Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.
Posted on 04/29/2004 8:19:27 PM PDT by Pikamax
And the laugh was still there
By JOHN DOYLE From Thursday's Globe and Mail
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Let's start with a conclusion. The Fox News Channel, its chief ranter Bill O'Reilly and the channel's rabid followers are the lunatic fringe of the American culture.
I can say this with certainty because I've now got an earful from O'Reilly several times over, but I've also heard from thousands of American readers who view Fox News and O'Reilly with utter loathing and deep embarrassment.
I think Fox News Channel is comically overheated with its wailing about "left-wingers" and "elites." I also think O'Reilly is nothing more than an intolerant windbag, what the Irish astutely call a gobshite.
If somebody wants to make the Fox News Channel available in Canada, fine. Believe me, if you thought Dan Rather's occasional outbursts of jittery, googly-eyed American jingoism were comical, you haven't seen anything yet. O'Reilly makes our Ed the Sock look like a reasonable chap.
The Fox News philosophy of finger-pointing about perceived lapses in patriotism and suspicion of outsiders is no more representative of the true spirit of the United States than the Taliban represents Islam.
A week ago, I wrote about how my mockery of Fox News and O'Reilly had resulted in some highly abusive and comically ill-written e-mail from the United States.
This stirred many Americans to write and apologize for their fellow Americans, and for the existence of Fox News. That was the story so far. Then The New York Times called.
Last Sunday, the Times carried a feature about my mockery of Fox News and O'Reilly, the expletive-filled responses from his followers and the apologies that followed. The Times found it funny, and it was. It turns out that a lot of Americans read The New York Times on a Sunday.
Since then I have received thousands upon thousands of e-mails from Americans who are mortified. People in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Denver and Phoenix have invited me out to dinner. Many others have invited me to stay in their homes.
I've been invited to give a talk in Denver. Schoolchildren, retirees, registered Republicans and Democrats have written to apologize for the abusive mail I received from Fox News fans.
Many join in my amusement at the barking-mad antics on Fox News. They know, as Americans usually do, that by laughing we drain the fanatics of their significance.
This past week, Bill O'Reilly seems obsessed with Canada. This probably mystifies many of his American viewers. On Tuesday, Globe columnist Rick Salutin was on his radio show. On Tuesday evening, my fellow Globe columnist and friend Heather Mallick was on his TV show. In all instances, he attacked Canada and The Globe and Mail. When he spoke to . Mallick, he proclaimed that if Canada harbours two "deserters" from the U.S. military who don't want to return to duty in Iraq, there would be a nationwide boycott of Canada, which will result in a recession.
The threatening, hectoring hysteria is precisely what makes much of Fox News Channel amusing to Canadians and mortifies many Americans. Most of us, no matter what way we lean politically, believe in Canada as a just society. Tolerance, kindness and respect are more valued than shouted attacks and threats. Mistakes are allowed. Forgiveness exists.
Bill O'Reilly is now obsessed with Canada for several reasons. First, he's stung by the realization that Canadians might laugh at his aggressiveness. Second, The Times piece about the abusive letters revealed that many of his supporters are foul-mouthed fanatics. Third, Canada represents an irritating calmness and assuredness at a time when the American culture is in crisis. To paraphrase W. B. Yeats (an Irish writer who the American-Irish O'Reilly should acquaint himself with), our hearts have not grown brutal from the fray.
In the midst of all those thousands of e-mails from sympathetic, embarrassed Americans, I also received a handful of abusive insults, both personal and directed at Canada. One man wrote: "Canada is little more than a pimple on the Earth's ass." Well, we know we irritate you. And we know we'll laugh when Fox News comes to Canada.
From the volume of apologetic mail I've received, it seems certain that the generous, humorous spirit of the United States is not dead and has not been lost. The shrill minority of the lunatic fringe that follows and supports Fox News has merely temporarily shouted it down. Bring Fox News here by all means, and let's have a laugh. Americans can learn from that.
(Excerpt) Read more at globeandmail.com ...
SORRY...I wish I could be of more help.
Last Sunday, the Times carried a feature about my mockery of Fox News and O'Reilly, the expletive-filled responses from his followers and the apologies that followed. The Times found it funny, and it was. It turns out that a lot of Americans read The New York Times on a Sunday.
Think the NYSlimes would ever print an article of the death threats and insults that O'Reilly, Colmes, and other Fox staffers routinely receive?
The foul mouthed liberals at Democratic Underground cheer dead US soldiers. Certainly "conservatives" aren't the only ones who send obnoxious emails to public figures.
Don't mistake the braying of a jackass for laughter.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.
Errrrrr......no offense intended but what does all that mean?
That's not the Fox News I know..well, maybe one hour each evening...but the rest is fairly neutral.
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