« One Giant Leap | Main | Bush: Kill Some of 'Em »

May 22, 2005
O'Reilly: Kill 'em All

I'm sure you've heard all about how us liberals are "outside of the mainstream." Our insistence on human rights, rational policy choices, and ethical consistency just doesn't mesh with the way most Americans think.

That being the case, here's a nice example of mainstream thinking from one of the many self-appointed representatives of the putrid trickle that is that "mainstream", Bill O'Reilly.

O'Reilly is responding to an LA Times editorial in which the editorial board argues that America's reputation abroad and ability to successfully fight terrorism would be improved if we granted detainees at Guantanamo legal rights and representation. In other words, if we even pretended to live up to the principles on which this country was founded.

O'REILLY: No, no. I want you to read it. Go to LATimes.com. I want everybody in the country to read this editorial, 'cause it just -- I mean, you'll be sitting there pounding the table like I did. How can they -- how can they think this way? How can anyone think this way? You know, "Shutting down Guantànamo and giving suspected terrorists legal protections would help restore our reputation abroad." No, it wouldn't. I mean that's like saying, well, if we're nicer to the people who want to KILL US, then the other people who want to KILL US will like us more. Does that make any sense to you? Do you think Osama [bin Laden] is gonna be more favorably disposed to the U.S. if we give the Guantànamo people lawyers?

E.D. HILL (co-host): No, of course not.

O'REILLY: I mean, but this is what they're saying. It is just -- you just sit there, you go, "They'll never get it until they grab Michael Kinsley out of his little house and they cut his head off." And maybe when the blade sinks in, he'll go, "Perhaps O'Reilly was right."

Media Matters

So there you go. Liberals will never understand why it's wrong to treat suspected terrorists fairly until terrorists cut our heads off. This man has his own TV show.

In the first part of his blood-thirsty tirade, he is actually attempting to make a point, though it couldn't possibly be more pinheaded.

Being "nicer to the people who want to kill us" naturally won't make the other people who want to kill us like us more. The pathetically obvious point that Bill is missing here is that that's not the point. Nobody thinks we're going to change many of the minds of the people who hate us. But maybe, just maybe, we could spend a few minutes thinking about how our actions create more people who want to kill us.

Treating people with fairness and according to our own laws would help in this fight - the fight to stop the creation of more and more violent Islamic fundamentalists. And it is this fight, and this fight only, that is the true "war on terror."

Maybe when the blade is sinking into Bill O'Reilly's throat he'll understand that.

Posted by ahecht at May 22, 2005 10:41 AM
Comments

Previous Comments

Anthony, why are you giving Ol' Righty attention/ratings? Can't you see the guy's an attention whore seeking to push laughable morality through virulent rhetoric. It's about selling his books:

'The Ol' Righty Laughter'

&

'The Ol'Righty Fuehrer for Kids'

At this point, I'd like to know where the easy access noticeably liberal news network is, a counterpart to subversively de-program all the subversive brain-meld Fox propaganda.

Having that kind of access, Anthony man, you could have a show ;)

Posted by: Jer at May 22, 2005 2:54 PM

With your ethical consistancy and a doctrine of fairness you sound like someone advocating a normative standard, Anthony. Or am I just reading you wrong?

Of course, you forget that our laws, the philosophy they represent, and the culture they spring from, are part of the reason that the Islamic terrorists hate us. The war on terror is a clash of cultures, two inconsistant conceptions of the good. Until we adopt their laws, their philosophy, and their culture, they will continue to hate us. Just like the poor Budhist statues the Taliban blew up, they hate us for who we are, not for what we've done.

Posted by: Fritz at May 23, 2005 1:02 PM

Whatever Frist. Anthony's speaking from a PostModernist peacable viewpoint, and the majority of leaders pushing legislation on Capitol Hill are following mutant dogma just as deluded as anyone else claiming entitlment on the cognitions of a presumed deity. To quote Fox friendly Ann Coulter:

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

It's the same Puritan Protestant mindset that led first peoples in this country toward not giving a crap-ass when coming in to raze Native Americans from their lands through means just as macabre as any terrorist extremist.

There is no good in any of this. Only self-righteous narcissist interests, each side claiming to fight for "thee" good, when in reality all that's being done is replacing one theocracy for another. Just that the later is based more on materialism with hacked spiritualism rather than simply hacked spiritualism with less materialism.

Really remaining fair would require all sides dumping any presuppositions of any fantasy gods stemming from any religion, and changing the standard of testing in any humane ethical standard. It's heinous, and insane to follow literally any religious text claiming absolutism without falsification.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 23, 2005 3:18 PM

Fritz, you're just plain wrong about this. They hate us for what we've done.

This "clash of cultures" crap is crappy crap. Islam and nearly every other major religion have the same basic conceptions of the good. Militant Islam is as much a perversion of that faith as the current brand of American Christianity is a perversion of that one.

It is the fact that WE insist that THEY adopt OUR laws, philosophy and culture that started this whole thing.

Again, the terrorists, those who are already terrorists, are beyond convincing. No amount of proper behavior on our part will change them. They are a law enforcement problem, nothing more. The stemming of the tide of NEW terrorists is the real fight, and to do that, we must show our humanity, not sink to their level.

If we were to practice what we preach - really not an unreasonable thing to do - there would still undoubtedly be terrorist attacks, but terrorists would be plainly exposed for what they are - violent extremists. Instead, the way we have approached this fight is only making their actions more and more mainstream within their culture, which will make this fight go on indefinitely.

A situation, I might add, that serves the interests of our current leaders quite well.

Posted by: Anthony at May 23, 2005 3:37 PM

"Islam and nearly every other major religion have the same basic conceptions of the good."

This is very correct Anthony, however, acting on them literally at face value requires acting out the insane crap parts of them too. The full breadth of the texts of these religions aren't all happy humanistic many relative positivists would have you believe. This is why I'm all for dumping the sad angry parts of any institutionalized current religion, and opting for others more general humane based on wellness brought about from studies found in psychological studies.

There's definitely much positive humanism in any scripture, just as there is any literature. These humanistic generalities are the sense of spirituality all peoples should strive to achieve.

What's required first, however, is dumping the absolutist fundee hate dogma in any of it, and accepting it never was absolute to begin with.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 24, 2005 5:26 PM