CAN THE BILL O’REILLY SITUATION AND THE UAL EVENT BE COMPARED?

…UAL passenger being forcibly removed

 

Are America’s values towards money increasing, as our moral values diminish?

 

I am really surprised as to how many people that watch and follow Bill O’Reilly did not know that he had settled multiple potential law suits, to the tune of millions, over former sexual harassment complaints. 

 

 

And now it appears that Bill’s reign over the evening viewership on the Fox News channel may be coming to an end.  I say this because, on a Wednesday, right in the middle of Bill’s new book tour of giving multiple TV and radio interviews, “Bill then decided to immediately go on vacation”.  Word on the street says he may be in the process of being forced out at Fox.  Bill may not be returning to Fox after his, ahem... “vacation”.

 

 

After hearing about O’Reilly at Fox, and then watching a doctor passenger being man-handled and dragged off of a United Airlines flight in Chicago (A move to make room for one of UAL’s flight crews), we then learned afterwards that Bill O’Reilly’s ratings subsequently went up, as did UAL’s stock value!

 

After the US citizens living in the Red states of the nation put a narcissistic charlatan liar in the highest office in the land, these two events were just more examples of the fact that monetary values in the country seem to be increasing as our nation’s moral values are diminishing.

 

Americans are just becoming observant bystanders of disgusting behavior and appalling allegations.

 

What is interesting is that we know about all of this today, mainly because these events are appearing instantly on today’s social media. 

 

Did you know that as of today, there are more than 350 different social media outlets WW on the internet?  Here is a list of the top 15 social outlets in the US, but they are not necessarily in the order of their use.

 

Top Social Networks: Facebook, Google, YouTube, Vine, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest, Flickr, Reddit, Meetup, Trumblr, Ask.fm, Classmates, Meetup.

 

The reality is that a hundred years ago, our nation’s morality was initially established by the nation's church ladies who set the norm for the morals of our local communities.  Later, it was the newly invented telephone’s party-line operators who seemed to set the norm, then it became the radio and TV evangelist’s such as Rev’s. Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell and the 500 Club, but today it is all part and parcel of these internet social media outlets.

 

Within hours or minutes, if someone appears to misbehave, millions of people will know about it, whether it is true, false or even a staged event. Today, the social media networks set the moral standards, even if these standards have nothing to do with reality.

 

Some of the outlets just show events or demonstrations, and they leave it to the viewer to decide on its morality.  Others are specifically used to influence a situation or a cause, and others like Twitter seem to demand some level of justice.  (However, as to our president’s constant use of Twitter, his use is many times a demand for a false justice, and it’s actually a miss-use of the social outlet.)

 

The videos of the aforementioned UAL airplane fiasco immediately went viral and the passengers can be heard protesting as the UAL security officials drag the man down the aisle toward the exit. But the passengers objections were relatively muted. 

 

At first, it was looked at as a one-off, crazy incident.  But then it became a major issue for UAL.  A couple of days later, the attorney for the doctor that was dragged off the plane, he is telling the major networks that the man lost multiple teeth, had hit his head multiple times and had memory loss.  He has also lost his front teeth and he will need facial reconstruction surgery.  And yes, the video clearly showed the man’s head hitting on the passenger arm rests and it plainly shows his bloodied face.

 

This actually did happen, right there in the Chicago airport on a UAL airplane, and it happened to a random individual that just wanted to go home.

 

Still, with all the objections to what happened, UAL stock did still initially go up, just as Bill O’Reilly’s ratings increased. 

 

So, what does that say about what’s going on today with the morals of this nation?

 

Well, the good news is, that just after a major storm, water does again find its former level.

 

By the time the market closed on the following day, UAL’s shares had gone down by 1.1% and the company lost $255 million in market value.  It was not a loss however, because of the airline’s treatment of the passenger.  It was instead because of the investors’ loss of faith in the company’s ability to handle a crisis.  So the loss was not due to a moral issue, it was a financial one.

 

So, what then happened about Bill O’Reilly and his ratings?

 

We already know how some years ago, O’Reilly was sued and had to pay big bucks for sexual harassment of one of his associate producers, Andrea Mackris.  Mackris was paid well, but her case faded into scandal history, and O’Reilly went on to have more harassment suits as he also became Fox News channel’s top ratings maker.  This occurred for reasons that I’ve never understood.

 

But fortunately, due to social media, we now have the hashtag: #droporeilly.  This Twitter site was born where thousands of women could and have shared their experiences with workplace harassment.

 

As a result, at last count, more than 60 advertisers, including Jenny Craig, Advil and Mercedes-Benz, have pulled their commercials from O’Reilly’s Fox show.  Even Bill O’Reilly is only as valuable as the money his advertisers bring in for Fox. Yes, this man may be history at Fox, but stay tuned.  If he stays, well…..stranger things have happened at the Fox Networks regarding sexual harassment.

 

In the pre-Twitter / video-camera phone era, the UAL event might have actually gone unnoticed by the network reporters.  And pre-social media allegations of O’Reilly’s bullying behavior might have been passed off as a classic: “He-said-She-said” event.  However, in today's social media era, we will see these things instantaneously as they actually occur.

 

So, is today’s party today over for all the harassers and the bullies?  Well, the fact is, that is exactly what we have today as our new President of the United States. 

 

Therefore, social media may be a good thing for our  nation's morality in the long term, but as of today, the final vote on what is really going to work for the American public is yet to be cast.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017