Posted by
Tzimisce on Wednesday, April 04, 2007 11:17:01 PM
Why on earth does the left hate Bill O'Reilly? When I was getting my degree, I sat in unbiased, non partisan classes where equally unbiased, non partisan left wing college professors would slam O'Reilly between lectures on why we should all vote for John Kerry. And the typical conclusion from the great minds of the *media and journalism* department was that Bill should be taken off the air because of "hate". (Interesting that concepts like "free speech" and "free press" don't apply to the enemies of libs.)
To back up their claims I was treated a whole host of O'Reilly's greatest blow ups. We watched video of him ranting in interviews on PBS and Comedy Central. I sat through clips of him screaming at his guests, cutting off mics and and just generally ranting.
Understandably I was taken aback. I'd never seen "The Factor" before. Someone who was so rough on everybody made me a little nervous. The first time I actually watched his show was in public and I expected him to explode with profanities and name calling at everyone around him. The wisdom of playing such a show in a public place seemed absurd.
That was about a year ago. Recently I discovered "The Radio Factor" on a local station and listened. I was surprised by what I heard. Moreover after listening to him it's obvious a lot of big libs haven't.
Shock point number one: O'Reilly is an environmentalist. He firmly believes that oil companies manipulate the price of gas to increase their profit margin. Who does that sound like if not the environmentalist left? On this issue O'Reilly bucks the conservative/capitalistic belief market forces determine the price of gas. This goes hand in hand with shock point number two: O'Reilly backs the government efforts to tighten gas efficiency in cars. And shock point number three: O'Reilly not only believes that humans are causing global warming, he's in favor of government regulations to curb CO2 levels. You'd think that environmentalists would have latched on to this by now, but no. Most environmentalists I know slam O'Reilly.
But those aren't the only non conservative beliefs Bill clings too. O'Reilly also is firmly convinced that the war in Iraq is an unwinnable stale mate. Who does that sound like? Less like a conservative and more like something you'd read on DailyKos.
So why is there a visceral hatred for O'Reilly? Libs are always lecturing everyone on being tolerant and listening to people (especially ones you disagree with). So how many lefties have actually watched/listened to "The Factor"?