Bill O'Reilly slandered by Dallas Morning News?

I have been following this squabble with some interest because it has the unfortunate facet of stemming from the pen of a commentator who apparently was intending to address a real issue, but chose the most unfair and undeserving target. The real issue was the growing hype and even near demonizing of the complicated matter of illegal immigration from Mexico across the ludicrously open border. Since 9/11 the matter of border security has taken on another dimension, and justly so. However, it is impossible to ignore the decade’s long legacy of weak federal response ranging from half-hearted to outright impotent. It is unrealistic to expect any deep and immediate changes or fixes without some sober discussion of the true stakes and conflicting motives on both sides of the border argument, whether these sides be the right vs. left, or Mexico vs. America's interests. Enter an op-ed piece by Macarena Hernandez of the Dallas Morning News for October 15, 2005. In this article, Ms Hernandez laments of the insidious anti-immigrant climate brewing while discussing the recent tragic and brutal murder of a group of six Mexican farm workers in Georgia. These same workers happened also to be illegal aliens, but arguably, this has nothing to do with the crime, which was motivated by greed and brutality. Still, Ms Hernandez chose to make this about the current `high-volume' debate about illegal immigration in general, and how we look at it. She was actually trying to make this very good point:

"More globally, horrors like these demand that a nation descended from immigrants take a hard look at the ways we think and speak about these most recent arrivals."

Valid enough, and there is no denying the heated and even true hate talk that seems current these days about it. Not least driven by the continuing flaccid response of high officials on the matter, which fuels a sense of frustration and ire that might not otherwise be present with decisive leadership from both parties.Be that as it may, Ms Hernandez was trying to sound a note of warning about the current tone of the debate, and commenting on the reaction of some complaints to a chivalrous gesture by the Mayor of Tifton went on to make the egregious blunder of this statement:

"Were the complainers angrier about the red, white and green Mexican flag fluttering in the Georgia air than they were about the horrific murders? Do they watch Fox's The O'Reilly Factor, where the anchor and the callers constantly point to the southern border as the birth of all America's ills? (Sample comment: "Each one of those people is a biological weapon.") "

This is where it all went wrong. There are even some radio commentators she could have named that could approximate the charge of being hateful, but Bill O'Reilly does nothing to deserve it on either his TV program The O'Reilly Factor or his radio show. Ms Hernandez could not have chosen a more unjust example, for Bill O'Reilly is on record time and again as not objecting to the actions of illegal immigrants from the immigrant's *point of view*. He has said over and over in so many words, and one readily concurs `that one can hardly blame them. I would probably do the same in their shoes. The blame lies with the government in not taking steps to do its duty to find some way to either regulate the influx, or halt it.' Her error was made worse by attributing the comment of a listerner to O'Reilly, or least letting that impression stand.

Though not directly intended, the net-result was Ms Hernandez ending up insinuating that Bill O'Reilly of all people helped incite anti-immigrant climate. But his sober concern about securing the border is simple logic, and has always been balanced by recognition that the intent of the vast majority of the illegal immigrants is not even remotely malevolent, unlike any would-be terrorists from the Mideast.The resulting blow up was unfortunate, and the fallout from it is still falling, but I inject commentary here on it to point out that it could if harnessed, serve the useful purpose of helping to bring the debate on the illegal immigrant/worker issue back to some sense of equilibrium and sensible discussion. Neither Macarena Hernandez nor Bill O'Reilly would have wanted the impression that resulted, as their own statements make clear that they are simply trying to comment on crucial aspects of the issue, and are not bomb-throwers. I am familiar with both of Bill O'Reilly's shows and his genuine attempts to try to see the whole picture, and on the other hand, it was sad to seem some of the comments quoted by Ms Hernandez to her along the lines of "go back where you came from" (she is from Texas!) and the like.It all points to the over-charging of the atmosphere these days with sheer hyperbole and hype, and is making reasoned dialogue very difficult. But still, we must try.

- Anthony