Let me say up front that I despise Bill O’Reilly. I find him to be an arrogant, self-obsessed pile of dung who thinks he is right about everything, even though he is repeatedly shown to be on the wrong side of just about every issue he claims to be an expert on. But I had no idea just how completely out of touch he is until I saw what he said on his show last night.
O’Reilly was discussing the issue of the Confederate flag still being flown over some state capitals–namely in Mississippi and South Carolina–with Fox News contributor Juan Williams. Williams noted that even 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney had called for South Carolina to take down the flag of the Confederacy, which, as we all know, is the flag of a losing army dedicated to continuing the immoral practice of slavery. Williams remarked:
“The Confederate flag, symbol of hate. You saw people like Tim Scott, Reverend Goff, the man who spoke in the church yesterday. They talked about he (Dylann Roof) wanted a race war and, in fact, somehow, this is bringing black and white people together. I think we sometimes don’t celebrate when people come together.”
But O’Reilly sounded offended by Williams calling the flag one of hate:
“That’s a positive and I just — got to go. You say the Confederate flag is a symbol of hate and you believe that.”
Williams replied:
“That’s the way I feel when I see it.”
He’s not the only one. I am a white Southerner, and I also see the Confederate flag as a symbol of hate and defiance, an attempt to spit in the collective eye of the American people.
But Bill O’Reilly felt the need to say:
“Okay, okay. And absolutely 100 percent legitimate. For some other people who see it in a historical context…”
The historical context? The context in which one part of the country went to war with the rest of the country so they could own other human beings in perpetuity? That historical context is the only one that is the least bit real or relevant.
O’Reilly then vomited out this horse manure:
“It represents bravery. In war.”
Bravery in war? What in the hell is the least bit brave about an armed insurrection to overthrow the elected government of the United States? And what is brave about defending slavery? Am I missing something here?
I have a message for Bill O’Reilly: I was born and raised in Georgia and have lived here for most of my life. There nothing–repeat NOTHING–brave about the Confederate flag or the people it represented. It is a symbol of hate, an image that is akin to the swastika found on the Nazi flag. It is not about bravery, it is not about how one side fought in the Civil War. The South lost! And the losing side in war must fly the flag of the winner.
In other words, Bill, we now know that you are just as ignorant and clueless as we always assumed you were.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.
LOSING a war does not give the losing side ANY right of glorifying their cause,,their symbols ,,or their teaching,,, TAKE THEM DOWN from public property,,,if some one wants to OPEN up a Confederacy museums they are welcome to do so,, or a NAZI ,,or Any other anyone wishes for PRIVATE ENTERPRISES ONLY ,,not PUBLIC,, LOSING a war does not give the losing side ANY right of glorifying their cause,,their symbols ,,or their teaching,,, TAKE THEM DOWN from public property,,,
I am from the SOUTH,,(New Orleans) in fact unless you live in Miami or Brownsville you can not get more south than me. I think anyone who lives above Interstate 10 is a Yankee. I think that Robert E Lee was on of the best military minds ever. Alexander the Great,,HA,, Mark Anthony,no contest, gunpowder was still hundreds of years away,,,Untill Gettysburg Lee did not lose a single battle and not only did he win HE SMASHED THEM.Yes I had my own confederate flag in his honor also,,and I am going to tell YOU what he told his troops on what to do with the flag……ROLL THEM UP AND PUT THEM AWAY WE LOST,,,,,,,,,,,These people have hijacked his flag and perverted it for their own uses,,I have little doubt that GENERAL ROBERT E LEE would quickly show them the business end of his saber quickly for the disrespect of his surrender that he begrudgingly and painfully gave to save the lives of HIS TROOPS,,,THEY ARE PHONEY’S,,all of them