He has, on the occasion of the wedding of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge no less, slandered the British Royal Family as robbers, presiding over an empire built on theft, tonight that bold, fresh piece of excrement Bill O'Reilly on Fox News Channel turned his hateful ignorance against the martyred Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. The subject at issue was a doctored satirical picture of Michelle Obama portrayed as the late Queen and the reaction of many Democrats that the picture was "racist". O'Reilly didn't think it was racist (nor do I) but he did think it was unfair to compare Mrs Obama to Marie Antoinette because the Queen was, in his words, a real "villain" and of course he brought up the old, "Let them eat cake" line which -as has been stated countless times- has been proven by eminent historians to be an absolute lie. This willing ignorance infuriates me to no end. If the comparison of Michelle Obama to Marie Antoinette was offensive or unfair to anyone it would be the late Queen herself. The Queen was as far from being a snob as anyone of her background could possibly be. She was not villainous, she was not uncaring and she died a pious and heroic death at the hands of godless, bloodthirsty traitors. I am not one of those monarchists who despises the United States or Americans on principle (some do, even American monarchists) and I even allow them their republican fussing because I know they can't really help it -to some extent they have to be that way or they have no reason to exist. However, I get fed to the teeth with this sort of drive-by royal bashing. It seems particularly outrageous when Americans (especially the ultra-patriotic sort) target King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France considering that without the intervention of His Most Christian Majesty the United States would almost certainly not exist at all.
To Bill O'Reilly, here's a "Fox News Alert" for ya: WISE UP YOU PINHEAD!!!
(breath...in...out...in...out...okay...)
I find this so frustrating. Its to be expected having the liberals trash monarchs but when the so called conservatives do it it (especially with complete nonsense like this) I find myself very upset. Americans need to stop trashing monarchies to make themselves feel better about our own failed government system.
ReplyDeleteThis is even more frustrating considering the obvious respect O'Reilly has for Ann Coulter, who it must be said, was extremely fair and factually accurate in her overview of the French Revolution and treatment of the martyred king and queen. Had he bothered to actually read the book he endorsed on-air, he might have learned a thing or two.
ReplyDeleteThen again, it might not have mattered - NewsCorp has an official anti-monarchist editorial line that its "talent" is obligated to follow.
I'd say flood him with angry e-mails, but that almost never does any good, and the complaint would probably have to be in the form of a bad haiku to have any chance of being read on air.
It really is the most tired criticism in the book, isn't it? It's worse then the whole "monarchies are anachronisms" argument.
ReplyDeleteI have tweeted a link to this post and you can expect a post on my blog sometime tomorrow on the topic. I am, as some of us like to say, not remotely amused.
ReplyDeleteI am appalled by this ignorance. Sure blame it on the queen because headless women don't tell tales. How unfair is it to slander a woman who got betrayed by her own nation and to say that she was the Jezebel of that time? Where exactly do American conservatives lean on the political spectrum anyways?
ReplyDeleteIn general they favor smaller government, less taxes and regulations, slightly more traditional values and (this is important) hyper-uber-Americanism. Which is to say that the USA is the greatest nation that has ever existed in the history of the world, superior to all others and God's gift to humanity. And if you think I'm exaggerating there, think again.
ReplyDeleteIt's what I expect from petulant Whigs steeped on Revolutionary propaganda.
ReplyDelete*shrug*
So I pray for change, since I know political agitation isn't the solution. And, in particular, I think I'll ask the intercession of the Martyr-Queen along with the Queen of the Martyrs who also happens to be Empress of the Americas.
Dieu le Roi!
I'm still hyperventilating myself.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine how this sort of stuff must send you into orbit, considering you 'know' the Queen better than most. I'm no expert on the subject but when you hear the same lies, which are *known* to be lies, repeated so many times, over and over again it just infuriates me.
ReplyDeleteBill O'Reilly is an obnoxious, ignorant, bombastic faux-conservative who cares more about his shock-jock value than about truth.
ReplyDeleteHe deserves to be tuned out on account of his ungentlemanly demeanor and rudeness, even when he is "right" (pun intended).
If you want to understand the political take, read the Tea Party Textbook “The 5000 Year Leap” by W. Cleon Skousen. Skousen said the left was Big Government and Right Small Government. He also said Monarchism was the far left, alongside Communism or Fascism, and his son even told me that Monarchy has the same basic form of oppression as Communism. America’s founders wee all Centrist avoiding either too big or too small a Government, kinda like Goldie Locks who had the “Just Right” porridge she pilfered off Baby Bear.
ReplyDeleteAlso, demonising Monarchs and Aristocrats as wealthy social leeches who lived off the backs of others, and who did nothing but collect exuberantly High taxes to supply them with a cosy lifestyle they isn’t earn, combined with Imagining them as snarl faced, hateful Villains who didn’t care about the mere peasantry is a large part of the Mythology of all Republicanism, along with the nobility of the working class. I pointed out that it’s the same propaganda that created Communism, but a neo-Con won’t accept that. To them, Marie had to be evil because she was a Queen, and to depict her as anything else would be to hurt the image of evil Royals that helps tell the story of why we need a Republic, with its oh so much better Politicians who came from the backs of the common man and thus genuinely cares for his plight…