No Bull Mom

Politics and Personalities, or NPR vs FOX

So often politics comes down to personality. It's not just what a person's message is, it's how the message is delivered.

Naturally, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of this is FOX and NPR. There's definitely a FOX personality-type and an NPR personality-type. I have both tuned in to my radio in the car, and I love going back and forth -- not just for the various kinds of information but for the delivery. It's fun to hit my button and hear Bill O'Reilly get feisty and mad, and then switch to Ira or Diane on NPR, whose voices are notoriously slow and gentle. Neither one is bad, of course (unless you're a modern liberal, in which case you'll think O'Reilly's the devil); but whichever station you prefer no doubt indicates what kind of personality you have. If you're an NPR groupie, you're probably soft-spoken or you prefer to keep your opinions to yourself. If you're an avid FOX fan, you're no doubt outspoken and have a tendancy to get riled up.

None of this matters much except that good information sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. In other words, if you can't stand arrogance, you probably won't listen to O'Reilly -- which is unfortunate since you're going to miss out on information you need to hear. I can't stand the personalities at NPR -- all that niceness bugs the shit out of me -- but I tune in to see if there's something I need to hear. The bottom line is that when people only hang out with their own kind -- like those in the media -- they can't see beyond themselves. They can't imagine there's another way to view the world, and thus they remain in the dark. Don't let this happen to you.

Sit through all of it -- and, as always, make up your own mind.