Bill O'Reilly: Talk to ME!

Found this via GamePolitics. Apparently Bill O'Reilly has a rant about "machines" and that culture of individuals who actually understand and use them on a daily basis. He counts the PlayStation 3 and iPod among such threats to national security, but it's his stereotypical take on "computer geeks" which has me a little more pissed with him than usual:

I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod… If this is your primary focus in life - the machines… it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America… did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? …I really fear for the United States because, believe me, the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there.

Bill, I have a challenge for you. Bring me on your show and have a conversation with me. Am I a computer geek? Absolutely. I have been in front of one machine or another since age 6, starting with an Apple IIe. I even had an old Timex/Sinclair that I tinkered around with after finding it in a thrift store. I witnessed the advent of the Internet as a member of the generation which made it what it is today. I dialed into BBS systems and posted on Usenet. I can take apart and re-assemble a standard PC desktop in total darkness in the same way a Marine can an M16. So, yes, my "computer geek" street cred is as in your face as it gets.

But there is more to me and every other geek I have ever known. I don't have stringy hair framing broken glasses and poor personal hygiene. I don't sprinkle every conversation I have with Monty Python, Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars references. I don't spend my weekend nights playing World of Warcraft with other geeks while you leave sleazy messages on interns' voicemail, detailing your fetish with Lebanese sandwiches.

I do dress well.

I do know how to talk to women and have never had to offer to coach a woman on how to use a vibrator.

I have conversations with people of all types and backgrounds, ranging from politics to religion and everything between.

So, come one, Bill. Take me on. Let's see if you can hang with a real culture warrior. Let's see if you understand that such a title means you fight with the tools of culture rather than attacking your culture with crude stereotypes.

I dare you.