My posts today have featured two particularly gruesome subjects. Since I am on a roll, I thought why not try for a hat trick? Bill O’Reilly, the resident jingo at that “Fair and Balanced” news organization is at it again. A few weeks back he encouraged Al Qaeda to lay waste to San Francisco. Recently he has created his own media blacklist, sort of like Oprah’s book club, except what NOT to read. SM reader “Mephistopheles1981” informs us that Bill has most recently decided to take Circuit City and its “Indian owners” to task for not sharing in the Christmas spirit. He is sick and tired of all these secular stores that take advantage of Christmas giving, without acknowledging it. Only one problem. Circuit City isn’t owned by Indians. Media Matters for America reports:
O’REILLY: Yeah, Target’s changed its policy. And we appreciate that.
CALLER: That’s fantastic. So, I hope now you can do something about Circuit City. I was in there last week —
O’REILLY: [Laughing] Circuit City —
CALLER: — and —
O’REILLY: I think people from India own Circuit City. I think that’s the problem there.O’REILLY: I can’t — I can’t do — I can’t do everybody. I’m trying to do the big ones that are all over the place. Yeah, look, you know — but again if you go into any retail store and you’re buying a Christmas present and they refuse to acknowledge Christmas, you know what I’m going to do. You know what E.D.’s going to do —
…Contrary to O’Reilly’s ownership theory, none of the major, direct, institutional, or mutual fund holders of the publicly traded company is Indian. The same appears to be true of the company’s senior management and its board of directors. In addition, the retailer limits its business to the United States and Canada.
It’s not just what he says. Click on the audio file to listen to how he says it. Tell me his voice isn’t lined with a tinge of bigotry. Oh please, oh please can we end up on his blacklist? We are Indian owned. I’d rather be on Oprah’s list but we got no shot at that.
-__- Does he know ANYthing about Christmas? Perhaps he’s heard of a little man I like to call Emperor Constantine and how Christmas was originally instituted as a Christian holiday as an acknowledgement/compromise of the Pagan winter solstace? Gah… Why do people like O’Reilly inflict their dumbassery on the rest of us?
On the clip, he doesn’t sound like he was serious about Indians actually owning Circuit City. But totally using Indians as a comedic foil.
Another reason to hate this pious womanizing adulterous faux-working class hero. Shame on the MSM on dropping the loofah story.
I read about this on the media matters website a couple days ago, but somebody mentioned in the comments there that he was probably refering to native americans and not southeast asian indians. Hope keith olbermann picks up on this story. He knows how to bring this asshat down a couple of notches.
That’s what it sounded like to me, along the lines of the standard “Indian call center, engineers, computer guys, geek” reference.
According to the post, he said ‘people from India’
Southeast Asian Indians? You mean desis in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos?
Talk radio is full of buffoons. My 2 stories are old b/c i dont listen to radio any more. Curtis Sliva once made arrogant remarks saying that in all ww footages he did not see an indian soldier. The tone was confrontational derisve The context was when an sikh wanted to keep his turban and be an NYC policeman. Another was the bob grant remark made years ago. Heres the link
His remarks were
Again it was the tone in both the cases. The implied message was “Fuck off, you indians” which even for the non PC wannabee(republican/liberterians) is difficult to say.
He is the shock jock of cable news and wants people to discuss him which is exactly what you guys are doing. Ignore people like O’Reilly and they will go away.
Sorry, I meant South Asian Indians.
Here’s the correct link for the Media Matters report on the Circuit City comment.
MRT, The commenters that you mention were being sarcastic.
i don’t understand…who are these people that are watching bill o’reilly? it scares me that there people out there that actually think he makes sense…and not acknowledging christmas when we go into buy presents?? wtf is he talking about, it’s not like i expect to be “acknowledged” when i’m buying a birthday present..
I love it. Circuit City must be run by the stormtroopers of diversity (TC 01:30 or so).
Bill OÂ’Reilly is a moron, we all know that, I mean how can people watch his show for anything other than the “entertainment” value. Whats scares me is people do, and that speaks volumes…
I don’t really have anything to add to this discussion. Just wanted to be on record on this thread as having said…”Bill O’Reilly is a moron”… you know..just in case SM does make it to this retard’s blacklist…i wanna be part of that!
Folks,
This guy is attacking even White Christians on this issue. I mean, according to him, everyone’s a grinch who’s out to get Christmas.
But to find the real grinch, he ought to look in the mirror…
M. Nam
i don’t understand…who are these people that are watching bill o’reilly? it scares me that there people out there that actually think he makes sense
i agree with you sparky. he seems to appeal to these redneck bon again i hate evryone who isn’t a good christian/toby keith look alike..often the kinds of people who can tout how great they are, and come off amazingly like terrorists..especially when calling others this. and also, what maks me wonder is why we have to have such a fit over christmas and christian holidays. the jewish aren’t having a fit because people don’t say happy hanukkah, or uproars over no widespread diwali or vaisakhi. nope. and it seems that’s what gets shoved down the throat – why it is the christians who have to ‘push’ their faith?!
the sarcasm was all more like excues to be outrightly uncalled for.
No Moor, the issue here is the patronising stance towards Indians. Just because he patronises “White Christians” too, as you claim, doesn’t make it right to patronise Indians.
I agree though, he is a little bereft of the Christmas spirit.
No Moor, the issue here is the patronising stance towards Indians. Just because he patronises “White Christians” too, as you claim, doesn’t make it right to patronise Indians
oh, i agree fullheartedly. but it amaezes me how people who think like him, especially these redneck borna gain christians are WASP only types, and have no room in their mind for anyone else, esepcially indians, middle eastern, and asian people. it makes one wonder what thye’d do if they seached their heritage and found out they had some in them…would they still be like this?
Do not underestimate O’Reilly’s fan following. Or the Christian right. They put their guy in the White House, for Ch***** sake (pun intended).
If you have any doubts, know this – The “Left Behind Series” sold no less than 60 million copies in America. Disguised as a work of fiction, and pretending to be the author’s “interpretation” of the Bible, it’s a belligerent call to destroy whoever does not accept Christ. The agent of this destruction is the American military, which is bombing the rest of the world into oblivion.
http://www.leftbehind.com/
“he encouraged Al Qaeda to lay waste to San Francisco
Hilarious. Add Berkeley to the list for perfect justice.
After you, Orange County.
most desis have no problem saying Merry Christmas. In fact, at this point its to the point where you wait for the conversation should end so you can say “merry christmas”. Desis go to the store now just so they can tell the checkout person, “merry christmas”. maybe we should take out an ad in the NYTIMES wishing everyone a merry christmas.
this is totally an issue thought up by someone (cough cough GOP) to rally the faithful against an “trend” that is really there.
The number of desis who begrudge people a merry christmas must number 2. And neither got what they wanted last year from Santa
Amen.
The perfect distraction in a time of authorized wiretapping of US civilians, Plamegate, Katrina-rama and other assorted POTUS carnival antics. oh, and the war that’s not ‘officially’ a war.
most desis have no problem saying Merry Christmas. In fact, at this point its to the point where you wait for the conversation should end so you can say “merry christmas”. Desis go to the store now just so they can tell the checkout person, “merry christmas”. maybe we should take out an ad in the NYTIMES wishing everyone a merry christmas.
Quite true! My desi friends, family and even my desi mailman has wihsed more greetings than most others i know. Course, they’re just usually friendlier in general too.
oh, and the war that’s not ‘officially’ a war
hahahah…oh yes, can’t forget that one! certain head stuck up one’s own ass’s baby!
I totally begrudge people Christmas. Bah fucking humbug!
By the way, can I just tell you how much I love that the confirmation-anti-spambot word is now “brown?” That’s so great.
Did anyone see Jon Stewart interview O’Reilly? That was hysterical. If you have On Demand, it’s on there. I insist you watch it at once.
Oh yeah, about Bill,
I’m one of those scary belligerent Christians Duh was talking about. But I do hate most of the talk show hosts, I actually thought O’Reilly was comparitively moderate. I guess I was wrong. I would like to hear him explain his comments though.
But man, did his comments sound stupid or what?
I wish I could kidnap this guy and set him loose in some random street in India, with no papers and no means of communication, and just watch him (not) survive.
Wait…how’s that for a reality show?
I guess your right, Abhi. The first time I read those comments, I thought it was one of his minions trying to explain away his most recent brain fart.
Desis go to the store now just so they can tell the checkout person, “merry christmas”.
This desi does not. Though this desi was happy to read this.
Just got a sec now – but if you haven’t seen OUTFOXED, please do take a look. I saw it quite by chance and as a non-American who didn’t know that much about Fox and this fuckstick above, I was flabbergasted. Very good documentary.
I am consistently surprised (although getting used to it by now) at how much blatant denigration of Indians people are allowed to get away with in the American media.
To give an analogous example, Prince Philip (the Queen’s husband) visited a factory somewhere a couple of years ago, and upon noticing some allegedly shoddy wirework in some components being constructed, commented “It looks like it’s been made by an Indian”. He was subsequently (metaphorically) torn apart by the British media right across the board.
You guys in the US need to be more vocal in objecting to slander or general insults towards South Asians. I’m not saying that such things don’t also still happen here in the UK too, but to give you a point of comparison about how much matters have progressed here, Sanjeev Bhaskar (of “Goodness Gracious Me” and “The Kumars at no. 42”) started a new Rockford-files type detective comedy-drama earlier this week called Chopratown, with himself as the main character, and with extensive settings in London’s South Asian-populated areas. And the show’s on BBC1 — the biggest UK-wide, public (ie. Government-owned) terrestrial television channel, at 9pm — primetime viewing on Monday nights.
jai–i think the people that tend to get trampled upon the most are recent immigrants…you guys in the uk have third and fourth generation desis who have as much entitlement as their white counterparts, and have more leverage when it comes to battling racism. we’ve made a little progress here, but we’re still behind…at least we have places like sepia mutiny to vent our frustrations 🙂
Sparky,
I’m not sure about “fourth generation” — South Asians in the UK have only been here in large numbers for 35-40 years, and the largest “waves” were in the late 60s and early 70s. However, it is becoming apparent that the US is a little behind with regards to racism towards desis, as you’ve mentioned.
Bub, actually the quote was “It looks like it’s been wired by an Indian”. Excellent! I collected all his quotes once, I must do it again and stick it up on the blog.
I love Prince Philip, I wish he’d been my granddad. He’s the only thing about the funking Royal Family I like, the one reason I shall accept for keeping the monarchy. When he dies, I want the whole lot moved into a council estate in Walthamstow.
Jai, as you know South Asians in America have started their mission to integrate and become part of the mainstream consciousness later than us in the UK. I don’t think anyone will argue with the fact that desis have an easier time in the UK overall (with the exception of Mr M Nam).
It’s natural for us to be more visible in the media (in fact, the extreme of visible – we’re everywhere, it feels like overkill sometimes!) not only because we’ve been here longer (not THAT long though, 60s & 70s) but also we make up a bigger proportion of the population.
In America, the main non-white community is black. I do feel that TV stations, film producers and so forth have mental quotas they fill subsconsciously. Black people are on the verge of not being thought of as ‘a minority’ actor/presenter/commentator. Many Asian Americans (i.e. EAST Asians) have been in America longer than brown people have been in the UK and they are more visible in all forms of the media.
“So we gots an Asian, an African…that’s all the continents covered, right?”
Brown people have been the forgotten sixth for many years in America.
I first realised what it was really like with posts like ‘Look, brown dude in an advert for a mobile phone’ popping up on here. Crazy. I remember thinking that when I first arrived in the UK!
So what I’m trying to say is that there are two issues here. 1 – Desis have further to go Stateside and 2 – America has a lot of assholes.
There’s a different phenomenon on our side of the Pond though. With ‘India Week’ on the BBC a few years back, ‘Indian Summer’ on Ch4 in 2003 etc, there are no dearth of programmes about India. The political ones are almost always superb. But the cultural things make me cringe a lot of the time. You know the type, the one that only talks to the Swami Narayan sect when doing a programme about Hinduism and paints a warped picture. It provokes the reaction “Bugger, I wish they hadn’t bothered”
But we’re emerging from that. The Great British Asian Invasion last year was really good (hackneyed name though) and the Heaven & Earth show does really good segments on all religions, including accurate descriptions of more obscure religions like Baha’i, TM or Jainism. Shit, the ITV celebrity spelling bee had a cocky little Indian kid as ‘THE EXPERT!
Did you see Chopratown? My first reaction was delight that it was not called Pateltown. But I only saw a few minutes – it looked shite. Then again, for me to watch ANYthing do with Sanjeev Bhaskar/Meera Syaal (I think of them as one entity now, like Bennifer. Syeev?) is a tall order. I’m sick of them. See what I mean about overkill?
Wow, long post, sorry.
I cannot believe I’m about to defend Bill O’Really but I actually don’t think he was trying to be racist when he made this statement (beyond his normal jingoism). I think he was trying to mean that since Indians owned CC that he wouldn’t be as justified in forcing them to say ‘Merry Christmas’. Personally I find that more insulting since if CC was desi owned they would be blasting the Christmas theme louder than anyone.
Of course the truth is that whether he was being racist or not, it’s just another in a long line of O’Reilly stunts that just make him look like an ass.
“I think he was trying to mean that since Indians owned CC that he wouldn’t be as justified in forcing them to say ‘Merry Christmas’.”
He’s an ass that doesn’t care that millions of Indians are Christians.
Bong Breaker,
Yes I know about the different transatlantic dynamics regarding the US-based and UK-based desi populations and their representation/perception in the mainstream community & culture, we’ve discussed it before. However, it is good to see the advances British Asians have made, especially during the last 10-15 years. Plus you don’t need me to tell you that there’s at least one South Asian anchor on most of the major terrestrial news channels here (plus Sky News); a lady called Priya Kaur Jones is also about to join the Five News team too.
I saw Chopratown and enjoyed it as “Hustle”-type light entertainment. Slickly done, slightly unpredictable and a little surreal, clever (and at times very amusing) script, along with some recognisable desi situations (the banter between his parents was spot-on). The “Hindu Liberation Front” part also raised some smiles. It’s been accurately described as a modern, UK-desi version of The Rockford Files*. Even the music, especially during the opening titles, was appropriately funky in a 70s way.
*Mutineers of a certain age, myself included, will know what I’m referring to.
Fuck Christmas is a pretty good overview of this whole “war on christmas” mess. Lots of great links taking FOX news to task for being so stupid.
How can anyone, at any point, have ever taken Bill O’Reilly as being a moderate?
The man may as well wear a sign that says ‘Sponsored by the Federalist Society, Concerned Women for America and Exxon-Mobil’.
Here is a link for the segment called Secular Central on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Its a rebuttal (of sorts) to Oreilly about Oreilly’s sarcastic dig at Jon Stewart. As usual its great.
Bill O’Reilly joins protestors outside Sacramento WalMart
Do you know how humorously ironic Bill O’Reilly, representative of FoxNews, protesting WalMart is? I take comfort from such inbred twattery.
whats this nonsense about putting the Christ back in Christmas…why the heck is it called Christmas anyway… personally, i think we need to put the Hebrew ‘Jesus’ back into the day that honors “the most famous Jew that every lived.” How the heck do you say “Merry Jesus’s Birthday” in Aramaic… i’m gonna boycott OÂ’Reilly until he figures it out.
Acknowledge Christmas? Maybe he still thinks that Santa exists and we were created by “intelligent design”
Let’s fight the method with which the idea is pursued – but let’s not trash the idea itself.
I think that companies are making a big mistake by attempting to secularise a religious holiday (would it still be “Happy Holidays” in the end of December if Christmas were to fall in April?), and I understand why many practising Christians are pissed off. There are many who are carrying out this fight without being disrespectful towards Jews, Indians etc. My issue with Bill is with the method in which he chooses to exercise his right of free speech and dissent.
There are many issues with which I agree with Bill, and a few that I disagree with. This happens to be one of the latter.
M. Nam
I really don’t see why a holiday that is clearly just a piston in the huge honking 12-cylinder engine that is the American economy has to be acknowledged as anything other than what it is: pure crap.
You want to celebrate Christ’s birth? Christians, please attend. Do it at any other point in the year. Pray away, no one will stop you. Hell, no one’s stopping you now! But this insistence that we all kowtow to the orthodoxy that is Christmas is so goddamn Mao’s Little Red Book that I want to take up arms against this ridiculous sea of troubles.
Not that my opposition will end a damn thing.
So when someone says “Happy Holidays” to me, I say, “Not really fucking likely.” And if they say “Merry Christmas,” I say “Screw you, you religious rightwing nutjob.” And if they look wounded or hurt, I hit them in the head with a tire iron and then push them off a bridge.
Because the world is a polarized place, and only extremists need apply for anything anymore. Moderation is for pussies, especially where powerful forces like Wal-Mart, O’Rongly, and Fox News gather. It’s not a celebration, it’s an assault on all that’s decent, and quite a bit that’s indecent, and also on all my goddamn senses.
I am sick unto death of hearing muzak Christmas carols in Walgreens, of the tiny slivers of tinsel that litter the ground in my office, of the asshat morons who must start a riot in every mall and shopping center in America starting from the day after Thanksgiving, and lasting until the end of January (since they have to return all the stupid shit they bought that they were too dumb to figure out how to operate, assemble, finance, or size correctly).
Civil wars have started over less.
I sometimes wonder if Al Quaeda finds it easier to recruit during the holiday season.
Good lad Salil, excellent work.
You terrify me now MoorNam, whereas before you just confused me. You think the war in Iraq was legal? You want al Qaeda to attack San Francisco? You think Cindy Sheehan committed treason?
Hey, we report. You decide.
Salil
What do you say when someone wishes you a Happy Diwali?
I did not realize wishing someone Merry Christmas put you automatically in the Falwell camp.
What about all the religious festivals in India? Should all that public space be de-festivalized so that minority religions are not offended? Is this even possible, given the Indian culture? Sorry, just because some evangelical types are dumbasses doesn’t mean all Christians (or indeed, even all evangelicals) are. Bill O’Reilly, on the other hand, is in the dictionary next to dumbass.
Merry Christmas.
Couldn’t agree more.
The majority of the right wing Fox News types just can’t be bothered to be knowledgable about things that don’t fit into their pre-determined stereotypes.
Is ‘rightwing Fox News types’ a pre determined stereotype? Inquiring minds want to know….
Stereotypes in the comments section of Sepiamutiny? The Blasphemy!!!