O'Reilly and Fox News...or Hitler and the Nazis....

[PrincessFiona]

Ok...I'm absolutely beside myself...again....this time it has to do with Bill O'Reilly, the ignorant, arrogant fox news reporter who has titled his show 'the no spin zone'. (Let me pause to laugh)

He just gave a 'Talking Points Memo' and you will never believe what he said:

He ridiculed any US citizen who 'protests' the war and then slyly suggested that our little protests could only go on until action is taken. He then stated, and I quote "Then you are expected to fall into line. Anything else will be considered unpatriotic and you will be spotlighted. You are expected to Shut Up". Let me just add that he said this like a parent scolding a child.

Ummm....hello??????????? Is this the same O'Reilly who thinks that this war is about fighting for freedom and not oil?

This is frankly frightening to me. I'm sorry guys, it doesn't matter where you stand on the line of taking action or not...I thought what set America apart from countries like Iraq is that we could protest...disagree with our president or our politicians and do so without fear of being 'spotlighted' or being told by the media to 'shut up'... Heck...I might as well move to Iraq....there I can be told only news the govt wants me to hear (just like things are becoming in the US) and be unable to protest decisions by my leaders that I consider to be unwise.

Kris

[fluffhead]

I used to get upset by shows like this - then I threw a brick at my tv...no just kidding...then I realized it's all about ratings.
Just ignore the imbeciles, and do what you think is right.
I used to be REALLY into the Mclaughlin group - then one week John was ranting on about the environmentalists, and he totally confused the greenhouse effect and the ozone layer problem - showing everybody how ignorant he really was. And he was absolutely adamant about his point - and the other people were trying to point out his error, and he refused to listen.
At that point I realized that none of these talking heads has much of an intellect, they're just there to get viewers riled up. I no longer wish to give the networks the satisfaction.

I don't know who's right in this warmongering - if our govt would come clean with what it knows or doesn't know, perhaps we could make an informed decision. It sure seems like W is trying to avenge his father's honor, though, or else he's paying back his supporters by taking over oilfields. On the other hand, maybe Hussein is really the menace they say he is? Who are we to know?

{aside}
I am reading a great book - "march of folly" by barbara tuchman - it gives the background of 4 situations where governments were aware of tragic mistakes they were making, and still continued making them. One of them is Vietnam, and so much of the story seems familiar from today's headlines. Check out the book.
{/aside}

[SueC]

I'd like to read that book. I feel like I am such a skeptic these days. When Bush won, I swore that I would remain patriotic and support him as our national leader because I didn't want to pass on an unpatriotic attitude to our kids. My parents never bashed Reagen or Bush when I was growing up--I had no idea what their political affiliation was. They instilled in me a love of my country, not just of my political party. But anymore I question the government's motivations with all of this war stuff and I don't even understand half of it. I have no idea why there are so many conflicts in the middle east and why it is even our business (other than that we need their oil!). And Kris, I can't tell you how many times I have been disappointed after hearing the idiotic or extremely slanted viewpoints of some journalistic news program that I thought was unbiased. Oh well, I'll get off my soap box--I really don't even know what I'm talking about or why I'm so riled up about it!

[Rapunzel]

O'Reilly? A very opinionated individual paid to air his opinions in public and ask difficult questions of his guests. He has ratings, is paid, and has a "target audience" - like all talking heads on all of the news channels.

I don't watch him or any other talking heads anymore because they don't help me understand issues any better. They're all just annoying to me (think nails on a chalkboard - especially "Hardball" ugh!).

btw: If you don't like O'Reily WHY do you watch him? What's the point?

Note: It is rather obvious I come from a very, very different perspective on world issues than the other posters on this thread. I grew up with parents who encouraged free-thinking and to question EVERYTHING. They ended up with four children who constantly question authority. I shock people on both political perspectives with some of my opinions and I do not subscribe to any political affiliation. Nobody likes war, but I disagree with the other opinions on the post (ie I take issue with the US government being referred to as "Warmongering", etc.). Anyway, if anyone starts a debate on politics on this forum be informed you will be called on the mat on what you say - by me (For instance it was brought up that the war is not about freedom but on oil - good thing to bring up given France's economic ties - particularly with oil - to Iraq. For France the issue is VERY much about oil.)

I happen to really like Bill O'reilly. Those of you who think Bill is biased, I say this, he may be a conservative biased but as to te rest of the medai he definatley stands out simply because he is a conservative. Majority of the media is biased, I have yet to find any that is not biased. The only difference between Bill and the others is that he takes a conservative bias and most of the others take a liberal bias. I also think that the comment about war being about oil not freedom is a little of target. If you don't like O'Reilly watch CNN. They are very liberal and that is why I don't watch CNN and I instead watch Fox news channel. It is very ludicrous to say that any one likes war. As hard as it is to get some to believe, us "conservative republicans" really are not war loving hawks. Although, I do support going to war in Iraq, it is not because I am excited about the the posiblility of innocent people dying, but it is because good things can come from war. Through out history there have always been people protesting war, and through out history many good things have been a result of war. I am also willing and ready to debate any politcal issue anyone feels needs to discussed. I take little offense to others political ideas and don't mine expressing my own. I hope the rest of you feel the same way.
Lauren

[fluffhead]

Blind patriotism or unthinking liberalism - oreilly or CNN - I've pulled the plug on both. You're right - we all need to think for ourselves. But that's hard to do when we don't have the facts.
In the mid 1960s both sides were going about their business vehemently without thinking - the left were following antiwar gurus without really knowing what they were talking about - simply having nothing to do when the civil rights movement was dwindling, and the right was on a commie-hunt, blindly supporting lbj. We ended up in a pretty awful situation.
I didn't support the first gulf war. This time I'm more apt to support it, but I'm still pretty skeptical of W's motives.

btw, I've also switched to fox news from CNN - it's pretty unprofessional, but at least they don't expect me to swallow their propaganda without considering the facts. CNN outright lies.

[Rapunzel]

I've watched CNN, MSN, Fox, local channels, and the BBC. My take on it is if you watch ALL of these sources you'll probably get to the heart of the issue. Why? Well because all of these various sources report from different agendas and by seeing the same issue on all the channels you can see a pattern. In other words you can see who got it wrong, what they all agree on, what their various agendas are, etc. By far the worst coverage on any issue I've seen is given by the BBC - they inject a great deal of anti-American bias into their coverage in an unashamed way but market it as "news". I watch it, though because after I cut through the bull I can learn something (even if it is only that certain nations and leaders really hate Americans).

So, for me: Talking heads? NO! YUCK! Variety in my news programs? YES, most definitely! I'm so glad I live in a country where we have such a wide variety of independently-run news organizations to choose from. Competition for ratings has its down-side but the upside is less "towing the government line" (such as you find from state-run sources) and more varied information.

[Meenah]

I'm so left wing I'll stay away from this thread!!!
Luanne

[DCJenn]

Amen, sister!

Jenn

I'm right wing and I'm staying out of this thread, too!

[PrincessFiona]

right/left

Well, we probably all know where I stand...and I'm staying away too....I was just offended by the tone that this guy took...regardless of whether someone is a right or left winger...we all have the right to freedom of though and freedome of expression of those thoughts

Kris

[fluffhead]

Well my wings have been clipped 8) , but I can still spout off as good as anybody!

I'm staying out too... I'm a right-winger on many issues anyway...

[Auspicious]

Oh my. For some reason this thread makes me want to hum the theme from "West Side Story," as though I'm expecting a rumble between the Left-Wing Medspouses and the Right-Wing Medspouses. As in the movie, it would be a bloodless rumble that involved only highly choreographed dancing. Can you picture it?

Sign me up for The Left, but I think of myself as more "somewhat left of center" than "left-wing." All I know is that everyone I grew up with gets exasperated with how liberal I am and everyone I've acquired in my adult life gets exasperated with how conservative I am for expressing those exact same views. I realize you can't please everyone, but I somehow have managed to please no one. Ah well, gotta just keep doing what I think is right. Good luck to us all in sorting it all out.

[Meenah]

Julie,
I can picture it!!! That made me smile, thanks. What a wonderful place we are in that we can all agree to disagree.
Luanne