One point I haven't seen made yet (although I've only looked at maybe 400 of the brazillion comments on the subject) is this one: Who listens to O'Reilly? Some are people who just listen for entertainment purposes, some are your garden-variety wingnuts, and then there are your fringe nutcases. Think back to Timothy McVeigh, White Supremacists, Abortion-clinic bombers, gay haters.
Think of the nutcase subset of his listeners...hearing O'Reilly spout his hate, his violence day after day. And now basically calling the residents of San Francisco traitors. And suggesting, gleefully, that wouldn't it be really fun to punish those lefties...by bombing them. Think of the small percentage of listeners who are on the edge...hearing this. Night after night. And maybe getting ideas.
Would Al Qaeda target San Francisco based on what O'Reilly has said? I doubt it. I'm far more concerned with some good ole American loose cannons hearing this shit.
Over and Over again
Yep, think of that small percentage of listeners who are on the edge...hearing this. Night after night. And maybe saying hmmm....
When you write to O'Reilly sponsors, I think bringing up this point would have some impact. The response to complaints seems to be that O'Reilly's comments are hyperbole. But ask them how comfortable they are with the thought that there are a few Timothy McVeigh wanna-bes out there, who are listening to O'Reilly, and NOT thinking this is hyperbole. You only need a handful to pull off something horrible.
The point isn't freedom of speech. The point is, does your company want to sponsor shit like this. Regardless of whether it gives you access to affluent prospective customers?
Prior to the Oklahoma bombing, nobody was really thinking that there were people out there who would do such a thing. But, we were wrong. And these people arn't listening to NPR. They're listening to O'Reilly.