I do not believe that any one nation is more clever than another. So current interviews with the people holding tea parties and carrying signs suggesting Obama is a traitor, a socialist, a Muslim, are not because the American public is inherently less clever than anyone else.

Something they all have in common is (a) they're older white people, (b) they watch Fox. They quote Fox as the source of their information. They frequently say something about the US being a Christian Nation. The majority of Americans say they are Christian; not the same as a Christian State. The US is a secular country, with separation of church and state. When asked what provisions in the proposed health care plan they object to, they either can name nothing - since they've no idea what is being proposed - or they say death boards to kill grannies.

Jimmy Carter blamed racism. I think he's right. Well, Fox supports and reinforces that racism.

James Murdock, the press overlord's son, gave a recent speech in Edinburgh demanding the BBC lose its license fee and compete on equal terms with other broadcasting networks. When you treat the news and public information as just another commodity, appealing to your market segment, you get the kinds of crowds that are protesting Obama and health care.

Give the punters what they want, and Fox offers the dead blonde of the week and a political view that represents a fundamentalist, older, Christian audience. Facts are not allowed to challenge to what that audience wants to hear. Obama is not a Muslim. He was not born in Kenya. Those are simple and straightforward facts, supported by long standing church membership, birth certificates and birth notices in local newspapers.

Fox reports the 'debate'. There are things you don't debate. You can debate whether or not Obama is a socialist - I think any attempt to say he is shows a lack of knowledge of socialism, but you can argue about it. A birth certificate? It's a matter of public record. His religion? You ask the man - he says he's a Christian, believe him. Fox commentators continue to see these as unanswered questions, murky waters.

The Alameda school district, just outside San Francisco, next to Oakland, had an anti-bullying measure announced. Fox was right there and so were the fundies - this was an attempt to turn our children into homosexuals. OK - the bill banned racial, ethnic and gender preference slurs. Little Johnny cannot call Little Billy nigger, chink, greaser or fag. Sounds good to me. As a primary teacher, I would have found any of this name calling on the playground unacceptable. I would also have found fatty, pizza face, and assorted other terms unacceptable. You don't allow children to make another child miserable in school.

The good thing about the BBC is that news is not simply a commodity. BBC news is very establishment. ITV and Channel 4, part of the BBC family, is less establishment. But both do have a commitment to honest reporting. They challenge politicians and they almost always try to have opposing points of view on any issue.

Do politicians really want to deal with the kinds of reporting that Fox does??? Jon Snow may be a hard interviewer, but would you prefer Glenn Beck?

Satisfy Murdock  and save money on the BBC and that’s what you’ll get. God knows both major political parties in the UK can appeal to paranoia and xenophobia; they spin, but they rarely lie and when they do it comes out. That’s one of the functions of a newspaper or a television news show. Brown, Cameron, do you really want to be a politician in a Murdock, Fox news arena?

This is a hasty blog. I'm off to Nottingham this morning to the British Fantasy Convention. (Conference? Well, it's a "C" word anyway.) I'm feeling rather intimidated. Since I retired six years ago, my social interactions have been internet based. I send long emails and take part in on-line discussion groups, usually political or writing based. There's me and the little dogs and the bird. My husband, when he's not traveling. Occasionally, a conversation on the allotment. But I've forgotten the rules for talking to new people in person. The few times I have gone into the Great World not been very successful. I come across as arrogant or I babble. I personally prefer the arrogance label to being dismissed as a fool. Or maybe not.

I'm going to pretend this is a play and I'm constructing a character. Definitely all method, Stanislavsky rather than Brecht. (Acting rather than writing - acting is another of those lost loves. If I were in the US where the accent wasn't a problem I'd join an AmDram.) So I'm off to prepare my character....

It takes ages to put up the HTML snippit that allows you to comment. None of you ever do, except my sister in law. (Thank you Jimmi. My only proof of readership). I don’t have time to do the snippet this morning. If you want to comment. go to another blog and use that snippet.