O'Reilly scandal hardly a shock
Bill O’Reilly has been called a pig.
Yes, a pig, and before you start screaming about political bias here, I can quote the exact same word as it was used deservedly about Bill Clinton — who looked America in the eye and lied about how he’d exploited a White House intern.
The word also has been thrown at Bill Cosby. And David Letterman.
There are plenty more but at the moment, I can’t be bothered running down the list.
Now, though, there are millions of people who want to put them all in a pen full of mud, where they should feel perfectly at home.
Why not?
These all are men who have not respected women — not women in general, nor women as individuals in the workplace or in personal situations.
O’Reilly and the others named here are products of a culture that was fairly standard a half-century ago, but gradually is being stamped out of our culture — one scandal or lawsuit at a time.
Eventually, men who use power and position to treat women as second-class citizens or objects for their amusement will fade out of a society that rejects them.
IN FACT, O’Reilly is on the verge of being run to ground right now.
Even with his popular show on the conservative FOX network drawing an average of 3.4 million viewers per night, defections by advertisers and howls of protest from various women’s groups have changed the picture for O’Reilly.
He’s normally the loudest noise in the room, but suddenly the 21st century and objections from decent people have caught up with him.
The present hubbub arose from a story in The New York Times, which claimed that FOX and/or O’Reilly had paid $13 million to five women — each time to settle a suit involving some form of sexual harassment.
O’Reilly, who demanded silence from each woman in return for a settlement, predictably claims he’s done nothing wrong.
Hah.
Bill, you’ve said yourself during rants on the “O’Reilly Factor” that people don’t need to settle lawsuits when they’re unfairly targeted for a payday. They fight ’em because they’re tough and they have right on their side.
So why these settlements, then?
You don’t suppose it was because a couple of the women had taped conversations in which you wouldn’t have sounded like Mr. Right in an open court, do you?
The hell of it is, Bill, you always come off as the voice of justice and morality.
Some women would take issue with you on that.
WE SHOULDN’T have been surprised by these accusations,
Anyone who doubts that need only check out a movie called “Shut Up and Sing.” It’s a documentary about the Dixie Chicks, the best-selling female band of all time.
Back in 2003, the Dixie Chicks were targeted by well-organized, far-right conservatives because Lubbock-born lead singer Natalie Maines — on the eve of the disastrous Iraq war — said this to a concert crowd in London: “We’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”
For that remark, the anti-war Dixie Chicks endured a boycott by two huge radio networks, watched crowds smash their CDs, and finally stood totally vulnerable on a Dallas stage just hours after Maines had received a credible and terrifying death threat.
In the middle of all the hubbub, Bill O’Reilly described the Dixie Chicks this way on the air: “They’re callow, foolish women who deserve to be slapped around.”
SLAPPED AROUND?
There, in two words, was the real Bill O’Reilly.
So just like Clinton when Monica Lewinsky turned up with that blue dress, we knew exactly where women fit in O’Reilly’s mind.
When this current harassment lawsuit scandal exploded, I instantly thought of another two words ...
Of course.
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Steve Cameron is a special assignment reporter for The Press. He can be reached at scameron@cdapress.com.