Tuesday, July 7, 2009
How Long Until Fox News and Bill O'Reilly Introduce Their Racial Hostility Into Michael Jackson's Funeral Service?
These folks are so predictable.
It seems that Bill O'Reilly came to bury Michael Jackson, not to praise him.
I was talking to Zora today during Michael Jackson's funeral and I jokingly observed that Fox News and company are going to somehow find a way to introduce racial invective into their analysis of the event. I thought they would wait at least 24 hours. But alas, I only had to wait 6.
Are black folk so foreign, Other, and by definition unAmerican to the Right-wing in this country that their spokespeople are on 24 hour alert for any opportunity to introduce race where race is (less than) relevant? Hypocritically, while O'Reilly, Limbaugh and others plead for colorblindness and race neutrality in American political and social life--all the while mining a narrative of white male grievance under the guise of "reverse racism"--their bread and butter is the theater of white racial resentment.
Put more simply: O'Reilly and his kin hate Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They paint the duo (and the NAACP and "civil rights establishment") as racial ambulance chasers and "shakedown" artists. Ironically, O'Reilly and company are themselves far worse race baiters. As is well-documented, in the United States since at least the 1960s, bigotry and racial resentment have been the bread and butter of the Right. It is a drug which has fueled their electoral politics, and one to which they show no signs of ending their addiction. And frighteningly, the false populism which is their standing order number 1 and primary strategy does not necessitate a much needed intervention.
I have to ask: Is O'Reilly so addicted to his bile and vitriol that he is rendered incapable of waiting a few obligatory days before beginning his vicious assault on Michael Jackson's memory? Is O'Reilly such a whore for the 24 hour news cycle that he has to pounce on the same day that Michael is remembered fondly and bathed in love and acceptance--emotions that Jackson was all too often deprived of during the 50 years of his much too short life?
I suspect the answers are "yes" and "yes."
Shame on you Mr. O'Reilly.
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3 comments:
As despicable as he is, I appreciate Mr. O'Reilly's honesty about his feelings and thoughts on Michael Jackson. I much prefer it than the praise and adulation I've been hearing from media heads who were merrily smearing Jackson just days before his death.
Honest haters I can deal with. It's the hypocrites and sycophants I can't stand the most.
I agree with Leo Princess, at least O'Reilly's open and honest about his dislike/distaste. But as a former journalism student, am I the only one who's incredible irked by him using unverified/false information in a news report? Jackson didn't bleach his skin (is that even possible?) he had yitiligo and his cause of death is still unknown. OK, maybe that's just me being overly pedantic.
"How long will/did it take?"
It took about an nth of a second after the news of his death. At least that would be my guess.
Leo,
Yes. I'd rather know upfront who I'm dealing with. O'Reilly, however, is merely an entertainer, a shitty entertainer and rather a bigot, but an entertainer/bigot nonetheless.
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