More on Saint Bill (keep him away from your kids)
(a ukethanks to Phyll - enjoy! - Uke Man)
December 18, 2005
**************A Challenge for Bill O'Reilly
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Let us all pray for Bill O'Reilly. Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will understand that theChristmas spirit isn't about hectoring people to say"Merry Christmas," rather than "Happy Holidays," butabout helping the needy.
Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will use his hugeaudience and considerable media savvy to save livesand fight genocide, instead of to vilify those hedisagrees with. Let him find inspiration in Jesus,rather than in the Assyrians.
Finally, let's pray that Mr. O'Reilly and othermoney-changers in the temple will donate the fundsthey raise exploiting Christmas - covering thenonexistent "War on Christmas" rakes in viewers andadvertising - to feed the hungry and house thehomeless.
Amen.
Alas, not all prayers can be answered. Fox NewsChannel's crusade against infidels who prefer genericexpressions like "Happy Holidays" included 58 separatesegments in just a five-day period.
After I suggested in last Sunday's column that abetter way to honor the season might be to stand up togenocide in Darfur (a calamity that Mr. O'Reilly hasignored), Mr. O'Reilly denounced me on his show as a"left-wing ideologue." Bless you, Mr. O'Reilly, andMerry Christmas to you, too!
Later in the show, Mr. O'Reilly described us printjournalists in general as "a bunch of viciousS.O.B.'s." Bless you again, Mr. O'Reilly; I'll prayharder for the Christmas spirit to soften yourpugnacious soul.
Look, I put up a "Christmas tree," rather than a"holiday tree," and I'm sure Mr. O'Reilly is rightthat political correctness leads to absurd contortionsthis time of year. But when you've seen what real wardoes, you don't lightly use the word to describedisagreements about Christmas greetings. And does itreally make sense to offer 58 segments on politicalcorrectness and zero on genocide?
Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to religioushypocrites because I've spent a chunk of time abroadwatching Muslim versions of Mr. O'Reilly - demagogictable-thumpers who exploit public religiosity as acynical ploy to gain attention and money. And I alwaystell moderate Muslims that they need to stand up toblustery blowhards - so today, I'm taking my ownadvice.
Like the fundamentalist Islamic preachers, Mr.O'Reilly is a talented showman, and my sense is thathis ranting is a calculated performance. The couple oftimes I've been on his show, he was mild mannered andamiable until the camera light went on - and then heburst into aggrieved indignation, because he knew itmade good theater.
If Mr. O'Reilly wants to find a Christmas cause, heshould invite guests from Catholic Relief Services,World Vision or the National Association ofEvangelicals - among the many faith-basedorganizations that are doing heroic work battlingeverything from river blindness to sex trafficking.Indeed, the real victims of Mr. O'Reilly are theauthentic religious conservatives, because someviewers falsely assume that ill-informed bombastcharacterizes the entire religious right.
(I'm tempted to think that Mr. O'Reilly is actually aliberal plant, meant to discredit conservatives. Thinkabout it. Who would be a better plant than aself-righteous bully in the style of Father Coughlinor Joe McCarthy? What better way to caricature theright than by having Mr. O'Reilly urge on air that thestaff of Air America be imprisoned: "Dissent, fine;undermining, you're a traitor. Got it? So, all thoseclowns over at the liberal radio network, we couldincarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done,please? Send over the F.B.I. and just put them inchains, because they, you know, they're underminingeverything.")
Some authentic religious conservatives are embarrassedby television phonies. Cal Thomas, the conservativeChristian columnist, warned: "The effort by some cableTV hosts and ministers to force commercialestablishments into wishing everyone a 'MerryChristmas' might be more objectionable to the One whois the reason for the season than the 'Happy Holidays'mantra required by some store managers."
So I have a challenge for Mr. O'Reilly: If you reallywant to defend traditional values, then come with meon a trip to Darfur. I'll introduce you to mothers whohave had their babies clubbed to death in front ofthem, to teenage girls who have been gang-raped andthen mutilated - and to the government-armed thugs whodo these things.
You'll have to leave your studio, Bill. You'llencounter pure evil. If you're like me, you'll bescared. If you try to bully some of the goons inDarfur, they'll just hack your head off. But you'llalso meet some genuine conservative Christians - aidworkers who live the Gospel instead of sputteringabout it - and you'll finally be using your talentsfor an important cause.
So, Bill, what'll it be? Will you dare travel to areal war against Christmas values, in which thevictims aren't offended shoppers but terrifiedchildren thrown on bonfires? I'm waiting to hear.
December 18, 2005
**************A Challenge for Bill O'Reilly
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Let us all pray for Bill O'Reilly. Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will understand that theChristmas spirit isn't about hectoring people to say"Merry Christmas," rather than "Happy Holidays," butabout helping the needy.
Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will use his hugeaudience and considerable media savvy to save livesand fight genocide, instead of to vilify those hedisagrees with. Let him find inspiration in Jesus,rather than in the Assyrians.
Finally, let's pray that Mr. O'Reilly and othermoney-changers in the temple will donate the fundsthey raise exploiting Christmas - covering thenonexistent "War on Christmas" rakes in viewers andadvertising - to feed the hungry and house thehomeless.
Amen.
Alas, not all prayers can be answered. Fox NewsChannel's crusade against infidels who prefer genericexpressions like "Happy Holidays" included 58 separatesegments in just a five-day period.
After I suggested in last Sunday's column that abetter way to honor the season might be to stand up togenocide in Darfur (a calamity that Mr. O'Reilly hasignored), Mr. O'Reilly denounced me on his show as a"left-wing ideologue." Bless you, Mr. O'Reilly, andMerry Christmas to you, too!
Later in the show, Mr. O'Reilly described us printjournalists in general as "a bunch of viciousS.O.B.'s." Bless you again, Mr. O'Reilly; I'll prayharder for the Christmas spirit to soften yourpugnacious soul.
Look, I put up a "Christmas tree," rather than a"holiday tree," and I'm sure Mr. O'Reilly is rightthat political correctness leads to absurd contortionsthis time of year. But when you've seen what real wardoes, you don't lightly use the word to describedisagreements about Christmas greetings. And does itreally make sense to offer 58 segments on politicalcorrectness and zero on genocide?
Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to religioushypocrites because I've spent a chunk of time abroadwatching Muslim versions of Mr. O'Reilly - demagogictable-thumpers who exploit public religiosity as acynical ploy to gain attention and money. And I alwaystell moderate Muslims that they need to stand up toblustery blowhards - so today, I'm taking my ownadvice.
Like the fundamentalist Islamic preachers, Mr.O'Reilly is a talented showman, and my sense is thathis ranting is a calculated performance. The couple oftimes I've been on his show, he was mild mannered andamiable until the camera light went on - and then heburst into aggrieved indignation, because he knew itmade good theater.
If Mr. O'Reilly wants to find a Christmas cause, heshould invite guests from Catholic Relief Services,World Vision or the National Association ofEvangelicals - among the many faith-basedorganizations that are doing heroic work battlingeverything from river blindness to sex trafficking.Indeed, the real victims of Mr. O'Reilly are theauthentic religious conservatives, because someviewers falsely assume that ill-informed bombastcharacterizes the entire religious right.
(I'm tempted to think that Mr. O'Reilly is actually aliberal plant, meant to discredit conservatives. Thinkabout it. Who would be a better plant than aself-righteous bully in the style of Father Coughlinor Joe McCarthy? What better way to caricature theright than by having Mr. O'Reilly urge on air that thestaff of Air America be imprisoned: "Dissent, fine;undermining, you're a traitor. Got it? So, all thoseclowns over at the liberal radio network, we couldincarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done,please? Send over the F.B.I. and just put them inchains, because they, you know, they're underminingeverything.")
Some authentic religious conservatives are embarrassedby television phonies. Cal Thomas, the conservativeChristian columnist, warned: "The effort by some cableTV hosts and ministers to force commercialestablishments into wishing everyone a 'MerryChristmas' might be more objectionable to the One whois the reason for the season than the 'Happy Holidays'mantra required by some store managers."
So I have a challenge for Mr. O'Reilly: If you reallywant to defend traditional values, then come with meon a trip to Darfur. I'll introduce you to mothers whohave had their babies clubbed to death in front ofthem, to teenage girls who have been gang-raped andthen mutilated - and to the government-armed thugs whodo these things.
You'll have to leave your studio, Bill. You'llencounter pure evil. If you're like me, you'll bescared. If you try to bully some of the goons inDarfur, they'll just hack your head off. But you'llalso meet some genuine conservative Christians - aidworkers who live the Gospel instead of sputteringabout it - and you'll finally be using your talentsfor an important cause.
So, Bill, what'll it be? Will you dare travel to areal war against Christmas values, in which thevictims aren't offended shoppers but terrifiedchildren thrown on bonfires? I'm waiting to hear.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home