Bill O'Reilly interviews Richard Dawkins
Posted on: April 19, 2007 - 7:24pm
Offline
Bill O'Reilly interviews Richard Dawkins
Just thought I'd pass this on in case you folks miss it. Taken from Richards website.
"Richard Dawkins will be interviewed by conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly on Monday, April 23, at 8.00pm EST on FOX.
The program will be rebroadcasted at 11.00pm".
Hmmm... OK.... I wonder how this will go down? 
http://richarddawkins.net/article,900,NEXT-MONDAY-Bill-OReilly-interviews-Richard-Dawkins,The-OReilly-Factor-Fox-News
- Login to post comments
No idea but I'm wondering how I'll get a copy of it over here in the arse end of the world.
Very interesting, can't wait to see that!
Indeed. I hope our prophet rips Bill a new one!
Hehehe, I feel like before an important boxing/MMA match cheering for my favourite!
Gooooo Richard!!!
Indeed. I hope our prophet rips Bill a new one!
I trust that this is a joke. Nonetheless, you understand that I have very big problems with referring to Richard Dawkins as our "prophet". Undoubtably his work is worthy of high commendation and he is one of the most respected intellectuals in atheism, but he is not a clairvoyant or a prophet, and he has said a great many things with which I disagree. This kind of language is the sort of opportunity a theist will use to tear you a new asshole.
"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.
-Me
Books about atheism
It was a joke. Don't take it too seriously deludedgod.
Besides, if a theist tried to use that against me, they would feel stupid when I tell them that I was kidding.
And nobody tears AA a new asshole.
Atheist Books
I'm wondering if Richard Dawkins is too "polite" for Bill O'Reilly. I've noticed that Dr. Dawkins listens very carefully and usually does not interrupt before tearing his opponent a new one. Bill O'Reilly yells and screams and blusters and talks over his guests and if that doesn't work, he cuts their microphones.
I had the damnedest time getting the place I was going for physical therapy to stop playing Bill O'Reilly while I was there. I was going there for "therapy," not to make my blood pressure rise. The gym I go to is owned by the typical resident type here: rednecks.
So, between the staff and the guests, Fox Noise is often running on a number of the TVs. (Note: physical therapy and gym are owned by the same company.) I need an iPod or something. 
*Iruka Naminori tears AA a new asshole.* Never say never, dude.
Books on atheism, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server.
I was thinking the same thing when I saw this. All the hosts on Fox tend to stick with being loud followed by sticking their fingers in their ears. Honestly, it's pretty difficult to win an argument on any of those shows, only because they refuse to listen to any sort of viewpoint beside their own.
He should be fine as long as he comes with prepared responses to Papa Bear's predictable arguments. And Dawkins knows the rational responses and has appeared in the media enough to know how to formulate a great, concise soundbite.
I hope so. "Papa Bear"...LOL! I wonder why Colbert calls him that when his persona hates bears so much?
Books on atheism, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server.
Umm....I think you answered your own question, Iruka.
I wonder what ad hominem attack little billy will go for this time around.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I'm not convinced that the average Fox watcher can tell the difference between a valid point being made and an effective, albeit dishonest, debate tactic. If they could they probably wouldn't use Fox or O'Reilly as a news source.
I wish Dr. Dawkins the best.
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
George Orwell
Doesn't Bill O'Lielly tend to do the same thing Laura Ingraham did - ie talk over people and cut their mike off?
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
Yeah, he does cut peoples mikes off, tries to correct them in a middle of a sentence. Doesn't let them finsh a point. Richard will get in 3 words if possible. Which will end up being "I'm an atheist" then bill will end it there.
"When I die I shall be content to vanish into nothingness.... No show, however good, could conceivably be good forever.... I do not believe in immortality, and have no desire for it." ~H.L. Mencken
Thank god i'm a atheist!
Oh yeah...good point! Duh!
I actually wish this interview wasn't happening. Dawkins made a wise decision long ago to not participate in debates or interviews with fundys because a) the published product will be set up and edited to make him look bad with no regard for truth and b) engaging in these debates actually elevates the fundy because he can pretend his material is on the same level with Dawkins'. I don't know why Dawkins would think O'Reilly is any different. He's in for an unfair, predetermined hatchet job that will just leave all the christcons chuckling about how much smarter O'Reilly is than Dawkins.
Lazy is a word we use when someone isn't doing what we want them to do.
- Dr. Joy Brown
Oh, I don't think it's people who use it on you that is the concern, you can probably handle yourself, it's people who use it out of context elsewhere to try and stack up their argument that 'Atheism is a Religion'. You know how dishonest things can get out there, in-jokes are just as valid in some peoples eyes as actual serious comments.
-----------------------
I'll get back to you when I think of something worthwhile to say.
Maybe. I'm not sure. I guess we'll wait and see.
You're absolutely right that O'Reilly is completely unfair to his guests and you're equally correct in your assessment of his fans. My mother is one.
When someone gets the better of O'Reilly, it goes completely under her radar. It's amazing how she will uncritically accept anything O'Reilly (Limbaugh, Faux News, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell) spews.
I think I'm starting to get to her a little bit because at times she has shown an acceptance of evolutionary theory and has bemoaned the state of national discourse. (I haven't pointed out who started the nastiness. Hint: it wasn't us.) She's also watched a few of my favorite Colbert clips (only really tame ones). I am NOT going to push it, though. The woman is in her sixties.
Books on atheism, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server.
I hope I rembmer to watch this. Should be interesting.
[ETA] Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if the Fox stations I get carry it... Oh well, I'm sure it'll be on YouTube either way. (Any anyway, that would probably be a better way to watch it, so I don't have to sit through the rest of the show waiting for it
)
I tend to agree with you. Unfortunately his core audience is what we seek to change. Maybe if we throw enough atheists on billy's pyre his audience will realize how repetitive and ineffective billy really is.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
That sucked, the interview lasted 5 minutes.
O'Reilly invoked Pascal's Wager within 30 seconds.
"The powerful have always created false images of the weak."
I wish i could have put money on the arguments O'Reilly was going to use. I knew he'd bring up Stalin, Pol Pot, etc.
Hey guys, if you missed the interview you can check it out in my blog.
Dawkins made some good points, but it was like he didn't really wanna take the gloves off...most theists will claim victory, just because he didn't trounce Bill.
No Gods, Know Peace.
You know, I get the same "should I, shouldn't I" feeling about watching this as I did when the Saddam hanging video was leaked. I think I'm going to watch it anyways. Away from anything I can throw.
Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine
Notice how he brings up right away Atheism AND Naziism rising in Europe (implying a connection?) Asshat.
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
Here's a link to the interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8etMHn4P6g
O'Rielly makes the argumetn that Hitler was an Atheist and one of the owrst murders of the 20th Century. Here's a rebuttal to that idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmeBAyN4EoU
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca
The links are not working.
Amazing. I think we are all now stupider for having watched that interview. O'Reilly actually manages to make it an information-negative event. His sole and only purpose is to ask Dawkins questions that require longer answers than he can give on TV and thereby make it look like Dawkins is agreeing with him all the time. As a debating event, it was a non-starter. Dawkins didn't really even attempt to rise to his questions. For instance, the accusation that atheism requires faith has a number of easy responses (for instance, "What is it that you think I have faith in?"
and Dawkins used none of them.
As a political appearance, however, I think the interview was a success. Dawkins appeared affable by not aggressively engaging O'Reilly. He didn't say anything that christcons could find egregiously offensive - in fact, he said very little, meaning that the main take-away from the piece was the name of the book and the fact that it is wildly successful. All-in-all, a solid victory.
Lazy is a word we use when someone isn't doing what we want them to do.
- Dr. Joy Brown
Oh, whenever you get the malformed id thinger, just copy paste the text instead of using the link.
LOL...so did you watch one, neither or both?
Books on atheism, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server.
I cheered when Mr. Dawkins got that bit in about the U.S. being founded by secularists. All Billo could say was "No it wasn't and I got letters to prove it." Too bad he didn't give Richard enough time to reply show me where it is written in the constitution that America was founded on christianity.
Support the Separation of Church & State!
Freedom From Religion Foundation
Yeah, these forums have a habbit of adding spaces to the end of URLS etc which stuffs up the links to youtube.
Organised religion is the ultimate form of blasphemy.
Censored and blacked out for internet access in ANZ!
AU: http://nocleanfeed.com/ | NZ: http://nzblackout.org/
I did end up watching the Saddam video. I've never seen that many ski masks in my life. I'm getting stockholm syndrome just thinking about it.
I haven't watched the dawkins/ORLY video yet, but I plan to. I do tech support for a living, so I've already had a nice, long day of listening to some of the stupidiest shit imaginable so I'm not quite up to it. I'll bite the bullet soon. Or maybe just a rolled up sock.
Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine
Even though I can't watch it, watching these kinds of interviews merely make me wish I was the one being interviewed. People need to do the same to him as he does to others. Ask a hundred questions that can't be answered in less than 4 hours. Make generalizations and talk about how Hitler and Napoleon were theists. Though someone somewhere mentioned how Dawkins said something about Hitler and Stalin both having mustaches, but mustaches don't make people evil. That's a nice winger.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
It was kind of a waste i think, on O'Reily's part.
You get one of the most influential minds of this day and age and interview him for only 3 mins.
Dawkins did great, he didn't let O'Reily push him around like he does with everyone else, and he presented his points very well.
If i wasn't already an atheist i would have been converted.
Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night.
-Woody Allen