Bill O'Reilly: Culture Terrorist

We create the news, we report the news we've created, we tell you to decide in our favor.

Conspiracy theories aside, I suspect that fomenting discord, even to the point of violence, is in the Fox News manifesto of blatant bias, outrageous Orwellian newspeak and basic shit-stirring, all in an effort to distract their audience, one which I feel certain they laugh at and/or regard as lab mice, from their right to truthful, responsible information.

Using their demographic's genetic predisposition to trust authority, they disguise their agit-prop as old-fashioned Huntley-Brinkley newscasts, throw in some archetypal American-looking leggy women to echo the sentiments of the patriarchal anchormen/fathers and their aforementioned racist, xenophobic messages are disseminated widely and effortlessly.

It's The Cabinet of Caligari here, with the mesmerist (O'Reilly) sending out a mass suggestion to its suggestible somnambulist audience. And, by golly, so far several have indeed been given to violent responses prompted by thinly veiled cues:

"Daddy is angry at the baby killing monster. I want to make Daddy love me. I will kill the monster."

O'Reilly has much in common with the inspirational rhetoric and impassioned, arguably effective gesticulations of certain historical demagogues and despots, who find their métier when harnessing their unique gifts of persuasion. In Bill's case, he is the embodiment of the stern but loving father, the one who alternately kneels alongside you at bedtime and prays and takes a belt to you if you misbehave. If he were to have been a success publishing erotic literature loosely based on his own steamy adventures, he would have been the current version of the original Continental character, cooing and wooing an equally impressionable audience, eager for romantic escapades instead of blood-soaked fantasies of Christian-American hegemony. Instead, he is Bill O'Reilly: Culture Terrorist.

Comments

[ALC]

Back in the old days we had a couple of hours of news on each of THREE networks daily. We were better-informed and it was more about issues and less about bullshit and egos. When Ted Turner started CNN in 1980 as a 24 hr. news channel my first question was "what in the hell will they find to talk about for 24 hrs?" Well now we know. Thanks Ted and your clones at the other networks for this wonderful gift that we call "news/information" today. Thanks for the O'Reilly's the Hannity's the Coulters the Becks, Limbaughs and all of their equally talentless imitators. A sizeable segment of the American public is obviously too stupid to take these hacks for exactly what they are. Well-paid instigators and opportunists. If there is no news, they'll create it. Outlaw privately-owned 24 hr. "news" stations, all of them, and the collective intellect in this country might actually begin to rise one day.

[hent85]

Didn't Dan Rather of CBS News lose his job by lying about Bush's past. The past was beautiful with just three liberal news media in power.

[Koxo]

I have a personal O'Reilly/violence story.

I've never gotten along politically with my father, and the 2004 election really drove us apart. A year after Bush stole the WH again, I was living with my parents due to financial troubles and my father made it a point to have right-wing radio and tv on 24/7, knowing it drove me crazy (he was also out of work at the time). One night I was sitting in the kitchen with my mother within earshot of the tv, O'Reilly was on, and said something completely outrageous about liberals. I railed against him from the other room. My father lost it, came into the other room, and beat me unmercifully for five minutes calling me an effing liberal traitor while my mother was trying to pull him off of me. I spent three days in the hospital.

My father was not always a violent man, but O'Reilly tapped into his anger and helped it blossom, and me and my father no longer speak. I never got an apology, except for him saying that I should know better than to rile up a man in his own house.

I know at least one person was driven to violence by the far-right media machine. I have the scars to prove it.

[ReealOne]

Wow. Your story is so hard to read and understand why . We always think of our fathers as "larger than life", or "our protectors", or our "role models", etc, but to have one beat the living crap out of you from the likes of Bill O'Reilly's influence is unconcionsable. Sadly, I guess that the bond between your father and Bill O'Reilly proved much stronger than that of father and son. Your father will find one day that it was all his loss. I hope that you're doing much better now..... all the way around.

[damilitantone]

Back in the day when I was a kid, you would have the old "Meet the Press," "Agronsky and Company," and "Firing Line" to name a few. It was all about issues, views and opinions, not personalities. I was too young to appreciate these shows back then, but I sure miss them now.

[TRYKER]

Thanks Stephen for reminding us of the 27 times Bill O'Reilly hammered away on Dr. Tiller until he got the Dr. murdered by one of his rabid followers.
Thanks for irritating the right wing nuts that come here to decry their witless corroboration in all things dumb, hateful and stupid...all the while trying to duck responsibility and safeguard their ignorance.
Personally, I get a big kick out of your writing, whatever style you choose on any day. You're one of the faithful, you hang in there and keep hacking away at these dangerous mouthpieces and we agree they need to be stopped.
Our country apparently is their "less than important" little place, where destroying it seems so minor while their egos seem so major. Why do they hate America? .

[zest]

They just love money more than the country.

[DeeW]

good article.

I so agree with you that they're laughing at their audience. I'm sure their strategy meetings are full of that - too bad we didn't have proof. I find it hard to beleive that the brains behind this network really beleives all the stuff they air - there's just no way, they're too intelligent for that. I think that's what I find so very offensive is that they're bascially turning out stuff they know isn't accurate knowing it will get people all riled up and they know it will confuse the issue and the truth will get lost. It's very frustrating to watch.

[Savojah]

P1

OK, let me see if I can put this in a way to get through this time. When I come to read post on Huff Po, I come to read insightful writings by very talented writers. Even when I don't agree with it, I still enjoy reading different points of view. And with the left leaning views on this site, for the most part, the writers are able to write in a way where their argument is sound and put in language that makes their point, but respectful. Because there is a kind of professionalism in writing that you lack. And your arguments are not sound by lumping everyone in a box and saying that O'Reilly is a Culture Terrorist. That's a pretty strong word for a TV personality.

Steven, it sounds like you would like a country where everyone is liberal, no one believes is Christianity, and Fox only purpose is providing great TV shows. But we don't. We live in a country where a number of people have the views that Bill O does, and there is a reason he is very successful. Not saying it's fair, but its the truth. And me being a liberal leaning citizen, it is frustrating that there that type of constituency out there, that follows O'Reilly like that. I do watch O'Reilly. Just like I like to watch Maddow and Matthews.

[radiclib]

.
.
Yeah, right, all true, but you miss his point: O'Reilly is not just a clown. He's dangerous. He has blood on his hands. And you get the feeling when you watch him ----- a very creepy feeling ----- that he's happy he can get people killed, not ashamed of it in the least.
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.
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[DeeW]

savojah - you so mised the point. I would love to have a network where I heard left, right, in the middle political talk but done in a fashion where it's respectful and educational. Fox news ends up becoming theatrical and dumbing everything down - they basically have shock jocks on TV for the purpose of inciting people. It's not about left or right. It's about responsibility.

[Savojah]

P2
I just like to watch commentators with different perspectives. That does not mean that they have any influence in how I form my opinions, because I like to think of myself as a rationale human being who understands that you have to take what you hear from TV with a grain of salt, and come up with your own opinions. You're an actor. Would you feel responsible if a someone killed in the same fashion like in your movie Farmhouse? Just saying, it is very wrong to say that O'Reilly, and some of the right wingers are responsible for the hate killings of late. If that's the case, there there is alot of hip hop artist and actors as yourself that have blood on there hands because of the message they put on in their songs, and the roles portrayed in movies. That is basically the same thing that your saying. But me being the logical human being that I am, I say it's a lack of direction from their surroundings that cause the violence. Tolerance is something we have to practice all the time, even when it's not convenient. And even when the intolerance that is shown from the right is so intolerable, we still have to practice what we preach which is tolerance of all people, even those who think differently then us.

[viewfromuphere]

see I'd disagree..­...O'Reill­y's ranting (and not just his) would not be out of place ...tonewise .....at the Nurenburg rallies before the WWII....the whole point of any these exercises is hold peoples attention and nothing does that better than ramping up the anger and the sense of threat.

Nurenburg was about political control....O'Reilly and FOX...it's about the ratings and advertising income. There's a lot of competition out there. I'm sure O'Reily is being sincere in with his views but this constant anger, anger, anger, and attacking guests who disagree (and that whole cutting of the mike...talk about wish fullment for an audience who wish they could do that to various guests) ....you don't get to the top in TV without some kind of discipline. IMO O'Reilly is an actor as much as anything else.

this is theatre these guys are indulging in.....any now there's been some real shooting...and not just Tiller.....there's been another church and some police officers killed hasn't there

time for it to be called what it is....and maybe O'Reilly and company to do a little soul searching

[Savojah]

P3

I understand that the influence of these right wingers is sometimes demoralizing. And I hate how they try to influences their religious influence into law. But unlike them, we have to respectively disagree with them, and respectively challenge their ideals. I think of the issue of torture. Just because our enemies torture, doesn't mean we should. We have to keep the moral high ground so we can have influence around the world. Same goes for the progressive movement that we want so badly. And the type of language I read in this post was downright disgusting. I think you should read more of Bob Cesca, because he has your same views IMO, his writing is articulate, and makes a sound argument for his opinion. And he writes more than 3 paragraphs to make his case.

[marxmarv]

There is no respectful disagreement with enemies of the Constitution.

[Steven Weber - Huffpost Blogger]

I appreciate the patient and thoughtful response. However, your (and other like-minded people's) argument falls to the ground when the "you're an actor, how'd you like it if someone killed because of your movie..." reasoning is presented. Because Fox News peddles its message under the banner of being a news organization, mixing real news with clear, deeply biased perspectives, ones which have been responsible for quite a number of events of a manipulative, destructive nature as opposed to me being an actor---one who, well, acts (not necessarily one who acts well) . Or a hip-hop artist rapping about society using arguably violent imagery (for an audience, one assumes, of adults mature enough to now the difference). Or any artist who works knowing their output is under that label "artist". The distinction is clear, or at least should be any "rationale" (sic) person.

Bill O'Reilly considers himself to be a "news man" not an op-ed columnist. It is like a priest or rabbi gaining a person's trust with comforting, familiar, even spiritual words and then, having satisfied that person's need for society (or a paternalistic authority figure---the archetypal newscaster) to reflect their point of view, molesting that person; leading them down the---yes---wrong path.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the content of his messages there is no doubt that he can be incendiary, his words falling upon vulnerable, paranoid ears and causing these persons to take action beyond rationality and legality.

[Steven Weber - Huffpost Blogger]

(continuation of previous response)
A preacher who riles up a congregation to violence is no better. But the responsibi­lity---jou­rnalistic responsibi­lity---imp­lied by a news organization, with its heavy-handed use of dramatic music and imagery to emphasize and exaggerate its messages---its "news---is utterly discarded by Fox and its star players. The problem (or one problem) is false labeling. Watch it, don't watch it. Agree with it, don't agree with it. But it should not be called a news organization.

[kindGSL]

I would call it very effective propaganda, but then I am a victim of the message.

Once you stand up as an activist on any issue he doesn't like, you get called all kinds of bad names. It happened to me. As a victim of it, I thought the effect was very real. I was recovering from surgery when I wrote him this.

My letter to him, Feb. 2, 2008, sent to: [e-mail]

Hey Bill,

Did you see my profile in the FOX news story on Oaksterdam U?
What do you think of our bumper sticker?

http://oaksterdamgiftshop.net/juimst.html

I also wanted to share my Hippie religion with you so you can make fun of me again. Here it is, the Rasta testimonial,

http://www.thc-ministry.org/ras-tafari-information/

Rock on dude,

Lauren

[quidam56]

That's life in Hannity's America. http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138

[love2lindy]

I don't understand the appeal of BOR. He's disgusting to look at and I can rarely listen to him without retching. It's just a physical reaction I always have to vulgar, unreasonable, illogical rantings - no matter who is spouting them.

[kindGSL]

Oh, you don't like dominate white men? I bet you don't care for Cheney either, LOL.

Is that 'reverse discrimination' or just good sense?

[whocan]

So if AROD actually does knock up a 14 yr old, we should blame Letterman ?

[hoosier96]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Best post I've seen in awhile.

[MazerRackham]

No, because it would CLEARLY be Sarah Palin's fault for having children to begin with.

/sarc off.

[cinemaven]

Excellent column!! You know it's exceptionally good when so many O'Reilly apologists have run over to defend him :)

[jon-e]

For the record, people who disagree with one point of view aren't necessarily defenders of the other.

[wehrke]

This is probably one of the most ridiculous posts I have ever read on this site. The pettiness is pure garbage. I despise this kind of diatribe on either side of the political spectrum. Yes, Fox leans to the right. MSNBC leans left. Where is the vitriol for them?

Come on Steven, if you have a political point to make, make it with a solid, thoughtful argument. Resorting to name calling and insult does nothing except feed the flames of the fanatics on your side. But maybe that was your intent.

Abortion is one of the most emotional issues we have to deal with as a country. We will never get anywhere with this issue with zealots screaming at each other about how each has blood on their hands.

[hoosier96]

I totally agree. If Mr. Weber was truly concerned about the ramifications of TV commentators then he would have included Keith Olberman in his diatribe. Is Keith partially responsible for the slaying of a recruiting officer in Arkansas by a Muslim, anit-war fanatic?

Using your logic, he is.

[dl63]

There's a difference­...O'Reill­y makes up his facts; Olbermann uses facts to reveal the evil for what it is. O'Reilily is inflaming violence with his vitriolic rhetoric. The only people Olbermann incites anger with are from the people who don't like what he has to say. O'Reilly foments anger from the people who like what he has to say. Get the difference?

[grooveygrover]

link?

[Pammy2]

The difference is that no one at MSNBC exhorts their listeners/viewers to buy guns, load those guns, and go 'take care' of someone that they view as a 'k.i.l.l.e.r."

[flamingliberal]

I think msnbc is a little friendlier to facts than FOX News is, too.

[kindGSL]

What about the people who lied us into war, don't they actually have blood on their hands?

Are you saying it is wrong to point out that fact and has to be balanced by a pro war opinion? Really? Do we have to give the same 'balance' to the crimes of rape and murder?

[gino618]

Day in and day out here at H P and elsewhere, there is this demonizing of conservative television and radio hosts as almost 'parties to the crime' regarding the recent acts of mayhem. You all say that their voices must be silenced!

I don't see the same microscope pointed to your own side's off-the-wall, out-of-bounds mouthpieces such as Keith Olbermann. He has, and continues, to do nothing but spew garbage and innuendos and hate and distortions. This is the man who compares some on the right to Nazis, terrorists, etc.... and yet HIS banter is ok - even called 'the truth' by many here.

We've had liberals state a death-wish for such conservatives as Clarence Thomas, GWB & Cheney, yet you all feel justified in doing so because of YOUR hatred. What makes you any different that Von Brunn or Roeder, besides the fact that you haven't pulled a trigger yet?

[Zenith1959]

There is a huge difference between hating the haters and being one, of being intolerant of intolerance, or practicing intolerance.

[Milash]

That's because MSNBC reports facts, not fairytales.

[Savojah]

LOL

That comment is too funny.

[flamingliberal]

Yes... much more comfortable with facts than Fox. 'Course that's cuz facts have that liberal bias.

[DrLogic]

Uh, the "not having pulled the trigger" is a pretty major difference. If you can't see that, I'm not sure you're in the right frame of mind...

Their voices shouldn't be silenced. They have every right to spew the vile, hateful, bigoted nonsense they do every day. They also bear some responsibility if they incite people to violent acts. You can say whatever you want, whenever you want, but you also must take responsibility for saying it.

Stating a "death-wish" is the same as actually murdering someone in your eyes? While I don't support making violent threats against anyone, if you merely talked about it but didn't do it, are you still guilty of the crime? Furthermore, if anyone on the left incited these alleged "liberals" to act out in a violent fashion, anyone who inflamed them would also be complicit.

[flamingliberal]

Freedom of speech comes with accountability, wouldn't you say? Or is it free of that, too? If so, then you can yell "fire" in a crowded theater.

[CynAnne]

Then riddle me this, gino - if you what you say IS true, and what Keith said ISN'T true..then WHERE, pray tell, are the dozens of libel suits surely filed by those (according to you) so egregiously accused? Surely these poor souls want to have their day in court, and their good reputations cleared of these allegedly inaccurate characterizations, right..? ;) ...

[tfoley]

I've never had to look up so many words in my life. How do you want "us" O'reilly watchers to comment when I could barely comprehend the vitriol you were spewing.

[elbzee]

LOL! Intellectualism is hard work, isn't tfoley? Good thing your buddy Bill doesn't hurt himself tripping over such big, elitist words, huh?

[wakeup804]

Hmmmm.......you O'Reilly watchers should try to incorporate words into your vocabularies with more than one syllable. There are more words in our language than, hate, kill, no. Try some fancy book learning..­........yo­u might find you will no longer need O'reilly to shape your every waking thought.

[OC4Obama4Pres]

Oh Yes!! Cosign!