Friday, November 18, 2011

Fox News: Poor Trickery on the Poor

Before you read this, you should watch the video in order to find out how you would have reacted to the Fox News trickery with numbers.



15% of the American population living below the poverty line;
16% of the entire federal budget being spent on the poor;
9% of Americans have some kind of substance dependence, most of them cannot earn a living.
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Implicitly suggested conclusion: The American state spends overwhelmingly much on the poor, most of which are addicts and therefor unable to work for their own living.

These "facts" leave more questions open than Mr. O'Reilly dreams of: 1) What is it exactly which is spent on the poor (and not to the wealthy)? 2) Which substances are meant, medicinal substances, coffee, nicotine, alcohol, illegal drugs? How many upper class people are addicts? 3) How much does addiction contribute to low income and how many people had low income BEFORE they've got lost in some kind of addiction?

This is what Fox honestly calls "journalism" but what is in fact nothing more than the inventing and nursing of prejudices.

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