In this video excerpt from Bill O'Reilly's hit show "The O'Reilly Factor", O'Reilly sits down with Tavis Smiley, an African-American author. Smiley comes to represent African-American voters who are unhappy with their lack of progress since the election of Obama. Smiley dubs African-American voters as a neglected demographic that is taken for granted by Democrats and ignored by Republicans, and that the African-American vote is too powerful to be neglected in such a way. O'Reilly, an avid Republican, claims that this is because the white Republican demographic is "afraid" of the black voters, and indifferent to their ways of life. This argument is unsubstantiated and seems inappropriate, but allowed to slide by Smiley.
Later in the interview, Smiley brings up the fact that even with a black president, white privilege still exists and blacks aren't making enough forward progress. O'Reilly rebukes this statement by claiming that white privilege simply doesn't exist. He acknowledges the statistics that show the disproportionate nature of racial poverty, but claims that the black delusion of white privilege is caused by "the collapse of the black family". This argument is also unsubstantiated, and takes a unique irony as it is stated by a hyper-conservative white man sitting across from a black man. O'Reilly's logical follies are plentiful on his show, which airs weeknights at 7 and 10 P.M. on Fox.
This interview and Bill O'Reilly has parts that are pretty ridiculous. He sounds so ignorant when he's talking about white privilege and the "lack of it". He's placing all the blame on the individual black parents and not enough on the way society is as a whole. You picked a really good piece to analyze. It's a good discussion (argument?) and each guy is relatively calm in delivering their points.
ReplyDeleteI agree, good post
ReplyDeleteHaha classic bill. Good post. I like this example
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