i feel so naive and used. i put a lot of faith in Fox. i've defended the network and watched enthusiastically, my blood pressure rising and falling as the torch got carried, passed and sometimes dropped in a puddle. i stuck with it because i wanted to believe they were doing their best. i made excuses just like you would in an unhealthy relationship. they forget your birthday, stay out late and dont call, pick up food on the way home when you already texted that you spent hours cooking. i made excuses for their questionable hiring practices, for only giving us pieces of a story when we already had much more from alternate sources, when they stopped short of crucifying a lying guest or failed to hold their feet to the fire. i said they are only human and they are doing their best. but i was wrong. as old as i am i was played for a fool. at the end of the day, no matter how much good we think they may do they are still liars. i would have stayed with them if i still had any doubt but i have some background in theater and improv. just enough to recognize a hand off in a conversation that is crafted to look spontaneous.

maybe its due to the countless hours ive spent watching the network but sometimes you cant tell if someones lying untill you know why they would want to. in a segment with donna braless they were trying to wring some more juice out of the of the collapsing bribery hoax and i noticed the woman was setting brazille up to do her part in the bit. i sat forward as the host began to ramble, looking for the right words. ive seen this many times before and when you see those nerves you are looking at an actor trying to recover a bit. she fumbled through it but more or less butchered the delivery and threw brazille off who immediately said something non fucking sensical and in an attempt to right the sinking ship a guy (i dont keep track of the names of the day time personalities) who should have been scratching his head lept in with a yeah yeah and acted like he knew what brazille was saying... they all knew because just like in pro wrestling the exchange was SCRIPTED.

i saw it in church once as a boy. a man was supposed to run up to the stage and speak in tongues in response to the pastors prayerful urging. he missed his cue. he was startled and made an oops noise while glancing around sheepishly, shuffled past me and and the next minute he was standing in front of the entire congregation spouting gibberish. im saying this as a person who believes in the gift of tongues. the man was faking it. i saw him later as i filed out after the service standing around his friends who had joined him during his bit and the pastor, smiling and making jokes. ill bet he was the butt of a joke or two from his fellow charlatans.

the whole thing took mere seconds but once i suspected them everything unfolded just as it would were the outcome manufactured however messy the getting their was. so... fuck fox and those smug lying assholes who take a paycheck for pretending to give a shit and making it look good. ill bet they say to themselves every day "well that's just the business."