Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” host Bill O’Reilly and producer Jesse Watters engaged in a discussion of the changing demographics of the U.S. and noted, with puzzlement, that many Asian-Americans are voting Democratic. According to Media Matters, O’Reilly suggested that this is surprising because “Asian people are not liberal, you know, by nature.”
This discussion opened with the two men talking about the state of Hawaii, which they claim is rife with homeless people because of “addiction” and because, O’Reilly said, “they don’t enforce the drug laws.”
“But you know what’s shocking?” he continued, “35 percent of the Hawaiian population is Asian, and Asian people are not liberal, you know, by nature. They’re usually more industrious and hard-working.”
Yeah, it’s your drunken uncle’s race theorizing. If you brought up the fact that this is offensive, Bill would probably argue that his statements were positive, so he’s safe from the charge. But racist stereotypes are racist. And stereotypes always hurt someone. If you doubt that, ask the Korean-American kid how he feels when his teacher tells him that “people like you” should be better at math.
And how offensive is this to everyone who votes Democratic? Hey, you’re lazy and shiftless (wink, wink — you know what Bill means), not at all like those hard-working Asians.
Seriously, I often wonder if Bill O’Reilly feels out-of-place in the twenty-first century world. He becomes more anachronistic every day.
