Is Fox News Chief Roger Ailes Legitimately Insane?
Last week, we reported on Roger Ailes' awful rant against NPR, calling them “Nazis” for firing Juan Williams. He later apologized to Abraham Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, for his hateful running-of-the mouth–but then said a better word choice would have been “nasty, inflexible bigot,” so that wasn't all that successful. For its part, NPR ran a considered, thoughtful piece on Fox News' anti-Semitic rhetoric, citing Glenn Beck's prolific spewing along with Ailes' comment. Even Major Garrett, former Fox News Chief White House correspondent, was taken aback by Ailes' comments, telling NPR, "I don't even know — I don't even know where that comes from. It's um. Wow."
So we all know about Beck, who constantly gets a pass from Fox for his statements. But what if Ailes is going beyond merely creating a culture of anti-Semitism and insanity on the Fox premises. What if, as Gawker suggested recently, Roger Ailes is, in fact, actually batshit crazy?
We fear that Roger Ailes' own paranoia has got the best of him. This is a man who's already acquired a permit for carrying a concealed handgun and who told the New York Times "I've got a bad leg, I'm a little overweight, so I can't run fast, but I will fight" in case of terrorist attack at his place of employment, and who is shadowed by private bodyguards at all times, and who bought the newspaper in the small town where he lives in order to buffer himself from criticism. He has become so insulated from the normal human experience of life that he has become untethered from reality. It's actually sad to see.
Like the DSM-IV analysis leveled by the excellent documentary The Corporation, Gawker proceeds to apply the qualifications of Paranoid Personality Disorder to Ailes, to a pretty accurate, alarming conclusion. So while he leveled accusations at Jon Stewart for being quote-unquote crazy (which Olbermann quickly skewered), perhaps Ailes should be worrying less about NPR and progressive media, and more about himself. Read more at Gawker.
