The Answer Man Explains How The World Works

Dear Mister Answer Man: I can’t believe the liberals’ faux outrage over Bill O’Reilly. First the man stands up for racial equality, noting that black people in Harlem restaurants are just as polite as white people, and as Fox News executive Bill Shine pointed out, “left-wing outlets” stirred up “false racism accusations for ratings” in response. Now O'Reilly explicitly says that he will wait for evidence before conducting a lynching party against Michelle Obama, and the Democrat party is screaming for his head. As Andrew Malcolm of the Los Angeles Times has explained, “Much of the current online attention to this incident on his Tuesday show has focused on O'Reilly, who is also disliked by many for his success, and on his bold use of the word ‘lynching’ in regards to a black woman, as in, ‘I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels.’” Malcolm asks some important questions, Mister Answer Man: “What in the world is going on in talk radio when someone wants to make an unverified slur on the air and the host, the notorious confrontational and not very shy Bill O'Reilly, won't let them say it until he checks out the details? Is some kind of irresponsible responsibility creeping into the nation's chattering airwaves in an emotional election year? Has something called fairness reared its ugly head in a world usually bereft of nuance?” And Malcolm is right, O’Reilly stopped that caller in her tracks and held the line for fairness and nuance. But I think there’s another important question here, too: shouldn’t O’Reilly be commended for demanding that a lynching party observe rules of evidence? He explicitly said he would wait for “hard facts” before proceeding. As I recall, lynching parties didn’t always do that. So shouldn’t we be applauding O’Reilly for holding everyone to a higher procedural– I might even say “civil”– standard? – T. Bilbo, Mississippi

Mister Answer Man replies: Yes. Thank you so much for this detailed question! You seem quite knowledgeable about the history of lynching, Ms. Bilbo, and I’m moved to add that liberal ignorance of this issue is truly appalling. It appears that the only thing liberals know about “lynching” is to complain every time someone uses the word. The truth, of course, is that O’Reilly was doing what he does best– looking out for you, Ms. Obama, by keeping his callers honest. More generally, I think we as a nation really have to stop indulging these petty identity-group obsessions with words. I feel quite sure that Mr. O’Reilly would use the same kind of language for any uppity person– black, white, or half-Communist/ half-Jew.

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