Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Consequences

How much responsibility should Bill O'Reilly bear for the death of Dr. Tiller? Thoughts?

UPDATE: Here's a good discussion of this question.

UPDATE: Thanks to all for your comments. Diane, over at Cab Drollery, also addresses the issue in this post also called "Consequences" (great minds think alike!).

Donna, I completely understand your discomfort with the notion of censorship but, quite frankly, if I were a member of Dr. Tiller's family I would be consulting an attorney and taking a very close look at the Fox Broadcasting Co., esp. Bill O'Reilly's show, and if I were Billo, I would kill myself be very, very nervous. It just seems to me that our country has long accepted that "free speech" has qualifiers, and incitement to murder is one.

6 comments:

Ricky Bones said...

Come on! When he called Dr. Tiller, "Tiller the baby killer", it was taken out of context. Just like every inflammatory and insensitive remark he makes. You know, like when he was caught out right on the Malmedy stir.

Bill O'LIElly can never dress it up, nor can he alter video. But he knows his fans will believe anything he says. He and others like Terry Randall helped foment the type of environment that make idiotic zealots susceptible to acting on their crazy notions. People like Beck, Hannity, and O'Reilly feed it.

SAD and scary!

Mike Thomas said...

Ultimate responsibility should probably go back to the Fox News bigwigs that pay O'Reilly's salary. Remember that O'Reilly is just a mouthpiece - a paid entertainer whose job is to attract an audience so his bosses can make money selling advertising. That is not to defend O'Reilly in anyway, but just to point out that if you knock him off there are dozens of imitators and clones ready to step in and start drawing that same paycheck.

AnnPW said...

Good point, Mike. Check out the UPDATE link to Mahablog.

Donna said...

I tend to side with free speech, as disgusting as I find hate speech. In the end, as those of us who oppose censorship of film and books have argued for years, it is not what you have heard that makes you act.

One could hope for much more self censorship than we have in this country, but I'm reluctant to put censorship in the hands of others.

Freewheel said...

You may be interested in this column in the Post today:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/03/AR2009060303238.html?hpid%3Dopinionsbox1&sub=AR

(Sorry - I forget how to do links in the comments)

AnnPW said...

Not a problem, FW - let me fix that for you. And thanks!