The “No-Spin Zone” is actually SPIN CITY. October 30, 2006

Bill O’Reilly epitomizes what is wrong with the United States: he’s narcissitic, opinionated, a “closet” Republican with extreme far right views, he lies, manipulates the truth, omits facts, invents statistics, is a racist, a loud mouth, and rides his high moral horse with his holier than thou attitude. (Hey Bill, we all heard of your 2004 sex scandal, who are you trying to fool?) He also believes in torturing alleged terrorists (alleged!) and profiling all Muslims. (ALL!) And don’t get me started on his immigration policy views, his opinion on the USA-Mexico border, or the fact that he criticizes the use of millions to help the poor and to help further education, because as he puts it: “the results do not match the effort.”  What is the solution Bill? Abandon the poor and end the public education system? Get a grip O’Reilly.

If you are able to stomach one or two episodes of “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox, which also happens to be the highest rated show of any of the news networks, you will quickly realize that he backs up arguments with bogus facts and statistics, and dismisses numbers that don’t fit in with his perceptions. He also frequently refuses to believe his guests- even when they cite a source.  When O’Reilly is faced with a factual statement that he is unable to rebut, he accuses his guest of stating an opinion. But worse of all,  after he’s proven incorrect, he constantly clutches at any straw (no matter how far fetched) rather than admit he is wrong.

It’s very sad that due to the era in which we live, a man like this has a nightly platform to voice his obnoxious views and hand out judgement. He tries to fool middle America into believing he is a common man speaking out against all the corruption commited by the liberal elites who, as he states it, ‘run the country’ from Hollywood to Washington.  He’s been quoted as saying: “We’re the only show from a working-class point of view. I understand working-class Americans. I’m as lower-middle class as they come.” Uhm, Bill, you make $20 million dollars a year. That isn’t lower-middle class. You grew up in a nice area of Long Island and went to private schools. How is that even in the same vicinity as working-class?

The biggest irony (and what people hate the most about O’Reilly) is his two-faced nature. Despite the fact that he attacks Hollywood liberals and Hillary Clinton (night after night after night) and that 95% of his views are obviously Republican right wing, he refuses to admit he’s a Republican and continues to maintain that he is an Independant.  There are two obvious reasons for his denying whence he comes from: If he admits that he is in fact a Republican it would ruin the show’s main premise of being tv’s ONLY “no-spin zone”, an oasis of sorts where facts and truth rule and there is no agenda. Also, if O’Reilly came out of the Republican closet it would be much harder for Fox to maintain that the network basically has no particular political ideology.

Bill O’Reilly defends himself by claiming that everyone “gets hammered” on his show and that he is equally tough on all guests. This is not true. Not even close. In all actuality it is almost always “liberals” that get hammered.  It’s almost impossible to find examples of O’Reilly attacking conservatives. In fact, after dissecting the Clinton administration with such fervor, he is suspiciously leninent and soft on Bush’s. When questioned on his conservative views and still having the audacity to call himself non-partisan, O’Reilly quickly answers with what seems like a rehearsed script of the few “liberal” political positions that he says he agrees with. Funny enough, these “liberal” views, generally turn out to be conservative views in disguise.

His show is right winged, it’s unfair, and he tells lies. Nightly. And scary enough: people are listening.  As a journalist he is supposed to be truthful and objective and fair to both sides of the issues at hand. His show far from being a “no-spin zone” is SPIN CITY. And many times his guests find it impossible to get their opinions across because he is rude, patronizing and loves soliloquies. Perhaps he should have been a Shakespearean actor and spared us “normal folk” the agony of being bombarded via tv, print and radio with  his manipulated, thoughtless, biased, often mid-evil views.

simple lust October 17, 2006

“Looking at her over my whisky I thought how odd it was that I felt no desire for her at all. It was as if quite suddenly, after all the promiscuous years, I had grown up. My passion for Sarah had killed simple lust for ever. Never again would I be able to enjoy a woman without love.”
 
The End of the Affair – Graham Greene

I believe that when you fall in true, deep love and you physically and emotionally desire the person you love, you reach a new level of passion, a heightened state of intimacy, and it becomes almost impossible to ever be fully satisfied by simple, mundane, un-intimate sex.

Loneliness October 2, 2006

He came home that night to his dull, middle class apartment; located in his dull bourgeois neighborhood; with a very dull brunette he had met at a rather dull party.

He felt so little importance toward the situation, that he was not embarrassed in the slightest that his apartment was messy, that his kitchen was dirty, or that his bed wasn’t made. He would never see this woman again after tonight, so there was no need for romantic frivolities.He undressed her quickly, mechanically, not really enjoying the process, but rather in a rush to get it done; like a task one must complete in order to move on to the following one.He didn’t bother to undress himself; he simply pushed her onto the bed and unbuttoned his pants. It was five minutes of dull mechanical sex, and it was over. His physiological need met, he had no other interest in this woman. Now came the real problem: how to get her out of his apartment? He had no intention of sharing his bed with this stranger. (The mere idea of having to make awkward conversation with her in the morning seemed a torture far worse than any he could fathom.)He gathered her clothes from the floor and placed them next to her on the bed. He told her he remembered he had to leave very early in the morning to a business meeting and that he needed to get his sleep. She was so drunk and disconnected that she simply nodded and said she understood. She got dressed slowly, which annoyed him to death, yet despite his disinterest, once she was ready, he walked her downstairs, hailed her a taxi and gave the driver some money to take her home.

He watched the cab drive off and felt nothing. He turned toward his building and walked back inside. He was relieved he’d managed to get rid of her, some nights it wasn’t this easy. Some girls were more complicated, more easily offended and less drunk.

He climbed up the stairs to the 4^th floor and reached his apartment door. As he opened it,  he felt a wave of emotion. He walked into his bedroom, sat in his chair by the window, looked out at the streetlights, and began crying. He hadn’t cried in years and once he began, it was hours before he was able to stop. Sadness, anger, frustration.

Loneliness… such deep deep loneliness.