What part of none of Bill's O'Leilly's business why Blacks loved Michael Jackson does Bill not understand? O'Reilly might not be a legitimate authority on Black folks but he sure has become an expert in pissing Black folks off. For some reason he seems to think that he has the right to tell Black folks who they should and shouldn't have for an icon.
Since when, did Black folks have to get his permission to pick their choice of black icons? I mean, did I miss the memo or something? I don't recall anyone making him an honorary negro or brotha. And word in the Black community is known to travel faster than a speeding bullet but no mention of those honors being bestowed on Bill have traveled through the grapevine. As a matter of fact, he is not what I'd call a welcomed guest in Black communities. Unless, he feels comfortable with black folks staring him down like he stole something and drop dead silence. You know, the kind where you can hear a pin drop.
I bet what Bill won't tell folks is how the black community barred him from coming to the Martin Luther King Memorial birthday celebration or that he isn't welcome in the black community at all. Apparently, he has pissed off a bunch of Black folks and they don't take too kindly to the way he loves to diss and lie on them. Matter of fact, name one Black event that sent Bill an invitation or or welcomed him to come to. The way that he talks you would think that Blacks are falling all over each other to solicit his guidance.
If by chance he happens to get a taste for some good ole soul food, I'd suggest folks get a little Cecilie ( Color Purple) on him. After the way he badmouthed Sylvia's Restaurant and clientele by saying what he did, a Cecilie number would be just the right added seasoning.
BTW, Bill are Whites who adopt Black children considered black now too?
13 comments:
Granny, I get it that Bill is a pundit and all, but I'm wondering what he's hoping to gain by his attempts to redefine the image of Michael Jackson in the minds and hearts of black people?
If we see Jackson as an iconic figure in the black community, what business is it of his (an observation which you, and others have already made).
I think Bil-liely is up to something else. Here's what I think: Bill wishes, first, to discredit Michael in our eyes.
Michael was, perhaps, the most successful black artist this nation's ever seen.
And if truth be told: Michael's probably the most successful artist of any race that this nation's ever seen--probably surpassing Ol' Blue Eyes, rumored to have had Mafia ties, but no one would dare speak of that at length before or after his death.
Probably surpassing Elvis as well who did some rather bizarre stuff during his lifetime--but still not suffering the pillory that has beset Michael upon his death.
So what is Bil-liely up to?
I think that it galls him that we would accept Michael at all, given Michael's presumed sell out of his race.
Ol' Bill doesn't wish to give us anything to celebrate. If he can get us to diminish Michael, we, in turn, diminish ourselves.
And he, and other whites like him, are hoping to take away our self-worth and self-value in one swell swoop--something that some whites have been very good at from day one--by tearing Michael down.
No matter what they may say about Michael, he was a consummate entertainer, artist, performer, and, but for the child molestation charges against him, and his addiction to prescription drugs, a consummate, and sterling human being--one with enough compassion to give, I'm told, 300 million to charity, and according to "The Millennium-Issue of the 'Guinness Book Of Records' ... the 'Pop Star who support[ed] the most charity organizations'"
Many of
Michael's achievements are still unsurpassed.
But true to form, those achievements still did not stop FoxNews from attacking him at every turn.
It's interesting that Bil-liely didn't go after those whites that love and celebrate Michael.
That was not his purpose, so much as it was to tear him down in our eyes.
How dare we black folks believe that we're somebody by riding atop the shoulders of a musical giant like Michael!
Because, if Michael is great, and is black, by extension, all blacks have that potential in them to be great as well.
That Bil-liely doesn't wish for us to know or experience.
Granny,
Billy boy does not understand a whole lot things. He is a sleezy opportunist who tries to bring attention to that joke of a show that he hosts.
He doesn't have the capacity to look past the physical man into the memories that MJ made for us. He wasn't there with us when the Jacksons hit the music scene. He can't tell us nothing about being a teenager or a pre-teen listening to the Jacksons.
What I see is a man who thinks that we are shallow like he is. He cannot deny that the Jacksons loved Michael unconditionally.
You notice he never stepped his sorry behind out of the studio to ask any of the folks on the street about MJ. Nor he is bad enough to get out in the midst of a group of Black folks and talk smack about MJ.
Faux News is a like an attention hungry child. They will say or do anything to bring attention to their station. If they didn't-would anyone watch them?
Ol' Bill...to be able to talk so much, so loudly, to so many people, and still say not a word with an iota of value comes out of his turnip trap. Just shameful.
I am a musician, and while MJ was my sons cup of tea, no one can deny talent and ability when they see and hear it. (I confess myself to be more in the Sammy Davis, Jr. camp.)
Nil desparandum, Granny, maybe someone will slip the doofus some lithium or he'll simply accidently bite himself and die.
I agree with Black Diaspora's assessment of Michael Jackson's success. I liked him as a tot and teen, but really lost interest when "Thriller" was released. I certainly recognize it was groundbreaking and innovative, I just don't care for that type of music.
However many noses or weird morphing he did, he was still the most successful musician in history and I can understand his icon status.
Dude bought the rights to the Beatle's music for goodness sake...an act of genius as far as I'm concerned. That includes all the schmaltzy renditions and everything. Plus, his own empire outside of the Beatles.
This is a little boy from Gary Indiana, who had an atrocious childhood dominated by an overly ambitious father.
And, I can see how he would have thought it was perfectly acceptable to have little boys sleep in his bed or room or whatever. As smart as he was, he still was a little boy; just like Neverland, he never grew up.
His death was tragic, but after 3 weeks of coverage, I was glad something else came along. Not that I watch MSM, but I got tired of people complaining. And, quite frankly, there are a lot of real problems out there right now that need more coverage than they're getting.
Good post, Granny. Bill O'Liely is a great name for that smarmy bastard!
What do we expect? with age should come Wisdom, but, not in the case of Bill Orielly, Pat Buchanan had the decency to keep his mouth off of Michael Jackson, and trust me that say's a lot!
You will have to be a Heartless human being to attack little MICHAEL JACKSON,(SMILE) you see that's the way I see him! he will
forever be little MICHAEL JACKSON in my HEART!!
Many people want the media to stop talking about this BLACK MAN, to some it is to much to deal with, it is hard for some WHITE'S to hear that, (MICHAEL JACKSON was the best entertainer that ever lived) and trust me he was! and if that was not enough he was a BLACK MAN!!!!!!!!!!!! so in other word's, with all the obstacle's in his path as a BLACK MAN, he still out performed any WHITE performer that ever lived! now that's the real reason BILL O'DEMON is in a RAGE!
Bill can smear all he want's but, he will never be able to take away the title that, MICHAEL won fair and square!
Black Diaspora:
"And he, and other whites like him, are hoping to take away our self-worth and self-value in one swell swoop--something that some whites have been very good at from day one--by tearing Michael down."
That is why I kept stressing the point about helping them put our own down. It is part of an oppressive game to keep the oppressed...oppressed.
Msladydeborah;
"You notice he never stepped his sorry behind out of the studio to ask any of the folks on the street about MJ. Nor he is bad enough to get out in the midst of a group of Black folks and talk smack about MJ."
O'Lielly, would rather run through a fire with gasoline underware on then to do that.
Anonymous 12:17:
"Bill can smear all he want's but, he will never be able to take away the title that, MICHAEL won fair and square!"
Amen!
Sarge:
Cooks are very creative when people piss them off.
I would hope that 7-20, 12:17PM did not take my comments as a white person critical. Nay, I am not that. I loved his spirit and little boy attitude. I felt pity for him, maligned in the press. He was a sad, tragic creature, but a great artist and smart business person (empasis on BUSINESS PERSON) in today's society where there seems to be a distinction between the sexes (like, have we really overcome?).
That said, there were many greats and I mean great, black folks before him. We have discussed this in Field's blog and others. Were it not for them, such as Stevie Wonder, Jackson Brown, the (real) Supremes, etc., etc., would little Michael have made it to the stage of Ed Sullivan?
But, let us go back further to Paul Robeson. There we have an icon! One who broke ground and sewed the seeds of the future. That was a man larger than life itself. A true hero among mere mortals. One who stood up to the giants, cast the stone and won!
"Granny, I get it that Bill is a pundit and all, but I'm wondering what he's hoping to gain by his attempts to redefine the image of Michael Jackson in the minds and hearts of black people?"
The name of the game in television is to attract bigger audiences for bigger ratings, which translates into higher revenue for Fox. Thus far, Bill's show does that very well. Putting MJ down as an icon of the black community is sure to draw negative and controversial attention--which can turn into higher ratings. Put people like Al Sharpton(whon Whites detest) on Bill's show to defend MJ and his black and white audience ratings grow.
That's why Bill is #1, if you haven't noticed. Until viewers grow tired of him, Bill will keep doing what he does, and saying outrageous things to hit peoples's nerves, in order to attract bigger audiences. It's all about money.
A+
@black diaspora, you summed it up very eloquently.
Granny, I love the lyrics to Michael Jackson's song, Childhood, it says so much about him, it makes me cry. When Michael's daughter spoke at the Memorial, that is the moment I broke up in tears.
Just wondering, what did Liely say about Sylvia's restaurant?
Madonna & Jolie aren't adoptive parents, they are abductors!!And you know what else? There actually are white adoptive parents who think they are "families of color", even though they probably wouldn't step foot in a neighborhood of their child's ethnicity.
@A+: "The name of the game in television is to attract bigger audiences for bigger ratings, which translates into higher revenue for Fox."
Surely, as you've stated, it's about the money. No denying that.
"Putting MJ down as an icon of the black community is sure to draw negative and controversial attention--which can turn into higher ratings."
But here's another reality:
Putting down whites that rush to buy Michael's CDs, and downloads, would also have caused an explosion of controversy, but Bil-liely didn't stroll down that path--he chose, instead, to piss off blacks.
What I'm saying is this: Bill could have gotten more "bang for his buck," but elected to make it all about blacks, excluding Michael's many white fans--which are probably in greater numbers than blacks.
It's not that blacks accepted Michael as an icon, but that many, worldwide, of all races, accepted Michael as a "musical icon."
But, again, Bil-liely opted to attack blacks for elevating Michael to iconic celebrity status (because he was one of us?), and gave whites and other races a pass.
And there's a reason for that. And that reason pervades the whole of FoxNews--which is, where possible, to diminish black achievements and accomplishments.
"Bill will keep doing what he does, and saying outrageous things to hit people's nerves, in order to attract bigger audiences. It's all about money."
The money angle, again, is undeniable. But I'll argue that Bil-liely and FoxNews in recent months have lost many blacks that could have been counted as viewers--I being one of them.
And given the "rating wars" that prevail, the only way that CNN and MSNBC can hope to win at all is to adopt FoxNews' tactics, and questionable strategies.
And if white America is so malleable, so manipulatable, so exploitable, as to fall for Bil-Liely and FoxNews' obvious attempts to use racial dustups as a way to keep their ratings high--it says more about white America, than it does about FoxNews.
I hope that other cable news networks don't follow suit.
I think that the old adage, "What if everybody does it," applies here, and shows the inanity of such a self-serving, but destructive approach, to besting one's competition.
Lisa J said...
"@black diaspora, you summed it up very eloquently."
Thank you, Lisa.
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