I’m gonna break with my new blog guideline of not getting too current event-y by addressing the feud that has recently erupted between Stephen Colbert and Bill O’Reilly.

Well, we all know it’s always existed, simmering beneath the surface of Colbert’s papa-bear parody…

Bottom line: they don’t like each other all that much.

OK, so here’s my take…

O’Reilly seriously (well, I guess seriously) believes there is something seriously amiss in “America.”

And he blames it all on a progressive push for equality.

An idea championed by our current Commander in Chief along with all those ideologues on the radical left.

According to O’Reilly, Colbert’s true progressive agenda…

behind the facade of pretending to be O’Reilly’s bombastic alter-ego…

is equality…

the insidious idea that is tearing our country to shreds.

You see, in O’Reilly’s worldview there is a distinct and entirely unequal cultural stratification…

it is just the way things are supposed to be.

You have those such as O’Reilly himself…the cultural elite…

recently, to Bill’s chagrin, progressively degraded as those loathsome 1%’ers…

Then you have that great big bulge in the middle known as “regular folk”…

a pretty big group, so big in fact that O’Reilly only has to rely on about 50% of them to keep him in his coveted elite position…

And down below them are those low-class thugs who must be kept in their places in order to serve those above.

That’s just the way it’s always been and that’s the way it is.

Or a socialist idea at best.

Bill is very adept at reinforcing his point with airtight analogies such as his inability to beat his fellow Irishman, Shaquille Rashaun O’Neal, in a friendly game of one-on-one.

That certainly justifies or explains the widening income  inequality gap??

OK Bill we’ll all admit with ya that people are not equal.

They’re not equal in physical strength and stature, looks, intelligence, education, experience and a whole host of other factors.

But they (we) are all equal in the following senses…

-in the sense of those inalienable rights our declaration speaks of…

-and in the sense of a right to not be exploited…

-and to live with dignity…

-and to have the same opportunity regardless of the circumstances in which one begins…

-and to be able to live our lives the way we please, as long as it doesn’t interfere with your ability to do the same.

-and to expect that those who govern us will do so with the aforementioned senses in mind

-and not “stack the deck” to the favor of Bill’s cultural class.

It’s possibly to simply make sure that the senses in which we ARE equal are respected…

or at least paid a little more attention to.

And he does so in a humorous way that does get people’s attention…

it certainly has O’Reilly’s.

That’s what the Revolutionary Misfit idea of “we’re all in this boat together” is similarly trying to convey.

You know, that Big US thing that this blog often harps about.

The concept of The Big US is not about diminishing the distinctions that make the human mosaic so colorful and interesting…

But to make sure that we’re all working together to save the sinking ship.

O’Reilly thankfully admits that the ship is indeed sinking…

or leaking profusely.

But I disagree with his premise that striving for less inequality is what’s causing the cultural chasms to develop in the hull.

I would go so far as to say that his ideological notion of all things being unequal is exactly why those chasms are there…

and growing.

image credit: Thrift Store Diva via Compfight cc