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Commentary - Dec 18, 2005 - Printable Version
- O'Reilly's War
by Mike Bohling
Normally, I don’t give much credence to Bill O’Reilly, or much of anything else that I see on FOX News. And normally, I wouldn’t lower myself to a rebuttal of O’Reilly’s idiotic opinions. In this case I’ll make a small exception in order to raise the bigger question: Why are O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, and a host of other right wing pundits so bent on trying to divide this country? The lunacy of what comes from the mouths of these guys is no secret to any serious news junkie. That’s what they get paid for, and the same can be said about Left Wing pundits, but O’Reilly’s recent rants about the “War on Christmas” is the most blatant attempt to cause disharmony in our nation that I have ever witnessed.
First, for those of you who wisely avoid watching FOX, I need to give you a little background. O’Reilly is incensed about government officials at the local, state, and federal level “caving in” to the ACLU and not permitting manger scenes and other religious decorations in government institutions. He’s upset that schools have “Winter Break” instead of Christmas Vacation. He has himself in a lather because the checkout clerks at Wal-Mart and Target wish shoppers Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. He won’t come right out and say we should boycott the stores that are so ruthlessly attacking Christmas, but he does tell his audience that they have a responsibility to vote with their wallets by not patronizing the stores whose holiday wishes don’t meet with their evangelical standards. Bill is so indignant about Holiday Trees and Seasons Greetings that for the past three weeks he has pushed aside newsworthy topics, like Iraq and Plamegate, just so he could utilize 50% of his on-air time blathering about the War on Christmas.
Okay, now that I got that out of the way I feel compelled to give a quick rebuttal to O’Reilly’s rants before I get to the meat of this article…..
There is no War on Christmas, Bill! Governments and schools are obligated to remain secular by the First Amendment. The clerks at 7-Eleven and Burger King are doing what they’ve always done; courteously wishing us a happy holiday season while trying not to offend the 1 out of 5 customers that don’t subscribe to Christianity. There have never been any prohibitions of any kind in this country to celebrate Christmas in your home, your church or in any non-government institution, and there is no threat of that ever happening. Furthermore, and most importantly, nobody gives a shit. It is entirely a non-issue.
I’m glad that’s cleared up. Now, on to more important things.
All of this nonsense begs one big question: Why would an educated man like Bill O’Reilly dedicate 50% of his on-air time to this meaningless topic? My first presumption was that (per FOX’s normal m.o.), because real news generally reflects poorly on the president, O’Reilly was simply trying to divert attention from any real news that might be happening. That may be a small part of the equation, but I think that there’s much more to it this time. I hate to contemplate this, but I believe that Mr. O’Reilly is purposely trying to push our country into an all out culture war.
Ordinarily, even when someone of O’Reilly’s notoriety goes over the deep end like that, it barely registers a blip on my radar screen, but it’s different this time. I’ve been watching FOX News for many years, partly because I find it entertaining, but mostly because FOX is umbilically connected to the Republican effort, and I like to know what they’re thinking. I’m not claiming that there is any financial or otherwise obligatory agreement between the two, (it wouldn’t surprise me), but if you want to know what’s next on the Bush agenda, watch FOX. The network is notorious for telegraphing the White House’s punches before they’re thrown. This time, with this issue, it’s got me pretty worried.
It can’t be denied that there is a culture war brewing within this country, but it’s not being waged by the ACLU, the Atheists, the Intellectual Elite, or the Left Wing Media that we hear so much about on FOX. The responsibility for this war lies squarely on the shoulders of those who would impose their narrow morals and religious views on the country as a whole. It’s bad enough that the embers of this culture war are smoldering just beneath the surface without O’Reilly and a few other loudmouth fools fanning the flames, but now they’re making shit up just to stoke the fire. It’s now obvious to me that a culture war is something that they not only look forward to seeing, but promoting and playing an active role in as well.
Falwell, Robertson, Dobson, and a host of other intolerants are known to have the presidents ear on topics ranging from the war in Iraq to Supreme Court Nominations. The President himself claims that God speaks to him in his sleep and guides him in making his piss-poor decisions. FOX News, and quite notably O’Reilly, are well established in promoting the neo-con agenda to an audience that still believes we found WMD’s in Iraq. All of these people appear to be absolutely rejoicing at the thought of dividing America along religious lines in a culture war.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t get a warm fuzzy feeling when I look at all of the principal players involved and connect the dots.
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