I can't get enough of the inept Fox News service, and I certainly can't get enough of Bill O'Reilly. A recent story on his program talked about how Canadian teenagers are being taught that America is a force for evil.
Last time I checked, I wasn't brainwashing my students in that respect, and believe me, I brainwash my students about many MANY topics, from Star Trek to The West Wing, from missile defence to American imperialsim. But never have I (or any other teacher that I know of) claimed that America was a force for evil in the world. In fact, I've challenged it on many occasions with students who DO believe it, without any prompting from me.
But the finer points of debate are lost when you go on The O'Reilly Factor. If Michael Moore is in the vanguard of leftist, anti-Bush haters, then O'Reilly is certainly the captain of the other team. Between them, I beginning to believe there might be only one thing I can be sure of in today's United States of America: there may very well be ONLY black or white. Grey is a non-entity.
Here's a sample of his interview about the Canadian propensity for evil:
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O'REILLY: But my point was that the Canadian media and the Canadian education system is now skewing their reportage about America so that all of these children, millions of Canadian children, feel that we are an evil force in the world. They're not providing perspective to the children up there and I believe I'm absolutely correct, sir.
GRIFFITHS: Well, you know, perspective is often a problem and the problem is that the images out of Iraq are pretty negative, and that a lot of young people are watching TV a lot more than they're taking to their textbooks.
O'REILLY: Look, they're negative if you put them in that kind of a context. Certainly, no American wants anybody else killed in Iraq. But if you give a balanced presentation, which the CBC does not, the Toronto Globe and Mail does not, and say to your children, "Look, this is a rough war. This is a tough thing. But a brutal dictator who killed hundreds of thousands of people is out of office, 56 million Iraqis, or whatever it is, 36 million, have a chance at self determination."
So it's not black and white. America is not the bad guy in Iraq. It might have been a mistake, but we're not the bad guy, Mr. Griffiths, and we are being portrayed in your country as such.
GRIFFITHS: No, you're not. Public opinion in Canada was pretty divided going into that war.
O'REILLY: When you've got 64 percent of French-Canadian teenagers saying America's a force for evil, you've got a problem in the media and education up there.
GRIFFITHS: Look, I think this is a temporary problem, but it's a problem for Americans and it's a problem with this current president that you've got.
O'REILLY: Not a problem for America. We have a balanced media here. You don't.
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All I can say is go read it and judge for yourself. The more I read & hear about Fox News, the more I'm glad we're limited to CNN. If we get any more U.S. cable news channels, they might put the comedy networks out of business!
