Monday, June 3, 2013

Race and the Making of Modern America


If it fair to say that Bill O'Reilly is a part of his environment?


24 comments:

Unknown said...

I believe that Bill O'Reilly is a product of his environment. He grew up in a neighborhood with all whites, accept the one African American man that moved into the neighborhood, which caused tension between he and the white residents. All accept for one of the residents seemed racist in the video, which leads me to believe that the majority of the neighborhood had an issue with their new neighbor. When you grow up in a neighborhood where you are not exposed to any race but your own, and there is bias against African Americans, nine times out of ten you will grow up with that mentality. Don't get me wrong, there is no excuse for such discrimination against Blacks, especially so recent in the past, but since he was most likely brought up to believe that blacks were the inferior race, it is not surprising to see these opinions manifested.

Unknown said...

Brain O'Reilly is a product of his environment because he continue to have racial and stereotypical views on other than his race. O'Reilly was most likely raised in a environment much like suburbanization towns in the video. He targets other races because that what he is accustom to and the those racial ideas never fully escape him. He was not raised to respect everyone regardless of race and was not raised around other races other than his own which lead to that views that his parents and community had reflects on him. As Brianna said "[O'Reilly] was most likely brought up to believe that blacks were the inferior race, it is not surprising to see these opinions manifested."

Amirah Ali said...

I think it is extremely fair to say that Bill Reilly is a product of his environment. The idea of race and comfortable living that was instilled into Bill as a child manifested into his adulthood life which i think has given him these stereotypes of blacks that he feels the need to verbalize publicly, just as the woman in the video we watched today. Seeing how adults felt and perceived blacks who weren't disruptive and ,as the narrator said , were equal to whites since they could afford the same housing in a suburban area then determines how he perceives blacks who gain just as much, if not more, publicity as him, as well as acceptance from families and other celebrities. People like Bill O'Reilly with a huge public audience or following, tend to say harsh things about other people in the public eye to thrust their opinions about others on their audience to take away from their attention, in turn, gaining all the attention and filling some sort of void they tend to have.

Cassidy Klement said...

It would be easy to write off Bill O'Reilly as simply a product of his environment--and I'm not saying he's not--but just because he grew up in a neighborhood where Blacks were viewed as inferior, like Brianna said, does not mean that is what led to his extreme, yet modern, racist attitude. There are plenty of whites who grew up in similar environments and are not the least bit racist, because they learned to view every race as equal, none superior over another, and not buy into stereotypes or, going back to earlier this year, the dangers of a single story.

This is not to say that O'Reilly's environment did not play a part in creating the mentality of black inferiority. A person's surroundings certainly influences how a person acts and thinks. Because he was surrounded by so much hate/discrimination and negative energy toward blacks, it was easy for him to be infected with the disease of racism. For those of us who live in the 21st century, it is disturbing to see that once O'Reilly was exposed to the rest of the world and not just confined to the single white race, he did not realized what he and many other whites (such as the ones he had been living around) had failed to realize: Everyone IS equal, no matter the race or color.

Vera D. said...

There is no doubt about it that Bill O'Reilly is a product of his community. Racism is not something that people are born with. It is something you develop and are trained to be. Bill O'Reilly's community was a community of very strong minded people who were racist towards black people. They didn't want black people in their town and made their oppions known. Bill O'Reilly grew up around those strong minded racist people and so he too became a strong-minded racist person. Of course his is more subtle and he probably doesn't realize that he is racist because he isn't saying "hang that N****r" but he is stereotyping black people and telling the world what black people are like when all his ideas are negative. If you know better you do better. He kniows better but was not trained to be accepting of people and to love and so old habits die hard.

Natalia Lopez said...

Yes, I think it is fair to say that Bill O'Reilly is part of his environment.When a child sees something that everyone is doing he/she learns to do the same thing.By growing up in a neighborhood that criticizes and is racist towards blacks he learns to also criticize them and have stereotypes about them.It might be that because he grew up that way, he publicly talks about blacks without thinking about it.

aissetou said...

Bill O'Reilly is definitely a product of his environment. I don't think he necessarily tries to be racist he just have the mentality of thinking of other races a certain way because of the environment he was brought up in. O'Reilly's community were strongly against blacks therefore it is not surprising to see him react to other races the way he do now. Bill O'Reilly still has the mindset of superiority.

Unknown said...

I believe it is fair to say that Bill O'Reilly is a product of the enviorment in which he grew up. As many of my class mates have said earlier in his enviormemt it was ok to critisize blacks and put them down. Even though he grew up in a place where that is acceptable I dont think its ok for him to act the way he does. Its rude, ignorant and un called for

ashley thomas said...

I believe that Bill O'Reilly as a product of his environment because of the things that were taking place while he was growing up. For example, blacks moved into a dominant white neighborhood which caused lots of tension. As you can see in the documentary, Bill's mother was unacceptable about the fact of blacks in the neighborhood. She made it clear that she didn't also want her kids to socialize with the black kids. Growing up, I think Bill looked up to this mother and others around him and by their comments about the blacks in the neighborhood, he followed suit.

Unknown said...

I believe that Bill O'Reily is a product of his environment. I believe Bill O'Reilys' racist mindset comes from what he witnessed in his community and how the people of the community acted towards the Meyers. During his young life Bill witnessed how the Meyers were treated differently from other people and probably heard what terrible people the Meyers are. His Parents, more than likely, instilled some of their tainted morals in him. He also may have saw rocks being thrown through the Meyers window, adults gossiping and contemplating and who knows what the impressionable children are saying during this. I think as he got older he may have formed and opinion about black people and never changed it. But I don't believe his behavior is excusable.

Brendon Jobs said...

I LOVE the conversation that's going on here. The comment that complicates the notion that he is simply a a product of his environment I think begins to really drill down into what mindsets have created his the part of his character that we discussed today. I really want to hear people explore that idea more, the complex notion that the PLACE makes the MAN. I wonder who among you would call yourselves "products of your environment" how fair is it to be put in that box. With that said, I guess you can also say that some people could choose to confine themselves to that box.

kimberly jeffreys said...

As Cassidy pointed out there are many other whites who grew up in similar environments and didn't take heed, such as the Grimke sisters. But on the other hand as Vera said racism is not something you are born with it has to be developed inside you. So I'm not quite sure if Brian O'Rielly is a product of his community because As Mr.Jobs stated in class people change over the years, unfortunately O'Rielly decided to keep that as one of his characteristics.

Unknown said...

I believe Bill O'Reilly is a product of his environment because, as Vera said, Racism is not something you're born with. O'Reilly probably began to develop his hypocritical racist ways at a young age and instead of changing, he grew up to be an influential journalist that criticized the black community in a professional discreet manner. Also, O'Reilly lived in a white dominated society in the 1950's where racial integration was not encouraged.

Unknown said...

I definitely believe Bill O'Reilly is a product of his environment, I mean the question should be is he not? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are people of this neighborhood and/or environment that are not like Bill O'Reilly just as all black males that are from the rougher parts of Philadelphia aren't associated with guns & violence but it is more commonly found than not and that is because this all they've seen or known. As Vera stated, this is not something you can just wake up with, this is something that is taught to you & regardless of that, Bill O' Reilly should be able to decipher right from wrong as many other people of this area do; he has no defense, he cannot pass this off as this was how I was taught so this is what I know. Many people have a totally different mindset and don't even want to worry about the questions or troubles of someone saying they are racist or stereotyping another race. Bill O'Reilly could careless about people saying that he is racist because In his mind, he is not, everything he is doing is absolutely right; he's in denial.

Unknown said...

Bill O'Reilly is most certainly a product of his white is right environment.... black not so much. He was pretty much indoctrinated into his current way of thinking.The hand that rocks the cradle doesn't just rule the world but also has a significant impact on the mind. His environment / community is one aspect that can only do so much and o so far in influencing a child. The real transformation occurs when the child returns home to his "all knowing" mother (at least to him) who is essentially his guide to all that is right in the world confirms what he hears outside. In this sense Bill O'Reilly is in every sense a product of his environment.However i don't believe that gives him an alibi or "cover story" to behave the way he does now. Especially bearing in mind His Princeton education. This means he has been exposed to other people and other belief systems, saw the fault in his ways and chose to not only ignore it but embrace it as his greatest asset from which to make a profit.

Unknown said...

I believe that it is fair to say that Bill O'Reilly is a product of his environment because of the neighborhood that he had lived in when he was younger. He have lived in an all white neighborhood mostly so he can get influenced by his neighbors around him of what they are thinking about racism. When he got older he wrote a book and he wanted to teach children not to be mean or being a bullied but what he have not realized is that he is a bullied himself since he is discriminating blacks.

Unknown said...

I believe it is fair to say that Bill O Reilly is a product of his environment because of how an where he was raised as a young child . He lived amount various whites that influenced his thought of racism toward blacks . Wen he became older he began writing a book to reach many children not to bully people . However he would bully people among hisself with the discrimination of blacks .

Unknown said...

Yes I believe that bill o'riley is a product of his because , he speaks flamboyantly on his opinions he's not afraid to speak out on . Most of them are very stereotypical and a can be taken much to offense. Based on his living environments the majority of whites didn't approve of blacks which may have cause to fall in line with his surroundings . His loud talking and angresiveness conquers his "idea" he has for children . Looking at him , on national tv isn't the ideal role model for children . Even in book he comes off hypocritical . Though bill is very successful in education , is reputation isn't up to par , being a product of hi environment

Unknown said...

I agree with Cassidy said. Not saying that Bill O'Rielly wasn't a product of his community, but we cannot put the entire blame on his malicious behavior on the topic of racism. Sure, the community was prominently white with the exception of one black family. A lot of the community of Levittown was trying to drive them out of the neighborhood. But there was always a group of people in Levittown that was appalled because of how there neighbors was acting towards the black family. They were willing to accept them . It's a very small chance that Bill O'Rielly could have chosen to side with that side of the community. I also understand that when you are being raised in a vast majority that made you believe that racism and thinking that your race is superior to others is okay, it's bound to effect you one way or the other. So, yes. I think it's completely fair to say that Bill O'Rielly was a product of his community .

Unknown said...

I think that it is completely fair to say that O'Relly is a product of his environment. The things he says proves it. He grew up around his own kind, which were whites who probably didn't know a thing about blacks and how they lived but still probably told stories about how blacks were and how they lived and he went off of that ) what he heard). He talks off of stereotypes like saying blacks drink "ice tea" and like in the "ghetto". He doesn't say it in a hateful way but that's things I think that he was raised to believe. nobody is born to hate, you are trained. I think the environment he grew up in trained him to have a certain view on blacks. I'll give him one thing he's honest on his opinions and how he feels.

Samantha Easley said...

I think Bill O'Riellly is definately a product of his evironment. No one is born with assumptions or dislikes for certain things or certain races. Bill O'Riely was influenced by something or someone else. It really surprised me how blunt and frank the lady in the Levettown video was about how she felt about African Americans. She talk about black as if we were animals, inferior to whites and as ignorant as newborn children who need to be taught their place. However, growing up in a racist environment does not excuse O'Rielly's or anyone else's racist veiws. There comes a time when everyone must be mature, make their own decisions about what kind of person they're gonna be and grown up!

Unknown said...

Bill O'reilly is definitely a product of his environment, this is without a doubt! I'm sure many people of his kind think the same way, bill O'reilly just has the guts to say it. He should be able to differentiate between right and wrong just like everyone else in the world . What he's doing is saying is absolutely wrong! Someone needs to give him a reality check, there should be no reason there are still people like this in the 21st century

Unknown said...

Yes, I believe that Bill O'Reilly is product of his environment. The reason why I say that is most of the people that he grew up with was whites. Which didn't allow him to be expose him to the other type of race. He also may be raise around people that were racist and learn that it was okay to act like that.

Unknown said...
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