God is great. Bill O'Reilly? Not so much.
By Capt. Fogg
Blurry words and fuzzy logic are the tools of the deceiver. Take the word "terrorist." We're still trying to fit it into the Procrustean bed, or should we call it the Republican Bunk? In fact we can no longer distinguish between terror, the emotion or terrorism; the acts designed to produce terror. We're always arguing about who is a criminal and who is a terrorist but, always willing to help us find our balance, Fox News and Sean O'Reilly are on the job.
In order to keep the terror, angst, and anger flowing and the ratings high, it's important to keep the supply of terrorists visible and to keep them ethnic -- and here comes Sean Hannity to tell us that what makes a terrorist a terrorist is that he praises God before he terrorizes. It's not all that simple, though. He has to do that in Arabic, otherwise every foxhole would be full of terrorists of many faiths.
It's simple enough, however, to say that because Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly said Allahu Akhbar before shooting up Fort Hood. On the other hand, attacks from the bombing of Guernica to the Rape of Nanjing to the shocking and awing of Baghdad are not. Simple haters like simple rules for hating. They like simple things that can be used to create convenient groups: tropes like "political correctness" of which O'Reilly accused The Washington Post's Sally Quinn Wednesday night. It's much easier to condemn a group fabricated for the purpose than to address her reluctance to call the man a "Muslim terrorist":
I do know why. If the only difference between Charles Manson, Timothy McVeigh, David, Son of Sam, Berkowitz, and Major Hasan is religion, it becomes awfully hard to launch the Fox Crusade against Muslims alone. So one hates along with Bill, or one is politically correct which means unwilling to hate along with Bill. One jumps to convenient conclusions with him or one refuses in that politically correct way, thus defining PC as smart and honest and responsible for people more logically adept than the Fox Fools.
One must be a hater of Muslims or a terrorist supporter, and without that assertion O'Reilly melts on the floor like the Wicked Witch. A nice binary, Good v. Evil choice to replace the kind of reasoning stupid people hate and fear and are incapable of, the kind of choice Lyin' Bill peddles like crack in the high school parking lot.
(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)
Blurry words and fuzzy logic are the tools of the deceiver. Take the word "terrorist." We're still trying to fit it into the Procrustean bed, or should we call it the Republican Bunk? In fact we can no longer distinguish between terror, the emotion or terrorism; the acts designed to produce terror. We're always arguing about who is a criminal and who is a terrorist but, always willing to help us find our balance, Fox News and Sean O'Reilly are on the job.
In order to keep the terror, angst, and anger flowing and the ratings high, it's important to keep the supply of terrorists visible and to keep them ethnic -- and here comes Sean Hannity to tell us that what makes a terrorist a terrorist is that he praises God before he terrorizes. It's not all that simple, though. He has to do that in Arabic, otherwise every foxhole would be full of terrorists of many faiths.
It's simple enough, however, to say that because Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly said Allahu Akhbar before shooting up Fort Hood. On the other hand, attacks from the bombing of Guernica to the Rape of Nanjing to the shocking and awing of Baghdad are not. Simple haters like simple rules for hating. They like simple things that can be used to create convenient groups: tropes like "political correctness" of which O'Reilly accused The Washington Post's Sally Quinn Wednesday night. It's much easier to condemn a group fabricated for the purpose than to address her reluctance to call the man a "Muslim terrorist":
You have a hard time saying the words "Muslim terrorist." I don't know why.
I do know why. If the only difference between Charles Manson, Timothy McVeigh, David, Son of Sam, Berkowitz, and Major Hasan is religion, it becomes awfully hard to launch the Fox Crusade against Muslims alone. So one hates along with Bill, or one is politically correct which means unwilling to hate along with Bill. One jumps to convenient conclusions with him or one refuses in that politically correct way, thus defining PC as smart and honest and responsible for people more logically adept than the Fox Fools.
One must be a hater of Muslims or a terrorist supporter, and without that assertion O'Reilly melts on the floor like the Wicked Witch. A nice binary, Good v. Evil choice to replace the kind of reasoning stupid people hate and fear and are incapable of, the kind of choice Lyin' Bill peddles like crack in the high school parking lot.
(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)
Labels: Bill O'Reilly, Fort Hood massacre, Fox News, religion, Sean Hannity, terrorism
posted by Capt. Fogg at
11:15 AM
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