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Bill O'Reilly Takes on Sexy Dancing High School Girls
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Bill O'Reilly, who hasn't been sued for obscenely propositioning a coworker in over 5 years (5 years and a day), often bemoans our 'anything goes' sexual culture. On a recent show, O'Reilly and "culture warriors" Gretchen Carlson and Margaret Hoover took on the latest harbingers of America's moral decline: sexy dancing high school girls.
The segment singled out a song team from a Sacramento high school. "At Rio Americano High School in Sacramento California, a song team displayed their talent ... for the student body" says O'Reilly pointedly. That really clever double entendre is followed by an overly long segment of footage from the performance, ensuring Fox viewers have time to truly appreciate how gross the young, pretty girls really are.
The three brave "culture warriors" proceed to dissect the dance number. And, in case viewers missed how lewd and exploitative the routine was the first time around, the footage is shown over and over and over again, while Carlson and Hoover creepily narrate: "What do you call spreading your legs and shaking your booty?" says Hoover, when O'Reilly asks if the dancing is overtly sexual. "And don't forget bending over, which was the most offensive move to me," adds Carlson.
To be totally fair, Hoover does make one sort of valid point -- that high school-aged girls should be taught to value their intelligence and character over their looks and sexuality (though she doesn't get into why that's an either/or proposition). But her argument is trampled by the porny descriptions and more standard noises of outrage coming from O'Reilly and Carlson.
Oh, and here are some real world results: the high school was flooded with complaints -- from Fox viewers outside of Sacramento, not the schoolkids' parents. And the under-aged girls singled out as symbols of impropreity and lewdness on national television? The Sacramento Bee reports that the song team:
... is not so happy people are talking about it. The coach and student dancers declined to be interviewed for this story. [Principle] Ginter said they feel the television coverage was unfair to them.
Is there really any better way to stanch America's moral decline than slut-shaming underaged girls on national television?
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