Without a Net

Bill O'Reilly has produced a particularly asinine set of talking points complaining about people who write things on the World Wide Web. Sample:

The reason these net people get away with all kinds of stuff is that they work for no one. They put stuff up with no restraints. This, of course, is dangerous, but it symbolizes what the Internet is becoming.

Bloggers, unsurprisingly, are gnashing away at the Factor's soft flesh, with Eugene Volokh and James Lileks leading the attack.

Among Bungalow Bill's more confident assertions is that "you can bet you won't be seeing many corrections on the net." This is true, narrowly -- O'Reilly's June 7 column misidentifying Los Angeles Times Editor John Carroll as John "Roberts" has yet to be corrected on the Web sites of either Creators Syndicate or AOL's Intellivu.

Comments

[Edward Edwins]

Nice one, Tim. Sounded like a recycled National Lampoon piece, though. I think it was the one about how you can slander the dead without fear of prosecution. Good read, that one. But maybe you were just illustrating O'Reiledup's fears, eh?

[jake]

What's irritating about the Internet is that so many people use multiple aliases. Ben Franklin would never have done such a thing, and at least he coulb spell.

[Bill O'ReillyistalkingListenUp]

You guys need to stop picking on me. The internet is completely out of control in the way it attacks celebrities. I haven't seen anything this bad since that old TV show "A Current Affair."

Wait a minute.....

[Anonymous]

Yes, a little waste of time, but then there's nothing like piling on! O'Reilly is nothing but an entertainer--like the rest of 'em--or maybe a carnival barker. And his views, well he's not a conservative, and he's certainly not a libertarian; he's one of those throw back blue collar democrats, a left-wing hawk--and that's a real contradiction nowadays. No wonder everyone finds him ripe for taking pot shots at. He kinda reminds me of Hillary--elitist and arrogant.

[Croesus]

What a jackass. Yes, we should just leave commentary and the exchange of ideas to the professionals. Elitist pig-fucker.

[David2]

Bill O'Riley is nothing more than a tabloid personality. That's how he got started, and that's what he is today. He has no more credibility than those tabloid mags you see at the supermarket checkout rack right next to the breath mints.

[Lazarus]

His gimmick seems to be button pushing. Outrage such as this has made him a wealthy man. I am sure he appreciates it.

[Anonymous]

This story is hardly worthy of space on Hit and Run. O'Reilly has said lots of things in the past that are ten times as stupid. Why waste our time on this?

[Kevin Carson]

"They work for no one"? "...no restraints"?

Know what this reminds me of? The English gentry 200-250 years ago who demanded the enclosure of commons, complaining that when laboring people could subsist off their own land, they were unwilling to work hard for others for whatever shitty wages they were offered.

Free access to the net, like self-employment, is really a bitch for people who like to control others. Maybe we need a licensing system so only properly qualified "professionals" can express their opinions.

Yet another reason to dismiss O'Reilly as not just an arrogant fucking pig, but an INTELLECTUALLY DISHONEST one who can't abide a situation where somebody can talk back.

[O'Reilly]

That's not true! You can't just dismiss me as intellectually dishonest. I can, too, abide situations where somebody can talk back.

OK, I'll give you the last word ...

Go ahead.

[HH]

And yet, he's still classier than Aaron Brown who used the occasion of David Brinkley's death to take a shot at the competition...

[Tim Robbins]

I heard Bill O'Reilley likes to give himself cream, crushed ice, and rock salt enemas at parties. Then he strips off his pants, squats it all out on the dining room table and announces,

"Hey everybody! Eat my ice cream!"

[John Ramsay]

Thanks for that Tim. It really adds to the dialog. So much for reading blogs at lunch.

[Lloyd Albano]

That was lovely Tim. As for O'Reilly, the guy has definintely jumped the shark. Ailes has got to be putting in a few hours figuring out when his star performer's pathetic, ignorant, bullying, me me me attitude is gonna stop playing so well and reaches the tipping point when everyone but Bill is shaking their head in false pity. Too bad, he's always been an arrogant jerk, but I'd still take ten of him for every Larry King/Baba Wawa.

[Anonymous]

but...