Through this experiment I discovered an unexpected connection to the liberation psychologies - a conditioning of silence. In a basic sense, Fox News or any other opinion espousing television program talks at you. It is a bludgeoning of ideologies where dialog is technologically impossible. I recognize the ability to remove the negative stimulus (operant conditioning to change channels from Fox or turn off the television), but this is only part of the psychological picture.

When we feel there is no option but to watch the news, as is the case for many people tuning into CNN or Fox or even NPR, we subject ourselves to an opinion monologue. In my case, my disagreements and utter bewilderment at the proclamations of Glen Beck could only reverberate through my living room. As the pundits kept rolling through their tele-prompts, I realized there was nothing I could do to change their opinions. Gradually, I just kept my opinions to myself. And as I kept my opinions to myself, I began to notice that I was less aware of my thoughts and more conscious of theirs. I was experiencing a backslide through Freire's conscientização. The absence of active dialog threatens critical consciousness.

Fortunately, my cable ended and Fox News was scrambled (but that's a synchronicity for another time), bringing an unceremonious end to the ill-gotten experiment.

I find myself writing this today because I feel it's particularly important in our time and societal space. When the airwaves are littered with partisan news sources, and we seek our own news over the internet, the tendency is to choose the view we support. It is soothing versus grating. We can still learn about the issues, but it is still through our lens, our consciousness. Within this we bury the consciousness of the other in the silence behind an espoused monologue.  The hidden jewel with my Fox News experience was that exact moment where I was less aware of my thoughts and more aware of theirs. I understood the other and myself with the smallest bit more clarity than I had before. Critical consciousness demands contradictory understandings - the constant engagement with the shadow.

So I'm ending at a contradiction: tune in and risk losing your voice, or tune out and risk losing your critical consciousness. There's a depth psychological task if there ever was one!