Commentary

O’Reilly Likes Taste of Own Feet- by Greg Strid

Several weeks ago, Bill O’Reilly, multimillionaire champion
of “the little-guy”, had a remarkable meal with the Reverend
Al Sharpton at Sylvia’s, a well-known Harlem restaurant
located on Lenox Avenue.

But this week, his Harlem dining experience made headlines
in several NY tabloid papers. This was mainly due to the left-
leaning group Media Matters, which ran a few choice comments
from O’Reilly’s discussion on race relations on their web site to
strengthen the negative brand image of an already famous
peddler of xenophobia.

“It was like going to an Italian restaurant in an all-white
suburb in the sense that people were sitting there, and
they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn’t any
kind of craziness at all.” This is how he described his dining
experience, as part of a larger dish served to the all-white,
Olive Garden patrons that were listening to his nationally
syndicated radio show on September 19.

Once these and other odd comments hit the web this week,
O’Reilly was branded a bigger racist than ever before. Many,
including myself, asked: What, no riots? No dodging stray
bullets? No physical assaults to speak of? How could this be?
Was it not Harlem, along with the Bronx, Brooklyn and
Queens, that were consumed by violence and almost
completely destroyed by fire a few decades ago?

O’Reilly has a well-deserved reputation for being a narrow-
minded bully and a hypocrite. He calls his show the
“No Spin Zone”, implying that it is a place for honest and
open discussion. Yet, he ridicules and has even pulled the
plug on guests who challenge him.

In the course of selecting a few comments- although they
were gems in their own right- out of context to shed light
on the bad behavior of an established loon serves no worthy
purpose. In his own twisted way, he was attempting to say
that the differences between blacks and whites have faded
over the years- and this was the message being aired to his
audience of pale suburbanites. By choosing selected quotes
to frame their criticism, Media Matters has discredited
themselves, and they have actually strengthened the standing
of a man who should be ignored.

And, the answer to the question posed in the title of this
piece is: Yes. But, O’Reilly lives well on the taste of his
own feet.

© Greg Strid 2007

© 2007 Splendid Marbles.