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TOM DEIGNAN

Fort Hood, Bill O'Reilly, Fox News: We’re all losing this culture war

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Tom Deignan

Published Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 2:46 PM
Updated Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 3:03 PM

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Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly

It’s been a great couple of weeks for people who believe America is on its way to tearing its national fabric into a million little racial, religious, ethnic and socioeconomic pieces.

We’ve witnessed the horrific slaughter down in Fort Hood, Texas, in which an American-born Muslim Army doctor killed 13 soldiers.  

Meanwhile, over in Connecticut, the father of a 9/11 victim is protesting his town’s decision to erect a memorial to his deceased son. What could possibly be the objection? 

Peter Gadiel, whose 23 year-old son worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, has argued that any memorial to his son should also mention that the victims of 9/11 were “murdered by Muslim terrorists.”

The town does not want to put these words on the memorials. And this got Fox provocateur Bill O’Reilly’s Irish up.

On a recent “Culture Warrior” segment on his show, O’Reilly slammed town officials for being too sensitive.

“If I were an American Muslim family, and I’m law abiding and a loyal American, that doesn’t bother me,” O’Reilly said.

Then the ever-Hibernian O’Reilly said, “I’m an Irish guy, the IRA killed a lot of civilians … if somebody says the IRA killed a lot of people I don’t have a beef.”

Amazing. You know, people such as O’Reilly have often proclaimed that certain people think too much about religious and ethnic differences. They like to say that such thinking splits us apart, when deep down we are all American, we are all human.

But, okay, if O’Reilly the Irishman suddenly believes in the supreme importance of religious and ethnic distinctions, I wonder what would actually happen if, in Belfast or London or anywhere else there are memorials to the those lost in the Troubles, an effort was made to point out the religion and ethnicity of the killers and killed.

That would really contribute to the healing, wouldn’t it? 

Funny, many Irish Americans managed to hold anti-IRA views without setting their beliefs in stone.

Meanwhile, one wonder what O’Reilly would say if some demagogue in Iraq or Afghanistan stood up and said that the grave marker of every person killed by U.S. soldiers, or security forces supported by Americans, stated that fact.

O’Reilly would call this guy an America-hater who was trying to stoke the flames of anti-Americanism. And he’d be right.

So, what’s really going on here?

Mr. Gadiel, who lost his son, has a right to grieve anyway he wants. He is entitled to his belief that Muslim terrorism needs to be exposed.

But public memorials are not the forum for such issues. Forget whether or not such a statement would offend Muslims. It sets a dangerous precedent. 

Such memorials, at their best, should capture the solemnity of the person or event being memorialized, but also our culture’s ability to come to some sort of consensus. 

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Fort Hood, Bill O'Reilly, Fox News: We’re all losing this culture war | Irish News | IrishCentral


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Posted by jacersisityourself on Nov 13, 2009, 03:57 PM EST
I agree with plasticpaddy – the word ‘Troubles’ is a Thatcherite media misnomer. And Rebelforce has a certain point. On Tom’s subject, memorial stones marking occasions etc: - there are lots of these still to be seen all around Ireland relating to the era of the Black and Tans. The wording often goes “In memory of (name) brutally done to death by the murderous Black and Tans (on date/year)”. These words clearly reflect ethnic hatred. These sorts of memorial stones or monuments may mean something for the likes of grieving Mr. Gadiel, at the time of their occurrence. But for future generations...? I don’t think so – I agree with Tom again. Looking at these now weather-worn and un-scrubbed old stones, I feel they are out of place in the Ireland of today. There is a time and place for everything, in my view. While respectful of people’s feelings, like many members of the public today I disapprove of prominent roadside crosses at locations where people have died in car crashes on Irish roads. Better to keep memorials to the burial place of the person, not in public places, except in exceptionally tragic multi-person cases, such as the World Trade Centre in NYC, or Ireland’s Enniskillen and Omagh. The wording on such public monuments should perhaps be mindful of future generations reading it and not reflect the survivors’ harsh feelings of hatred, however justifiably felt by the people of the day. Casting words in stone needs to be carefully considered.
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Posted by plasticpaddy on Nov 13, 2009, 11:41 AM EST
I once again feel the need to state my objection to any Irishman/woman or Irish American using the word 'troubles'. It was a phrase coined by Thatcher to disguise the nature of what academics call the Northern (Ireland) Conflict. the use of this word 'troubles' carries serious political connotations and is quite inappropriate for any Irish news service.
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Posted by Rebelforce on Nov 11, 2009, 06:08 PM EST
Unfortunately, O'Reilly could just as easily have said the US military killed lots of civilians too. Far, far more civilians than the IRA ever did.....in places like Dresden, Hiroshima and Vietnam. But those civilians were not victims of "terrorism" they were "collateral damage" or what not.






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