Let me confess that, in general, I like Bill O’Reilly. I think his show is entertaining and he isn’t afraid to slaughter some sacred cows on both the left and the right. But I do think that he suffers from a syndrome comon to people his age — a general fear of new things. I know plenty of people in their 40’s and 50’s who are sharp thinkers and are pretty savvy about the ways of the world, but they are completely unwilling to comprehend new technology. They live in the same world that they grew up in 30 years ago. Case in point, Bill O’Reilly, who went off on the Internet this week:

The reason these net people get away with all kinds of stuff is that they work for no one. They put stuff up with no restraints. This, of course, is dangerous, but it symbolizes what the Internet is becoming.

Huh? This comes in the context of a rant about a newspaper, not an Internet site.

The Internet has become a sewer of slander and libel, an unpatrolled polluted waterway, where just about anything goes. For example, the guy who raped and murdered a 10-year old in Massachusetts says he got the idea from the NAMBLA Web site that he accessed from the Boston public library. The ACLU’s defending NAMBLA in that civil lawsuit.

Talking Points noted with interest the hue and cry that went up from some quarters about the FCC changing the rules and allowing big corporations to own even more media properties. But big corporations are big targets. If they misbehave, they can be sued for big bucks. These small time hit and run operators on the net, however, can traffic in perversity and falsehoods all day long with impunity. It’s almost impossible to rein them in.

Wow … For a guy with a degree from Harvard, O’Reilly doesn’t come off all that bright. He’s saying that because a technology CAN be used for purposes that he considers inappropriate, that technology is bad. I guess that applies to books, magazines, newspapers, films, etc. The accountability argument is meaningless, see also NY Times.

The fact is, media in the 21st century has become a buyer beware operation. But that’s a GOOD thing, if you ask me. The First Amendment works best when everyone has a voice to say what they want to say to as large an audience as they want. If someone wants to call O’Reilly a pig, then so be it! Does he really think the best thing for a democracy is for big media to control the flow of information? Well, maybe he does since he works for NewsCorp.

The great thing about the Internet and blogs is the great leveling effect they have on media. O’Reilly’s website can reach just as many potential readers as mine. He can’t hide behind a printing press, a radio tower, or a satellite dish. For a guy who constantly whines about people being afraid to come on his show, he seems pretty quick to cry foul when he’s put in the spotlight.