On Shooting Up Fox

One of hip-hop’s few remaining respectable talents – indeed, my favorite – Nas and representatives of ColorOfChange.org attempted to deliver boxes filled with 620,127 signed petitions to Fox News’ headquarters in New York City yesterday. The petition claims that its signers want network president Roger Ailes to “find a solution to address racial stereotyping and hate-mongering before it hits the airwaves.”

In reality, the 620,217 petitioners merely sought to carry out a wanton attack on the one prominent news network whose commentators’ political opinions consistently do not reflect their own. When asked later that evening on the Colbert Report to explain his grievances with Fox News, Nas, a professional wordsmith, could not even muster the weakest anecdotal or circumstantial evidence of any transgression on the part of Fox News:

“I mean it’s obvious. Anybody that has eyes and ears can see that [Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly] is out of control. He knows what he’s doing. You know what I mean? It’s out of line, and the things he’s saying is [sic] worse than the worst rap lyrics I’ve ever heard.”

Stephen Colbert couldn’t maintain his character in the face of Nas’ mind-numbingly hypocritical claim, pausing before responding, “O’Reilly?!” Presumably, Colbert's astonishment was partly the result of his familiarity with Nas’ own advocacy of murder in songs such as “Shoot ‘Em Up," the chorus of which is: “Shoot ‘em up. Just shoot ‘em up. What? Kill, kill, kill. Murder, murder, murder.”

Nas’ demonstration is merely one formal attestation to the more discouraging and shameful issue that a large, vocal sect of liberals – at least 620,127 strong – cannot tolerate views contrary to their own and the individuals who hold them. Despite regularly purporting themselves as the group of tolerance, many liberals cannot themselves tolerate the existence of conservative thought and have shown a willingness to act to stop its expression. Similar to the ColorOfChange’s demonstration yesterday, in 2005, Democratic Representative Maurice Hinchey led the attack on conservative talk radio, introducing legislation to restore the unconstitutional Fairness Doctrine, which endeavored to suppress conservative commentary on the radio.

The same ghastly intolerance motivated the deplorable actions of protestors at an anti-war demonstration last week in Santa Barbara, where individuals spat on a veteran of the Iraq War, repeatedly called him a rapist, and slung other profanities at him. This attitude compels, condones, and even encourages the hateful speech hurled at conservatives and President George W. Bush, in particular, heard on that same video, in Nas’ comments about O’Reilly, and over the course of the last 7.5 years.

Beyond blotting the respectability of progressives and their message at large, the hateful hypocrisy of this sizable sect of liberals further exacerbates the destructive partisan acrimony plaguing political discourse these days. This antidemocratic attitude undermines the respectful, intellectual dialogue necessary for constructive and responsible public policy. Sadly, this is just fine to this movement’s spokesman: “When [O’Reilly] wants to come holla at me, be ready for Hannibal Lecter," Nas said in 2007. "He don’t [sic] deserve an intelligent explanation.”