Comments on: O’Reilly: Blacks Order Tea without Cursing!

By: buzz

buzz — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:14:54 +0000

Good freaking Lord.
I can't stand Oreilly, but I got what he was saying. Hip hop and rap music presents all of black life as thug life, but here in this restaurant, the staff and patrons are black, yet no one is acting out the thug lifestyle. He is NOT saying that this is surprising. He is NOT saying that this is contrary to his expectations. He is only saying that contrary to what is presented in rap and videos, every is pretty much the same. He used sarcasm to make his point. Why is that so hard to understand. They were talking about hip hop and rap culture and he says something like "and I was in this restaurant and no one was screaming MF get me some tea!" Surely every can find some REAL issues to get indignant about.

By: Obama's "acting like he's white" - Page 12 - LPSG.ORG

Obama's "acting like he's white" - Page 12 - LPSG.ORG — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:39:17 +0000

[...] O�Reilly: Blacks Order Tea without Cursing! James Joyner | Saturday, September 22, 2007 Bill O�Reilly made some, um, interesting comments on his radio show Wednesday that have sparked some controversy in the blogosphere after being highlighted by Media Matters. Here, in context, is what he said. [...] O�REILLY: Now, how do we get to this point? Black people in this country understand that they�ve had a very, very tough go of it, and some of them can get past that, and some of them cannot. I don�t think there�s a black American who hasn�t had a personal insult that they�ve had to deal with because of the color of their skin. I don�t think there�s one in the country. So you�ve got to accept that as being the truth. People deal with that stuff in a variety of ways. Some get bitter. Some say, [unintelligible] �You call me that, I�m gonna be more successful.� OK, it depends on the personality. So it�s there. It�s there, and I think it�s getting better. I think black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves. They�re getting away from the Sharptons and the Jacksons and the people trying to lead them into a race-based culture. They�re just trying to figure it out: �Look, I can make it. If I work hard and get educated, I can make it.� You know, I was up in Harlem a few weeks ago, and I actually had dinner with Al Sharpton, who is a very, very interesting guy. And he comes on The Factor a lot, and then I treated him to dinner, because he�s made himself available to us, and I felt that I wanted to take him up there. And we went to Sylvia�s, a very famous restaurant in Harlem. I had a great time, and all the people up there are tremendously respectful. They all watch The Factor. You know, when Sharpton and I walked in, it was like a big commotion and everything, but everybody was very nice. And I couldn�t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia�s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it�s run by blacks, primarily black patronship. It was the same, and that�s really what this society�s all about now here in the U.S.A. There�s no difference. There�s no difference. There may be a cultural entertainment � people may gravitate toward different cultural entertainment, but you go down to Little Italy, and you�re gonna have that. It has nothing to do with the color of anybody�s skin. [�] O�REILLY: No, no, I mean, I like that soul food. I had the meatloaf special. I had coconut shrimp. I had the iced tea. It was great. WILLIAMS: Well, let me just tell you, the one thing I would say is this. And we�re talking about the kids who still like this gangsta rap, this vile poison that I think is absolutely, you know, literally a corruption of culture. I think that what you�ve got to take into account that it�s still a majority white audience � young, white people who think they�re into rebelling against their parents who buy this stuff and think it�s just a kick. You know, it�s just a way of expressing their anti-authoritarianism. O�REILLY: But it�s a different � it�s a different dynamic, though. WILLIAMS: Exactly right � O�REILLY: Because the young, white kids don�t have to struggle out of the ghetto. WILLIAMS: Right, and also, I think they can have that as one phase of their lives. O�REILLY: Yeah. WILLIAMS: I think too many of the black kids take it as, �Oh, that�s what it means to be authentically black. That�s how you make money. That�s how you become rich and famous and get on TV and get music videos.� And you either get the boys or the girls. The girls think they have to, you know, be half-naked and spinning around like they�re on meth in order to get any attention. It really corrupts people, and I think it adds, Bill, to some serious sociological problems, like the high out-of-wedlock birth rate because of this hypersexual imagery that then the kids adapt to some kind of reality. I mean, it�s inauthentic. It�s not in keeping with great black traditions of struggle and excellence, from Willie Mays to Aretha Franklin, but even in terms of academics, you know, going back to people like Charles Drew or Ben Carson here, the neurosurgeon at [Johns] Hopkins [University]. That stuff, all of a sudden, is pushed aside. That�s treated as, �You�re a nerd, you�re acting white,� if you try to be excellent and black. O�REILLY: You know, and I went to the concert by Anita Baker at Radio City Music Hall, and the crowd was 50/50, black/white, and the blacks were well-dressed. And she came out � Anita Baker came out on the stage and said, �Look, this is a show for the family. We�re not gonna have any profanity here. We�re not gonna do any rapping here.� The band was excellent, but they were dressed in tuxedoes, and this is what white America doesn�t know, particularly people who don�t have a lot of interaction with black Americans. They think that the culture is dominated by Twista, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg. WILLIAMS: Oh, and it�s just so awful. It�s just so awful because, I mean, it�s literally the sewer come to the surface, and now people take it that the sewer is the whole story � O�REILLY: That�s right. That�s right. There wasn�t one person in Sylvia�s who was screaming, �M-Fer, I want more iced tea.� WILLIAMS: Please � O�REILLY: You know, I mean, everybody was � it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn�t any kind of craziness at all. O�Reilly: Blacks Order Tea without Cursing! � Outside The Beltway | OTB [...]

By: Kathryne

Kathryne — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:42:47 +0000

Although we may not agree with how he said what he said, the truth is he was simply stating that his initial thoughts about our race were wrong. He mentioned that he realizes, (it makes no difference how old he is or how long it took to get there) that there is no difference between the cultures of one or the other. If it had been an African American stating the same thing, there would have been a lot more "Amens". But it's such a touchy subject that whenever a white person speaks about our race, we're looking for the fault in what they say. The truth is in this instance their was no fault. If his words were sincere, he admitted his misjudgements. The truth is that some of our communities do make a mockery of learning, some children do grow up thinking that the way to real money is rapping about and degrading females. And the way we are portrayed on t.v makes it very difficult to believe that we are anything more than animals. As much as I am down for the cause, this is one fight I cannot join into.

By: daniel

daniel — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:45:43 +0000

Kayla, please stop being an apologist, you're as bad as Williams! People like you are why the grown white men in seats of power in this country feel the right to come out with their elitist/bigoted/prejudiced views, yet bear no responsibility for the damage that their kind of thinking causes. Bill is an adult, and he'll have to stand behind whatever he chooses to say.

By: kayla

kayla — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:17:25 +0000

If some of us wouldnt act a damn fool when we go places we wouldnt have that stereotype! But because a lot of black people like to be SEEN and HEARD "others" form an opinion of all of us!.

By: constance

constance — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:18:35 +0000

Bill is so obessed with black folks. We're like less than 10% of the population. White people are the biggest consumers of bad rap albums and rap concerts. As long as white youth is buying gangster and sexist rap it will continue to grow. I think he needs to address the white community for supporting and funding Bad Rap! Even it every black person in America stop buying gangster/sexist rap, it wouldn't stop bad rap. If it wasn't for rich white men marketing and financing these rap projects, there would be no mainstream rap. Bill look at your own community and stop over analyzing the black community. There are bad people in every race.

By: bains

bains — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:07:24 +0000

Seems some are trying darn hard to manufacture outrage.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:32:34 +0000

O'Reilly is a white man who has not experienced racism. If he had, he would understand that his words were insensitive and racist. He talks as if he has been parenting blacks by expressing how far they have come. Like a parent talking about a child who disappointed him, but now has come so far, and maybe now he can be proud of them. If my opinions are correct, this could prove that he still has the white man's attitude of being the head of all households and that anyone not male, white, and of his moral likeness, is subject to his insensitive comments. He made the mistake of talking about something he knows litle about, black culture. He would be a better person if he were to comment more on how far the white race needs to go in respecting different cultures, and how other cultures would naturally react so negatively to the comments he made. He should have to get his own damn tea the next time he is in a service oriented restaurant. That would certainly give him something to think about on how far he has come as a man.

By: funky chicken

funky chicken — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 02:57:04 +0000

Don't most rappers and their supporters say that the reason their "art" is so vile is that they are just "keeping it real" or just reflecting the reality of daily life in their neighborhoods? I think O'Reilly and Williams are arguing that point. Rappers are marketing a destructive, evil image that has a terrible influence on young black men and women, not just talking about "normal" stuff.

By: Mack Simmons

Mack Simmons — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:15:44 +0000

And that should be "Obama," not "Obaman." My apologies.

By: carolyn

carolyn — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:57:29 +0000

mr, oreilly needs a lesson in not stereotyping. i have been to restaurants and white people have been laughing loud disturbing others, getting drunk in their bar and grills and staggering out the door to drive home drunk. plus every other restarant i have eaten at a white person pulls out a hanky and blows his nose at the table. i think that is the most ignorant thing you can do. and i have never seen ablack person do that in a restaurant. to me that is just plain nasty and rude.

By: Teddy

Teddy — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:26:41 +0000

Although I normally shy away from Bill O'Reilly as a raving-at-the-mouth lunatic, but sometime's he's spot on about issues (every dog has his day, so they say). I can see this dialogue he holds as one of two things. Either it's a white man acknowledging that there were certain racist or bigotted tendencies in his mind, that were completely unfounded and foolish. Or, it's a guy saying that popular culture and society has painted a black person to be a rude, obnoxious fool- and it is completely unfounded and foolish.

By: Mack Simmons

Mack Simmons — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:20:01 +0000

Part of what O'Reilly said -- that many middle-class whites who have few interactions with blacks, think all blacks behave similar to the stereotypes they see in hip-hop videos and on television -- is similar to what blacks such as myself say all the time. And he's right. One can bet that the average editor-in-chief of a major newspaper -- middle-aged like O'Reilly and likely to have spent little time with blacks of all socioeconomic backgrounds -- thinks blacks are all liberal-leaning and are voting for Barack Obaman, even though neither is the case. Hell, I can tell you that it is the case in my own newsroom, where our own editor-in-chief passed on giving one reporter her own column because he was looking for a diversity of viewpoints and blacks weren't all that diverse in their thinking. He probably didn't realize otherwise until he interviewed me -- a libertarian -- for my current job. The sad news is that O'Reilly, a person who shouldn't be all that perceptive when it comes to race relations, offered in his own hamfisted way, a more congent insight on the matter than Juan Williams, who should have been more appalled at O'Reilly's display of ignorance during the rest of the conversation.

By: kristy fleurestil

kristy fleurestil — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:17:07 +0000

I want to comment on O'Reilly, to say he isnt being racist on his comments is BS.(excuse my language). Syliva's Restaurant is one the top Soul Food restaurants in New York City,now why would he think there would be any so called thugs there. The former President Bill Clinton has eating there just to mention a few names. I can understand the fustration with hop/hop perterpation on the culture but thats not to say all black people act like that. He has worked and iam sure been around enough black people now to know.

By: Media Matters Goes to Olbermann to defend O’Reilly Smear : 186 kpersecond

Media Matters Goes to Olbermann to defend O’Reilly Smear : 186 kpersecond — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:03:13 +0000

[...] what really transpired at Outside The [...]