Bill O’Reilly went to Breitbart to opine about us awful lefties and promote his latest book, which I hope will end up remaindered. Bill seems to think that the whole business with confederate statues is tied up with the constitution.
On this morning’s edition of “Breitbart News Daily,” O’Reilly spoke about his new book about the American Revolution before pivoting to discussing progressive protesters who have recently called for cities and states to remove Confederate monuments in the wake of a violent white supremacist Alt-Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month.
Oh my. So O’Reilly fancies himself a historian now. That book has to be one gigantic near-fatal eyeroll. I’ll have to content myself with imagining the unholy mess it will be, because I’ll never read it.
“There’s no question in my mind that it’s the Constitution that they ultimately want to overturn,” O’Reilly said. “The statues are just a wayside to get to the Constitution.”
“They never say it, but that’s what it is,” O’Reilly continued. “The statues are just symbols, and I said very early on when I saw this controversy in Charlottesville , ‘Hey, it’s not going to stop with Robert E. Lee or the Confederate generals.’ This is going to go into the fabric of our country.”
Actually, Bill, they don’t have anything to do with one another. That said, other countries have never had a problem with updating their versions of constitutions, recognizing that times change and progress marches on in spite of people like yourself. That’s a mark of a healthy society. Instead, in this country, there’s an extreme sickness called constitution worship, which makes it damn near impossible to update the worn out, fucked up document at all. Any healthy society would look at it and say “yes, it’s time for changes, let’s get that re-write done.” I don’t have the least bit of trouble envisioning those who wrote it going back over the years, and deciding it was time for a change (Thomas Jefferson wanted it to be torn up every 19 years*). I doubt they thought anyone would be stupid enough to preserve it for hundreds of years. And yet, here we are, with a most outdated document, which politicians ignore and constantly sidestep, unless someone they don’t like is doing the same, then they scream about their constitution love. Right now, there’s an argument before the court which says that wedding cakes deserve first amendment rights, but queer people don’t. I think that’s a fair indicator that it’s time for the constitution to go, because it’s used the same way christians use the bible – it’s there to be twisted into supporting every evil viewpoint they can come up with, it’s there to support hate.
As for the “fabric” of our country, well, when fabric is old, worn, frayed thin, with a zillion holes in, it’s time to replace it. Any idiot ought to be able to grasp that one, including you, Mr. O’Reilly.
Via RWW.
ETA: Apparently, this is Constitution Day. A flag wavin’ holiday no less. Point fuckin’ proved. Christ.
Thank you! It’s a thought I’ve had a few times, but never expressed. So many times I’ve seen arguments over the precise interpretation of the right to arm bears, or what, exactly, counts as protected free speech and so forth, and it’s looked as silly as Biblical-literalists arguing over the meaning and consequences of a half-sentence in their holy book. Forget the bloody piece of paper: state your principles and defend them on grounds of necessity and morality.
The bloody piece of paper is very much a product of its times, which includes a healthy dose of misogyny, and an overdose of bigotry. Much of what’s written was specifically to protect slave owners. It has no relevance no, and it should have no relevance to any individual in this country.
“There’s no question in my mind that it’s the Constitution that they ultimately want to overturn,” O’Reilly said. “The statues are just a wayside to get to the Constitution.”
The constitution (and the social contract) were scrapped almost immediately after it was written. O’Reilly’s a hell of a historian, if he hasn’t figured that out.
Marcus:
Exactly. And lawmakers are constantly flouting their “beloved” constitution, especially in cases like reproductive rights. They don’t give a tiny shit about it, when it comes to getting what they want.
When O’Really speaks of the fabric of OUR constitution in the context of the Confederates, he makes it clear that he sides with the pro-slavery rebellion against the USA and the constitution we have lived under since 1865.
BillO seems unable to abide by the amnesty terms that were offered to all the other Confederates during Reconstruction.
He should delete his accounts with his book publishers and stop all this rebel talk.
The Confederate States of America is not my country nor is it the fabric of my country.
Busterggi @ 6:
Nor mine.