O'Reilly Part Two

Since my post last night, I got a comment, read more of what O’Reilly said, wrote a comment and now I’ve listened to the whole segment.

I think I was too hard on him. I think he, over the course of the segment, made a good point, rap, gangsta, thug culture makes money and is blown out of proportion by Media. That obscures mainstream black culture which isn’t seen by “white America,” that part of it left that gets its cultural cues from the CBS, FOX, CNN and the rest of big media. By the way, he didn’t slam FOX, I included it for the fun of it.

But, I still think O’Reilly comes at the issue from his own insulated viewpoint. He makes much of his Grandmother and her racism of which he tried to disabuse her. “Grandma, I play football, those black guys protect me. Without them, I’d have broken bones. We like them.”

I guess it’s the verbal clues. Blacks running and patronizing a restaurant that is civilized. A concert where black people were dressed up and the band wore tuxedos. The big black guys blocked for me. He’s viewing these people, not interacting with them. They are phenomena to him, a good sign to him, but something that it seems has come late to him in life.