Fox News: Xbox power-saving mode is meant to “recruit your kids into climate politics”

Fox News often tries to add a ridiculous culture wars spin to something that is otherwise trivial and uncontroversial. Their long-running “war on Christmas” segments have given us hours of cringe-worthy entertainment. Other segments are a lot less harmless, like their dangerously false claims about voting machines that have landed Fox in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit.

The latest example of Fox News going off the rails is a segment from Fox & Friends – a program that often stoops to ridiculous lows in search of ratings. The hosts discuss a recent Xbox feature that allows you to save energy on your console. A sitting senator – albeit, one known for reactionary politics and Twitter outbursts – even weighed in.

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First, though, let’s look at the feature and what the hubbub is about.

What is in the new Xbox power-saving mode?

Gamereactor explains the new feature:

A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft announced new default settings for Xbox, which makes the consoles do maintenance (updates and so on) during hours when there are more renewable energy available.

They also made it possible to put the console in deeper sleep during hours when you usually play very little (like in the middle of the night or when you are at work/school and so on). All things combined for a clever way to decrease the use of more polluting energy, use all hours of renewable energy production more efficiently, and decrease your electricity bill (which frankly hasn’t been a fun read recently).

So, basically, Xbox is making it easier to save on your electricity bill and reduce carbon emissions. Of course, the geniuses at Fox & Friends see a nefarious plot behind the Xbox’s energy-saving mode – never mind that energy savings mean that consumers will save money and reduce pollution.

“They’re trying to recruit your kids into climate politics at an earlier age,” Jimmy Failla warns, to which one of the show’s hosts agrees: “You’re right. They’re going after the children!”

This type of hysterical reaction to the mundane is par for the course on Fox, but it does once again highlight how ridiculously stupid its guests and hosts are in seeing everything through the lens of a conspiracy. Whether they are actually that dumb or just playing it on television to boost ratings is another matter – even Hannity has disavowed outlandish claims made on the network.

Oh, and the senator who weighed in is one Ted Cruz, who commented: First gas stoves, then your coffee, now they’re gunning for your Xbox.”