New Outbreak of Foot-In-Mouth Disease

The case of the Jena 6 teenagers down south has many people talking race relations again. It's just one of the many stories with racial overtones in the news these days. The treatment of Michael Vick is another that seems to be drawing the ire of those who feel that he is being targeted harder simply because of his race. Now these claims may have some merit but many out there, like Fox News reporter Bill O'Reilly are convinced that that cannot be the case and that there truly are no differences between races anymore. Despite his seeming desire to speak in defense of racial harmony, O'Reilly has apparently generated more sour notes that have many people talking.

On a recent airing of his radio program, O'Reilly was discussing the topic of race relations in this country and how it seems that people are clinging to old ideas. He brought to light the fact that many parts of society still hold racial stereotypes about one another and that this has led to a continued strained relationship between the races. One of the comments that O'Reilly made was that he had gone to a popular restaurant in Harlem and that he was 'surprised' that there were no patrons in the largely African-American crowd who were stereotypically shouting to one another and using profanities with more regularity than a Quentin Tarantino movie. The watchdog group Media Matters jumped on this as quickly as they did when Don Imus made racially charged comments on his talk show months ago.

O'Reilly contends that his comments are being taken out of context and used against him simply because of who he is and not what he talked about. In having heard the comments O'Reilly made on the radio, at first listen or first read-through, one gets the sense that he is offering up genuine surprise at the fact that the African-American clientele at a predominantly African-American restaurant were not acting in a stereotypical manner. He didn't express remorse at this fact; on the contrary, if one carefully examines what he has said then you get the sense that perhaps he was being sarcastic in his remarks as a means of calling on people to realize that there are really no inherent differences at all between races. However, because parts of the media have jumped on the fact that there were possible, subtle racial overtones in his statement, O'Reilly is now struggling to keep pace with the accusations and defend himself as well as he can.

Now I'm no fan of Bill O'Reilly; I'm fast becoming no fan of any media in this country simply because both the liberal and conservative media continue to put a spin on their news to the point that those who have not read the accounts of O'Reilly's comments or have not heard his radio program excerpts will simply read the headlines and he will be put out to be sniped at by any and all who don't like him. So does that mean that no one should ever make any comments on race relations? Absolutely not, we have to keep the topic to the forefront because if we don't, things will never improve. We are only about 40 years removed from the civil rights movement and there are still sections of our society that still harbor feelings of ill towards people of other races. The door on that debate swings both ways and it's a simple matter that no matter what, stereotypes are being carried forward from generation to generation, but not by the media but by the families and societies out there.

The media simply does what it does to increase readership and promote their own agendas in order steal ratings and sales figures. If you don't like O'Reilly, you'll tune into those programs or read those papers that are bashing him. Your feelings of anger at the state of race relations will continue to fester until one day you are simply passing on these feelings of disgust to the next generation. I have been fortunate in that my parents never prevented my brother or I from associating with anyone in our neighborhoods. I had friends from practically all races growing up, some of them are my very best friends. Unfortunately it seems the seeds of racial tension are planted at a young age and when those seeds are planted that young, it is difficult to root them out and plant new ones later on.

People like O'Reilly are trying to bring these facts to light by talking about these things on the radio or on TV. Still, it all depends on the presentation of the facts or who is presenting it. Had the comments O'Reilly made been delivered by an African-American reporter, the sarcasm would have come through loud and clear but because it was a white-American, the statement becomes 'racially charged'. Perhaps I'm being naive and not really understanding the underlying tension. That may be the case but I certainly don't believe it is. O'Reilly is the target of ire for many people and not just for this case. He and other reporters in the conservative media are under greater scrutiny simply because opposition media groups are looking for reasons to bring accusations to the forefront. Looks like O'Reilly played right into their hands.