August 27, 2015

Fox's Bill O'Reilly took his turn weighing in on the tragic shooting of the VA reporter and her cameraman this Thursday, and true to form, Bill-O, with an assist by their resident quack Keith Ablow, did his best to try to blame the dirty hippie secular progressives and "nihilism" for the deaths, rather than easy access to guns by people who have no business getting a hold of one in the first place.

Never mind that the reporter's father went on with Megyn Kelly the night before and vowed to make gun safety laws her legacy. O'Reilly was ready to go on the attack right out of the gate during his Talking Points Memo: Killing Innocents:

After the brutal murders of TV reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward in Virginia yesterday, the liberal press reacted in a predictable way, calling for stricter gun laws and more mental health monitoring.

Sadly, there is no way any country can stop disturbed individuals from killing people. And because of America’s history, there is no way total control of firearms will ever happen.

Americans have a right to bear arms in order to defend themselves. That is not going to change.

And because all of us have that constitutional right, criminals and maniacs will abuse it and destroy innocent human beings.

It is worth noting that Chicago and Illinois have ultra-strict gun laws but cannot stop the gang violence that has brought shame to that city.

But there is something else going on and Senator Marco Rubio identified it last night.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): "What has happened to us as a society that we now devalue life to such a level? What has happened in our society that people have become so violent? That's the fundamental question we need to confront."

What Rubio is spotlighting is a rise in nihilism and a decline in spiritual belief.

A person practicing nihilism believes in nothing but his or her own desires.

Those folks have no loyalties, no purpose outside of their own gratification.

Nihilism is a close cousin to narcissism, where a person believes he or she is never wrong and lacks empathy for other human beings.

In 40 years of covering the news, almost every killer I’ve reported on has been a nihilist.

For example, I just finished writing about the would-be assassin John Hinckley in my upcoming book Killing Reagan. At the time he shot Reagan, Hinckley believed in nothing.

There is no question that America is now turning away from spiritualism and embracing the culture of “me” … what “I” want.

Since 2007, Americans describing themselves as Christian have declined almost 8 percent while those who believe in no religious doctrine have risen almost 7 percent.

In many media precincts, religious folks are openly mocked, considered to be fanatics.

That message is seeping in, especially to younger Americans.

The killers in Colorado, Charleston, Connecticut and now Virginia -- all young men who had few restraints in their lives.

If you do not believe in anything, anything goes.

So the next time you hear a pundit saying gun control or stricter mental health monitoring or whatever else they come up with is going to stop the senseless murders of human beings, know you are being deceived.

Only a society that insists all human life is valuable and a mass media that promotes that will begin to see a turn-away from violence.

It's all about the philosophy of loving your neighbor. Not the myth that a centralized government can prevent barbaric behavior.

It can't.

And that's the memo.

If Bill-O wants to see what a narcissist looks like, all he needs to do is take a good long look in the mirror. I also find it amusing that he doesn't believe that the government can do anything about gun violence, unless of course the person committing the violence is say... a Muslim, and they call it terrorism. Then all bets are off and we're supposed to be able to stop crimes before someone commits them.

O'Reilly followed the Talking Points segment by bringing in Keith Ablow, who of course backed up his ridiculous assertions and a psychotherapist named Karen Ruskin, who O'Reilly continually interrupted and rudely told not to interrupt him when she was desperately trying to get a word in, and demanded she give him examples immediately to counter his arguments. When she couldn't cite any off of the top of her head, tried to use that as proof that his assertions were correct, which of course, they are not:

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly argued on Thursday that secularism was a contributing factor to the shooting deaths of Alison Parker and Adam Ward, as well as other mass shooting attacks. [...]

Both O’Reilly and Ablow declined to include Islamic extremists like Islamic State in their arguments, with the Factor host calling their beliefs “a perversion of Islam.” However, O’Reilly argued that a lack of spiritual beliefs leaves a person without loyalties or purpose, outside of their own gratification.

Psychotherapist Karen Ruskin pushed back on O’Reilly’s argument, saying there have been cases where people who kill themselves or others do so despite having spiritual beliefs.

“Spirituality or non-spirituality does not mean you are mentally healthy or not mentally healthy,” she said. O’Reilly cut her off, however, asking for specific cases. He did not mention that — despite his protests at the time — Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik identified himself as “100 percent Christian” when he killed 76 people in 2011.

He also failed to account for conservative Christian Scott Roeder, who shot and killed George Tiller outside of his women’s health clinic in Wichita in 2009. Jared Loughner, who killed six people while severely injuring then-Sen. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) just two years ago, was also reportedly associated with Christian anti-abortion groups. And Vester Flanagan, who killed Ward and Parker, said in his “manifesto” that Jehovah told him to act.

While self-identified Christians have been responsible for several terror attacks, O’Reilly insisted that almost every killer on which he has reported on during his career has been a “nihilist.”

True to form, Bill-O also managed to bring Planned Parenthood into the mix as well, and tie them to the shootings in VA and other mass shootings. It's been a running theme over at the right wing propaganda network for some time now.

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