Context

I suspect most folks have seen or heard the (in)famous Bill O’Reilly “We’ll Do It Live” clip. The man comes off as an unhinged nutjob - a raging psycho whose cheese done slid off his cracker. Not to defend Mr. O’Reilly, but in the name of empathy I’d like to point out that this clip is presented without any context. Why is that important? Shouldn’t he always comport himself with professionalism, irrespective of what’s going on around him?

Well. Maybe.

…but something happened over the weekend that made me rethink this a bit.

My wife was watching some morning “news” program - talking heads nattering on about the weather and suchlike. It was purely background noise until one of the anchors said “It was supposed to be a Hot Covid Summer, but…” I don’t have the faintest idea how that sentence ended; my brain completely shut down.

When it started back up again, I started thinking about ol’ Billy. Imagine he’s there trying to do his job, and “Hot Covid Summer” comes up on the teleprompter.

Put yourself in his shoes.

Would you read it?

…or would you start screaming “Fuck it! I’ll write it! We’ll do it live!”

I know which camp I’m in.

Context is Everything.