Countdown: Parents Of Shawn Hornbeck Want Bill O'Reilly To Apologize To Their Son
By Logan Murphy Friday Oct 12, 2007 1:47pm
As you may remember, John Amato was out in front of this story, calling out Bill O'Reilly for his despicable statements about teenager Shawn Hornbeck, who had been kidnapped and molested for years. Shawn's abductor was sentenced to life in prison this past Monday, and on Countdown, Keith Olbermann spoke to Shawn's parents, Pam and Craig Akers, about Shawn's life since being rescued and their thoughts on Bill O'Reilly's statement that Shawn enjoyed his time in captivity.
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The Akers tell Keith that Shawn is doing very well and that they have set up The Shawn Hornbeck Foundation which is dedicated to the prevention of the abduction of children and the search for and rescue of lost, missing or abducted children. As BillO is hawking his new book for children, the Akers graciously tell Keith he owes their son an apology -- in much nicer terms than I would have used:
Olbermann: "...Let me ask you, both of you, have either of you or has Shawn received any kind apology from Bill O'Reilly or from anybody else who took this stance?"
Craig Akers: "No, we haven't heard anything and Pam and I really don't care about an apology for us, it's not about us. We could care less one way or the other. It's really Shawn that was hurt and Shawn is the one who deserves the apology."
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i hope the parents aint gonna hold their breath
Bill-o apologizing for what he said is like trying to push a turd back up your butt after you let it go. It just can't be done.
He's spineless. BillO the coward will never apologize.
Another GOP pedophile busted in Wisconsin
O'Reilly is justifying the behavior of his friends, just like his friends justified his behavior. It can't be that the guy is a heinous perv, it's that the kid enjoyed it. Bet Billo would say these kids enjoyed it also. Fucker.
I'm so sorry for what happened to this poor kid and his family, but I strongly admire their ability to turn the other cheek. I don't think I could [but I'd like to think so].
meantime billy's on with leno laughing it up.
Maybe Billo will give Shawn a free membership to the BillO website so he can get a discount on a no spin zone coffee cup. That's way more than I would expect and forget about an apology.
After comments like O'Reilly made about this unfortunate young man, it certainly would not be without the possibility that he himself is a latent pedophile. And I am sure that the sexual abuse that O'Reilly endured as a child, at the hands of his Satan-worshipping parents, has helped to indoctrinate him into the pedophilia underground.
Not only won't O'Reilly apologize, but you can expect much more of this sort of thing in the future. It's only going to get worse. Fox Business starts soon, corporate consolidation of media continues... it's going to get worse before it gets better, and it may never get better.
joe cantwell @ 6:
Yeah, that was kinda weird. I can understand why Leno might throw him a bunch of softball questions, considering it's an entertainment show, and not a politics show, but then why have the guy on at all? He brought up the Sylvia's thing, and let BillO spout off about the huge conspiracy against him in the media, but never brought up anything substancial.
Although it was kinda funny to hear BillO explain that he never has the presidential candidates on his show "because they're boring".
Considering the collection of freaks, pervs and self hating closeted types hiding under the blanket of hate provided by the conservotard repug cult it isn't at all surprising that these scum bags would WANT to believe [and espouse the idea] that an abducted child enjoyed the captivity and the abuse.
They need to believe it. It's the kind of logical fallacy all pervs use to justify what they do.
O'rly may think his comments don't hurt him, but as far as I'm concerned his stated position on the matter is proof he's some kind of pedo and probably should be under police supervision at all times.
Someone needs to use those 'expanded spying powers' to keep an eye on that creep. And all the creeps who went along with the big giant head as he laid the ground work for his own future defense.
O'Reilly, Coulter, Limbaugh, and the rest of the seemingly endless list... all clearly exhibit personality disorders. No shame in that if you recognize it and work on your illness. But these representatives of Republicanism not only lead unexamined lives, they've actually elevated pathology to virtue.
Paddy @ 4:
The Democrats must have equal skeletons if they're not morally capitalizing on these events all over the airwaves. I know it may come off a little strange saying this but at least this guy was getting closer to the legal age for such indiscretions.. LOL, Family Values!
An apology from Bill O would be worth nothing but spit.
Too bad O'Reilly could not get a day or two of the abuse that the Hornbeck kid had to endure. It might make him a little more humble.
AbbeyHoffmansGhost @ 8:
while this may be a possibility, i like my theory more
bill doesnt care about kids...in fact, he pretty much hates them
he uses child abuse stories to attack what he percieves as liberal judges and states
he has never once done a report on the state of children's services in any of the red states, but goes out of his way to attack blue states
and his attack on hornbeck was his subconcious way of justifying what he did to his assistant (and maybe others)....they continued to work for him, while he sexually harrased them, so they must have liked it
he is a very sick man, who should be institutionalized, not getting a paycheck for spewing filth on the airwaves
btw, he was on his local affliate live pushing his book....last time he was there, he terrorized the staff and demanded fresh croisants....wonder what happened this time
g @ 14:
You've got the right of it An apology from that asshole would the least heartfelt event of the century
On I am sure that in Bill O's world, his phone sex "problem" was all the fault of his female producer just as that young boy was at fault for what happened to him at the hands of the pedophile. Blame the victim, not the perv. This must be some kind of perv code of honor. One perv protecting another. Fox, cut the mike. What a joke!!!
cheesesauce @ 2:
Comparing Bill O'Reilly to a turd strikes me as disrespectful to turds.
Bill O'Reilly is, w/o a doubt, an insensitive lout and a true ogre. But I can't help but notice that he has touched on the great unmentionable elephant in the room: Why exactly did Hornbeck stay with this guy? I don't get it. The guy brutilized him, even tried to kill the kid and he just stays with his abductor? That is extremely weird.
I also can't help but suspect that the outrage directed at Bill-O is at least in part due to an underlying panic from people who want to avoid asking this potentially disturbing question lest the come up with some very unpleasant answers about human nature or merely Shawn Hornbeck.
It seems that perhaps even ogres have their uses.
The Hornbeck family has endured horrific pain, yet they exhibit grace and dignity. These qualities are totally lacking in socipathic personalitys. I think the mistake a lot of us make is expecting evil people to behave decently. It is not going to happen. The best way to deal with the O'Reilly types is to expose them, mock them. shun them...and finally...to hit them where they live, in the pocket. A boycott of their sponsers is the only thing that will be effective. An apology from a sociopath is meaningless.
I still can't get over the fact that this poor kid's name and face were plastered all over the media. Wherever he goes, he'll be known as "that kid who was molested for years." How would you like to have that albatross around your neck? I thought there were laws to protect kids from being exploited by the media by not letting their names be published and such. I guess I was wrong.
They'd have a better chance of playing pick up sticks with their butt cheeks than get an apology out of BO. I thought BO didn't like NBC any longer, why's he showing up on their network?
An apology from billo would only serve to set up his next reichwing talking point.
Remember when he thought he was speaking well of black diners?
hieronymus braintree @ 20:
It's not extremely weird, it's extremely COMMON. I'm sorry to say this and I don't mean to insult you, but this is NOT an obvious question to people who have even the slightest clue about abuser/abused relationships. It's incredibly common even with adults, abused women, etc... and with children, the situation is even more unbalanced power-wise. Kids see adults as authority figures, and it's easy for a kid to see no way out... to distrust all adults after being abused... to be mindfucked into thinking they will be killed, their family killed, etc. if they tell. Or, just simply being so coerced and so overpowered emotionally that they simply see no way out.
This is a very common and well-understood phenomenon - which is part of why O'Reilly's insensitivity was so startling. The utter cluelessness of it. The same sort of thing where people say "why did she stay with her husband if he beat her?" It's not weird, its typical. It's the RESULT of the abuse.
BILL O’REILLY ADMITS: ‘I WAS KIDNAPPED BY FOX, BUT WANTED TO STAY’
Just so you know, the video is double-posted- it plays through, and then cuts back to a point towards the beginning and repeats itself.
Anyway, the more time goes on, the more I wonder how ANYBODY can call themselves a republican, or even a conservative, and NOT feel ashamed.
And I, too,find out dedicated team of victim-blamers to be absolutely revolting. (People in the Duke LaCrosse case are another prime example. "Lack of evidence" does not mean "Innocent so she's just a lying evil man-hating bitch." It means "We don't know.)
Victim-blaming should be the eigth deadly sin, as far as I'm concerned.
Craig @ 12:
Thank you... that sums it up very succinctly. Of course, the prime example of your observation roams around in the White House at night, cackling as he tries to roll the two little BBs in the clown's eyes.
a person @ 22:
I think that was pre-Bushworld. Nothing makes sense anymore. 10 years ago O'Reilly would have been ostracized for those comments, hell, 10 years ago, he never would have survived his loofa moment.
Let me see if I have this straight, O' Really goes on the air and makes comments like, and i'm paraphrasing, "he really looks like he's (enjoying) his captivity" and then turns around and more recently states something to the affect that he (O'Really) doesn't want to comment anymore because Shawn has suffered enough. Just shows you what a loser BillO is.
a person @ 22:
Does it come with wafers?
a person @ 22:
It's difficult in this case because he was a missing child and his name was everywhere for 4 years. Had he not been a missing person, there's no way his name would have ever been published. It's a unique situation because missing kids rarely come back alive.
It be one thing if bill o'really had experts on the show to talk about childhood development and the Stockholm Syndrome, but he just lobs verbal grenades that sound "reasonable," to the zombies who watch him.
uncle joe mccarthy @ 1:
oliely should hold his breath.
about a year or so.
What's the legal angle on this? Can the parents sue, in Shawn's name, for slander and defamation of character? Someone somewhere needs to call this a**hole to account for his filthy mouth. It seems to me this would be the perfect opportunity. Everything open and above board, not like settling in camera, as with Andrea Makris.
"KIDS NEED BOTH PARENTS"....bullshit!! I saw this lame, insensitive bumper sticker on the back of some self righteous prick, and immediately I wanted to pull the jerk over and tell himn to shove his "announcement to the world" up his butt.
Imagine the KIDS sitting in a car with their single parent, and seeing such a piece of crap staring them in the face at a traffic light. I understand the intent, but the message is shameful and very possibly damaging to the self confidence of thousands of kids that aren't so fortunate to have BOTH PARENTS. What does this message say to them?...."you're less because you are being raised by only one parent"? You needed both, but you could have done much better with two??
I understand having two parents is the "Wally Cleaver" idea of a perfect life. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that most kids would love to have two loving, nurturing parents. But don't lay that crap "in their face" as they NEED both. Many are better off without the one. Many didn't have the choice to have more than one. And even though I can agree that having two can make life much easier, sweeter, nurturing than missing one.....keep it to yourselves.
I have a grandson who is being raised by his mother...alone. The father turned out to be a loser, and my daughter broke up with him the second and last time, and then found out later she was pregnant. He doesn't call him, doesn't pay any support unless she tracks him down to garnish his paycheck...which is nothing considering he is a carpenter and does most of his work "under the table".
For him to have to think he NEEDS two parents to have his healthy life is total, utter bullshit. Kids need a loving home, a nurturing home..and if it's done with one or two parents, I think circumstances sometimes dictate reality.
I am 60 years old, and I'd spray paint this moron's bumper sticker and the back of his car if I ever happen to see him and have a can of spray paint handy. To me, this was as offensive as "Don't like the way I drive.....dial 1-800-EAT SHIT. Tasteless and offensive. Pardon my anger, but some people think they have all the answers for everybody else. Grrrrrrr!!
The Akers are "phony" parents.
Oh yeah...Soros...Media Matters...MoveOn...
Rinse, lather, repeat.
great work again Keith proving Bill O’Reilly is Scum and should not even be be spouting his Bullshit in a bar let alone on national TV. Like Keith pointed out, "what has this country come to?"
Shawn wasn't "tough" enough for draft dodger O'Reilly. All these cons pretend they'd be like Macgyver in every situation if it happened to them
Diogenes @ 35:
Great point, I wonder if there is a legal basis for slander here. This could definately be the start of drumbeat toward his exit from the airwaves.
BOR=POS
Remember Bill was taken out of context, at least thats what him and all Repugs say when they screw up. I think maybe they should ask Oprah to apologize to for letting Bill go on her show and try to spin his way out of the mess he was in. watch video below. Sorry about the voice being out of sync.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EVTduQ6kBk
Craig @ 25:
Thank you for your explanation. It was clear and informative and respectful. That is not how I
wouldmight have responded. I need to take lessons from you at managing my affective responses.Like Malkin, O'Reilly exists on the level of rumor. He doesn't make up the rumors and gossip he propagates, therefore he doesn't have anything to apologize for. Watch the Matthews vs. Malkin video again for the typical reaction. They don't think they have to account for what other people say, even if they say it themselves. They're political tattletales, like TMZ is for Hollywood.
They're right.
*
If I truly expressed my feelings upon what should happen to Bill O'reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, they would most certainly be deleted by this forum's administrator.
Let's just say it involves a lot of rope, large rubber bands, a hacksaw and a soldering iron.
That kid was eleven years old when he saved his own life by making a deal with the man who kidnapped and tortured him. Given an eleven-year-old's perception of the world, that is the remarkable thing, not that he believed his kidnapper had the power to track him down and kill him if he fled. Few adults would have shown his courage and determination. I have nothing for Shawn but admiration and hopes for his future.
I have nothing for Bill O than disdain.
gutemacht @ 10:
Leno has become the new outlet for Republican idiocy. Thompson was on recently along with many others including Ann Coulter I believe. He has been parading the Republican enablers quite a bit lately. I guess he's afraid he might have to pay more taxes on his car collection. And he pretty much let's them say what they want.
I was also disappointed in Bill Maher last night. He basically sat there and let Tucker Carlson do a monologue of misinformation and lies.
Bill; calm down; open your mind and think before you speak. That way you won't spout nonsense. Also don't talk through your ass; especially when its full of it.
hieronymus braintree @ 20:
its called learned helplessness
why dont you go back to school and take a psych1 class
and in fact, hornbeck did leave clues on the internet about his whereabouts, but when no one came to save him, he basically gave up
there was nothing disturbing about why he didnt leave...the only thing disturbing was the animal that terrorized this child, and your dumbass attempt at humanizing the lufa boy
O Reilly's comment was O Reilly's way of getting attention. It is very sad that he uses this technique, but it does work for him and all Republicans. Why does it work? Because Americans like drama. Hate speech is dramatic and Americans are drawn to it. So many Americans are no longer motivated by shame, so don't think exposing this behavior will have any effect on the shameless. However there is a need to speak to the other side of the issue and that is good.
Craig @ 25:
If what you say is true and as commonly understood as you suggest, then where are all the poeple saying so? Why doesn't Olberman say so? Near as I can tell NO ONE is saying so except you. And as for being well-understood, mere assertion is not proof. You haven't explained it except to say that it's common and well understood which really isn't an explanation at all. In order for there to be an explanation, you can't just say that there's an explanation. You have to give an explanation. So far, you haven't actually provided one except to say that one exist.
And, odd as it may seem, just because something is typical doesn't mean it's not weird. Being strange and incomprehensible is what makes something weird. This is weird.
uncle joe mccarthy @ 50:
Dear Joe,
It just so happens that, even though I graduated as a psych major magna cum laude, this was never covered. In any case, since most people are not college-educated, much less have a degree in psych, wouldn't you agree that a public explination of what was going on with this kid would be useful? Also, since I called O'Reilly an "ogre" I don't see that I really humanized him. I will venture the opinion that one reason O'Reilly has so many fans is because logical un-PC questions such as mine are commonly met with snotty, but not terribly informative, hostility such as yours.
And calling something as "learned helplessness" isn't really an explanation either. It's a label. One of the things that disillusioned me about the so-called science of psychology is how often labelling is treated as the same thing as explination. Perhaps you didn't notice that?
Clyde @ 48:
I was disappointed too, and I am- or was- a huge Maher fan. It was depressing to have to listen to that purulent cunt, Carlson spew talking points ad nauseum, whilst Paul Krugman, gentleman scholar, couldn't get a word in edgewise. Carlson is devoid of manners or intelligence. A dumb redneck bully in a bow tie. He should make the world a better place and commit suicide immediately.
hieronymus braintree @ 53:
sorry, but you labled him an ogre, then go on to say that he is only being attacked because he brought up a valid point...cant have it both ways.
will you now question why abused persons stay in relationships, or why abused children dont report their abusers?
learned helplessness may be a label, but it is an applicable behaviour.
it is a basic survival instinct, and we are talking about a child here who has limited reasoning capabilty.
it is apparent that shawn was under the impression (and rightfully so, as that monster had already tried to kill him) that were he to attempt or even succeed in getting away, that animal would find him and kill him...and maybe even his entire family.
This has been another episode of "Why Bill O'Reilly needs to be sodomized with a microphone", Rude Pundit edition.
I bet if O'Reilly is kidnapped, and anally raped, and kept against his will by having his life threatened on a daily basis until he can escape, he wouldn't be saying this crap. And, just like the coward he is, when people are demanding he apologize to Shawn Hornbeck, he runs away, snieveling, saying "I'm not going to mention his name anymore."
Why can't these bloviating SOBs just apologize and admit when they're wrong? It makes life easier for their sorry asses.
hieronymus braintree @ 53:
sorry to respond twice....but i now have no doubt that this poster is nothing but a wingnut troll and an apologist for the lufa boy.
this person did not graduate with a psych major....it is not possible
i graduated with a psych major, and the issues faced by abused children and kidnap victims were indeed covered.
so trolls beware....dont lie...its not nice
uncle joe mccarthy @ 16:
This guy procreated. With a woman, no less.
All I fear for is his kids, especially his daughter. Imagine having this bloviating bastard for a father. I can't wait for him to take his daughter to a "purity ball" and vowing to "cover" her until she's given to some guy in marriage (code for creepy over interest in your kid's sex life before she even has one, go figure).
When she turns eighteen, look for the "tell-all" book she writes about growing up in O'Reilly's house. It's not gonna be pretty...
I suspect there is a political motivation behind the "blame the victim" attacks from right-wingers. In this case and especially in the blaming of the Katrina victims, they cultivate cavalier dismissal in the face of empathy.
Empathy is a universal human trait, but this faction seems to be threatened by the idea. After all, empathy leads people to want stronger social programs. If we live in a culture where people care about each other, we might start expecting the government to, say, competently run FEMA. That doesn't fit in the right-wing's model of privatization.
Paul Krugman wrote about this last week in the context of the S-CHIP veto:
"What’s happening, presumably, is that modern movement conservatism attracts a certain personality type. If you identify with the downtrodden, even a little, you don’t belong. If you think ridicule is an appropriate response to other peoples’ woes, you fit right in.
"And Republican disillusionment with Mr. Bush does not appear to signal any change in that regard. On the contrary, the leading candidates for the Republican nomination have gone out of their way to condemn “socialism,” which is G.O.P.-speak for any attempt to help the less fortunate.
"So once again, if you’re poor or you’re sick or you don’t have health insurance, remember this: these people think your problems are funny."
I use to watch Bill O’Reilly until he sided with child molesters over our kids. Bill O’Reilly is the lowest form of life.
uncle joe mccarthy @ 56:
Dear Joe,
Thank you for your presumptuous, non-fact-based reply.
1) suggesting that an asshole like O'Reilly might actually have a reasonable question is not the same thing as being an apologist for him or my being a troll. I certainly can't stop you from holding onto that conclusion if you insist but I think doing so doesn't prove that I'm a troll so much as it shows that you have a limited imagination.
2) I did graduate as a psych major. And, though I don't consider myself to be one of course, a lot of pretentious idiots can legitimately make exactly the same claim. Such is life.
3) Just because it was taught to you at your college, doesn't mean it's taught to all students at all colleges or even a majority of students at a majority of colleges.
4) Even so, assuming you do know what you're talking about (and I am presently agnostic on the subject) this whole learned helplessness stuff is, from where I sit, not exactly common knowledge. You can't blame people for not understanding something that isn't widely understood.
5) Hostility and insults are a poor substitute for anything like a substansive answer.
Got to go to work. Ta.
Like others have already said, who would defend a pedophile other than a pedophile himself? I'm very serious and it is sick that this person is on TV and some people are eating up every word a pedophile is spewing out.
hieronymus braintree @ 52:
Have you ever heard a Billo "apology". He has made several so called apologies for factual mistakes and they all take the same form. He always starts by explaining that he's big enough to admit his mistakes, then he minimizes his mistake as trivial. This is inevitably followed by some tortured logic to show why he was really right in the overall scheme of things. I pray he does not subject this kid to one of his apologies. It would only add to his trauma.
You know, if I were his parents I would not go on tv and continue to put his name out there, even though I understand why they are doing this...he does not need any more publicity.
However, it is important to bring up why our discourse has gotten so disrespectful and rude.
hieronymus braintree @ 61:
if you did get a degree in psych, its from bumfuck u
my god, my first psych class in jr college dealt with learned helplessness
ellen @ 66:
because a troll, is a troll
and a concern troll is the worst of all
HOw about O'Leilly do everyone a favor and just hang himself.
I like to think I try to see both sides, so I keep wondering after Republican after Republican are hauled in for various sexual crimes if there aren't democrats being hauled in too. Maybe the liberal media(TM) is hiding it all from me, like they hide all that fantastic news about Iraq.
So I google searched on democrat pedophiles. If democrats were being caught in even half as much as republicans, it would be the top search. powerline and michelmalkin and all those guys would have them all listed out where every right winger in the world could link to it. Even they cannot deny they would point out that stuff.
What is the top result? Some conservative forum from 2005 listing democrats, but none with a date after 1994. Wow, guys listing bad people from 11 years ago.
So what is going on with the GOP these days??? It really seems to be a Republican thing.
I'm here in St. Louis and have been following the testimony in the Devlin trials in our area this week. What this monster did to both boys is much worse than our worst fears could have imagined, almost beyond human comprehension.
In view of what we are learning about the forced experiences of both boys, it's also beyond comprehension why this loudmouth did not suffer the same fate as Don Imus.
Ratings must be higher, I guess.
hieronymus braintree @ 62:
Perhaps the reason that this subject was omitted from your formal Psych education is that you completed your degree work before 1970. A lot of the work done to establish this phenomenon was done in the late 60s and it takes time for new research to percolate down to the curricula of various universities.
From Wikipedia:
Martin Seligman's foundational experiments and theory of learned helplessness began at the University of Pennsylvania in 1967, as an extension of his interest in depression, when, at first quite by accident, Seligman and colleagues discovered a result of conditioning of dogs that was opposite to what B.F. Skinner's behaviorism would have predicted. A dog that had earlier been repeatedly conditioned to associate a sound with electric shocks did not try (later in another setting) to escape the electric shocks after that sound and a flash of light was presented, even though all the dog would have had to do is jump over a low divider within ten seconds, more than enough time to respond. The dog didn't even try to avoid the "aversive stimulus"; the dog had previously "learned" that nothing it did mattered.
A follow-up experiment involved three dogs affixed in harnesses. The first dog was simply put in the harness for a period of time and later released. The second dog was put in the harness, and given electric shocks, which the dog could end by pressing a lever. The third dog was wired in parallel with the second dog, receiving shocks of identical intensity and duration, but his lever didn't do anything. The first and second dogs quickly recovered from the experience, but the third dog learned to be helpless, and suffered chronic symptoms of clinical depression.
Bill O being a decent human being makes as much sense as taking a dump and cleaning your ass with the turd
A boy and his family comes forth after great trial to do a public service. Great courage has been exercised in the hope others may be spared from such evil and menace. Shawn Hornbeck and his family should be honored for their forthrightness and courage to go on shows like Ohpra but instead they are demonized and belittled and attacked by the likes of Bill O'Reilly and his zoo of manglers.
What Bill O’Reilly, Coulter, Limbaugh, and the rest of his not so 'Mary' band wish to do is to suggest Shawn is a little "faggot!" Oh he won't say it ON AIR, (he came close, but) he doesn't have the balls to; however you can be sure that is exactly what he is thinking and is trying to imply! He doesn't dare say it so honestly because he knows he would suffer the same fate as Don Imus! Let us be honest about what this bigot is doing and the harm he is getting away with.
In his eyes he is saving the public from what he sees as the real curse, homosexuality. He and his band, these supposed worthy commentators are the reason that twisted sexuality runs rampant in our society. The repression of any sexual appetite will twist, mutilate and uglify it. As a gay man, a dad and grandfather I would like to make clear it is OK to be gay! And I would also like to make it clear that being gay has nothing to do with this story! Bill and his gang would like to make it so and to make the issue about Shawn and not the crimes committed against him and others, but this is about kidnapping, pedifilia and other horrible unmentionable crimes.
This despicable behavior on Bill O'Reilly's part is what causes individuals within the society to hide and suppress their natural desires. Unlike the good that the Hornbeck family wished to bestow on the society by being open and helpful with this story, these commentators, specifically Bill O'Reilly directly affect and do a disservice to our society. These bigoted views are why people hide in dank places and do evil deeds, it leads to all types of menace from murder to mayhem. This sort of dishonesty and hatefulness is why we have married SENATORS crawling around in public bathroom stalls, kidnappings, pedifilia, and murderous hate crimes.
One of the sad lessons I've learned as a student of psychology is that psychologists often state theories as fact that later prove to be utter bullshit. Here are three examples.
1) Freud posited that the reason men are unhappy is not because life is finite and immensely fucked up but because they saw Mommy's vagina when they were toddlers and spent the rest of their lives subconciously living in fear of castration. And don't get me started on penis envy.
2) Bruno Bettleheim's refrigerator Mom theory to explain autism. The latest research indicates that it's actually a neurological disorder but for decades mothers were made to feel needlessly guilty for the condition of their child.
3) The Satanic Ritual Abuse/Multiple Personality Disorder hysteria of the late 80s and early 90s. I was taught that there was an international Satanic conspiracy and that tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of women were members of satinic cults where they did things like eat their own fetuses and have sex with their fathers but didn't know about it because they had other personalities that were doing thses things without their conscious knowledge. Multiple personality disorder has since been discreetly downgraded to a side issue of borderline personality disorder, whereas before it was its own category, and is now regarded as largely being a false artifact of incompetent psychotherapy.
All three claims were considered be abundantly "proved" by research, were taught as fact and all are now widely acknowledged to be complete and utter horseshit. I am therefore disinclined to take anything the field of psychology says at face value. There's a good chance they're right in this case but this so-call science's track record indicates that strong skepitcism is alwas warrented.
Dire Lobo gave a pretty good fact-bassed answer but two things.
1) Eleven-year-olds have far better reasoning skill than dogs so I'm not entirely convinced that it's an apt comparison.
2) My point remains that nobody was providing a compelling counter explanation to O'Reilly. All that's been going on has been an attempt to shame him and shout him down. He gave an noxious and likely wrong answer to a very obvious question which he was virtually alone was addressing. The type of response always makes me suspicious and does not exactly reek of confidence.
Here is a link to a Time article:
[Deleted. So you are an expert, like billo as to how people under duress act? Is that why you are defending him here? Please-take it to O'reilly-He'll nominate you for FOX's Nobel Prize-Sitemonitor]
Vote Kucinich :)
Idjit @ 3:
Yes, O'Reilly is a total scum bag!
They should definitely sue him. And if they won't some children's help organization should on behalf of all abused children. I guess if this had been an adult, a woman, kidnapped the case might have been weak. But not if it was a child. I want to see the judge roundly dismissing something like that.
SUE THIS ASSHOLE ALREADY!!
bor thinks apologizing is a sign of weakness.
Bill who?
[...] and Halsey Frost, with much the same grace and dignity shown by Shawn Hornbeck’s parents after their son was victimized by Bill O’Reilly, tell Keith about dealing with the attacks, [...]
Face it, Bill O'Reilly was deformed at birth and somehow his asshole ended up where he mouth was suppose to go.
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Number of Operations Iraq Freedom and Enduring Freedom casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 4256
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