Bill O'Reilly

After a brief hiatus I've returned with a new edition of This Week in What's Destroying America. Obviously enough, this week is Bill O'Reilly, and can you think of a more fitting subject?

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about fair and balanced reporting, but tactless prick doesn't embody any of the above. He's clearly not all about fair reporting since whenever he has a guest on that has a point of view (or point of fact) different from his own personal (so called secular) views he interrupts them with boundless errors of fact or hasty generalizations and refuses to let them get a word in edgewise. As for balanced, much of the same is true here. He consistently takes the right of center or far right stance on every issue and denounces any other position as untrue, unpatriotic, or as an attempt of the 'liberal media' to sway public opinion. Now, as far as reporting is concerned, there isn't any. The only reporting that is done during his show is during the news breaks. Op-ed stuff is not reporting. Hell, any jackass with an opinion and a ready supply of stamps can send in an editorial to a newspaper and, depending on the paper, have a reasonable chance of getting it published (blogs are totally different!).

And now he "won't stand for liberal smear tactics". The man complains about other journalists making fun of him or calling him out for various things and says that there is no room for that in the media. Then he turns right around and starts smearing them, putting their pictures up on the show or directing people to his website to get their phone numbers so he can get his minions to follow him blindly. Sort of like lemmings.

So, you may ask, "Why is he destroying America (not just reputable journalism)?" and the answer is fairly cut and dry. He uses his position as a media celebrity to persuade the gullible masses into believeing whatever bullshit that he feeds them.

Why, just today he was talking about the current state of gas prices. His guest was making the point that instability in oil rich regions make the futures traders uneasy, hence driving up prices.

Then in comes O'Reilly.

The first statement that he makes is that it is unpatriotic to have high gas prices during a time of war. Now, if you have ever seen the show that is the most common argument that he hides behind. What this accomplishes is that it makes his opponent then appear to hate America when (not if) they take an opposing argument. You can make this argument about almost anything and it automatically creates a supercilious position that can not be attacked directly (or on his show, with any logic). Now, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that America was founded on capitalism and that in times of war people have to make sacrifices such as in World War II when aluminum and rubber were in short supply and I'll bet the prices were pretty high. Oh yeah, plus we put all japanese immigrants into concentration camps (think camp X-ray).

He also made a comment that it costs the large oil companies $20 per barrel to get the oil out of the ground and into a barrel and that $70 per barrel is just plain unreasonable. Now, assuming this figure is factual (kinda seemed like he pulled it out of his ass) it doesn't account for some key costs such as overhead and transportation.

He also has a penchant for oversimplifying delicate topics like immigration reform. He had a guest on who was an expert in the field, had done copious amounts of research, and had written a book (that wasn't smearing Al Franken) and O'Reilly tells the lady that she was wrong about hispanic immigrants fitting into America and basically says that a neighborhood near where he lives on Long Island had turned from a white middle class neighborhood to a hispanic neighborhood with lower property values.

Next, he decides to take on a journalistic tradition dating back to 1917 by bitching about the Pulitzer Prizes being biased. He starts off on a rant about how Fox News doesn't submit anything for consideration and that the prizes have all been awarded to left wing media outlets. He even started complaining about the journalists that won because of their reporting of the torture at military 'black sites' and basically called it unpatriotic. I'm not entirely sure how reporting violations of human rights is unpatriotic. I guess back in World War II it probably was unpatriotic for Germans to report on the Nazi concentration camps and their treatment of their 'guests'.

Is it really so much different? What if someone had?

Basically, it just sounds like little ol' O'Reilly is pissed off because he never won anything. Something tells me that people aren't going to start ignoring a prestigious journalism prize because little ol' Bill didn't get his award (he probably boycotted the pinewood derby in Boy Scouts because he didn't win a race, too). Well, you know, I'm pretty sure that everything has a left-wing slant to it when you over to the right like Bill. It's like when you tilt your head to the right and everything looks like it's leaning to the left.

I really can't figure out what people see in this clown. His facts are questionable. His opinions are clearly unfair and unbalanced. The whole program is a farce, especially when he gives his guests the "last word". I challenge anyone to point out a time when a guest actually got in the last word (salutations don't count). Everytime I've seen, Bill has to butt in right before the commericals and try and discredit the other person. I've never seen a grown man act so childish.

You want to know why Bill O'Reilly is destroying America? His hippocritical 'journalistic' style creates an unfair, uneducated slant towards many topics that creates a loyal following out of people that can't make decisions for themselves and thus rely on the most forceful and narcissistic sonofabitch they can find. I've never seen a journalist with such a clear cut agenda and claim to be 'fair and balanced'. The last thing that America needs is a war monger that creates political arguments out of simple things like the price of gas and hides behind the word 'patriotism' that is unwilling to criticize the president.

Also, since when are we actually at war? According to Bush, the war officially ended a few years back (mission accomplished . . . remember that? There was an aircraft carrier, sailors, jumpsuits, and everything) and the war on terror is like the war on drugs, not a real war but a prolonged policing action meant to curb certain behaviors or vices rather than an all-out brawl. So it seems to me like O'Reilly is hiding behind something else in an attempt to make his opponents appear unamerican.

I call shenanigans on Bill O'Reily.