"Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!"

I remember when I was a kid the arguments we had amongst each other. Oh, I don't remember specifics, but I do remember our collective behavior. When we were little, most of our disagreements were over whose toy belonged to whom, or who could get Mom's attention first. There was usually a lot of finger pointing and whining; poor Mom! We were little kids and this was our best "debating method". As we got older, our methods changed, we would resort to insult and innuendo to achieve a victory in an argument. We would use insidious and subversive remarks to destroy each other's arguments; character assassination was a regular tool. "She's a liar", was regularly said throughout our discourse. "He's making that up" was also heard on most occasions to dispute the liar remark. Adolescent debate is, at times, very entertaining, as neither usually has a valid point, but will go to any lengths to discredit their sibling; eye rolling and giant sighs are plentiful in these conflicts. No one is usually victorious in these pubescent battles. If you grew up in a large family, I'm sure you've gone through these situations with your siblings. When you get to family gatherings, the recalling of these events most always end up in laughter. As we have grown older, our method of disagreement has become more civilized. We are more logical and less emotional in our points of view. I like to have a fact based debate on any issue of conflicting ideas. Any argument that resorts to "tantrum tactics" loses its' validity.

Bill O'Reilly was on the "View" yesterday. By this time, virtually anyone who owns a television has seen the clips of this show. Bill O'Reilly has a pretty good time on this panel of ladies most of the time. Bill is funny and charming, despite of his obvious political differences with the panel members. I'm not a viewer of the "View". I've only watched clips of the program that have been featured on other shows. I know the show is favorable to those with liberal leanings; and that's fine, we should have all viewpoints expressed in our society. I watch many conservative programs that I'm sure many progressives never watch; God bless America, we are free to do this.

As the show progressed, Mr. O'Reilly said "Muslims killed us on 911". This is a fact! Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg became enraged by O'Reilly's comment. Ms. Goldberg used language inappropriate for television, and it was "bleeped out" by the engineer. O'Reilly continued to try to make his point as the shouting reached decibels comparable to a "rock concert". Eventually, Goldberg and Behar got up and walked off the stage in something one could compare to a childish tantrum. Neither Goldberg nor Behar tried to make a valid point to O'Reilly. They immediately resorted to screaming, yelling and storming away. Suddenly, these so-called intelligent people became spoiled children who didn't like what was happening and they "threw a tantrum".

All Americans need to be able to back up their opinions with fact. Emotional response will seldom win an argument if there is no substance. O'Reilly can be blunt, yet he is always truthful. Sometimes the truth will hurt. If the "View" wants to expose its' audience to all viewpoints, it must expect conflict; but it must also expect decorum from the panel members. If it wants screaming matches, then it is no longer an opinion program; it has become "Jerry Springer"!