Bill O’Reilly: Propaganda Pimp
In a roomful of egomaniacal bloviating pundits, Bill O’Reilly would stand out as a towering infernal display of delusional demagoguery. Almost any random sampling of The O’Reilly Fester will reveal a man obsessed with his own righteousness.
Click the link above to experience an interactive portrait of O’Reilly that puts his unique abuse of language on display.
The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia has just announced the winners of the 2006 George Foster Peabody Awards. The winners are recognized for “distinguished achievement and meritorious service by radio and television networks, stations, producing organizations, cable television organizations and individuals.”
This year, there are some notable productions that had a profound impact on American culture, politics, and society. And so, without further ado, here is a list of selected honorees:
Mental Anguish and the Military
Using candid, sometimes startling interviews, NPR investigates how Iraq War veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder are treated, socially as well as medically, at one U.S. military base. Produced by National Public Radio
This American Life: Habeas Schmabeas
This report, about the denial of habeas corpus to terrorism suspects, focuses on the stories of two former Guantanamo Bay prisoners and explains why the right is so fundamental in American law. Produced by WBEZ Chicago Public Radio
ABC News Brian Ross Investigates: Conduct Unbecoming
Brian Ross` broadcasts and web postings about Rep. Mark Foley`s sexually explicit emails to young Congressional pages triggered new revelations, speeded Foley`s resignation and may have affected the outcome of the November elections. Produced by ABC World News Tonight, ABC News Nightline, ABC News.com “The Blotter”
Command Mistake
In a local-station investigation that spread to three continents, WISH demonstrated that U.S. Marines are sustaining head injuries that can kill or cost millions to rehab – merely for lack of helmet padding that costs $30. Produced by WISH-TV
For My Country? Latinos in the Military
This probing but even-handed documentary examines the social, cultural and economic realities that lead a demographically disproportionate number of young Latinos to enlist in the military and questions whether they are being targeted by recruiters. Produced by mun2
Baghdad ER
Filmed at the 86th Combat Support Hospital and presented without commentary or narration, this documentary is a horrifying and humbling testament to the dedication of medical personnel confronting the overwhelming brutality of war. Produced by Home Box Office, Downtown Community Television
When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
Spike Lee`s examination of Hurricane Katrina`s devastation and the government`s neglect of New Orleans in the storm`s aftermath is an epic chronicle of destruction and broken promises, a heartrending document and a profound work of art. Produced by HBO Documentary Films in association with 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
Congratulations to these fine programs for the contribution they’ve made to our understanding of our nation, and ourselves.
The recent ceremony inducting new members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame served up its customary portion of controversy. While much of the entertainment press focused on the Van Halen soap opera pitting David Lee Roth against Sammy Hager, there was some more nuanced and poignant melodrama.
Inductee Patti Smith had a mixed night. Her televised performance included the song her deceased mother asked her to play if she ever got into the Hall. She did play the song, “Rock and Roll Nigger,” but it was so cut up by censors that it could hardly be enjoyed. On the other hand, the song chosen for the traditional group jam at the end of the broadcast was Smith’s “People Have the Power,” a churning anthem that is as relevant today as when she originally released it in 1988. She was joined on stage by Eddie Vedder, Keith Richards, Ronnie Spector, Michael Stipe, and the Grandmaster Flash crew.
Speaking of Grandmaster Flash, Roger Friedman at Fox News related charges that the Furious Five didn’t deserve their honor and that the vote was fixed. Friedman claims that the real winners were the Dave Clark Five, and that the Hall’s chairman, Jann Wenner, purposefully skewed the voting results because he wanted a rap act to win.
I wish Fox News would get this worked up about election fraud when it doesn’t involve denying an award to a truly ground-breaking group of African American artists in favor of some Anglo-Beatles wannabes. Friedman is just illustrating an unintended subtext of Smith’s “Rock and Roll Nigger.” Or maybe Fox would prefer an assimilated act. And now…
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Dave Clark Five singing their smash hit, “It’s Like a Jungle Sometimes, it Makes Me Wonder How I keep From Being Glad All Over.”
Having addressed the silliness of a Fox News imagined America as run by celebrities, it seemed appropriate to throw some speculation back the other way. If you think celebrities would run Washington into the ground, just wait till you see what politicians would do to Tinseltown.
It’s long been said that Washington is Hollywood for ugly people, so the first change would be to get rid the Brad Pitts and Gwyneth Paltrows. The “stars” would now be hotties like Ted Stevens and Katherine Harris. Their agent, Jack Abramoff, would negotiate deals that would guarantee them income whether or not they actually did any work (and keep 75% for himself). But there would be plenty of perks, like golf junkets to Scotland, and free travel on private jets.
The studio chiefs would be elected with voting machines manufactured by Sony: Poll-ay Stations. There would be no audit trail and the secret, proprietary code would be subject to hacking and fraud. Election day would come at the end of a multi-million dollar, months long marketing campaign complete with television commercials, jingles, and personal appearances (some things never change). Once elected, the real fun begins.
When a societal need (i.e. a market opportunity) is identified, writers will draft scripts and introduce them as proposals to executives. They will immediately be assigned to committees where they will languish for months before being debated and amended. Once the marked-up script has been neutered and approved, it returns to the executive suites for another round of amendments. It is at this time that riders (aka earmarks) are added for everything from casting the producers daughter in the title role, to selling product placement advertising. While this process appears to have some similarities with the current process, if run by Washington, the journey described above would take 12 years and everyone from CEOs to interns would have received baskets of cash (and gourmet pastries) from lobbyists.
To be green-lighted, a film would have to communicate a message certified by censors at the FBI and CIA. Anyone deviating from sanctioned dogma would be subject to termination, prosecution, and detention at Guantanamo Bay with no access to legal representation. Their names would be removed from party invitation lists and added to no-fly lists. Political correctness would be codified into a new law where “correctness” would be defined by the government. All industry personnel would either conform or be ostracized and risk losing their electability bankability.
Production budgets would skyrocket from tens of millions currently, to tens of billions. This would be due primarily to the insertion of expenses for projects completely unrelated to filmmaking. For instance, megastar Ted Stevens would finally get that bridge he’s been pining for. There would also be billions of dollars unaccounted for that would be attributed to contractors or sloppy bookkeeping. No one would ever be punished for such losses in the new DC-ified Hollywood.
A fence would be built around the country to keep out foreign language films that the new regime would accuse of taking jobs from Americans. At the same time, the film industry would export millions of jobs overseas to exploit cheap labor and talent. The biggest stars in America would soon be Ganaraj Waleed and Kim Choi Park. Of course, they will have had plastic surgery and changed their names to Jerry Wallace and Kim Parker to ease marketing to an increasingly jingoistic domestic market. If a foreign producer managed to build an enterprise that threatened American economic interests, he would be dealt with harshly – by invading his country, killing him and his colleagues (and tens of thousands of innocent civilians), and handing over his production facilities to Hallie (Barry) Burton, Inc.
That’s just the beginning. Wholesale changes would be implemented in the area of employee benefits. Healthcare would be cutback and retirement would be privatized. Under the guise of religious freedom, prayer would be mandatory at all business lunches, screenings and awards shows. Tax reform would eliminate taxes on profits from movie and television programs, but there would be new “user fees” assessed on consumers to make up the shortfall.
And as if all of this weren’t bad enough, we would have to endure the creative judgment of artists like Lynne Cheney, author of “Sisters,”, and “Scooter” Libby, author of “The Apprentice.” In the musical performance category we have such talents as The Singing Senators and Orrin Hatch. And who could forget Colin Powell’s homage to the Village People?
If we’re going to examine the feasibility of an America run by celebrities, we have to put it into context. Could they do any worse than the politicians have? John McCain went on Saturday Night Live and said:
“Do I know how to sing? About as well as she [Barbra Streisand] knows how to govern America!”.
If the last 25 years is an example of how well he governs, frankly, I’d rather listen to him sing. And that goes for the rest of them too. Any group with the record of failure, corruption, and incompetence that has been demonstrated by our professional class of politicians should think twice before denigrating the character of others. At least some of the Hollywood folks are actually good at what they do. And the fact that many of them are also honest, hard-working, compassionate, and patriotic, makes them at least as well-suited for public service as the greedy, power-hungry, egomaniacs that reside on Capital Hill.
This weekend the Fox News… er … Comedy Channel will air its latest stab at humor. Fox entertainment reporter, Bill McCuddy, will host “Reel Politics: If Hollywood Ran America.” The program purports to take a humorous look at the denizens of Tinseltown who inject themselves into the political arena and extends the premise into what a celebrity-led administration might look like.
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The only thing Fox is interested in here, is the opportunity to take another swipe at creative people.
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The program actually undertakes a daring assignment. They’re stuck having to defend the position that it’s possible to do worse than the current administration. In order to do so, the celebrity team would have to exceed BushCo’s record setting marks for dishonesty, corruption, and incompetence.
If the promos for the show are any indication, Fox will be cementing their liberal-bashing reputation with an emphasis on notorious lefty thespians (no, that doesn’t mean Mary Cheney). This animation (wmv), which begins with a warning to, “Watch out America. Stars already think they run the world,” features Alec Baldwin, Rosie O’Donnell, Michael Moore, Madonna, Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn, Spike Lee, George Clooney, Diddy, and of course, Barbara Streisand. What, no Dixie Chicks? Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, and Tom Cruise were likely added in search of some demented sense of balance.
What seems to be missing is any mention of the fact that none of these folks has ever expressed an interest in elective office. They are merely Americans with opinions and a sense of civic duty. They are not trying to run the country, but are proud to exercise their rights as citizens. While the program has not aired yet, the hype leading up to it neglects any reference to the many right-wing celebs that actually have entertained the notion of “running America.” For instance, Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Fred Thompson, Sonny Bono, Fred Grandy, George Murphy, and more. And we rarely hear anything but praise from the anti-Hollywood chorus for conservatives in the Biz like Tom Selleck, Dennis Miller, Patricia Heaton, Ted Nugent, Bruce Willis, Toby Keith, etc.
Reel Politics will air in conjunction with a Fox/Opinion Dynamics poll that surveyed the nation’s preferences for a celebrity president (a post that, I remind you, none of them seek). Amongst the field offered, Clint Eastwood and Oprah Winfrey led with 32% and 30% respectively. No other “candidate” made it into double digits (although, amongst Republicans only, Mel Gibson did pull a frightening 18%). It is also notable that 71% of Republicans think most Hollywood movies reflect a liberal viewpoint. That compares with 26% of Democrats and 36% of Independents. If you needed additional proof that Republicans are either out of touch with mainstream America or brainwashed, there you have it.
In the end, the only thing Fox is interested in here, is the opportunity to take another swipe at creative people who have the audacity to pursue what is, in fact, their mission in life: to express themselves. Disguising this assault on free expression with comedy only makes it all the more insidious. (And we’ve seen how they massacre comedy: The 1/2 Hour News Hour). And for repressive critics, like those at Fox, it is only artists who should be censured for having opinions and daring to utter them aloud. As I’ve written before in “Join The Art Insurgency:”
The obvious extension of [shut up and sing] is that anyone who does any job other than serving in Congress is unqualified to have an opinion about what our government does in our name. Just try changing the word “sing” with the word “farm” or “teach” or “weld.” This is unadulterated elitist bullshit. If we’re qualified to vote them into office, then we’re qualified to comment on the job they are doing.
“Shut up and sing” is just a longhand way of saying “Shut up.” And they mean all of us. If your son was killed in Iraq, Ms. Sheehan, shut up and grieve. If civil liberties are eroded by Congress, shut up and obey. If terrorists fly jets into skyscrapers, shut up and shop.
But I’ve got bad news for them. We won’t submit to their tyranny. We won’t whither under their lash. We won’t tolerate censorship. And we most definitely will not shut up.
For Reference:
Mike Straka, VP and Executive Producer of FOXNews.com, got dissed in a most deserving way. The author of “Grrr! Celebrities Are Ruining Our Country”, was attempting to corral a celebrity at the Grammys so he could mooch a little bit off of her fame. After which he likely would have included her in his next celeb bashing book. As he tells the story of his brief encounter with Joan Baez…
“she was on her way over to talk to Anita Vogel and me when her publicist whisked her away shouting, “They’re FOX. We don’t talk to FOX.”
Are you listening celebrities, publicists and, for that matter, politicians? It’s just that easy. My compliments to the astute publicist who steered her client away from the “flabbergasted” Strata. Although why he would be surprised is confusing. As the author of a book that accuses celebrities of ruining the country, and a honcho at a network that features Laura Ingraham and her “Shut up and Sing” mentality, Strata ought to have been embarrassed to show up on the red carpet at all. He could learn something himself from the introduction Baez gave to the Dixie Chicks that evening:
“I’ve spent much of my life being told to shut up and sing. Yet every once in a while, artists stand up and use the power of music to show us the great American folksinger Woody Guthrie had the right dream: This land is your land. This land is my land…“
Artists, musicians, celebrities, and other creative people in public life are not the ones who are ruining this country, Mr. Strata. It’s the media whores who are so obsessed with tabloid melodrama that they fail to cover truly important issues who are causing the real damage.
You really have to wonder who the enemy is in the War On Terror™ when the battle is waged against innocent Americans whose only offense is a desire to publicize their cartoon show.
 The terrorist’s arsenal. |
The city of Boston screeched to a halt Wednesday because somebody felt threatened by a child’s toy that was altered to advertise the new season of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force. These “improvised promotion devices” (IPDs) were scattered around the city where they surreptitiously stalked unsuspecting consumers.
The alert law enforcement authorities of Boston leapt into action to protect the citizenry. In a matter of hours they had identified 10 of the IPDs that were deployed up to two weeks earlier. They quickly moved to shut down traffic, bridges and even evacuated a hospital. Despite the fact that the guerrilla PR campaign had invaded 10 American cities, Boston was the only one to mobilize its Homeland Security forces in response to the threat.
The media played a critical role in performing its public safety duties by rushing incomplete and uninformed reports on to the air. The rapid succession of substanceless Breaking News updates may have saved countless lives by creating just the right environment for needless panic.
Once again we are reminded of the ever-present danger posed to society by artists. The free exercise of creative expression continues to be amongst the more serious threats to an ordered and manageable population. No wonder responsible governments spend so much of their time and resources suppressing such subversions. Without such efforts we would be forever vulnerable to the horrors of independent thought and action.
It’s gratifying to know that the terrorists have not won. We are still a proud and free people. Our enemies will not see us cower. Sure, they’ve seen the passage of the Patriot Act that limits long-held freedoms. They’ve seen our government listening in on our phone calls and monitoring our financial transactions. They see us lining up at airport terminals shoeless and forced to surrender our shampoo and Evian water. They see us resort to preemptive war and torture and submission to imperial, undemocratic leaders. And now they see us fearful and frantic in the presence of toys. But they will never have the satisfaction of seeing us recoil from militarism or the comforting imposition of martial law.
There is seemingly no subject on which professional know-it-all, Bill O’Reilly, does not consider himself to be an expert (and no subject on which he actually is). Last March, wearing his music biz (dunce) cap, he predicted that the Dixie Chicks’ soon-to-be-released CD, “Taking The Long Way,” was destined to fail. He said at the time that it would sell “2 million tops.”
Let’s see how he’s doing.
Taking The Long Way:
For those not in the biz, double platinum means sales of 2 million. So they have already reached what O’Reilly thought would be their peak (in just 7 months). They are assurred of blowing past that number considering that they are still on the charts and the Grammys nods will boost sales as well. If they win, all the better. Plus, they will be performing in the Grammy broadcast on February 11.
So this is proof that O’Reilly is a fraudulent moron with a talent for being wrong and embarrassing himself. Not exactly a revelation, but still…..
Update: The Dixie Chicks swept all 5 categories for which they were nominated in the Grammy Awards last night. Already on Amazon.com, the CD is #1 for Country and #2 for overall sales. Natalie Maines from one of the acceptance speeches:
“I think people are using their freedom of speech here tonight with all of these awards,” Maines said in accepting the album of the year nod. “We get the message. There’s a lot of awesome music this year and fantastic performances. I’m very humbled. I think people were using their voice the same way this loudmouth did.”
Suck on it Bill-O.
The list of nominated documentaries for this year’s Academy Awards is out and, like most news events these days, it is certain to produce reactions from all quarters. Hollywood is a frequent victim of attacks from right wing cultural imperialists, and lefties get their knocks in as well. But Academy voters are rarely mistaken for bleeding edge trend-setters, so anyone attempting to color them as clandestine Bolsheviks need to get their prescriptions refilled.
Ultimately, artists must be free to express themselves and, when they do, they naturally mirror the world around them. That is the most likely explanation for the make-up of this year’s nominees. Let’s take a look…
An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim
Al Gore’s supercharged Powerpoint presentation examining the foreboding effects of climate change on the planet and the need for a more urgent public response to it.
Deliver Us From Evil, Amy Berg and Frank Donner
A story of child-molestation and pedophilia among Catholic priests and the Church’s high-level attempts to suppress it.
Jesus Camp, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
At a summer camp for Evangelical Christians, children undergo a different sort of abuse as they are taught to speak in tongues and pray for the appointment of pro-life Supreme Court justices.
Iraq In Fragments, James Longley and John Sinno
Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds in Iraq are profiled in this examination of the divisive forces that are tearing the country apart.
My Country, My Country, Laura Poitras and Jocelyn Glatzer
A Sunni doctor in Iraq runs for office as the U.S. government works behind the scenes to bring off the election.
In my estimation, we have here a surprisingly strong slate of socially relevant work by responsible and creative filmmakers. In this respect the Academy’s choices reflect the mood and concerns of the community of filmgoers and the public in general. But the Culture Warriors and Dittoheads will surely see this as proof that the Academy is stacked with secular-progressive terrorist sympathizers who fear that the sky is falling.
When the attacks start flying about the unseemly influence of Hollywood lefties, I hope everyone will remember that the only creatures of Hollywood that have ever actually held the levers of political power have been conservative Republicans like Reagan, Murphy, Thompson, Grandy, Bono, and Schwarzenegger. And I don’t hear any of the righteous wingers complaining about that.
Last year Stephen Colbert delivered what will probably be the most memorable comic presentation that the White House Correspondent’s Association will ever see. He showed up in character as the bombastic pundit that presides over his Colbert Report. And throughout the routine he pounded the media just as much as he did the president. Here’s an excerpt:
“But, listen, let’s review the rules. Here’s how it works: the president makes decisions. He’s the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put ’em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know – fiction!” [Transcript] [Video]
Apparently the Colbert experience was too much for the WHCA. This year they have elected to go with the comfort food of comedy, Rich Little. The lasting legacy of Colbert’s performance may be that the WHCA may never have another poignant and provocative guest speaker. But not only did they book Little this year, they have also instructed him to layoff of the President. Says Little:
“They don’t want anyone knocking the president. He’s really over the coals right now, and he’s worried about his legacy.”
The latest salvo in this feud has Steve Scully. president of the WHCA, denying that any conditions were imposed on Little. If true, that would make Little a liar. But Scully’s statements have there own inconsistencies. After explaining to Little that the dinner is attended by, “people who live and eat politics,” he later critiques Colbert as being, “very sophisticated and if you’ve not seen his show you may not get it.” With Little, Scully added, “you don’t have to explain his humor.”
So Scully’s opinion of his White House press colleagues is that they are immersed in politics but incapable of understanding sophisticated political humor without an explanation. His opinion suggests that, despite going to all of the right congressional hearings and cocktail parties, they still don’t have a clue as to what’s going on.
Come to think of it, that’s my opinion of them too.