Bill O'Cosby must be destroyed!!

I hate to post again about a racial issue, because I don't want to seem obsessed with it, and I think almost any discussion of race is a proverbial minefield. That being said, I felt like going into this particular battle alongside Juan Williams (black, Liberal, journalist, Democrat (probably)) was less of a risk.

Apparently some people are vilifying Bill O'Reilly (what's new, right?) for comments he recently made on his radio show about his mother and her inaccurate views about race. Juan Williams was a guest on the show at the time the comments were made, and has written an open letter of sorts addressing the issue and explaining what really happened. What Bill O'Reilly Really Told Me - TIME. For the record, if I can avoid it, I don't watch, listen to or read Bill O'Reilly in any of his media packages. I think he is a faux populist-ic, sloppy thinking, arrogant personality, and I mostly view him as a useful lightning rod for Conservatism and FoxNews. But I don't think he represents me or my views.

I had completely missed this tea-pot tempest until I read Juan Williams' article today, and it was interesting to see Juan Williams' views on thug-apologism. I agree with his views (on this) and it is disturbing to see persons who dare to speak the truth on the matter being eviscerated by the usual suspects. It occurred to me that the truth of what happened in the exchange is much less important than spinning it however possible so as to delegitimize anyone who challenges the school of American Liberalism. As Juan Williams wrote:

But this is an attempt to take down O'Reilly and dismiss anyone offering him support — me. This is along the lines of telling anyone who calls attention to the excesses of hip-hop culture a "self-hating" black man and skewering anyone who dares to say there is a crisis in black America because of the high dropout rates, high crime rates and high out-of-wedlock birth rates.

Indeed. To be clear, there are a myriad of social problems in America (heck, Southern Beale reports that women in America have it just as bad as women living under the Taliban), and--for lack of a better phrase, "black America" is like every other segment of our population in that it faces unique challenges. But while some were quick to engage in character assassination here, this recent example doesn't bode well for solving serious social problems. If we can't even agree on (or get the Left to acknowledge) the problems . . . how can we expect to come to any solutions?