Trackbacks & Pings

1. COSELLOUT: Tellin’ It Like It Is when the “Cosellouts” Won’t » Blog Archive » 6 Reflections from JENA on 23 Sep 2007 at 12:27 pm

   [...] interviews of Jena residents unfathomably portrayed themselves as victims (Hat Tip to Racialicious) who kept denying their community’s racism instead of saying they wanted to grapple it, [...]

Comments

1. LM wrote:

   I’m amazed at Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh et al. are taken seriously by millions of people.

   Posted 22 Sep 2007 at 8:54 am ¶

2. Anonymous wrote:

   The first link (about Mattel apologizing to China) has a comments section. Man, I haven’t seen such nasty comments about China in a while. The anonymity the internet provides certainly helps people get their true feelings out. And yes, it makes it hard to distinguish between the commenters who are “anti-China” (communist government policies/human rights violations) or just “anti-Chinese” (note the sporadic ” f*king dog eaters” etc comments).

   I don’t know if the comments can be ascribed generally to super zealous internet commenters or are actually more or less reflective of the opinions of the American population as a whole. I’d be sad but not exactly surprised if it were the latter.

   Posted 23 Sep 2007 at 10:55 am ¶

3. Ike wrote:

   Wow. O’Reilly is really ignorant.

   Posted 23 Sep 2007 at 11:55 am ¶

4. bg wrote:

   “I’m amazed at Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh et al. are taken seriously by millions of people.”

   Be afraid. Their minions are legion. And they decide elections in Ohio and Florida too.

   ;-p

   And thanks Bill for taking us behind the scenes to show me, as a white guy, what it is I don’t know.

   Posted 25 Sep 2007 at 6:08 pm ¶

5. hoo_boy wrote:

   Babbling O’Reilly: While I don’t doubt what was said, I do doubt the racist intent in this instance for one simple reason: Sharpton, the guest, fessed that he didn’t hear anything offensive during the entire dinner.

   While also shockingly clueless and not praiseworthy, I actually buy the sincerity here. Through a lens of genuine shock and awe, he waxed about how there’s a vibrant black community just like white America for a listenership that probably never thinks about such (forget that he’s contributed to that perception, and that the point raises more debatable disturbing avenues– I got what he was trying to say…)

   I simply wish he would’ve actually interacted with the staff and patrons at Sylvia, instead of appproaching this as a field trip– and asked Sharpton questions before his show– to curb or temper the excesses of his own impressions and thoughts. O’Reilly still lacks the ability of self-reflection after all these years *sigh*

   But Media Matters annoys me as well. While I dig their monitoring sometimes, let’s be clear: with their lefty bias, they are no more fair and balanced than Fox.

   These were not condescending or backhanded compliments, but hamhanded ones indeed. I still don’t like or trust O’Reilly, but he’s expanding his mind. Keep learning those lessons, Bill…

   Posted 26 Sep 2007 at 3:57 pm ¶

6. LM wrote:

   @hoo_boy:

   True… and this is why mainstream coverage of this sort of thing tends to fall short at times like this, and for example, when the perversely demeaning “articulate” becomes the story.

   It’s played thusly: “Somebody offended ‘the black community,’ let’s see how what sort of colorful (no pun intended” quotes we can get from black people and see how the so-called offender will react to this criticism…”

   Rarely, except in opinion pieces that may follow, will reporters delve into what seem like obvious questions:

   “Bill, what did you think your experience at Sylvia’s would be like?”

   “Bill, why have you talked about black people so much when you’ve been around them so little?”

   “Bill, now that you’ve been surprised, how does this affect your approach in the future?”

   (Mind you — it would probably be tiresome to listen to his responses, as I’ve generally seen with other less-public epiphanies. But these are the right questions.)

   “How many white people are like Bill O’Reilly, basing their opinions of black people on something other than everyday interactions?”

   “From where do their impressions of black people come, and how are those impressions so misshapen?”

   Anyways… I think this is one of the least offensive things O’Reilly has said. But the fact that he has a soapbox from which to say it has been offensive to me for a long time.

   If he “changes,” though — wonderful. I won’t discourage him or anyone else from saying clueless things like this ’cause that’s one painful way change happens.

   Posted 26 Sep 2007 at 8:52 pm ¶

7. squidfly wrote:

   O’Reilly’s comments have more to do with his hysterical fear of the Hooded, Black Youth dressed in Baggy Pants, that he thought was lurking. He was probably making sure the waiters weren’t Snoop or Ludacris in disguise. I’m sure he was surprised no one jumped up and kicked his ass. This is more about his worst nightmare than anything elese. His adrenalin obviously kicked in and acted like Sodium Pentothal, causing a panicked spewing relief of utter nuttiness. Then again how can you take a man seriously who was sued for sexual harrasment surrounding a loofa and a falafel.
   Big Bill…

   Posted 26 Sep 2007 at 11:46 pm ¶