Last night I saw Bill O’Reilly worked into a lather over the little girl on YouTube ranting about religion, and about him. He called it “child abuse” and said the parents were unsuitable and should have the child taken away. He also insinuated without evidence that other, darker abuses were taking place “off-camera”. The sex-crime prosecuter he had on the show said the family should be shunned by others, and watched carefully by authorities.
The video is of an 8-year-old girl in a clumsy rant about the evils of religion, and obviously performing her parents’ words. Like most kids, she believes what her parents tell her and is ready to repeat it enthusiastically for the video camera.
OK, I’ll stipulate that if it isn’t child abuse, it’s wrongfully involving a little kid in the conflicts of grown-ups. It’s cut from the same cloth that makes for Madrassas in Pakistan… or the Jesus Camp that circulated around the internet a little while ago. It’s like any number of enthusiastic kids’ church videos from fundy churches. Religious parents should watch this video and consider if they… use their kids to show off how faithful they are. Leave the kids off-camera, everyone. If nothing else, to protect them from whackos who watch The Factor, or appear on it.
O’Reilly? I think he was just upset because the little girl called him an idiot. Even though it’s true, her parents shouldn’t have made her say it on camera.
Ignoring the fact that it is negligent of her parents to have her do this… You have to admit it was damn funny that she was right on with every point!
We simply raise our daughters without religion and when the topic comes up (very rarely), we encourage our 7-year-old to think critically.
Last year in first grade, her teacher mentioned that she was in tears because of “god talk” amongst the kids. My first thought was that she was teased because she didn’t believe in god, but as it turns out she was frustrated because she couldn’t make the others see the error of their ways.
Two weeks ago she asked me for arguments against god’s existence.
What kind of low life scum bag uses children to convince other children of their own views on religion? I know that is blunt but the sword swings both ways. I think a parent should be teaching a child to respect others views, since not one damn person on this planet can prove either view with 100% accuracy. I am sure “Elwe” would be one of the first jumping up and down on thed desk of the teacher if one of the religious children was preaching to their oh so smart 7 year old. I am not a religious person, I know many that are and many that aren’t, they seem to co-exist pretty much because they respect each others beliefs. A little more of that would help.
Using kids’ speech for propaganda purposes—be it pro- or anti- any particular ideological viewpoint—is reprehensible.
Kids, unfortunately (and too many adults have never grown out of this) see such things in terms of black-and-white—or, more often, us-vs-them. They espouse a view based on what their parents say, later what their peers say, without making critical assessments of their own (often because they don’t have the intellectual maturity to do so). Exploiting that, in any cause, is unethical.
Of course O’Reilly *is* an idiot. “Out of the mouths of babes …”
Let’s get a few things straight, James.
It’s par for the course as far as organized religion is concerned. It’s unusual to encounter it on the other side of the fence.
The burden of proof is on the religious believer, isn’t it? Unless you happen to know exactly what views I hold, please don’t assume what I can or need to prove.
It may be too subtle a point, but we encourage our kids to respect the rights of others to hold different views. We do not encourage them to extend that respect to those views per se. When they ask, we’ll offer our opinion on a case by case basis.
If you feel the need to abbreviate, please use “elwed”.
Our kids are smart and we are proud of them. I’m sorry if that offends you, but what do you hope to achieve by making disparaging remarks about them? Don’t you practice what you preach and respect their views?
I would have been most unhappy if our daughter was being preached to. As it happens, I wasn’t happy about her arguing religion, either.
See above. People are free to believe what they will and I respect that, but there’s no conceivable reason why I should respect whatever it is they believe in.
elwedriddsche, I am by no means attacking your child, children that age normally only repeat whatever their parents have drummed into their heads. Pitting 7 year olds against each other in any kind or discussion of religion or the lack there of is reprehensible. Your point about the other side does is it more is pure bullshit, using children as weapons in a stupid argument about something neither side will convince the other about is damn near criminal and borders on child abuse. If you want to take it personal , be my guest, your as bad as the religious fanatics you oppose.
James, here’s some unsolicited advice:
Read what others write carefully. Do not yield to the temptation to fill in blanks to fit your preconceived notions. In your responses to me, you have jumped to increasingly unwarranted and factually incorrect conclusions.
Unsubscribing.
James, you’re a smart guy but your tendency to make assumptions and go straight to nasty hides it well. You should take Elwed’s ‘unsolicited advice’.
Too bad Elwed unsub’d, because he has the right idea. You teach your kids what you believe, answer their questions (kids will argue about things>, and let them grow up along the way.
“Respecting” other people means “no calling them doo-doo-heads” (or scumbags) for disagreeing with you. It does not mean you can’t toss ideas around and present your own. It’s OK to teach kids what you believe; you almost can’t avoid it. But it’s essential to help them learn how to disagree constructively with others .
The fact that this video was made for the purpose of marketing the music of a music group tells me that it should normally have acted by someone performing work for hire, and I hope The Bastard Faeries read carefully the laws dictating the treatment of childhood actors. This child actress is probably a child of one of the members of the band, which might change the payment scenerio, but the laws probably still apply in the same fashion otherwise.
There have always been child performers. I doubt any legal child abuse has taken place.
“The video is of an 8-year-old girl in a clumsy rant about the evils of religion, and obviously performing her parents’ words.”
Well, no, actually she’s not. It’s a rather clumsy promo for a band called the Bastard Fairies. The little kid actually did a pretty good ACTING job, she was good enough to fool most of you anyway, and tricked both “Filthy Bill” O and the DOF into going on little rants of their own. And I suspect she’s too smart to just “believe what her parents tell her”. Maybe she’ll grow up to be an Episcopalian priest for all we know.
Little Girl: 1 Bastard Fairies: .5
“Worldly Grown-ups”: Zero.
“Like most kids, she believes what her parents tell her and is ready to repeat it enthusiastically for the video camera.”
Like most inattentive people, you believed what was put in front of you and didn’t think things through (or even read the text posted with the vid that would have clued you in) and were ready to sound off enthusiastically in your blog.
It’s satire, people. s-a-t-i-r-e.
At 49 it’s odd to consider that some people my own age might not “get” the internet. Even people who have their own, relatively entertaining, not always right but usually smart blog.
Here’s a good hint: lying down in the muck anywhere near Filthy Bill is usually a bad idea, even if you throw in a token hint of disagreement.
A little fact-checking here might have helped, the info was right in front of your faces on the youtube site. And as for the “clumsy rant” while it wasn’t quite up to Samuel Clemens, Ambrose Beirce and Robert Ingersolls standards, I’ll settle for clumsy truth over more varnished bullshit anytime. She doesn’t say anything that’s not true.
Score : Little Girl: 2 Bastard Fairies 1
“Worldly Grown-ups”: still Zero.
Believe it or not, even Bill O’Not-Really knew it was a promo for the Bastard Fairies, and so did I. But I don’t feel that was relevant. Yes, the little girl did a creditable acting job; I hope she majors in drama.
I’m guessing the Bastard Fairies isn’t a Christian rock band, so she probably is repeating a script given to her for the piece. So she is still being involved in adults’ problems far ahead of time.
If you think I’m a fan of O’Reilly, you need to work on your reading comprehension. Did you miss the part where I dunned him for bringing no one on the show who could identify similar behavior on the part of the Christian right, and for falsely accusing the parents of child abuse? For saying they were unfit parents and that their little girl should be taken away from them?
Yes, it was a satirical advertisement, and they shouldn’t have involved an 8-year-old child in it, for reasons I mentioned above. And O’Reilly should get a real journalist to explain broadcast responsibilities to him.
I don’t know how much of a “satire” it is. This group frequently releases anti-religious rants-and recently on youtube the lead singer was telling people they didn’t have the right to believe in religion and that it should be banned. Sounds like fundies-of the athiest variety. They are no better than the Pat Robertsons of this world