“I think [Republicans are] more intimidated than uncaring. I think they’re afraid… I think they’re afraid of, uh, black people,...
...The white Republican power structure is afraid of black Americans. They don’t know how to treat them; they don’t know how to speak to them… They don’t know anything about the culture, and they don’t want to be called a racist bigot, so they stay away. That’s just my opinion.
[The Republicans] feel it’s not worth the trouble, the few votes they might siphon off, to get involved with it. That’s how they feel. I know that for a fact.”
So Bill O'Reilly's racial education continues - good for him. He's beating most of white America in, at least, trying to get real.
This is an interesting admission for several reasons, starting with white's interest in not being called racists. Who is engaged in American politics - who can seriously call themselves a patriot - when they're merely trying to look, or not look, a certain way?
And how do the the results of white's psychology translate into them not being uncaring? Isn't hurting blacks the results of their actions, no matter their reasons, or how they frame them? Aren't Americans - black Americans - getting hurt? Look at the facts on the ground and try to argue "no" - you can't. It can't be done. But whites will try. For image. For nothing.
O'Reilly is saying whites are participating in a charade, and blacks must pay a price for it, because whites are so confused by their own self-imposed dread. Whatever fear drives whites to do is what whites will do - no matter who it hurts, no matter whether they're right or wrong, or the disastrous implications for America or individuals. It's all imagery, and a noxious self-fulfilling prophecy.
"The question, once again, is going to be whether hope overcomes fear. Essentially, what the other side has decided is that they are going to try to ride fear and anxiety all the way to the ballot box,..."
That seems pretty clear, and exactly what O'Reilly is saying, but it's rejected by whites because - just like the desire not to look like racists - whites also don't want to look like (or admit) they're a bunch of flag-waving, but completely unpatriotic, cowards.
Unfortunately, until they come to grips with themselves - not as individuals but as Americans - there's not much they can do:
Besides continuing to sully their names and international image, losing whatever little respect they had, and destroying the country from within,...
