O'Rielly lynching scandal

[superstition]

Here's an update on the lynching scandal:

Bill O'Reilly Apologizes/Defends Michelle Obama Lynching Remark

original comment:

In a discussion of recent comments made by Michelle Obama, Bill O'Reilly took a call from a listener who stated that, according to "a friend who had knowledge of her," Obama " 'is a very angry,' her word was 'militant woman.' " O'Reilly later stated: "I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down."

Fox's defense:

Update: Portfolio.com's Jeff Bercovici reports that David Tabacoff, O'Reilly's executive producer, has defended the remark:

"What Bill said was an obvious repudiation of anyone attacking Michelle Obama," he said, according to Fox spokeswoman. "As he has said more than ten times, he is giving her the benefit of the doubt."

O'Rielly's defense:

"While talking to a radio caller, I said there should be no lynching in the case, that comment off Clarence Thomas saying he was the victim of a high tech lynching (he said that on 60 Minutes, you may remember). I'm sorry if my statement offended anybody. That, of course, was not the intention. Context is everything."

Yes, context. It excuses even the most inappropriate things, like considering being part of a hypothetical lynching party for a national audience, particularly given the fear many blacks feel considering a possible assassination of Barack.

 

[techs]

The reason this is still a story?
It callls attention to the fact Obama is black.
Remember "Call me"

 

[Red Dawn]

OMG the moral outrage:roll:

 

[chucky2]

So if we're not supposed to be using the lynching word when blacks are involved, then no one can talk about crackers when white people are involved, or beloved patriot and span when latinos are involved, etc?

This is just F'ing rediculous...

Chuck

 

[RightIsWrong]

What a non-issue. O'Reilly is a complete jackass, but to hang him over this is utterly ridiculous.

 

[superstition]

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.usnews.com/blogs/paper-trail/2007/11/16/nooses-a-nationwide-epidemic.html">Nooses: A Nationwide Epidemic
</a>
Three noose displays cause outrage

Images and displays of nooses, long considered inflammatory among blacks, are sparking controversy.

At Denison University in Granville, 150 students gathered to discuss racism Wednesday after advertising posters featuring nooses were displayed on campus. This week, Miami University officials removed nooses that were put in a tree as part of a student art display, prompting university President David Hodge to condemn the display and meet with students.

The incidents highlight the gap between those who see the noose as a neutral image and those who see it as a symbol of lynchings.

"Lynchings inhabit the nightmares of black Americans -- and for good reasons," said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project, which monitors hate groups at the Southern Poverty Law Center. "The reality is that there was a time when it didn't take much to get lynched by a howling mob of people."

Reports of nooses are on the rise, especially after nooses figured prominently in the widely reported racial conflict in Jena, La., Potok said.

Typically, no more than a dozen noose sightings are reported to the Montgomery, Ala.-based center each year, Potok said. But in the past 10 weeks, close to 50 have been reported, he said.

Last month, a noose was found hanging on the office door of Madonna Constantine, who teaches a racial justice class at Columbia University. In September, a noose was hung from a police department locker room in Hempstead, N.Y., after the department's efforts to recruit diverse staff members. Earlier in the month, a noose was discovered hanging from a tree near a minority student center at the University of Maryland.

Jack Pearson, a member of the all-white Hilltoppers, said it never occurred to the group that the image would be offensive.

"Until last night, I thought I was educated," he said. "This has made an impact on the way I think."

Likewise, the three Miami art students hung the nooses as part of a display depicting childhood and death -- not as a racial statement, said Claire Wagner, a spokeswoman for the university.

The students expressed regret in a meeting with Hodge, who called for an investigation of the incident, Wagner said.

"It's a mix of shock that it happened," Wagner said. "And there is an opinion that we still need to educate people on what that (a noose) represents."

"I'm not aware that a noose was a symbol of hate," said Stygler, who is white.

But a man hanging from a tree by a noose is always a symbol of pain and racism, said Danny Towns of the North Side, who is black.

"Anytime you see something like that, you think of all the lynchings that were done," said Towns, who saw the display before it was removed. "For anyone who is black, it depicts a time that you don't want to relive."

This stuff about nooses is relevant to this O'Rielly debate. Clearly, for many whites, racially insensitive speech is no big deal. In fact, many don't even realize it's racially insensitive (the nooses).

 

[superstition]

It's a fact that many blacks fear that if Barack Obama is elected he'll be killed like MLK Jr., Malcolm X, Harvey Milk (first openly gay mayor of a major city), and other civil rights pioneers. It's a fact that Obama, if elected, will be the first black president and it's a fact that racism is still alive in this country. For O'Rielly to make lynching comments about his wife is absolutely despicable. Even taking race out of the equation, such a comment shouldn't happen.

 

[ProfJohn]

I can't believe people are this upset over his comment.

OP do you have a problem with Kieth Olbermann doing the Nazi salute wearing a mask of O'Rielly?

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: superstition
It's a fact that many blacks fear that if Barack Obama is elected he'll be killed like MLK Jr., Malcolm X, Harvey Milk (first openly gay mayor of a major city), and other civil rights pioneers. It's a fact that Obama, if elected, will be the first black president and it's a fact that racism is still alive in this country. For O'Rielly to make lynching comments about his wife is absolutely despicable. Even taking race out of the equation, such a comment shouldn't happen.

He's not making lynching comments about anyone's wife. Not the kind of lynching you're implying. Anyone who thinks he was is just stupid. People need to get over themselves. Lots of words have more than one use....Lynch is one of them.

 

[superstition]

I don't think someone with a national audience should make veiled racial threats against a possible first lady. I don't accept the context excuse.

 

[superstition]

Anyone who thinks he was is just stupid.

Fascinating analysis.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
What a non-issue. O'Reilly is a complete jackass, but to hang him over this is utterly ridiculous.

True. People need to drop this LYNCH MOB mentality. This is a non-issue.

For O'Rielly to make lynching comments about his wife is absolutely despicable. Even taking race out of the equation, such a comment shouldn't happen.

Figure of speech, just like my use above of lynch-mob mentality. Let it go, admit he made a comment that if against a whtie would have been fine, and just admit you're overreacting like so many others. It's ok, you can do it.

 

[superstition]

This is a non-issue.

Then why are you posting about it?

just admit you're overreacting like so many others.

I'm not going to whitewash what was a very inappropriate comment, one that would have resulted in firing for people other than O'Rielly or Ann Coulter.

 

[woodie1]

Originally posted by: superstition

Anyone who thinks he was is just stupid.

Fascinating analysis.

Yet correct.

 

[superstition]

The right wing might say the left is being nuts about the O'Reilly thing, but at the same time they had Bill Maher taken off the air for something he said and the Dixie Chicks almost completely removed from country music stations. And they're not even pretending to be journalists unlike Bill on Fox News.

This is a very relevant point. There are many African descended people in America that are very conscious of the possiblity of Obama's assasination. Historical Black leaders have been killed for their racial positions, or their merely existence.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=182593

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: superstition

This is a non-issue.

Then why are you posting about it?

just admit you're overreacting like so many others.

I'm not going to whitewash what was a very inappropriate comment, one that would have resulted in firing for people other than O'Rielly or Ann Coulter.

You are the kind of people who make issues into this news, which it is not. I am telling you it's a non-issue from the standpoint of it being a news story.

Don't be disingenuous. He never was going to lead a literal lynching party against her. It is a figure of speech. Do you think when somebody uses the term witch hunt they are referring to real witches? I bet you were one of the people who wanted to throw Imus in a pit with wolves and execute janet jackson for a nipple show. YOU are people like you with your pitifully childish sensibilities and immediate jump to offense at anything that isn't flowery and rosy speech are the reason why public speakers have to constantly check what they're going to say and sacrifice candor at the expense of not offending your pathetic little self-esteems. Grow the f**k up, you are an adult, right? I mean, I don't want to lead a lynching party against, you but come on.

 

[superstition]

just admit you're overreacting like so many others.

You are the kind of people...I am telling you it's a non-issue. Don't be disingenuous. Do you think...I bet you were one of the people who wanted to throw Imus in a pit with wolves and execute janet jackson for a nipple show. YOU are people like you with your pitifully childish sensibilities and immediate jump to offense at anything that isn't flowery and rosy speech are the reason why public speakers have to constantly check what they're going to say and sacrifice candor at the expense of not offending your pathetic little self-esteems. Grow the f**k up, you are an adult, right? I mean, I don't want to lead a lynching party against, you but come on.

Fascinating.

 

[superstition]

Craig234

On the same topic, Fox News took her quote where she said it was 'the firs time she was really proud of her country', and just blipped out most of the word 'really' and played it. It's a scandal.

One show there then did a better edit and chopped the word out cleanly - the same lie.

There's no excuse for the intentional misrepresentation of her statement.

The odd thing is that later the same day, she did say the same phrase without 'really', and they could have just used that clip but they didn't. They lied about the first quote.

OrByte

I think he is racist.

why did he have to say "Lynching party?"

Skitzer

Bill O'Reilly is a Neo-Nazi-Surf-Pig catering to Dweebs and Space Cadets.
In other words he is a self rightious Nut Job!!

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: superstition
Harvey Milk (first openly gay mayor of a major city).

He was never mayor of San Francisco. It was Moscone who was the Mayor killed along with Milk by former Supervisor Dan White while he was raging from to many twinkies (He used that defense to beat the Murder rap)

 

[Jmman]

I swear, PC is out of control. Eventually all words will be banned because it offends someone out there.........

And anyway, at every turn, O'Reilly is actually defending Michelle Obama when this issue is mentioned.........

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: superstition
Craig234

On the same topic, Fox News took her quote where she said it was 'the firs time she was really proud of her country', and just blipped out most of the word 'really' and played it. It's a scandal.

One show there then did a better edit and chopped the word out cleanly - the same lie.

There's no excuse for the intentional misrepresentation of her statement.

The odd thing is that later the same day, she did say the same phrase without 'really', and they could have just used that clip but they didn't. They lied about the first quote.

OrByte

I think he is racist.

why did he have to say "Lynching party?"

Skitzer

Bill O'Reilly is a Neo-Nazi-Surf-Pig catering to Dweebs and Space Cadets.
In other words he is a self rightious Nut Job!!

Heh, I agree he is a self-righteous nutjob and Fox is the worst news org on the planet. Doesn't change reality and superstition, if Bill is willing to give Michelle Obama the benefit of the doubt, why are you so niggardly giving yours?

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
What a non-issue. O'Reilly is a complete jackass, but to hang him over this is utterly ridiculous.

Racist!

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
What a non-issue. O'Reilly is a complete jackass, but to hang him over this is utterly ridiculous.

Racist!

Wait, he is white, it's ok!!

 

[Fingolfin269]

I just watched some western where they were going to lynch a white man. I was confused!

 

[superstition]

Originally posted by: Jmman
I swear, PC is out of control. Eventually all words will be banned because it offends someone out there.........

This is a non sequitur. All speech is condoned or censored. That's life. It's especially true for television.

And anyway, at every turn, O'Reilly is actually defending Michelle Obama

Sure he is.