By , ,
Published May 20, 2015
To watch "the memo" click here .
Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight.
Propaganda and you. That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points memo.
One of the reasons I try to stay away from analyzing situations like the Middle East, Northern Ireland, various other foreign conflicts is that the spin is just too deep. We have made a living here demolishing spin. But sometimes the propaganda gets so intense it's not even worth discussing.
I said at Harvard Monday night that the big problem with the African AIDS epidemic, for example, is that many African men are unwilling to change their behavior and wear condoms. [Editor's note: You can watch an excerpt of the Question and Answer portion of O'Reilly's address at Harvard in streaming video elsewhere on this web site.]
Well, of course I get some mail. Oh, no, they just don't know the dangers, and stuff like that. The truth is, many Americans simply live in a dream world of their own creation. Facts don't matter, truth doesn't matter. What matters is their own feelings and opinions.
Dr. James Zogby was a good example of that last night. The doctor says he condemns the suicide bombings by Arabs, but then goes on to make a litany of excuses as to why they should be understood. [Editor's note: the complete transcript of the interview with James Zogby is also available on this web site. You can also watch the interview in streaming video.]
Once again, should Hitler be understood? Should Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Josef Stalin? If you want to spend your time trying to understand psychopaths, hey, it's your life. But my mandate here is to tell the truth and to challenge people like Zogby who want to justify barbaric behavior.
The current war in the Middle East is really an extension of a conflict that is more than 2,000 years old, but suicide bombers are not that old. They're contemporary. And it is that kind of terror that the world must completely reject. Murdering civilians cannot be tolerated in pursuing any cause.
Both the Israelis and the Palestinians have their propaganda down. They have their rationalizations, their historical injustices, their passionate beliefs. If you go down this road with either side, your head'll explode, you'll be so overwhelmed with spin.
So let's make it simple. The PLO is killing civilians. That is the game plan. That is terror. That is bin Laden stuff. Israel is retaliating in a brutal way, much like the USA did in Afghanistan. I'm not sure if Ariel Sharon is willing to negotiate, but Israel has been in the past. A significant portion of the Palestinian crew does not want negotiation, they want to kill the Jews and drive them out of the region.
All of those things are true and cannot be spun. Since I am rigidly opposed to terrorism and civilian targets, I cannot support the Palestinians until they stop doing that. Terrorism is simply unacceptable, and those who commit or sanction terrorism must be neutralized.
And that's the memo.
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
Time now for "Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."
According to published reports, Louis Farrakhan will travel to the Middle East next month on a mission of peace. Yes, that should do it. I'm sure Israel can't wait for that. They might think it's a tad bit ridiculous.
— You can watch Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
https://www.foxnews.com/story/propoganda-and-you