“One of the most dehumanizing things I’ve seen on Fox”
by digby
Don’t watch this unless you feel like getting angry:
Fox New’s Bill O’Reilly on Monday ran a horrible segment in which he characterized homeless people in New York City’s Penn Station as dangerous, playing into some of the worst stereotypes about the homeless — and got the underlying cause of the situation in Penn Station wrong.
They go on to explains that the story is total BS:
Beyond being what Media Matters’s Carlos Maza called “one of the most dehumanizing things I’ve seen on Fox,” the segment also misses what could be behind a recent rise of homeless people at the train station. O’Reilly argues this supposed increase — which is completely unproven, and appears to be based on Fox News staffers and some New Yorkers’ personal observations — is due to relaxed law enforcement because of “uber-liberal” Mayor Bill de Blasio’s policing policies. Not only is there absolutely no evidence to support this assertion, but there’s a much more plausible explanation: The number of homeless people in New York City has been trending up for years.
There’s more at the link. But it’s beside the point. O’Reilly and his dickish minion just wanted to demean unfortunate people for the entertainment of their old, white male audience and blame liberals for it. That’s their appeal.
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