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Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:03 pm**

Youtube

Watch the clip and hear the ignorance for yourself. It speaks volumes about America that this man is still on the air.

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:11 pm**

Could you summarise what he said?
My damn speakers are gone again...

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:19 pm**

he went to a restaurant in harlem with al sharpton and was amazed that it was like an "normal" restaurant... i guess he was under the impression that because there were mostly black patrons and owners that it would be ghetto-fied or something...

I for one really really dont like O'Reilly... and I'm a Republican/conservative... but anyone who cannot give someone with an opposing view the time to at least explain there side of an issue, and shuts off their mics and belittles them, doesnt deserve my support of his show. His is a stuck up arrogant ass, and is a disgrace to my party. Its people like him the give republicans and conservatives a bad image.

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:19 pm**

I can go one better and post some snippets of conversation as found here.

Recently, Bill O'Reilly (of discounted Bill O'Reilly jigsaw puzzle, and "No Spin" polo shirt fame) momentarily stopped slapping his name and the American flag on high-quality merchandise shipped from China, stepped out of his no-spin comfort zone, and had dinner with a real, live black person-Al Sharpton.

According to this re-cap of his radio show, the experience was evidently an eye-opening one for O'Reilly. For starters, O'Reilly learned that black people own and run restaurants too! And, despite what you might think, those restaurants are exactly like restaurants run by white people, with tables and chairs, and food, and everything:

And I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship. It was the same, and that's really what this society's all about now here in the U.S.A.

Well put, O'Reilly. Who knew that "separate but equal" still existed today, that it could be stretched to fit restaurants, and that it actually means separate but equal?

O'Reilly was also pleasantly surprised to find that black people can exist outside of rap videos, with all of their "M-Fer this, M-Fer that." Turns out, some black people can sit down and eat in a restaurant without yelling obscenities-just like white people!

There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, "M-Fer, I want more iced tea."

WILLIAMS: Please--

O'REILLY: You know, I mean, everybody was -- it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn't any kind of craziness at all.

Wow. So, despite what hacky comedians would have you believe, white people aren't all, "Hello, Jim. How are you today?" while black people are all, "Yo Jim! Where's my motherfucking iced tea?" That's incredible.

Unfortunately, though, the difference between normal people and Bill O'Reilly has grown that much wider-because while normal people are all, "You know, I had a nice dinner the other day," Bill O'Reilly is all, "You know, I ate dinner with a black person the other day, and he could use a knife and a fork! Also, I'm a racist."

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:21 pm**

Okay, thanks guys.

And words cannot expess my opinions here. Well, they could, but what I'd write would probably get me booted off the site.

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:26 pm**

Unfortunately, we have no provision in the US Constitution for euthanizing people like Bill O'Reilly. And when I say "euthanize," I mean putting HIM out of MY misery.

BTW, Sylvia's is a rather well-known and well-established soul food restaurant. I think it has now expanded to more than one location, and there is a successful line of Sylvia's products - spice blends, sauces, etc. - available at major grocery chains here the Northeast.

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 12:42 am**

You can listen to the whole program in question here.

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:11 am**

Rochey wrote:Okay, thanks guys.

And words cannot expess my opinions here. Well, they could, but what I'd write would probably get me booted off the site.

I'm pretty much the same way, here... *Headdesk*

Ye gods, what a... yeah, I think most people would know what I'm thinking.

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 7:51 am**

I think O'Rielly had good intentions just slipped. I hate his show and I think he's a moron but I'll cut him some slack here he tried to give a positive feedback on black culture and crusine and he misspoked.

Personally I love 'black foods' more than most my black friends. I mean come on now water melon rocks! And fried chicken? Seriously who doesn't love fried chicken?
Grits > Oatmeal.

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:30 pm**

I don't think it was a "slip" in that O'Reilly didn't use any particular wording that was offensive in itself; instead, he exposed his mindset that blacks are somehowinnately less civilized than whites. Yes, I used the word "blacks," not "African-Americans;" if I can call someone white, I can call someone else black.

And if I were eating at Sylvia's, I'd be too busy stuffing my mouth to make comments at all. Macaroni and cheese, okra, mmmmm......

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:32 pm**

O'Reilly's a blowhard, but in context it appears to have simply been a poor phrasing instead of a sign of racism.

He was talking about the things that make us the same instead of the claimed cultural differences that people try to use to drive us apart.

After the "I couldn't get over the fact" thing that his detractors quote as proof of racism, he say:

"It was the same. And that's really what this society is about now here in the USA. There's no difference. There's no difference! Y'know there may be a cultural, entertainment . . . people may gravitate toward different culture and entertainment, but you go down to Little Italy and you have that. Nothing to do with the color of anybody's skin."

He also tells a story of rejecting his uneducated grandmother's prejudice and challenging it.

He goes into how the old basic skin-color prejudice is, to an extent, being replaced in some minds by the cultural distinction now of 'street'-style behavior . . . violence and gangstas and 'bitch' rap and such . . . but that such behavior is not representative of all African-Americans, despite efforts of white studio execs to make it seem so to sell stuff.

I understand what he was saying, and a discussion on the point is valid. And had he worked from prepared remarks it could've come out quite well. But the way he phrased things he left himself open to being spun.

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:58 pm**

"And there wasn't any kind of craziness at all."

To use that phrase means very clearly that O'Reilly assumed that there WOULD be some sort of "craziness," due to the fact that the restaurant has a largely black clientele. And to assume something (esp. something negative) about a group because of the racial composition of that group is in fact the very definition of prejudice.

Of course he made a token averrance of his gransmother's prejudice, or whoever's it was - he makes his living by getting ratings and selling books. But to make the presumption necessary to be able to utter the sentence above shows that he absorbed more of Grandma's teachings than he would care to admit.

Would it be all spin on our part if he walked into a glatt kosher restaurant and said, "There was nobody with horns at all... and I didn't see any Christian children being sacrificed!"

Maybe he could review a halal restaurant, and comment that everybody seemed to have showered recently, and there were no camels hitched outside.

I understand that you seat yourself far to the right of the aisle, DSG2k, but why defend this guy? He is as bad press for the conservative viewpoint, by being a supporter of it, as you can get.

Posted: **Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:04 am**

He was making the point that the "black culture" that the media and record execs and all attempt to foist upon us is not actually valid. He stated it somewhat haphazardly, as previously noted, but there is no indication that he was actually expecting a bunch of rappers, gangstas, Crips, and Bloods to be in attendence.

Indeed, I daresay that his point that the record execs and so on shovelling that crap (as being how to be an authentic African-American) is racist is of interest.

Let's make an analogy with popularized perceptions of a location instead of popularized perceptions of a subculture:

"So I went with Governor Blanco down to Jena's Restaurant in Jena, and I couldn't get over the fact that in a Jena, Louisiana restaurant, run by Jena, LA townsfolk and with a Jena clientele, the service was good, the people were friendly, and not a single black person was being strung up from the rafters.

There weren't slave-waiters with patrons shouting to them "Boy, get me this" and Boy, get me that". Everything was the same as if I was in a New York deli. And that's what society really is here in America . . . there's no difference. Schoolkids might make insensitive moves in Jena, but you can get that from dumb kids in New York, too. Nothing to do with the town you come from."

Did the speaker actually expect what he suggested? No. He was making the point that Jena is not as messed-up as people would want him to believe.

Posted: **Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:25 pm**

Come on - the guys is a professional TALKER. You mean to say that he couldn't come up with language that presented his ideology better, if he really was as innocuous as you say?

I still say, get him off your ship (i.e., the conservative one.) He's embarassing you.

Posted: **Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:31 am**

I kind of have to agree with DSG2k for once. And even more shocking I disagreed with Olbermann. I listened to it again and it really sounds like he was saying despite the bad rep that Harlem has a couple of people beat the odds and established a very upstanding and respectable restraunt.

Cause I've never been to Harlem and the only things I know about it are from movies and finding out that there is a nice restraunt there kind of goes against my percieved view of Harlem. Its like going into Detroit (I think that's the most poverty city in America I could be wrong) and finding a rich neighborhood. Sure they exist but its not the expected thing one sees when they drive through it.

And let's be serious now, many in the minority community are bitter about their situation and it is good to see some of that disappearing.

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O'Reilly Discovers That Blacks are Human