How Fox News Helped Me Feel Better About Myself

So I go into work on Friday. Things didn't get off to the best of starts anyway - my manager was all upset about something, the district manager was around, and the atmosphere of the whole theatre was a wee bit intense (Star Wars hasn't been packing 'em in nearly as much as we thought it would). So things were more than a little on-edge even before I noticed it.

We have a TV lounge. Normally it shows CNN. Why CNN, I have no idea. If they're looking to air something which is a relatively neutral and unoffensive programming choice, they failed, as I don't wanna see Georgie Boy as many times a day as this choice makes me. But I can live with it, for the most part. But on Friday, I looked up and saw that the TV instead was showing...Fox News.

Now, I knew the district manager was in. And I knew that the reason that TV shows CNN anyway is that he ordered it to (before that we'd mostly shown ESPN). So if he had come in and suddenly ordered that the TV show Fox News from now on - that's all it would show.

My immediate reaction surprised me. Upon seeing this, and thinking of all the ramifications of same, I realized that if that was the way it was gonna be from then on, I was fully prepared to take a stand. Not so much for myself, though the constant stream of right wing propaganda would certainly have been an annoyance. No, for the people who come in and out of our theatre every day. The folks who sit down in that lounge and have no option to change the TV. They'd be forced to watch Rupert Murdoch's ongoing efforts to direct public opinion through selective coverage and biased reporting. All under the banner of "fair and unbiased." (For more info, check out the excellent documentary "Outfoxed," now on DVD.)

So my immediate response was, if I find out that this is indeed a new theatre policy, that Fox News will now be broadcast every day, I am prepared to take a stand and demand that it be taken off of there. This is not a matter of censorship, this is a matter of people having no choice but to watch something which consistantly tilts the facts of our world toward one viewpoint. If "Fahrenheit 9/11" was showing on that screen 24/7, I would have the same issue.

I even realized, to my shock, that I was prepared for this to cost me my job, if need be. That there are some things worth taking that kind of stand for. And I felt...good. For so long I've felt so down about myself as a person, and now here, I find that my immediate response is not, as I've long feared, that of self-preservation and cowardice, but of resolve and pride. And suddenly I understood Roger's quote: "Depression is the last thing you feel when you risk everything for a principle."

So, I went to a manager and asked about the switch. And his response was an immediate, "Whoa, that's not supposed to happen. They have it on the wrong channel." He headed on up to the bar (where the TV controls are) and told them to change it back. And we were back to CNN again.

So my resolve, my determination, my strong-willed response? All for naught, an overreaction to a mistake in programming choice. But you know what? I still felt good. This one incident has lead me to realize that at my core, I'm a more determined, passionate, and committed individual than I've ever given myself credit for. And for the first time in a long time, I liked who I was.

And I have Fox News to thank for that. Go fig.