On the January 15 edition of his show, while chatting with Ray Stevens, who recorded the song “Ahab the Arab” nearly 50 years ago, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly seemed to become nostalgic for a time when making fun of Arabs was acceptable:
Forty-eight years ago in this country we could make fun of Arabs. We could make fun of people in a general gentle way, and certainly, “Ahab Was the Arab” [sic] was a general gentle parody. But now we can’t. What has changed in America?
As American Prospect blogger Adam Serwer put it, O’Reilly is really
mourning the demise of what he refers to as the “white Christian male power structure.” It’s not really that you “can’t” make racist jokes anymore; it’s that when you make them, you can’t expect everyone to remain silent as you assert your cultural or racial superiority through humor.
Serwer adds that we are apparently still a country where it’s not entirely “taboo to whine about no longer being able to make fun of Arabs.” However, while jokes about Arabs may be frowned upon, it should be noted that full-throated calls for their profiling, detention and bombing are practically required by certain media outlets, Fox News among them.
For more on O’Reilly’s record of bigotry, see “O’Reilly’s Racist Slurs–in Context” (Extra! Update, 6/03).
And you can’t tell “kike” jokes anymore “in polite company”, but somehow I don’t think O’Reilly’s particularly disturbed by that, do you?
Of course, I imagine he’s made one or two off-camera and out of the public eye, don’t you think? And you can guess his ‘tude toward Jews who don’t share the same glorious view of Israel as Mr. Bill.
Since this page is called “Fair Blog” let’s be fair about things. O’Reilly isn’t saying “We could make fun of Arabs in a general way and certainly Ahab the Arab is a general parody”. No, in truth, Bill is saying the word “gentle”. I heard what he said when the interview was shown on Fox the first time around and in all the play-backs I’ve watched, O’Reilly clearly says “gentle parody”. I don’t know if it was an intentional word substitution at the hands of those who don’t like O’Reilly and this song or not but no, Ray and Bill aren’t “waxing nostalgic” over not being allowed to offend Arabs. If anyone really listens to the interview you’ll hear the actual writer of the song defend it as being harmless, which it is. Those who don’t want to listen and just want to form your own conclusions it’s a shame if that’s the case. The main reason this interview has been circulated so much among the liberals is because of their misunderstanding of the interview as a whole.
For all those critics and those who jump to conclusions put yourself in Ray’s shoes.
How would any of you like it if people accuse you of being a racist or a bigot over a song that wasn’t written with any deliberate malice whatsoever? Again, if you don’t even believe that the writer of the song meant no harm, you’re just going to draw your own conclusions anyway.
(Let’s try that again – seems this form doesn’t take kindly to accents.
Hmmm … )
Ah, for the good old days when we could innocently laugh at “gentle parodies” like AMOS ‘N’ ANDY and Bill Dana’s “Jose Jimenez”, and every female stereotype known to, um, man.
(Wait – that last one’s still operable, innit?)
We weren’t laughing at those folks – we were laughing *with* them.
Metaphorically speaking – they weren’t allowed to live in the same neighborhood so we could laugh with them, were they?
Well, the (white) women could – but you know what I mean.
Good times … good times.
Actually, yes.
ACcountryFan is correct; Bill O’Reilly did indeed say “gentle” and not “general.” The error was in the Nexis transcript, which is produced by Fox. We’ve corrected the blog post.
I don’t think it changes the argument appreciably; I don’t think most people enjoy having their ethnic group mocked, either generally or “gently.” (I think the comparison to Amos ‘n’ Andy is very apt.)
As for those kinder, gentler days when we could poke fun at whole groups of people, let’s bury “Ahab the Arab’ right next to O’Reilley, along with “No Irish Need Apply.” I was watching “Breadfast at Tiffany’s” (1960) the other day. Wow. Mickey Rooney playing a Japanese photographer. I had to turn it off. Revolting, and yet it passed for sophisticated comedy in its day.