Bill O'Reilly of Foxnews is once again in a major snit: O'REILLY: "Enter Dallas Morning News columnist Macarena Hernandez, who wrote these astounding words: "Were the complainers angrier about the red, white and green Mexican flag fluttering in the Georgia air than they were about the horrific murders? Do they watch FOX's "The O'Reilly Factor," where the anchor and the callers constantly point to the southern border as the birth of all America's ills? It is one thing to want to secure the borders and another to preach hate. Taken literally, such rhetoric gives criminals like those in southern Georgia license to kill." O'Reilly countered with this: "(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) I'd always said if I were a poor Mexican, I would try to cross the border and earn money here and send it back to my family. I don't blame the illegal aliens. I blame the federal governments of both Mexico and the United States of America. I mean, I don't think you could deport 11 million people. And if I were a poor, Mexican worker, I'd do the same thing that these people do. I have nothing, you know, they're hardworking, most of them. They're good people. (END VIDEO CLIP) O'REILLY: So there's the proof that Macarena Hernandez is a liar. " He then proceeds with a tirade about responsible journalism. Good for him since all journalism is not as responsible it ought to be. Nor is O'Reilly's! In O'Reilly's April 8th, Foxnews Talking Points, he says the following, "And the concept is very simple " bringing attention to the chaotic border situation by launching a media attractive protest. So three cheers for the Minutemen. Like their ancestors in Concord and Lexington, they're making a statement. And we all should respect that."[3] What O'Reilly was asking his viewers to shout "three cheers" and to show respect for was a group of Americans I have been reporting on for some time. In my column with the American Chronicle, I reported the following: "Former Texas and Goliad chapter president Bill Parmley, one of the group's original organizers, resigns over Minuteman founder Chris Simcox's refusal to deal with the racism in the group.[4] "Bill Parmley, former coordinator for Texas, quit after alleging Simcox botched the organization's financing. He also warned that some members of his Goliad, Texas, chapter, which recently was shut down, were "racists" and "wanted to go after Mexicans as a whole," not simply report undocumented immigrants to the U.S. Border Patrol." Note that phrase, "wanted to go after Mexicans as a whole". "J.C. Hernandez, a third-generation Texan, is the founder and president of Americans for Zero Immigration. Hernandez was working with Minutemen organizers in Texas and said he expected to play a leading role in the upcoming patrol. He also wants the right, he said, to make a citizen's arrest of suspected illegal immigrants. "When you fight a war you don't fight it with rhetoric," Hernandez said. "When you fight a war, man, you go in and kill the enemy.... A signal has to be sent to Mexico and all those countries that we are tired of it and we're not going to put up with it." The Houston Chronicle reported: "Parmley said he has become concerned that some of the Minuteman activists in his region have a vendetta against the Goliad County sheriff, who is Hispanic. He asserted they also have made comments about shooting illegal immigrants or letting them die from dehydration. That's their mind-set, and I don't want my name and my reputation associated with a group of people who are racist like that," he said."[7] O'Reilly cannot have it both ways. He accuses Macarena Hernandez and the Dallas Morning News of irresponsible journalism and yet what is O'Reilly doing? He, along with the rest of the folks at Foxnews, wants us to shout a hearty "three cheers" (and show respect) for a group that: Wants to go after Mexicans as a whole. Wants to fight a war NOT with rhetoric but wants to KILL the enemy (Mexicans). Wants to shoot illegal immigrants or let them die from dehydration. (I grant you that this hornet's nest erupted in the local Texas Goliad Minuteman chapter. But is this "mindset" true throughout the Minuteman network only unexposed because there is no one as honest as Bill Parmley to take a stand against this racism? This anti-Mexican Xenophobia.) Then, amazingly, O'Reilly claims, "And if I were a poor, Mexican worker, I'd do the same thing that these people do. I have nothing, you know, they're hardworking, most of them. They're good people." You cannot say that, Bill. You don't encourage the American people, through your responsible (?) journalistic venue, to cheer and respect a monstrous group of anti-Mexican bigots who want to go after Mexicans as whole to shoot them or let them die of dehydration. You do not wish that on "good people", O'Reilly. Maybe O'Reilly should take another look at responsible journalism. |
