Bill O'Reilly claims that "rules of civility are pretty much finished." But in December, when an African-American sports writer, who accused the NRA of being like the KKK, refused to appear on O'Reilly's show, O'Reilly accused him of promoting hate speech. He claimed that Jason Whitlock, who accurately described O'Reilly as a "TV entertainer" who is "crying about the end of white establishment America," is "using base emotion to try to injure people." The next evening, O'Reilly called out those in the media who use hate speech which he described as "speech designed to marginalize and harm an adversary, business rival or someone else the hater doesn't like." He added that those who use hate speech "want onlookers to join you in harming the person you're defaming" and that hate speech is about "inciting bad feelings against another human being." Obviously, by his own standards, Bill O'Reilly used hate speech when he defamed Dr. George Tiller whom he is still defaming. Never mind irony, got hypocrisy!
If there are "rules of civility," Bill O'Reilly is constantly breaking them. He routinely attacks those whom he blames for the demise of the male, white, Christian power structure. As Mr. Whitlock pointed out, O'Reilly spent his time, after the election, smearing minorities who voted for President Obama because, according to O'Reilly, these people are all just lazy moochers who are somehow stealing Papa Bear's hard earned tax dollars. "Rules of civility? Not so much! But of all of mullah O'Reilly's fatwa's, the one against Kansas abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller, was perhaps the most egregious - and considering how O'Reilly "incited" some really "bad feelings" which contributed to a climate of hate in which the doctor was murdered, the most deadly.
When O'Reilly claims that those who use hate speech use "base emotion to injure people," he was describing himself. Over the course of several years, O'Reilly, with no basis in fact whatsoever, continuously attacked the doctor as a "baby killer." (24 times) Despite his admonition to Dennis Miller that "it's always bad to use Nazi analogies," he appealed to base emotion when he compared Tiller to a Nazi and warned about "judgment day" which, thanks to the climate of hatred incited up by Bill, came far too early for Dr. Tiller who was assassinated by somebody who disliked Tiller as much as O'Reilly did (and does). While O'Reilly claims that those who engage in hate speech want "onlookers" to join in "harming the person you're defaming," he could have been describing his call for a massive protest at Tiller's clinic.
When O'Reilly says that hate speech is "designed to marginalize and harm an adversary, business rival, or someone else the hater doesn't like," he's describing what he said about Tiller which, if designed for harm, was effective. But Dr. Tiller is a true martyr to the cause of women's reproductive rights while Bill O'Reilly has been marginalized as a hateful, angry, and very hypocritical man for whom "the rules of civility" don't apply. And that's called hypocrisy! He has also shown himself as somebody who can give it but not take it. And that's called cowardice!
"Rules of Civility" or "Base Emotion"