Tuesday, February 19, 2008

"Papa Bear" O'Reilly's Defense of Barack Obama: Strange Bedfellows, or a Match Made in Rhetorical Heaven?

"Papa Bear" (Harrogate doesn't plagiarize) holding forth on charges that the Obama camp is staging faintings at events:

The Obama campaign says none of that was staged, and we're giving them the benefit of the doubt. Again, we have no evidence to the contrary and there's no question Barack Obama is a rock star. Some people are getting overheated.


And, on the Deval Patrick flap, O'Reilly joins other Intellectuals in invoking Topoi:

No question those two sentiments are almost exactly the same. But people often borrow thoughts when speaking. It happens all the time. If Barack Obama had written an article and not credited Governor Patrick, that would have been plagiarism. Just talking off the cuff like that, I think you've got to cut him some slack.


Finally, O'Reilly proffering his "Wag of the Finger" to Brooke Shields, who has the temerity to question why people are making a big deal, in this year 2008, out of Jane Fonda saying Cunt on network television:

BROOKE SHIELDS, ACTRESS: Again, you know, bleep me out. I just don't think [EXPLETIVE DELETED] is a controversial word. I find it frighteningly sad that there was an, you know, there was an outrage that, we all, gasped, you know, when Jane Fonda said it. It's just sort of — it's disturbing to me that today, in this day and age, after all that's been done, after everything that's happened, we still have standard and practices doing this. And it is just a word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

I'm not exactly sure why Ms. Shields is taking this stand, but I am sure in this case she is a pinhead.

4 comments:

M said...

You know, Harrogate, that lots of women dislike this word. I've seen our good friend Sarah physically cringe when she hears it. I also believe that Megs isn't a big fan of this particular word. This is a loaded word for many women as a lot of us have had it used against us in an unkind way. That said, I don't really see why Bill O'Reilly needs to weigh in on this "controversy." And I think Brooke Shields's point is well taken--in an age where actors say a lot of other expletives on national television, what is the big deal with cunt?

On the other side of the argument, however, there are words that carry too much of a stigma, that have been used historically to wield hate. You could make the argument that if we open the door to words like cunt (which hasn't I don't think has quite the same connotation as words that wield hate) we could be opening the door to such words. While I don't agree that is the case with this particular word, I do agree that there are certain words that would be better off if they weren't part of the public lexicon.

Oxymoron said...

I physically cringe when I see the word in writing.

In response to M's comments above:

[Cringe]

[Cringe]

Anonymous said...

Look, I abhor the word. I can't bring myself to say it, and I'll say practically anything.

That said, I think that anyone who wants to say it should be more than happy to do so. I would respectfully submit that it not be directed at me, but beyond that, what can I do?

But cringe, of course.

M said...

Megs, what is it about this particular word that you hate so much?