During Thursday afternoon's edition of the Fox News Channel's The Five, the hosts took on Bill Maher, who claimed last Friday that “the reason the people are so polarized is Fox News.”
At first, Greg Gutfeld said he agreed with the host of the Friday night HBO series Real Time with Bill Maher, stating: “He's right! If it weren't for Fox, we'd all be in lock step because the rest of the media is as compliant as pizza dough.”
However, Gutfeld noted that “Maher's really whining about competition. We'd all get along if you just agreed with him.”
“It's a nostalgia shared by the president,” the co-host noted, “harkening back to when liberals owned the playing field, the teams, the refs, the cheerleaders.”
But then, “a new team arrives -- FNC -- kicks your butt, and you scream 'polarization.' See, Leftism thrives absent of competition, which is why Lefties hate competition,” Gutfeld charged.
He even went so far as to claim that “if Maher were a tennis player, he'd prefer hitting against a backboard than facing an opponent.”
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Gutfeld then quoted “what Jerry Seinfeld had to say” about Maher's assertion:
I think you do have a better argument that each side just talks to its side, listens to its side. That's polarizing. To blame it all on Fox News doesn't seem fair.
“He's right,” the Five co-host agreed again. “We like having our assumptions met, especially when we're old like me. But this 'thought segregation' thrives on campus, where polarization is enforced disguised as tolerance. The Left deems your position hateful, which allows for their mob rule.”
Gutfeld then stated:
But maybe it's time for us "Righties" to move beyond confirming ideas and try some converting. The hot tub of agreement is comforting, but what's better is persuading others why it feels so good to be there.
Articulating your position to people who really, rarely hear it takes guts, charm and homework. It also means getting out of your comfort zone.
He then asked co-host Andrea Tantaros if she thought Seinfeld made a decent point when stating that “it's natural because we like being around people who agree with us.”
“Of course,” she replied, “but before Fox News, there was nowhere to get the other side of the story.” As a result, liberals believe that “Fox News did the country a disservice.”
“Now, they would like to believe that Fox News is so big and so powerful, and they dominate all these other news organizations,” Tantaros continued before noting that this was what Maher claimed.
She then noted that the White House is “actually coordinating with news networks, relying on MSNBC and CNN, and putting their people -- while president Obama is currently in office -- there to do their bidding.”
The co-host then remarked that one ex-MSNBC employee said that the liberal Media Matters organization “was writing our newscasts every night.”
Tantaros also agreed with Gutfeld's concept of people getting outside their comfort zone. “Get comfortable being uncomfortable,” she asserted.
Fellow co-host Eric Bolling claimed Maher should welcome media that opposes his views. “It’s some of the most interesting stuff when you listen to the other side,” he noted.
“I'm trying to figure out what Bill Maher's problem is,” Bolling added. “You've got NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, Media Matters, HuffPo, Politico, the White House briefing room all on your side.”
Dana Perrino then stated that the competition for liberal news outlets “is actually really good.”
She then noted that in conservative media, “the writing is better, the reporting … is second to none … and the quality is better.”
However, the co-host noted, the presentation can be a problem since many “conservative magazines that come to my house” need to “update their font.”
Gutfeld stated that he saved liberal Bob Beckel for last “because I want to see his head explode.”
The final co-host claimed that “we don't get any competition from you guys” and that the actual polarization started in 1985, long before the Fox News Channel arrived on the scene.
Tantaros concluded the segment by asking: “Isn't Bill Maher polarizing himself?” She also stated that his accusation “was a pretty ridiculous comment coming from him.”
If the nation is as divided as Maher claims, he's not taking into account the conservatives who had long ago given up on finding their side of the issues represented on the “mainstream” networks and eventually tuned in to the Fox News Channel to get its “fair and balanced” presentation of the news.
