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Randi and O'Reilly?

We'll forget for a second the incredibly unlikely scenario that you've managed to observe enough of the opinions of all the members of the JREF Forums who dislike O'Reilly and have posted whether or not they're basing that opinion on having watched his show to be able to definitively say what "most" of that group thinks.
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Yes, I would think it incredibly unlikely that a 8000+ poster who has been here for six years would have even a slight clue.

That just doesn't make any sense at all.
 
I saw the O'Reilly bit on Sylvia Browne and it was beautiful. Give O'Reilly grief when he deserves it. I do that myself too. But he gets nothing but kudos for unequivocally and forcefully denouncing Sylvia and the shills that promote her.
 
Number Six said:
I saw the O'Reilly bit on Sylvia Browne and it was beautiful. Give O'Reilly grief when he deserves it. I do that myself too. But he gets nothing but kudos for unequivocally and forcefully denouncing Sylvia and the shills that promote her.
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I like to be fair too. Sure, Bill is a deeply religious person, and I get bent out of shape with his "You're going to hell for not believing" bit ... but he has been critical of Bush on many counts and has brought to light a good many people (judges, prosecutors, etc.) that have done terrible disservices to communities.
 
Number Six said:
I saw the O'Reilly bit on Sylvia Browne and it was beautiful. Give O'Reilly grief when he deserves it. I do that myself too. But he gets nothing but kudos for unequivocally and forcefully denouncing Sylvia and the shills that promote her.
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Precisely my point, Number Six. For all the O'Reilly / Fox News bashing and Anderson Cooper / CNN admiring that I've seen in these forums, which pundit really laid into Sylvia Browne and Montel Williams (something that Randiites have been clamoring for for years).

The thing about O'Reilly is that--agree with him or not--he has the balls to say what's on his mind and he's not going to pull punches to come off as "politically correct". I mean that as no insult to Anderson Cooper; I think he has a fine show. But ask me whose bad side I want to be on, and I'll take Cooper any day over O'Reilly.

Let's just hope this is the start of something more, and not just a 30 second snippet. O'Reilly should tear into these psychics the way he tore into Ward Churchill and Mike Nifong.
 
ChrisPowers said:
... Let's just hope this is the start of something more, and not just a 30 second snippet. O'Reilly should tear into these psychics the way he tore into Ward Churchill and Mike Nifong.
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Hey .. that got me thinking. What if all those here who agree with Bill on ripping apart Sylvia and Montel send Bill a letter congratulating him on his anger, and exposing such characters. He has a huge audience -- why not give him some positive re-enforcement as to prod him along in that direction?

Can you imagine a letter from Randi along those lines?
 
Just thinking said:
Oh ... and welcome to the forum!

Glad to have another (Jerseyite) on board.
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Hey, thanks man. I'm actually not really new. I've been a member since the forums first appeared here. But I never posted much, so I stopped rejoining every time they switched servers or message boards or whatever.

In fact, I was coming to Randi's site before there even was a forum or an online newsletter. Better yet, I remember when Randi had no web site. How disappointed I was!
 
Just thinking said:
Hey .. that got me thinking. What if all those here who agree with Bill on ripping apart Sylvia and Montel send Bill a letter congratulating him on his anger, and exposing such characters. He has a huge audience -- why not give him some positive re-enforcement as to prod him along in that direction?

Can you imagine a letter from Randi along those lines?
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Totally. I sent my e-mail last night. I figure, the more people he thinks will be interested, the more likely he is to focus on the story. Decency and journalistic integrity aside, all television programs need ratings in order to exist. We would be wise to use that fact to our advantage as best we can.

I urge others to do the same.
 
Almo said:
O'Reilly is such a scumbag.
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Ok, let's examine what's said and how. First off, Bill makes a point that Jeremy equates the USA with the terrorists, and claims that such an analogy offends him -- in a calm respectful tone. And why not? -- such a statement doing that to some should be no surprise. But Jeremy is shocked that Bill is offended. Shocked? -- please, that would be ridiculous.

Then his rant goes into the old illegitimate 2000 election routine -- you know, the one that James Carville claimed would be proved a fraud after all those ballots were going to be recounted fairly and show Al Gore as the true winner. James? James? -- are you there? How's that tally going? Oh well, I'm sure we'll hear back soon.

Then after some polite banting about how his (Jeremy) father too believed the 2000 election was a fraud, Jeremy recants his claim on the US being a terrorist organization.

Then he goes on blaming Bush Sr. (after losing his argument about why we should not have hit the Taliban) for 911 in that we trained armies in Afghanistan -- hence, anything they do is our fault. Just because I train someone to use a gun who then goes out and commits murder does not make me a murderer or accessory to his crimes -- anymore that the pilots that trained the hijackers how to fly are accessories to 911.

Then, as Bill stopped himself from saying things too nasty in respect to Jeremy's father, Jeremy rudely interrupts, which gets Bill to tell him to shut up.

Sorry -- Jeremy's Dad's death does not give him a free pass to say whatever he likes on someone else's program.
 
Yea and of course calling the US a terrorist organisation should immediately, without question, lose you the debate - Right? Can you explain to me the justification for the aggressive US actions against cuba for the past 50 years, for starters.
 
ChrisPowers said:
We'll forget for a second the incredibly unlikely scenario that you've managed to observe enough of the opinions of all the members of the JREF Forums who dislike O'Reilly and have posted whether or not they're basing that opinion on having watched his show to be able to definitively say what "most" of that group thinks.
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Would you like me to start a poll then? I've only been in this forum for a few years, so I guess I wouldn't have had time to observe posts about O'Reilly.
 
O'Reilly has admitted* that what he does on his show is "an act." I've personally observed him freely using logical falacies and intellectual dishonesty. His show is not live, but heavily edited to partisan objectives. If Randi and O'Reilly stick to what a cruel fraud Sylvia Browne is, Randi will do fine. If, however, Randi make statements that are out of step with the Republican party line, then O'Reilly will stop at nothing to destroy him.

My opinion, based on actually watching O'Reilly's show.

"I'm effete. I'm not a tough guy. This is all an act."
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link
 
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The only Bill O'Reilly I know is a cricketer. It seems I should be glad of that.
 
Mr. Scott said:
O'Reilly has admitted* that what he does on his show is "an act." I've personally observed him freely using logical falacies and intellectual dishonesty. His show is not live, but heavily edited to partisan objectives. If Randi and O'Reilly stick to what a cruel fraud Sylvia Browne is, Randi will do fine. If, however, Randi make statements that are out of step with the Republican party line, then O'Reilly will stop at nothing to destroy him.

My opinion, based on actually watching O'Reilly's show.
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Colbert retorted as though his mirror-image of O'Reilly had been broken: "If you're an act, then what am I?"

If you haven't seen this, check it out on youtube. I never understood Colbert (never actual sat down and tried to follow Colbert's show until this) until I saw their cross interviews. It's very funny.

And to "Just Thinking", I don't think the argument is that if you teach a person to shoot a gun, it's not your fault when they kill someone. I'd hope that's obvious.

What Jeremy is against is with the US policy of taking sides not for the betterment of the country, but for financial gains, (weapons and oil are big businesses) and then cutting when the **** hits the fan. Therefore it's not as simple as these fundamentalist killed our people and now we must kill them (which seems to be O'Reilly's simplistic and irrational views).

Jeremy is trying to think rationally after his father's tragedy and this Ahole decides he knows best and belittles this person's respect for his own father.

That's atleast how I saw it.
 
With friends like these...

Bill O'Reilly is a deliberate liar and a demagogue, both qualities that are diametrically opposed to our values as skeptics. While I understand why Randi would choose appear on such a show (and I don't entirely disagree), I nevertheless think JREF should tread carefully in associating with such a character.

And I won't even go into the sexual harrassment suit...
 
thaiboxerken said:
Would you like me to start a poll then? I've only been in this forum for a few years, so I guess I wouldn't have had time to observe posts about O'Reilly.
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Surely Thaiboxerken, you can't possible state anything about the hundreds upon hundreds of us who have strong opinions about Bill O but never hit the send button to share them with you.
The active posters do not necessarily reflect ALL of us JREF members.
(By the way i abhor bill o'lielly (sic) and at the same time would have loved to see Mr. Randi make mince meat of him)
b44
 
Buckaroo said:
With friends like these...

Bill O'Reilly is a deliberate liar and a demagogue, both qualities that are diametrically opposed to our values as skeptics. While I understand why Randi would choose appear on such a show (and I don't entirely disagree), I nevertheless think JREF should tread carefully in associating with such a character.

And I won't even go into the sexual harrassment suit...
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<spits falafel lunch into his napkin and throws it away....>
:eek:
 
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