Let's Be Consistent, Bill O'Reilly And Like-Minded People

This past week on "The View," guest Bill O'Reilly said something so typical, it actually got two of the show's co-hosts to hoist themselves up off the couch and truck it backstage to the craft service table for some Red Vines and Cheezits before the segment was over. They were discussing that stupid so-called Ground Zero Mosque (again) when tribal Bill screamed that it should be built somewhere else.

Instead of fuming over bowls of candy and nuts, Whoopie and Joy should have tested Bill's commitment to his own standard. Here's how:

Will O'Reilly and people like him heed suggestions from victims of racially inspired white terrorists, spree killers, assassins, and such as he expects Muslims to follow as a result of the September 11 Attacks? Given patterns of white supremacists acting out, one can argue that Whites are trying to kill us.

Choose your era. From the Ida B. Wells strange fruit years to 2009 when white supremacist Richard Poplawski killed 3 cops because he thought Obama was coming to get his guns; from Klansmen blowing up little girls in a church to Bufford Furrow gunning down kids at a Jewish community center before killing a Filipino mail carrier in Los Angeles; white terrorism is a reality. There is no sense in mitigating it with any nuance. There are white people filled with so much hate and/or paranoia that it drives them to kill. They have done it in the past and there is no reason to expect they won't try again.

If Bill O'Reilly believes that those who culturally resemble perpetrators of terrorist acts should maintain low profiles in the name of good taste, then he should start by taking himself off the air. Then, just like he is doing with New York Muslims, we can establish restraining orders for white people.

Needless to say, I would not expect Bill O'Reilly to go for this. It would put him in the same category as the Muslims he lectures now about decency. Out of his own sense of self-preservation he would argue one of the following:

1. "As abhorrent as these racist acts are, they don't in any way compare to what happened to 'us' on 9/11."

2. "I stand in the great majority of white people who find these racist acts abominable. It is offensive to think that just because I am white I should be punished for the actions of a few racist knuckleheads who happen to be white!"

3. "Exactly who's going to make these arbitrary assignments as to where I can go and what I can do?"

As for argument 1, it is the type of subjective analysis that would be expected from someone who knows they are about to be forensically identified as a hypocrite. It's not the same thing to YOU, Bill O'Reilly.

Argument 2 is a logical response. Bill O'Reilly should not be presumed in cahoots with white supremacists just as Muslim-Americans should not be lumped with murderous extremists.

Argument 3 points out how ridiculous arbitrary assignments are in this situation. Some Mosque opponents have determined what number of blocks from Ground Zero would be appropriate for a Mosque to be built, but that is just a random opinion.

In taking the opinion that he does on this New York Mosque deal, O'Reilly is speaking for a group of people who are not yet identified by name, but I will identify them now; they are People Who Are Angry At Muslims. The case made against the New York Mosque is all about anger from what I hear. Anger may be natural, but it can be dangerous and when people try to justify decisions they make out of anger it affects their integrity.

I won't change my opinion of the proposed location of the New York Mosque, but I will have a little more respect for Bill O'Reilly and people like him when they hold themselves to the same ridiculous standards they expect Muslim people to follow. I'm not holding my breath. There but for the grace of God, Bill.