Fox Business aired a video mocking college students’ opinions on socialism and then admitted the quotes were cherry-picked – By Media Matters Staff (Media Matters) / May 23 2019
Fox reporter Kristina Partsinevelos: “There were some really brilliant responses as well, a little bit lengthier. So I would say that some students were knowledgeable, others were not.”
From the May 23 edition of Fox Business’ Varney & Co.:
STUART VARNEY (HOST): Now this, our very own Kristina Partsinevelos went to NYU, asking students about capitalism and socialism. She joins us now, tell me what they said.
KRISTINA PARTSINEVELOS (FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT): We have a lot of young people that are taking to socialism. We’re seeing it a lot. So I went out onto the streets, the campus out there to ask them why and if they really understood the context of it.
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PARTSINEVELOS: It’s funny because a lot of the students didn’t really — or they had various definitions of socialism. And that man with the dreadlocks, he had changed his name and he said he doesn’t believe in either, anarchy. But really, a lot of them don’t realize that they are reaping the benefits of a capitalist system. Because even him, he’s like, “I can’t talk too much because I’ve signed a contract, for rapping.” And so that’s just an example that you have all of these varying degrees, but some of them do believe that a mixed society can work but they view socialism in a different light than maybe an older generation because they don’t remember the Cold War, the Soviet Union. They don’t remember how it was back then and so they define it a little bit differently.
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VARNEY: Hold on a second. This capitalism versus socialism on campus. Want to bring in Charlie Kirk, he’s an expert on this. Charlie you saw what Kristina came back with there from NYU. What do you make of this?
CHARLIE KIRK (TURNING POINT USA): I wish I was surprised. So many students don’t even understand what the terms mean. I mean it’s socialism versus capitalism. They think that socialism means altruistic. But Stuart, isn’t it so easy to be generous with other people’s money? When in reality it’s capitalism that liberates the individual, they think that socialism means that you’re going to help other people when in reality, it’s the exact opposite.
VARNEY: What surprised me actually was, look, when I was in college, I was all over politics. And I thought that modern students are all over politics and could easily define capitalism and socialism, and have a preference and explain their point of view. But that wasn’t the case. Now, I know that Kristina edited, I mean that was not all of the responses you got.
