Bill O’Reilly’s Tidal Skepticism Launches “You Can’t Explain That” Meme

[sufrommich]

Last month, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly stepped into instant Internet infamy when, in a debate with American Atheists president David Silverman, O’Reilly attempted to prove the existence of God by citing the mystery of the tides: “I’ll tell you why not a scam, in my opinion. Tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can’t explain that. You can’t explain why the tide goes in.” Only one problem: There’s this thing called the Moon which might have a little to do with tides.

More recently, O’Reilly attempted to clarify his remarks (sort of) by asking, “where’d the Moon come from?” But this too opened O’Reilly’s flank to any number of scientific counters, and anyway, the damage had been done. Fairly or not, O’Reilly had been pegged as an ignoramus who blindly defended faith not with reasoned arguments, but with questions that could be answered with a quick Wikipedia lookup.

Thanks to a spirited Reddit thread last night, O’Reilly’s gaffe is well on its way towards becoming a meme. An image macro in the Advice Dog vein, the O’Reilly meme features Papa Bear’s head on a red-and-blue backdrop. In the top half of the image, he asks about conundrums which are more Seinfeld than metaphysics: How does bread turn into toast? Why does water come back when you flush the toilet? And why would Chewbacca, a seven-and-a-half foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor with the runty Ewoks? You can’t explain that.

Below, the O’Reilly meme in action:

http://www.geekosystem.com/bill-oreilly-cant-explain-that-meme/#

:rofl:

[SharonAnn]

1. "What else could it be?" when my step-son tried to explain how aliens cause things.

Extra terrestrial aliens, that is. He would state something like "The tides come in an out and nobody knows how or why. It's aliens! What else could it be?"

Of course, he was rather young then.

Another of my favorites is "It must be true! They wouldn't print it if it weren't true."

Then, the time I asked him and his brother to go look up something they were arguing about. Something that was easily looked up in the encyclopedia. He said "We'd rather argue."

All in all, kids say the darndest things.

[sufrommich]

2. "kids say the darndest things"

Perfectly acceptable way of reasoning for kids. Highest rated commentator on Fox News? Not so much.

My favorite:"I graduated from Harvard,you can't explain that!"

[MindPilot]

5. I have a similar reaction to "Google is your friend"

Why would I bother to actually look something up when I could pose the question on DU and be informed that I'm stupid for not already knowing something, told what my innermost motivations are for posing the aforementioned question and simply called names?

[JBoy]

3. Every one of those made me laugh.

[Motown_Johnny]

4. The Chewbacca Defense was part of a South Park Episode

having jurist's heads explode because it made no sense that Chewbacca would be from Endor.


(I believe the explanation is that in the book Endor was inhabited by Wookiee but the movie found it less expensive to have smaller costumes)


Stephen Colbert had a good piece on Billo and his insane tide/moon arguments.


The guy is a joke, and always has been a joke. The problem here is that this will pass just like his sex scandal and all his other screw ups. His audience want to believe what he is telling them so they will ignore everything else just to hear what it is they want to hear.


Give it 6 months and this too will be a faded memory.

[Liberal Veteran]

6. "Air goes in, stupid comes out my mouth, never a miscommunication. You can't explain that"

[TroubleMan]

7. O'Reilly has sunk down to ICP levels - fucking tides how do they work?

For those who don't get the reference:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/fcking-magnets-how-do-they-work



LOL...on edit....it looks like somebody's already made that connection:

?1294366741

[pansypoo53219]

8. i think the correct term is

pinhead.

[bvar22]

9. Primitive peoples always assigned GOD to anything they didn't understand.

O'Reilly is just one example.

[sufrommich]

10. O'Reilly has a degree from Harvard. He should be at least

able to understand the effect of the moon on tides.

[bvar22]

11. .....And Bush had a degree from Yale.

Some of the most hardened Primitives I've known have had degrees.

[Hannah Bell]

12. it's an act. i don't know why people think he spouts things he actually *believes*.

it's a lucrative, scripted act.

[Hydra]

16. Because people like to believe the stupid act

I have no idea why Bush got away with it for so long, even here on DU!

...But then again, look at where we are now.

[BobTheSubgenius]

13. It's even a bit worse than that for Bill-O

He expanded on his ignorance by claiming that only the Earth has a moon (or moons), specifically naming Mars, which astronomers thought, up to then at least, that Mars has two.

[Contrary1]

14. Here's an example that really can't be explained:

[JVS]

15. It seems a natural successor to "Magnets: how do they work?"

[Canuckistanian]

17. I like this one...