democratically elected governments the world over only operating imperially?

Also take a look at Operation Mockingbird when you're considering press freedom in the US.

UCDVet

porsche959 wrote: »

Extremely surprised by this. I would like to know more about their methodology.

They have three sources of data:

* Anonymous surveys
* Collected stats by their staff
* 'Expert opinions' on issues that are hard to quantify

You can see the survey here: http://rsf.org/index/qEN.html

The 'stats' they collect are somewhat controversial though. They say:

They include the number of journalists, media assistants and netizens who
were jailed or killed in the connection with their activities, the number of journalists abducted, the
number that fled into exile, the number of physical attacks and arrests, and the number of media
censored

So it all hinges on what 'in connection with their activities' mean. If I'm a member of the press AND I'm breaking a law, while I'm trying to get a story - from my perspective, I'm being jailed for doing my job. From the perspective of the US government - I *broke the law* and happen to be a reporter. That doesn't grant immunity from the law, so I was jailed, justifiably.

They don't seem to explain where or how they gather those stats either.

And the 3rd input - the 'expert' opinion is left pretty much undefined.

At the end of the day, I'd be very hesitant to consider that an objective report. It's a subjective ranking of countries based on some criteria you may or may not agree with. That's not to say it isn't correct or useful, it's like when a popular magazine publishes their 'top 10 movies of all time'. They pick some factual criteria to compare (and ignore others), and combine it with some subjective criteria they want to include, and come up with a list using some internal scoring system. Several different magazines will all do the same thing, and all come up with different lists.

DarkyHughes

Grayson wrote: »

It was hilarious watching Gerry Adams being dubbed.

That had nothing to do with section 31. Section 31 was much more draconian than the dubbing stuff the UK introduced in 1988

AllGunsBlazing

the_dude_1 wrote: »

The majority of the people who posted on this thread are anti-american. It would be a good bet they have never even visited the country.

Actually, I'd wager that a significant number have visited the US, probably on holiday, and funnily enough - will most likely do so again in the future.

As for Ireland v USA in terms of "freedom", I would say we need a greater separation between the news media and the state in this country. Looking at you RTE....

Oh, and AH'ers need to stop forming opinions of America based on soundbites of Fox News. Maybe you haven't noticed but Fox corp isn’t exactly a cheerleader for the current Obama administration. But despite that he has managed two terms. Which sort of suggests Fox's influence over the average American is somewhat overblown.

smurgen

They can jihad all they want.for as long as the Russians have nuclear weapons the yanks will be kept in their box.global domination my bollocks.they could turn the whole place to ash if they wanted.the arrogance of the U.S astounds me.

Sunnyisland

Don't mind Americans at all, for the most part I like there lifestyle,There foreign policy is ****e but what powerful countries is not, all self interest and there allies, still though would rather have Americans policy way of life over any of the others around.





Now I am going to go before you all hang me :-)

My name is URL

We also scored better than the US in the latest Freedom House report, outperforming them both in terms of political freedom and civil liberties

US

Political Rights: 37 / 40

• Electoral Process: 11 / 12
  
• Political Pluralism and Participation: 16 / 16
  
• Functioning of Government: 10 / 12

Civil Liberties: 55 / 60

• Freedom of Expression and Belief: 15 / 16
  
• Associational and Organizational Rights: 11 / 12
  
• Rule of Law: 14 / 16
  
• Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights: 15 / 16

Ireland

Political Rights: 39 / 40

• Electoral Process: 12 / 12
  
• Political Pluralism and Participation: 16 / 16
  
• Functioning of Government: 11 / 12

Civil Liberties: 58 / 60

• Freedom of Expression and Belief: 16 / 16
  
• Associational and Organizational Rights: 12 / 12
  
• Rule of Law: 15 / 16
  
• Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights: 15 / 16

Source - http://freedomhouse.org/report-types/freedom-world

MRnotlob606

I bet there's people in Ireland who wake up everyday and think "thank god I don't live in America"

DarkyHughes

realies wrote: »

Don't mind Americans at all, for the most part I like there lifestyle,There foreign policy is ****e but what powerful countries is not, all self interest and there allies, still though would rather have Americans policy way of life over any of the others around.





Now I am going to go before you all hang me :-)

It's the right in America that really drags the rest of the place & more sensible & less arrogant people down. I dislike the right in the UK & here but I'm not scared of them like I am of the Republican party in the US. The taught of John McCain & Sarah Palin being the two most powerful people on the planet really scared the sh!t off me.

DarkyHughes

K4t wrote: »

You know you're doing something right when those people want to blow you up.

The reality is we probably wouldn't even have computers or even the right to engage in this conversation today if not for the US. We owe the US and should aspire to its core ideals set out by the founding fathers.

Eh no I'd say that it's the complete opposite. You know your doing something 100% completely wrong when a lot of people want to blow you up.