Stuart Varney, a Fox News Channel host, grew so angry at a guest that he kicked him off his show. Josh Fox, an activist, who opposes fracking or hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, dared to call Varney a liar, which prompted him to say cut and “you are out of here, son.”
Stuart Varney and activist Josh Fox will not be friends anytime soon. Earlier this week, British reporter and host of the Varney & Co show Stuart Varney sat down with Josh Fox, the famous filmmaker behind the documentaries – Gasland and Gasland Part II – to talk about hydraulic fracturing.
Josh Fox opposes natural gas drilling also known as hydraulic fracturing, which is:
“a well-stimulation technique in which rock is fractured by a hydraulically pressurized liquid made of water, sand, and chemicals.A high-pressure fluid (usually chemicals and sand suspended in water) is injected into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations through which natural gas, petroleum, and brine will flow more freely.”
Mr. Fox and other experts are against fracking because they believe that communities around current fracking sites suffer from a variety of illnesses including hair loss and chronic health problems directly traceable to contamination of the air of their flammable water wells or of surface water.
Varney and Fox were discussing a new report released by the EPA, which claims that fracking is harmless. Fox said that the Obama administration more or less fabricated numbers to make the administration look good, and added that POTUS does not want to anger his base, which includes environmentalists. The activist added:
“What we are actually seeing here is a pattern within the Obama Administration specifically with regards to fracking and the EPA…Within the report is actually really damning evidence about fracking contaminating [ground water]…in Pennsylvania…Texas.”
Varney replied by:
“You think this administration wants to frack?. That’s news to me.”
During the commercial break, Fox attacked Stuart Varney, who said that he would never allow fracking on the land he owns in Upstate New York. When the show was back on the air, a very heated exchange took place between the two men. Josh Fox stated:
“Why would you not frack on your own property,and then prescribe it for other people in America?”
“Because I’m in the watershed,” answered Varney. For some strange reason, Fox angrily called Varney a liar and added:
“You are absolutely wrong. I do believe you are lying right now.”
Varney hit back by telling him to leave his show:
“Lying? The interview is over, young man. I am not lying. I did it myself. Thank you. Goodbye. You are out of here, son. You are out of here. Don’t call me a liar. Don’t do that, son. Cut. That’s it. Thank you very much. Will you please leave?”
Funny how a snake oil salesman like Josh Fox manages to receive a large amount of media publicity and “social” traction on a subject that he is absolutely unqualified to address, such that he can further his “activist” career and receive another payday. Seems the system has decayed to ash when a fool can line his pockets whining about something he knows nothing about, financed by an ilk of social lemmings with similar qualifications. Get a real job and contribute something!
Watching the video and listening to what he says indicates to any reasonable person that he indeed knows something about the subject of fraking and the impact on the environment. Reading any of his reports shows in writing that he knows a significant amount on the subject of fraking and the impact on the environment.
That is the problem. People listen to idiots like Fox and the reason they should be shut up and not given a platform. Free speech ends at bull sh*t and that is all Fox has. He and his organization should be taken down.
It’s funny how Josh Fox keeps beating a dead horse – Glen Beck proved that JF rigged the results for his movie (G)asland.And besides – I live in Frack country + in my investigations have found that the problem in Dimmock Pa. – was due to poor water quality + (WATER)well drilling not being done very (Well).
Calling someone a liar in public is an exceptionally stupid move. You are only going to get resistance. Liars will deny the fact that they lie, and honest people aren’t going to respond positively.
The EPA has been no champion of the oil industry, nor under any circumstance should it be one. If they consider fracking innocuous, there may have been a reason.
I think Varney made a mountain out of a mole hill. He knows better. He’s a TV star for god’s sake. He has control of the show. Fox didn’t say he was, in fact, a “liar.” He said, “I do believe you are lying right now.” Right now is the operative phrase.
Varney could just as easily have said something like, “Whoa there, son, you’re attacking my integrity. I’m not a liar and if you say it again, I’m tossing you from the show.” In other words, put Fox in his place, maybe embarrass him a little, and go on from there.
Fox, of course, had several choices, too. Calling or suggesting someone is a liar, however indirect, isn’t good for any discussion. Lots of fist fights and worse have come from such insults, real and imagined. He could easily have taken Varney’s story and used it against him smartly. He could have said something like, “Well, so you’re safe because you’re on the watershed. What do you say to people who aren’t? It’s easy to be for something when you’re not directly affected.”
In debates and discussions, especially those that are public, you have to do everything you can to stay cool, not to let your emotions take over because they’ll almost always sell you out and you end up looking and/or feeling foolish.
But liar isn’t the only word to avoid in discussions. Others include stupid, dumb, ignorant, lame brain, idiot, retard, jerk, a-hole, crazy, out of your mind, nuts. The list goes on. Of course, avoiding pejoratives like these makes most discussions less engaging for bystanders or in this case viewers.
Ugh, we’re stuck between another rock and a hard place. But, at the very least, we should all — Varney and Fox as well as you and me — aim for more reasoned discourse than blood-boiling innuendo.
I need to remember this when I have more than two drinks at a party or the local pub!