Oh, O'Reilly (Updated)
You know, Bill O'Reilly has shown us something interesting and depressing: To wit, there are people "out there" in our country who are surprised by the fact that people different from them are not so different from them.
Also, O'Reilly has shown us that he is probably among the most narrow and uninformed people among media "personalities."
In case you haven't heard or seen the recent quotes, here are a few choice ones: "I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City," he said. "It was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks [and has a] primarily black patronship. It was the same. And that's really what this society is really all about now here in the U.S.A. There's no difference." He later added: "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, '[Expletive], I want some more ice tea.' It was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there ordering and having fun and there wasn't any craziness at all."
O'Reilly also described going to an Anita Baker concert at Radio City Music Hall at which "the blacks [patrons] were well dressed." He added, "This is what white America doesn't know. They think the culture is dominated by Twista, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg."
If I were "white America," I think I might be offended to be lumped in with a mass of people (and is there one "white America" really?) who think that black culture is dominated by Twista, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg.
I am just guessing here, but I think that most white Americans are aware of people like Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell, and Halle Berry. These folks are about as far away from Twista, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg as you can get. For better or worse, there's room enough in America's social and cultural landscape for all them, as there is room for people from just about every background and stripe under the sun.
Again, just guessing, but I think Americans of all stripes are aware of the many different kinds of Americans who are black. Now, as Mr. O'Reilly has done, they may choose to ignore the complexity and diversity of black people and focus on the sensational and stereotypical.
That's another interesting and depressing matter altogether.