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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

Ted,

Glad to hear you're an objective critical thinker when watching O'Reilly ("sometimes I agree with him and other times I don't") just when I thought O'Reilly was like a preacher and his viewers, the choir. Although the tone of your entire post does smell a little choirish. You obviously didn't get the "worst person in the world" joke if you think I am playing Net54 judge. Still, I'd be interested to hear what information in my post I am "uninformed" about. Would you mind specifically addressing the factual inaccuracies in my post? If possible, please do so in a way that sounds less like Zell Miller than your last post. Thanks.


Jeff,

I didn't mean to imply I was drawing any personal conclusions about you, other than assuming you may have been taking a jab at Olbermann. If that was not true, I apologize. I even offered an olive branch in the form of a smiley face at the bottom of my post, although I still refuse to use the actual emoticon. And where did I say anything about you liking, not liking, or agreeing with O'Reilly? I wasn't challenging (and don't care about) your political views, nor those of other board members. All I was, and still am challenging is your statement about young people. I would still like an answer as to what you are defining as "young people."

Incidentally, I agree with you on the predicament the country finds itself in, with the anger people feel on all political sides often suspending their capacity for rational thought. It's exactly this kind of emotional vulnerability that makes people susceptible to propaganda, in all its forms. I can generally distill a decent idea of the truth from whatever news source it comes from because I have an understading that each particular media outlet will have their own particular bias. In fact, it's often useful to hear the same story reported several times, each with a different bias. My concern is that most "young people" might have a harder time not believing what they are shown on television. This is where a show like O'Reilly's could dangerous. Not because of what he believes in or says. Like him or not, no one's going to say he's an unbiased reporter of the truth, right? At least, not with a straight face. I don't care what people believe, I would jsut hope they had a chance to develop their beliefs on their own, because they actually believe them, not because of some unquestioned loyalty to their family's views or vague idea of political correctness or whatever else. Really, all I am raling against is intellectual laziness.

Believe me, I fully realize where the great majority of this board falls along political lines. I completely understand that most board members will view me as ignorant for saying these things. I am not blind to that and it doesn't bother me. We are a unique group on this board and there are many differences between us, but it's important to remember that we are not a microcosm of the country. Let's not pretend we're a diverse group here.

-Ryan