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| Professor, let me school ya! - Bill O'Reilly |
He's also a Fox News commentator who counts as the "liberal" voice to seemingly conservative pro-Mitt Romney network.
When appearing on Hannity, The O'Reilly Factor or Huckabee, the professor is usually getting an aggressive debate with the hosts of the programs.
Bill O'Reilly sort of tone down his harshest rhetoric. He and his fill-in host Laura Ingraham have tone down. But still agitating nevertheless. He's not as bombastic as his allies such Bernard Goldberg, Glenn Beck or Dennis Miller. O'Reilly is annoying (but not as much) as his rival and competing cable host Sean Hannity.
Still a condescending asshole, Bill O'Reilly still promotes himself as a "culture warrior" in a battle against liberals who want to replace traditional values with this so-called "San Francisco values " that he's bemoaned on his program.
I haven't watched The O'Reilly Factor as much these days. He's not appealing as these days! I kind of enjoyed scorning O'Reilly when he's feuding with Ludacris, Snoop Dogg or Keith Olbermann. Those days have passed. Olbermann isn't a threat. The feud with Ludacris is squashed. Snoop Dogg still gets under the skin of O'Reilly but it's not newsworthy as the rapper reformed himself as a reggae singer!
This was obtained by the good folks over at Media Matters for America and Addicting Info.
The ever so concerned Bill O'Reilly goes back to the president's handling of Libya. O'Reilly debates Marc Lamont Hill over this controversy with Obama's foreign policy. The ever so condescending O'Reilly demotes the professor to looking like a cocaine dealer.
Really the host said that you've kind of look like a [cocaine dealer]!
Seriously?
Marc Lamont Hill did shoot back and gave O'Reilly a downplay response. But even though unintentional, O'Reilly had another "M-fer, I want more ice tea!" moment.
As O'Reilly didn't say a word about Lamont's skin color, by what basis are some concluding that he must have specifically had that in mind? And does that conclusion perhaps suggest that such individuals may have a couple of their own prejudices?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college, I knew a couple of cocaine dealers (who were students). Both were white (and yes, there were plenty of students of color at my college and surrounding colleges).
The fact that some reflexively jumped to that conclusion may well reveal one of two possible prejudices (or possibly both) : 1) They assume that O'Reilly is racist and would naturally have Lamont's skin color in view. Why? Because O'Reilly is white and relatively conservative? If so, that's prejudice, by definition. They are "pre-judging" him. 2) They have their own, unspoken stereotypical thinking about black people that leads you to reflexively assume that O'Reilly made this comment specifically because Lamont is black. If so, that's soft prejudice.
I watch O'Reilly from time to time and these two insult and tease each other with regularity (Lamont is very liberal). They know each other well and O'Reilly frequently has him on the show. Saying he looks a little like a cocaine dealer could simply mean that he looks sketchy, like a low life. When Lamont fires back that O'Reilly looks like a user, O'Reilly didn't flinch or seem to assume that it must be because he's white.
It helps to have some context, to know the individuals involved. IMO, this was just another jab made in good will. One might argue about whether it was appropriate or not, but I don't see anything necessarily racist here.
IMO, while some people have good intentions when leveling such criticisms as this one of O'Reilly (ostensibly trying to promote "racial sensitivity"), the actual effect of such unfounded criticisms on race relations is negative. IMO, they detract from true, serious cases of racism.
Everyone sees the racism when it emanates from those on the extreme right, because it's more obvious. And those people are rightly pilloried. But those on the left also sometimes suffer from their own softer racial prejudice and it largely gets a pass. But it's also a problem.
As O'Reilly didn't say a word about Lamont's skin color, by what basis are some concluding that he must have specifically had that in mind? And does that conclusion perhaps suggest that such individuals may have a couple of their own prejudices?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college, I knew a couple of cocaine dealers (who were students). Both were white (and yes, there were plenty of students of color at my college and surrounding colleges).
The fact that some reflexively jumped to that conclusion may well reveal one of two possible prejudices (or possibly both) : 1) They assume that O'Reilly is racist and would naturally have Lamont's skin color in view. Why? Because O'Reilly is white and relatively conservative? If so, that's prejudice, by definition. They are "pre-judging" him. 2) They have their own, unspoken stereotypical thinking about black people that leads you to reflexively assume that O'Reilly made this comment specifically because Lamont is black. If so, that's soft prejudice.
I watch O'Reilly from time to time and these two insult and tease each other with regularity (Lamont is very liberal). They know each other well and O'Reilly frequently has him on the show. Saying he looks a little like a cocaine dealer could simply mean that he looks sketchy, like a low life. When Lamont fires back that O'Reilly looks like a user, O'Reilly didn't flinch or seem to assume that it must be because he's white.
It helps to have some context, to know the individuals involved. IMO, this was just another jab made in good will. One might argue about whether it was appropriate or not, but I don't see anything necessarily racist here.
IMO, while some people have good intentions when leveling such criticisms as this one of O'Reilly (ostensibly trying to promote "racial sensitivity"), the actual effect of such unfounded criticisms on race relations is negative. IMO, they detract from true, serious cases of racism.
Everyone sees the racism when it emanates from those on the extreme right, because it's more obvious. And those people are rightly pilloried. But those on the left also sometimes suffer from their own softer racial prejudice and it largely gets a pass. But it's also a problem.