The Enemy
"Yes, Mr. O’Reily, that is Donald Rumsfeld and, in case you’re interested, he is our Secretary of Defense."
So today I was greeted with Bill O'Reily and, as I am want to do when I hear his abomination of a program within earshot, went off to find the individual who had the audacity to start my day off that way. The defense? "You have to listen to what the enemy is saying or you don't know what you're up against."
In truth, it's a valid point. If you fall to the left and you aren't aware what the uber right wing is saying, you are no better able to convince them to buy your most recent line of bullshit policy than to sell them a stove, but I think, as time goes on, i'm discovering what the real fallacy that people are afflicted by in this country.
Bill O'Reily is not the enemy.
(Yes, you can add that to the list of words you never thought you'd hear me say.)
Frankly, Bill O'Reily is pretty much nothing. He's press. He's media. He doesn't do is radio broadcast and his TV show for the good of the public benefit. He does his radio broadcast and his TV show to sell advertising and books. Now, don't misunderstand me, i'm the last person you would hear arguing that doing a job for profit is bad. All the more power to Mr. O'Reily, but what he's doing is coming at the expense of his party and the American Public.
I would venture to guess that, short of the 15 minute time blocks, broken up by commerical spots and patented O'Reily rants, he has no reach or input into the daily runnings of this country or major policy decisisons of the right wing. (It's a stretch, huh?) People - people like my Mother, an albeit reasonably intelligent individual who has a quite average grasp on the political climate of the country - have walked happily into the trap of a belief that, whatever system they ascribe to, it's people like Bill O'Reily and Stephen Colbert that they're fighting when these people bear no relevence to the world around them whatsoever. They produce politics, they don't run it. (The difference between the two of them being that Stephen Colbert holds no illusions.)
True, they may sway and shape the opinions of the American public but, contrary to popular belief, the American public doesn't hold a great lot of a sway in Congress. Yes, that's right, I said it, no one in Washington gives a shit.
If you'd like to know what the enemy is saying, watch your Congressional proceedings - read committee reports and really look at the process of your government. Don't fool yourself into believing that you're a part of the ever dwindling aware and balanced citizenry because you spend a half an hour listening to Temperpedic matress plugs and bad talk radio.
So today I was greeted with Bill O'Reily and, as I am want to do when I hear his abomination of a program within earshot, went off to find the individual who had the audacity to start my day off that way. The defense? "You have to listen to what the enemy is saying or you don't know what you're up against."
In truth, it's a valid point. If you fall to the left and you aren't aware what the uber right wing is saying, you are no better able to convince them to buy your most recent line of bullshit policy than to sell them a stove, but I think, as time goes on, i'm discovering what the real fallacy that people are afflicted by in this country.
Bill O'Reily is not the enemy.
(Yes, you can add that to the list of words you never thought you'd hear me say.)
Frankly, Bill O'Reily is pretty much nothing. He's press. He's media. He doesn't do is radio broadcast and his TV show for the good of the public benefit. He does his radio broadcast and his TV show to sell advertising and books. Now, don't misunderstand me, i'm the last person you would hear arguing that doing a job for profit is bad. All the more power to Mr. O'Reily, but what he's doing is coming at the expense of his party and the American Public.
I would venture to guess that, short of the 15 minute time blocks, broken up by commerical spots and patented O'Reily rants, he has no reach or input into the daily runnings of this country or major policy decisisons of the right wing. (It's a stretch, huh?) People - people like my Mother, an albeit reasonably intelligent individual who has a quite average grasp on the political climate of the country - have walked happily into the trap of a belief that, whatever system they ascribe to, it's people like Bill O'Reily and Stephen Colbert that they're fighting when these people bear no relevence to the world around them whatsoever. They produce politics, they don't run it. (The difference between the two of them being that Stephen Colbert holds no illusions.)
True, they may sway and shape the opinions of the American public but, contrary to popular belief, the American public doesn't hold a great lot of a sway in Congress. Yes, that's right, I said it, no one in Washington gives a shit.
If you'd like to know what the enemy is saying, watch your Congressional proceedings - read committee reports and really look at the process of your government. Don't fool yourself into believing that you're a part of the ever dwindling aware and balanced citizenry because you spend a half an hour listening to Temperpedic matress plugs and bad talk radio.
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