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 Originally Posted by Renton
Famous/infamous late-term abortion doctor in Kansas. He was the victim of violence several times, including being shot multiple times in 1993, but he survived that. Eventually he was murdered following tons of bad press on Fox news, much of which was the O'Reilly Factor. The question is do you see any issue with O'Reilly using inflammatory language on a show that has extremely good ratings and is sure to be viewed by religious extremists prone to commit violence against abortion clinics? The issue is the power that he has with his platform. It's a bit different than us nobodies criticizing Islam on a web forum.
Yes, but mostly no.
I was working on a project for an authority that had really ballsed up how it issued out work to upgrade their system. Basically, they brought us on to upgrade their old system and someone else on to install the next-gen stuff and they were incompatible in a lot of ways. The intent was to have the tried-and-true old system as a back up when the new system broke-down, but there were philosophical differences.
Anyway, they eventually decided to drop us off and just go with the newer system as the sole-controller. I say this because toward the end of my work on that project, we got a new project management team who were pressing us to get packages out the door regardless of their completeness. Hindsight tells me it's because they could read the writing on the walls and knew the work would never be looked at but would be billed. I refused. I wouldn't send anything out until it was level 5 done.
Bill O'Reilly is responsible for what he did in that same vein. He spoke his words, he hammered his fists, he inflamed his rhetoric, and so the consequences are his. A man in his position should have some sense of the cause-and-effect nature of his work and his words, and he shouldn't commit to any work that he himself doesn't approve in some manner.
At the same time, the nature of a hierarchy is that blame is equal to authority and Bill O doesn't get to have a show on the quality of his character alone. He's allowed to have a show because it fits into the overall plan and direction of the organization he's a part of. Whoever saw his fire-brand narrative as a product they wanted to own and push holds the lion's share of blame. Whoever looked over Bill O's work and saw fit to afford it is more responsible than he is.*
The least blame goes to the bumpkins who fell for it. They can't even maintain the basic health of mind to see through his words and hatred and so what good does it do to burden those who can't even do the least with any blame?
*which is why conquerors like Muhammad are so interesting. How cool is it when you afford your own work?
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