Bill O’Reilly, Fox News’ conservative commentator who tries to pretend he calls it right down the middle, is a smart man. Sometimes he comes across as crazy, but other times he comes across as crazy like a Fox (pun intended). O’Reilly was hosting conservative talker Larry Elder (who is black) and liberal talker Dr. Marc Lamont Hill (who also is black). Since two blacks are on the panel, with Fox News, that should tell you it’s probably a race issue related to black people. The topic was the “Barack The Magic Negro” song conservative hero Rush Limbaugh made famous.
Here is an O’Reilly comment during the segment:
O’REILLY: I want to get - I want Dr. Hill to clarify one thing. What is mean-spirited?What’s mean-spirited about satirizing Al Sharpton’s disenchantment that Barack Obama stole the spotlight? What is mean- spirited about that?
If it was not mean spirited or offensive, why then did O’Reilly issue a fairly strong warning prior to playing a clip of the song (something he said he simply had to do to set the foundation for the discussion)? This is where I question whether O’Reilly is dumb, naive or crazy like a Fox. First, the song mocks so-called black vernacular. Second, “negro” is an outdated term. Third, “negro” in this context is used as an insult. Fourth, “magic negro” insinuates that it’s magical that a black person is having success at this level. Fifth, using some discontent Al Sharpton may have been feeling (toward now President-elect Barack Obama for one reason or another) to come up with a racist and insulting song should not fly. Those who advocate for this song are simply using the Al Sharpton angle as an excuse to push a song that is racist and insulting. Republicans must denounce this song and quit pandering to the extremists in its party. Republicans must also work a little harder to appeal to minorities and this is no way to do it. This country is not going to be predominantly white forever and Republicans need to realize this. The United States of America is truly a melting pot where races are melting together and we’re becoming one race - literally and figuratively. Using garbage like this is divisive, degrading and insulting. Lastly, I want to credit Dr. Hill for a couple of times calling out O’Reilly on his hypocrisy. The most significant, in my memory, was calling out how upset O’Reilly when Dr. Boyce Watkins (a professor at Syracuse University) referred to Bill’s pal Juan Williams as a “happy negro.” O’Reilly had a fit over that. He tried to justify it by saying that Boyce was implying Williams was like an Uncle Tom. That may or may not be true. But, how does Bill not see that perhaps Republicans were implying the same thing or something of equal value when calling Obama a “magic negro” with this song?
Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/31/oreilly-magic-negro/
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