Sticks and Stones

Bill O’Reilly, the host of The O'Reilly Factor on Fox network is one freaky man. If freedom of speech has any downside then it is people like him. I am taking an entire course this semester on media and the agenda-setting role it plays and have since then been more skeptical of what I read, watch, and listen to. It is beyond shocking how brainwashed, mislead, and intellectually disenfranchised people become in a world dominated by media conglomerates with vested interest in a misinformed complacent citizenry. The Fifth Estate’s documentary Sticks and Stones reveals one side of this often unscrupulous media and it does so in the context of discussing the schism between the conservative right and the liberal left in the US. It’s a 45 minutes documentary, worth watching if you have the slightest interest in the issue. It is also an interesting insight into the Canadian perspective of US media and politics. The Canadian media can also be very biased in its own right. This documentary, for example, certainly tries to vilify one side in favour of the other. I’m sure conservatives in the US can have a better representation than those sick people interviewed in the documentary or do they? Anyway, I was taken aback by a couple of segments in the doc particularly Bill O’reilly’s interview with Jeremy Glick whose father was killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Bob McKeown’s exchange with Ann Coulter was also quite interesting. "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" she says. When McKeown asked her whether her comment was a joke she said "no, it is not.. and I think Canada might have noticed this... point one and point two are already official US policy."

To watch the documentary click here.