Why is O'Reilly On The Air?
Lower Manattanite brings it for real with “Waiter..There's A Racist In My Soup!”
I'm the warm-up act for LM's righteous smack-down of O'Reilly's racism.
On the September 19 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor, Bill O'Reilly talked of having dinner with the Rev. Al Sharpton in Harlem restaurant Sylvia's. Later he continued the conversation with Fox News contributor and National Public Radio senior correspondent Juan Williams.
Here is what they said (transcript via Media Matters):
The Radio FactorWhy is O'Reilly still on anyone's air?
O'REILLY: Now, how do we get to this point? Black people in this country understand that they've had a very, very tough go of it, and some of them can get past that, and some of them cannot. I don't think there's a black American who hasn't had a personal insult that they've had to deal with because of the color of their skin. I don't think there's one in the country. So you've got to accept that as being the truth. People deal with that stuff in a variety of ways. Some get bitter. Some say, [unintelligible] "You call me that, I'm gonna be more successful." OK, it depends on the personality.
So it's there. It's there, and I think it's getting better. I think black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves. They're getting away from the Sharptons and the Jacksons and the people trying to lead them into a race-based culture. They're just trying to figure it out: "Look, I can make it. If I work hard and get educated, I can make it."
You know, I was up in Harlem a few weeks ago, and I actually had dinner with Al Sharpton, who is a very, very interesting guy. And he comes on The Factor a lot, and then I treated him to dinner, because he's made himself available to us, and I felt that I wanted to take him up there. And we went to Sylvia's, a very famous restaurant in Harlem. I had a great time, and all the people up there are tremendously respectful. They all watch The Factor. You know, when Sharpton and I walked in, it was like a big commotion and everything, but everybody was very nice.
And I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship. It was the same, and that's really what this society's all about now here in the U.S.A. There's no difference. There's no difference. There may be a cultural entertainment -- people may gravitate toward different cultural entertainment, but you go down to Little Italy, and you're gonna have that. It has nothing to do with the color of anybody's skin.
[...]
O'REILLY: No, no, I mean, I like that soul food. I had the meatloaf special. I had coconut shrimp. I had the iced tea. It was great.
WILLIAMS: Well, let me just tell you, the one thing I would say is this. And we're talking about the kids who still like this gangsta rap, this vile poison that I think is absolutely, you know, literally a corruption of culture. I think that what you've got to take into account that it's still a majority white audience -- young, white people who think they're into rebelling against their parents who buy this stuff and think it's just a kick. You know, it's just a way of expressing their anti-authoritarianism.
O'REILLY: But it's a different -- it's a different dynamic, though.
WILLIAMS: Exactly right --
O'REILLY: Because the young, white kids don't have to struggle out of the ghetto.
WILLIAMS: Right, and also, I think they can have that as one phase of their lives.
O'REILLY: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: I think too many of the black kids take it as, "Oh, that's what it means to be authentically black. That's how you make money. That's how you become rich and famous and get on TV and get music videos." And you either get the boys or the girls. The girls think they have to, you know, be half-naked and spinning around like they're on meth in order to get any attention. It really corrupts people, and I think it adds, Bill, to some serious sociological problems, like the high out-of-wedlock birth rate because of this hypersexual imagery that then the kids adapt to some kind of reality. I mean, it's inauthentic. It's not in keeping with great black traditions of struggle and excellence, from Willie Mays to Aretha Franklin, but even in terms of academics, you know, going back to people like Charles Drew or Ben Carson here, the neurosurgeon at [Johns] Hopkins [University]. That stuff, all of a sudden, is pushed aside. That's treated as, "You're a nerd, you're acting white," if you try to be excellent and black.
O'REILLY: You know, and I went to the concert by Anita Baker at Radio City Music Hall, and the crowd was 50/50, black/white, and the blacks were well-dressed. And she came out -- Anita Baker came out on the stage and said, "Look, this is a show for the family. We're not gonna have any profanity here. We're not gonna do any rapping here." The band was excellent, but they were dressed in tuxedoes, and this is what white America doesn't know, particularly people who don't have a lot of interaction with black Americans. They think that the culture is dominated by Twista, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg.
WILLIAMS: Oh, and it's just so awful. It's just so awful because, I mean, it's literally the sewer come to the surface, and now people take it that the sewer is the whole story --
O'REILLY: That's right. That's right. There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, "M-Fer, I want more iced tea."
WILLIAMS: Please --
O'REILLY: You know, I mean, everybody was -- it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn't any kind of craziness at all.
Fox News caters to racists.
Another edition of Short Answers to Foolish Questions.
Casual, everyday, kick-back with your buddies, racism. Live on a radio near you.
Didn't Imus get his ass fired for this kind of casual racism? What... it only counts when you take on the Rutger's ballers?
I love Harlem. It's beautiful, wonderful, and terrific.
I was privileged to do computer support for Harlem's National Black Theater in the early 90s and as an alumni of the Tucson Boys Choir, I've always loved catching the voices of the Boys Choir of Harlem. Some of the best food in the United States is in Harlem, not to mention the graceful homes (as beautiful as Brooklyn and at lower prices), the business revival going on right now, and the amazing, thoughtful, caring people.
And this bigot, this filthy nasty bigot comes in and takes a dump on his radio show smack in the heart of black America. That wasn't a question.
Every time I see O'Reilly I need to shower. He's everything white male privilege exists to protect. His very existence offends women, people of color, and anyone with a brain, a heart, courage, and a love of their country. Not to mention show tunes.
One of the most hypocritical men in the media -- and that my friends is truly saying something -- O'Reilly is a sexist, racist pig. All O'Reilly has ever really wanted is:
Of course, that's sexist, not racist. Can't fire his fat filthy ass for lusting...
We report. You decide.
You've got the facts and the gist; go read Lower Manattanite's
“Waiter..There's A Racist In My Soup!”
'Cause this guy is just wrong.
(Note: Please put your comments in LM's thread. Only comment here if it's about the transcript, the actual recording, or specifically about this post. Otherwise, please put talk in the comment thread for “Waiter..There's A Racist In My Soup!”. That way we keep everyone talking together. Thanks. --jwe)
|