Well, I guess I've arrived. Bill O'Reilly has gone on air, quoted a piece I wrote completely out of context and then had a debate about the whole thing, all without once consulting me or inviting me on as a guest. Guess that would be too fair and balanced.
Of course, it relates to the editorial here at the Huffington Post about Cancers growing in all shapes and sizes in our country. In that editorial, I reference Snow's cancer. But it was not the point of the editorial, and when I saw that people were getting hung up on those lines and were taking them in a manner in which they were not intended, I removed them. No one asked me to, told me to, nothing, I simply wanted to so the point of the editorial would come through. I didn't want 30 words to eclipse the other 1770. I had a conversation with someone I think is a rational human being on my private email list, someone who had gotten the column from me personally. After discussing it with him, I thought to myself, if this rational person perceives what I'm saying as something that I'm not, as something that is not my intent, better to lose it all together. After all, it's not the point of the story.
For the record, I never wrote, have written or said that I wished Tony Snow or anyone cancer or any other fatal illness. And when O'Reilly read the piece on air, he left out the part about how I wished him a speedy recovery and the support of family and friends to help navigate the waters ahead. Again, goes to fair and balanced, I suppose.
But this has taught me a great lesson: the right can't take it. These compassionate, God-fearing individuals that stand for truth and justice have written over the last 48 hours things like "I hope you die a long, agonizing death by cancer you motherfucker. Only, before that I hope you all you(r) loved ones suffer the same fate ahead of you and give you an idea of what's in store for you. You are a reprehensible cocksucker," "You people are the most hateful, intolerant, misguided, self diluted, selfish, twisted people in our society. You and your ilk will be the down fall of our great county. Not the people on the right, not the terrorists, it will be the left. Hope to meet you on a dark side street," "I hope you die of AIDS you sick faggot...," "I hope your partner died in horrible pain, he deserved it and so do you...," "If your mother is alive I hope she dies in front of you in a painful way..." on and on I could go. Yes, these compassionate conservatives, who willingly sign up for the vitriolic Coulter and her column, take two sentences out of context and wish me, my family and everybody I know painful and horrible demises. God bless those good Christians that support the Republican party and watch the Fox Network.
And here's the big thing, has anyone on the right ever reconsidered? When I saw how the words could be misinterpreted, when I felt that the story was being lost and that the words could, in fact, cause pain to those whom I don't even know, I removed them. Because it was the right thing to do. I was not doing a study on environmental factors and cancer, I was writing about serious issues in our nation. I was wise enough to say this is getting in the way of the message and is not needed, get rid of it. I saw how some were misquoting my words and said, no, I want none of that, better it be gone. And who keeps it alive? The very people that say it is horrible. They won't let it rest, they keep it going and going and going. It's as if they revel in it, that they, themselves, get some delight out of it. I have since edited and moved on; the Right? Oh no, the story grows by the day.
People say I should apologize. Why? So then article after article can be written about how insincere it is? And apologize for what? My intent was never to say the cancer was or is deserved.
In the last seven years of this administration I have been told I am un-American because I do not support the war. Un-American, basically, a traitor to the United States, a country I love. That's fine, though, right? I have sat by and listened as bigots like our President discuss same sex unions or those who claim to be religious and heard the most hurtful words, the most painful discussions. I have gotten letters from gay teenagers who suffer from the institutionalized bigotry, or from gay soldiers who don't know what to do when they are called immoral, when their whole being is called immoral, for wanting to serve openly. Oh, that kind of dialogue, fine. I have been told to leave this nation and go some place like Canada or Amsterdam, or, go try being gay in Iraq, or go try and question the government in the Middle East, as if I should shut up here because you can't do it there. But that's fine. The right and those good, god-fearing watchers of Fox News have done all they can to make sure anyone that has questioned this government or lived a lifestyle not to their liking knew just how unwelcome they were in a country that is supposed to welcome all, and that's fine, too. But write something that you realize is being taken out of context, not in the manner intended, remove it because of that knowledge, and let the death threats and muckraking begin.
To Bill O'Reilly, you are welcome, as a guest, on my radio show any time you'd like to come on and discuss in person what you had to say about me on your air. Unlike you, I'll give the opposition time to explain their side, if there is one.
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