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The pretext for this sermon on manners was an article by Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock. Whitlock was the author of the column that Bob Costas referenced in his now famous remarks about guns in American culture. So O’Reilly invited Whitlock to come on his show and Whitlock rather colorfully declined:<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t have to shuffle off to the big house when summoned. O\u2019Reilly is not Boehner, Pelosi or Obama. He\u2019s a TV entertainer who has spent the weeks after the election crying about the end of the \u2018white establishment\u2019 America, the end of the days when an upstanding white man felt entitled to summon whomever he wanted whenever he wanted to the big house to dance. I don\u2019t dance.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As usual, O’Reilly didn’t take that well. He is well known for his arrogant self-righteousness and his egomaniacal worldview. Anyone with the temerity to challenge him had better steady themselves for battle. O’Reilly devoted his Talking Points to Whitlock, however he framed his retort in the broader context of what he thinks is a new rejection of civil discourse:<\/p>\n
“We are living in a country that is rapidly changing. Rules of civility are pretty much finished. […] There are elements on both the left and the right that are using disgraceful tactics to demean those with whom they disagree.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
O’Reilly then went on to cite two examples, however, both were of liberals allegedly denigrating conservatives. So much for balance. In the first example O’Reilly bashed proponents of marriage equality for referring to “traditional marriage”<\/em> advocates as homophobes and “haters.”<\/em> Then O’Reilly called those who favor marriage and love for everyone “haters.”<\/em> His second example dismissed any suggestion that there are Obama opponents who might be driven by racism, and anyone who implies such a thing is disgraceful.<\/p>\n