Screw Burma, Let's Talk About O'Reilly

Maybe I'm getting soft, but the notion that people halfway around the world are braving lifetime prison terms and possibly death for daring to peacefully protest against a brutally despotic government speaks to me. The notion that folks in Burma are trying everything -- email, cellphone, e-pigeon -- to evade the regime's attempts to close the country down to outside observation makes me want to pay attention. So why is it, given a story of people fighting for freedom against a fearsome military junta, that cable news far preferred this week to discuss the burning question: Is Bill O'Reilly really a racist? One can't be surprised that the subject might obsess Mr. O'Reilly. He, like media figures from Limbaugh to Stern, has figured out that, whatever the putative subject matter of the day, what his audience really cares about is the Great Him. What stuns me is the desire of everyone from Keith Olbermann (whom I like and admire) to Rick Sanchez (_______), and their management superiors, to devote hour after hour to the discussion of O'Reilly's comments on how little difference there was between a "black-owned restaurant" and an Italian restaurant in the suburbs. This is not a "slow news week". The Dems have tanked on Iran (which, to be fair, has gotten plenty of coverage), the president has tacked on climate change, and Burma is either experiencing the birth pangs of a new era or another crushing of its spirit. In the presence of the latter story, I'd be trash-canning the O'Reilly chatter soonest.
UPDATE: At least one commenter has opined that the Burma freeze-out on US cable news is because of the non-existence of video from the scene. That's easy to say if you're watching US cable news, because they're not showing any. But Al Jazeera English and BBC World have managed to get video--probably via cellphone--out of Rangoon.

Comments

[einsteinradio]

Ah, if Burma had Oil instead of Gas...

[larry278]

There is a similarity between the talk condemning O Really & the talk condemning the military junta which rule Myanmar/Burma for using excessive force to stop criticism by killing many of the critics. The talk won't stop O Really or the junta.

[backhandpath]

Latest Burma News:
http://www.mizzima.com/
http://www.newsdeskspecial.co.uk/burma/
http://www.zinmedia.net/

[Chalkeater]

Part of what got the ball rolling on the Senate resolution to condemn the Move On Petraeus ad was Bill O'Reilly's constant attacks. Bush was basically reading from O'Reilly's cue cards when he said, "The Democratic Party is afraid to stand up to the far left."

It's ironic that O'Reilly is complaining his comments were cherry picked and taken out of context. He cherry picked comments from the Daily Kos forum to equate it to The Ku Klux Klan. That was also part of his "George Soros and the radical left are controlling the Democratic Party" storyline which the RNC has now joined in Fox with.

Don't underestimate a demagogue. Whether they're named O'Reilly, Limbaugh or McCarthy, they are dangerous. Olbermann knows exactly what he's doing. These people need to be challenged often.

[wayoutleft]

it's not MSM i'm worried about. Huffpo has substituted critical and satirical coverage of right-wing personalities for coverage of radical thinking and candidates. interestingly, this happens as the major (by major i mean the three candidates who were anointed worthy on the basis of a few self serving polls.)democratic candidates reveal themselves to be squarely on the mid-right segment of the political spectrum. only the troops and the corporations matter to them. the important thing to corporate interests like the democratic party was to kill off russ feingold, dennis kucinich, the concept of health care without corporate profit, opposition to a neo-nazi world empire, and any chance to unhook political process from money. this has been accomplished.

[Primadonna]

Thank you Kalima for including
http://ko-thike.blogspot.com

What is most inpsiring and hopeful in the midst of chaos are the brave ones who continue to communicate ... to the rest of the world. Inspiring as I read through the comments on this link, from all over the world - comments about we're with you in peace and encouraging those in our government to get involved - comments from Portugal, Korea, Brazil, America, Austria, Singapore, Australia - comments from high school students to concerned friends to shout outs of compassion from seemingly strangers. The hope they speak is in their universal language of love - which knows no boundary nor division.

When we can stay focused on this one fundamental truth - we are but one human race and we can choose to hold empathy and compassion for one another, we will hold a power that is unstoppable. The energy sent to the people of Burma (Myanmar)is of love. And take that to the rest of the world and begin with yourself. Upon taking the moment to breathe that kind of loving energy into yourself, then what about O'Reilly? Is this one person worth so much negative energy? In this moment, consider how it makes you feel inside? If you felt a change within - then you get what I say. Positive change and taking action in that direction is what is needed now on this but one earth.

[backhandpath]

If we do not support Net Neutrality
then none of this matters.
End of Story.
We must demand public ownership of this internet.

[MasterfullyInept]

It is in fact vital to the future of democracy>

Too true.

[mae692]

I dropped NPR in favor of http://www.mcclatchydc.com/ and CSPAN. McClatchy's middle east coverage is outstanding.
here's an interview with Khaled Mashaal, leader of Hamas. Astounding!
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/staff/dion_nissenbaum/story/19145.html

Also, Harry's podcast has two features, one called 'news from outside the bubble' (where I first head of McClatchy) and another called 'down the memory hole' where you get more news in five minutes than an hour of (_____________).

[fogbreath]

any bets that "o'really" doesn't care what poeple say about him so long as they pronounce his name correctly and say it often?
spelling being beyond most of his viewers.
the slugs who control burma have been doing so for 45 years.
they learned well from their colonial masters the brits.
news from burma is a good way to distract ourselves from what our military and our mercs do in our name on a daily basis in iraq, afghanistan, and elsewhere.
defend america defund the wars.
HARRY RESPONDS: This military junta in Burma has only had power for the last couple of decades. And when people protesting a military government are naive enough to think the rest of the world may be listening, watching, caring about them, it's no distraction to pay attention to them. It doesn't distract me from the other stuff. Of course, I don't know where Paris went last night....

[fogbreath]

according to wikipedia,not your favorite source, i know, from 1962 to 1988 Burma was controlled by Ne Win one of the "thirty comrades" and a general who still had power after 1988 but was later put under house arrest until his death.

[backhandpath]

Paris went to the dogs back in the '60s, Harry.

[Yukon Jack]

Nobody should waste any time talking about Bill O'Reilley.

Would someone tell that Keith Olbermann already.

His O'Reilley obsession convinced me NEVER to watch MSNBC again.

[bullypulpit]

Let's see now, sanctions against Iran for wanting to do what we do, and no sanctions against Burma for doing what we claim to despise. It's a funny world.

Bill O'Reilly is a chump that no one should take seriously. With the flick of a switch we have the power to silence him. Alas, we have no such power in Burma or Darfur. Foolish suffering people, they should have had oil in their countries.

Funny, funny world.

[backhandpath]

They do have oil (Sudan) and natural gas (Burma), lots of it, both respectively.
Perhaps that's the point too (in a kind of back-handed way:)
It seems that everywhere you find that stuff people start dying or dealing heroin.

[tlcutter]

It is all about ratings. You have so many struggling cable news? channels, that they resort to attacking each other to try to gain in ratings. ALL cable news networks operate like a pre-school playground. It has become pathetic to watch FOX, CNN, and poor pitiful MSNBC. Adults inappropriately behaving like 2 year olds. It is a joke.

[LittleBrother]

Now, Harry, be patient-- Any day now, Anderson Cooper will parachute into Burma, gather up the horrific essentials of the nasty business, and pour the results into middle-class America's lap as only he can!

Then you'll have to write an update using (____) again.

[Sidewhispers]

It's called thought control via brain-dead TV.

[backhandpath]

This is your brain.
This is a neocon sitting in an electric chair.
Any questions?

[starwheel]

In fairness, if Bill O'Reilly had his way, he'd be putting down peaceful protests here just like the military junta in Burma.

Since he has a significant audience of authoritarian nitwits who relish the thought of supressing dissent in our own country, I think exposing this fool as an ignoramous is newsworthy.

[steamboat]

Harry, I hate to say this, but MediaMatters and CNN did the impossible: They've made me sympathetic to Bill OReilly.

After this controversy appeared, I put on his show. He said that he had the entire controversial converstion unedited on his website. I listened to it. There is no hint of actual racism in it. And yes, he is right about these rappers having too much negative influence in the Black Community. And he is right that children born-out-of-wedlock has a negative impact.

Speaking of Burma, where has everybody been? This evil military junta has been in power for quite a long time. Something else, everybody is seething about Burma taking the internet away from its citizens. Harry, where was everybody when Cuba was putting its citizens in jail who were using or trying to use the internet? Where was everybody?

[starwheel]

It actually seemed like a moment of enlightenment for O'Reilly.

I think the rush to judgement accusing him of racism was over the top. But he did reveal he was definitely ignorant before his dinner at Sylvia's.

He obviously had low expectations based upon hasty generalizations before his supper.

[backhandpath]

Where HAVE all the MFkn FLOWERS GONE?!?

Harry's talking about the current group (junta) who came up when the former strong man, General Ne Win, died a couple of decades ago, right around the time they shot dead 3000 demonstrators in just under 30 hours--approx 100/hour. Ne Win had ruled since 1962.

The Burmese have been around a long long time.
They have practiced Buddhism as long as anyone especially China, which may be one of the reasons (among many) that China is opposing any UN sanctions on the regime.
Of course it could just be the heroin.

Even when Castro hit the internet we did not have the networking resources we have today.
It gets better every minute we USE these tools to get a better look at what's that sound.
That way we know what to do when they try to shut down our lines of information.
As we can see there is a "Them" and "They" will go "There" and "Do THAT". "They" will even have their authority to close communication of The People enshrined in the Patriot Act.

For example, and to hopefully answer some of your question "Where the Fork was everybody?", today I was able in seconds to find this list of what corporations have been profiting from the brutal suppression in Burma (I would have just cut it over to here but the list is so long and shocking so here's the link):
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/dirty_list/dirty_list.html

I would like to know if anyone else thinks that Burma being a Buddhist country plays at all into our collective ambivalence?

I mean, used to we thought we were reading about atrocities in far away lands, but since the Flooding of New Oreleans we see that those chickens can come home to roust with a vengeance, shit in our mouths and tell us to just get over it.

Globalism...what a classical gas.

[DrTraudt]

While I agree that the story of people suffering under a despotic regime is 'more important' than an insensitive comment by a right-wing blowhard, I'm glad the O'Reilly gaffe made news. Exposing BillO for what he really is, a racist and egomaniacal bully, is important as well. Maybe some of his devoted followers/disciples will see him in a new light, and finally realize that the "no spin zone" is nothing more than a carnival act.

[jlxn]

It doesn't make one bit of difference if O'Reilly is exposed. His true followers would never see that what he said as wrong. As a matter of fact, they are more likely to see what Bill said as a compliment, "See, you can be just like us."

It may be satisfying to point out his ignorance to those of us to get it. But to those who don't, and never will, it's a pointless exercise.

[Yukon Jack]

And, of course, to the detractors of O'Reilley it makes no difference how Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson viewed this entire blown out of all proportions episode.

Beware those who cry "RACISM" at the drop of the hat. They are the ones who are truly to be feared and they are the ones who are truly the racists.