Ok, so I watched the O’Reilly segment about an SU professor. It seems that this kerfuffle is about a black finance professor - Dr. Boyce Watkins - (one of my majors at SU, but this guy wasn’t there at the time) calling Juan Williams (a black commentator on Fox) a “happy negro”. I must admit the segment did little to actually describe what they were mad about, but that seems to be the crux of it.
A couple of points I need to make before I go on about my views on this:
1. I am generally an O’Reilly fan. That probably bothers many of my friends but it likely doesn’t surprise them either. I don’t really care and I’m not apologizing for it.
2. It should be noted that Juan Williams is no conservative shill. Indeed, he’s an NPR correspondent who probably hates Bush as much as my mother in law (which is a lot). I also doubt that he and O’Reilly have many beers together after work. Thus, when he and O’Reilly agreed on something, I took note and gave it the benefit of the doubt.
OK. That said, I watched the Factor piece and then went Watkins’ website to find out more. I spent about 45 minutes going through his posts and watching his youtube entries, and I have to say that I think O’Reilly may be over reacting here (please don’t tell the RNC, they might revoke my membership). I think this guy certainly teeters on the edge of offensiveness, but quite honestly he made some decent points.
His biggest crime, I think, is that his logic often breaks down in his arguments, but those are issues that can actually be debated. I saw no evidence of him being someone who simply “hates whitey” and leaves it at that. In fact, I find Al Sharpton more offensive than this guy. And, while he seems to support Jeremiah Wright (Obama’s racist preacher), he does not effuse “God Damn America”. I’d be interested in what others think. Go to http://blog.boycewatkins.com to read his posts.
I do have to say, however, that I thought Chancellor Cantor did a piss-poor job of dealing with the O’Reilly crew on campus. What she should have done was stop, talk to the reporter in the camera and say something like, “While we are giving Dr. Watkins our support, we are looking into the arguments Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Williams have made. When I have seen everything, I’d be happy to come on to Mr. O‘Reilly’s show and tell you what we’ve found.” And then go on the show. You may hate O’Reilly, but even if he disagrees with you if you go on his show and debate the issues forthrightly, he’ll often backdown and respect you for the debate. I’ve watched the show for years and it’s safe to say that those who don’t appear or who equivocate are, in fact, hiding something and he’ll crucify you for it.
So you see? Us right-wingers CAN keep an open mind and don’t always agree with Fox!
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