The "O'Really?" Factor

I always try to put any information I receive into individual terms ...

For example, one of the most 'human' histories I've ever read was a warmly irreverent book about the founders of Seattle, Washington by William Speidel, entitled Sons of the Profits. It contains one of my all-time favorite profound passages, which is used to describe a particularly irascible celebrity of the time. Allow me to paraphrase it:

"Henry Yesler was a bastard, not only due to the circumstances of his birth, but because he worked at it, every day."

There are times when I've thought of others in regard to that comment, sometimes so much so that I've nearly been tempted to check the public records on their behalf.

Today, Bill O'Reilly comes to mind.

I was checking the Update section on the Longer Life page that hosts my column, and noticed an article from David Kline, the author of Blog Revolt. I invite you to read his entry on 7 Oct 05, where he relates, from personal experience, not only the depths of O'Reilly's vindictiveness, but the selfishness O'Reilly displays in the process.

In short, Kline became the unwitting foil in an O'Reilly whine over others who have the audacity to criticize him and/or his views. That Kline was misled into a remote studio and needed to take time from his day in order to do it clearly didn't bother O'Reilly or his staff one bit.

I know neither Kline nor I nor anyone else should expect less from a talk-show host who specializes in slanted bluster on a network like Fox. After all, it's part of a media empire which has made a fortune by using that approach. My objection arises in both the blatant callousness and the increasing regularity of these incidents. The offenders almost always come from a list of the usual suspects, and it's no different here.

I want to be clear that it's not O'Reilly's political persuasion that bothers me --- I enjoy the craft displayed in writings by George Will and PJ O'Rourke, for example --- it's O'Reilly's abuse of the very medium that gives him the celebrity he enjoys. He treats it like a bully's toy, his guests like pawns and, by extension, his audience like sheep. In another era, he would have been a model employee at Pravda.

Given O'Reilly's political persuasion, the irony here is beyond rich.

Aren't conservatives supposed to espouse the rights of the individual over the power of the collective? Wouldn't diversity of opinion be a condition they would defend? Well, intelligent conservatives have the skill and confidence to do just that. Lesser conservatives obviously don't.

O'Reilly and his ilk --- who inhabit all sides of the political spectrum --- are the worst of hypocrites. They abuse the power of the media spotlight they've been afforded for their own personal gain or agenda. Their tactics are those of ambush and intimidation.

To me, though, their paramount abuse is that they've reduced their perception of the audience to that of 'the faceless masses' rather than a collection of individuals who are more than capable of arriving at their own independent conclusions.

Am I being naive here? No, just idealistic. Electronic technology has placed us in the midst of the greatest information revolution that mankind has ever experienced. This makes it possible for us to be idealistic again. It also enables more and more of us to call charlatans like O'Reilly into account.

I can't say O'Reilly is a true bastard because I haven't checked the birth records. For now, I'll have to settle for a more basic determination.

He's a jerk.