To: Bill O'Reilly, Fox News Entertainment
Re: Article in Parade, September 21, 2003
Read your recent bit, Bill, for Parade Magazine,
"How To Spot The Good Guys." Your article confuses.
Which is the real Bill, Bill, The Friendly Family Man who says he knows
how to Look Out For Kids, or the angry defensive guy who looks out for his ideas by shouting others down, you know, like you're getting them from
On High and auditioning for Springer? Even kids know,
the kind deed weighs more than the crass antic.
To be fair, you give some sound advice
on looking out for kids.
But your Parade bit disappoints, too.
You seem, if disagreeable, smart enough to say something beyond
the obvious. Yet it's already understood by most people, bad people
tend to do bad things, good people, better than that. No surprise;
that's how we define character, largely, by conduct.
So you admonish us to associate with good guys
and avoid bad guys. Hello, halo.
Still Bill, the easy part of friendship is to be generous with people
who are generous with you. Who does not know that. The hard part:
to befriend people who see life differently, or whose life is different,
who are not as lucky as you say you are, or who may be weasel-like,
inconsistent in the treatment of others, what you say you hate the most.
Notice how you may resemble the one thing you hate the most
the next time you go off on a guest who disagrees.
On-air heaving or civil debate? How would you want
to be treated as a guest in another's zone?
Your article fails to say what we're to do when a good guy acts
badly, or a baddy does a good thing. Nor do you give us a clue as to
what we're to do with the bad guys, other than Avoid Them.
Do you not believe in redemption?
Consider this when looking out for others:
Healing sometimes hurts.
Intent can make a difference.
Method may reveal motive.
Words can wound.
