I've never made any secret of my general disgust for Fox News. I have found them to be biased, manipulative, and always willing to throw journalistic integrity to the winds in order to push a chosen agenda. I have not, however, often considered them to be poor manipulators of media. They know their spin, they're good at their spin. And yet, when it comes to their coverage of Occupy Wall Street, it seems that Fox has completely lost their minds.

It is clear that they don't like it. Clear, and unsurprising. And so you would expect them to oppose it. You wouldn't, however, expect them to sell tickets for it, or give it free air time. And yet, they are. Consistently. Does Fox know that every time they trash Occupy Wall Street on the air, they are effectively building that movement?

Like most actual grass-roots movements, Occupy Wall Street lacks cohesion and theme. It is an ink blot, representing whatever those who look at it want to see. Old Hippies see a return of will to fight the power. Young rebels see a chance to crusade. Desperate people see a cry for help. Bored people see something to do, a way to appear edgy, and maybe get laid. Conservatives, in general, seem to see a sea of unwashed, dead-beat hippies. Fair enough, on all counts. If simply left alone, it would eventually burn itself out. And yet Fox keeps shilling for them, by way of trashing them in their op-ed shows.

Fox is giving the largely formless movement form by giving them a visible opponent. No one knows for sure what Occupy Wall Street stands for, but they can point to Fox and say "See! The Fat Cats are fighting back!" Sure, a lot of Fox's followers will take what they are fed, but there is a problem: Fox's Followers probably were not going to join Occupy Wall Street, anyway. The last time I can remember Fox failing in media manipulation this badly is when they sued to suppress Al Franken's "Lies, and the Lying Liars who Tell Them." Nobody knew about that book before the lawsuit. Afterwards? Instant best-seller.

I'm not that interested in debating the politics of this... I have never been particularly impressed with the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I am, however, very interested in how the conservative media treats it. You think they would have learned about there being no bad publicity right now, and how the best way to beat a grass roots movement is to ignore it.