OK. I set the bar pretty low for our friends over at Fox News. I expect little from them. Basically as long as they don't walk in front of the camera wearing SS uniforms or run segments about how slavery should be re-instituted I chalk it up as some sort of victory. They meet our ridiculously low expectations every time they manage to broadcast for an hour without completely, blatantly, and willfully violating every social norm of the Western world.
They stumbled over that hurdle on July 8th, 2009.
You might know Brian Kilmeade, one of the Regis clone candy-asses who look like John Tesh and populate insufferable morning shows like Fox & Friends. Recently the F&F gang were chatting and having a perky morning chuckle about a study conducted by Swedish and Finnish scientists which suggests that married people are less likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease. Harmless premise, right? The sanitized Ray Romano-style jokes practically write themselves, right? "Well those scientists never met MY wife, Steve!" (*sounds of general merriment*) Let's just say Brian Kilmeade took it in a different direction in explaining why Americans are different from the Scandinavians in the study:
"We are — we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and other…"
At this point, his co-hosts, who despite being dumber than bags of sand are smart enough to realize that he's loading grandpappy's shotgun and inserting both barrels into his career's mouth, try to get him to shut the fuck up. Failing that, they try to talk over him. Failing that, Brian Kilmeade keeps talking:
"See, the problem is the Swedes have pure genes. Because they marry other Swedes …. Finns marry other Finns, so they have a pure society."
Check out the look on Gretchen Carlson's face after he says that. She looks into the camera, makes a Jim Carrey raised-eyebrow funny face, and tries to non-verbally communicate "Look, this isn't my fault. Don't fire me too" to the NewsCorp lawyers who will be watching the tape on an endless loop for the rest of the week.
I am setting myself up for disappointment here, but I have to believe that even for NewsCorp this guy has crossed a line. They may love putting out a thoroughly biased sham news product but I don't think they want to become America's #1 Source for Eugenics. We may tune in tomorrow and see Brian Kilmeade's eulogy. Or maybe we'll see Kilmeade doing a phrenological examination on a Negroid specimen (probably Juan Williams). Neither will surprise me.
J. Dryden says:
You're setting yourself up for disappointment, Ed. In order for any disciplinary action to result from his comments, said comments would have to have offended Fox News viewers. I don't imagine that they did. Sad to say, I am not being flip about this.
Michael says:
I have to admit, I wasn't surprised when I heard the general gist of his comments… but when I watched the video and heard him say "OTHER SPECIES" I was floored. Other species? THAT was the word that leapt to your lips? Somebody call Rick Santorum…
Virginia S. Wood, Psy.D. says:
Has the boy never heard of inbreeding?
Dr. Derty says:
Agree with Dryden. You'd have to offend Fox viewers or somehow affect ratings to be canned. In fact I'd be disappointed if O'Reilly didn't dedicate a segment of his show to defending Kelmeade's comments.
comrade x says:
I think Kilmeade was just being plain ol' stupid- trying to use big words he didn't know the meaning of so he sounded more " sciencey".
JohnR says:
Alas, I think you're wrong, comrade – sure he was being stupid, but that was the cant of the "purity of essence" folks there. Young Brian is quite clearly a hardy Nordic/Aryan "white is right" kind of guy.
Desargues says:
Racial purity is a double-edged sword: the lesser breeds can be pure, too. With his dark hair, close-set eyes, thick, chubby hands and squarish face, he resembles what his ideological mentors used to call einer Untermensch. Not exactly the Aryan beauty he extols blissfully. I'd venture to guess, maybe his Slavic gramps dipped his stick into a bit of Gypsy sauce?
And as to his talk about mating with other species, maybe he's internalized Santorum's "man on dog" fears as he was fluffing him in the studio during commercial breaks.
Prudence says:
How much do I want to have Kilmeade's DNA tested for "purity" right now? A LOT.
Prudence says:
And if there's any inter-species mixing going on, Kilmeade might be a result of it. Srsly, look at those beady, reptilian eyes.
BK says:
You're right Ed, the look on the female co-host's face is nothing short of thinly veiled horor as she watches her professional career flash before her eyes.
As for what should be done with the great Dr. Kilmeade, well, I think I hear the phone ringing with a call from the producers of MonsterQuest… they think they've found the missing link.
Thanks, Fox, for helping show evolution is a substantially better description for how we got here as a species!
bob says:
Of course his comment about Americans marrying other species is idiotic, unless of course Michael Jackson secretly married his chimp "Bubbles"….but his point is well taken. When you are doing large scale studies, the groups being studied must be drawn carefully, lest the results be tainted. Who is to say that when studying large groups of Americans vs. Large groups of Swedes, that results might be skewed by the Swedes lack of genetic diversity.
It would be like studying blood pressure and not taking into account that blacks have a tendency towards higher blood pressure…..
Andrew says:
The only thing that really amazes and baffles and confuses me is that he so casually drops in "other species",
I have no idea what that says about his belief systems, but none of the possibilities even mitigate the statement. Either he's ignorant, an idiot, a liar, or the worst kind of bigot.
Susan of Texas says:
Most people don't know what species or evolution means. Ask them, they'll tell you that species means race and evolution is the smart people living and the stupid people dying.
Desargues says:
Have I been banned from this website? I tried to leave comments twice today, but they wouldn't show up. If I have offended people, sorry. I'm willing to accept corrections.
Ed says:
Comments with links often get directed to moderation. I'll get to them eventually.
BK says:
Bob –
Your point is well-taken, but do you really want to make an excuse for someone who is clearly talking eugenics and not study design?
On second thought, I guess your point isn't well taken at all as I harken back to my undergraduate days…
Can you point me to a study that demonstrates the Swedes have a lack of genetic diversity when compared to Americans?
What genetic markers would you use to demonstrate such genetic diversity; flow and drift of what traits and alleles?
What are the true genetic differences between Swedes and Americans that could lead to a study like this – which is about people being happy in marriages – being called into question due to sample construct?
Desargues says:
Our man Brian reminds me of those Ukrainian soldiers who fought alongside the SS, blissfully unconcerned that, to their allies, they were only a little less despicable that die Entarteten they were trying to eliminate. A little more self-awareness would do him a world of good: with his dark hair, close-set eyes, chunky nose and chubby hands, squarish face and brown eyes, he's looks like anything but the Aryans he extols. I wonder if he ever stopped to think that, seventy years ago, his looks alone would have put him on a one-way cattle train to Buchenwald. The fucking dipshit.
Also, watch him elegantly ignore the fact that Scandinavians have social safety nets — including healthcare systems — he would abhor as outright communist, even though they probably go a long way toward reducing the risk of growing old with Alzheimer's.
Lastly, his cretinous rambling about honkeys marrying other species could be because he's internalized Santorum's fears about man-on-dog sex, as he was fluffing the ex-senator under his desk at Faux Noise during commercial breaks. What a shitbag.
Desargues says:
Goddammit, I forgot to close the italics. Again.
Nevermind about my previous comments. Thanks for explaining that to me.
bob says:
BK,
ok, let's take the residents of Iceland…google genetics and Iceland and you see…"The proponents of the database project (deCODE genetics Inc.) emphasize the relative genetic homogeneity of the Icelandic population as one of the major assets for a successful and innovative genetic research."
you say "What are the true genetic differences between Swedes and Americans that could lead to a study like this "
I don't know, I'm not a geneticist…but I would bet there are genetic differences between relatively pure-blooded nationalities like Swedes or Icelanders….maybe if you're Swede you don't get alzheimers because you're married to a hot blonde?
Michael #2 says:
Somewhere Madison Grant just got a stiffy. Too bad Kilmeade has no equally swingin' mustache.
SarahMC says:
What the hell do genetics have to do with anything, Bob? Marriage is a social contract; it's a relationship between people. The rate of Alzheimers decreases due to the presumed intimacy, mental/emotional stimulation and partnership marriage brings; not because of gene purity or whateverthefuck you and Kilmeade are talking about. Reproduction is not even mentioned. Your genes don't change when you marry someone.
*headdesk*
cicely says:
SarahMC, I have to assume that someone took too seriously the bumper stickers reading, "Insanity is hereditary; you catch it from your kids!" See, if the kids' genes are "racially mixed" (or interspecies hybrids, I guess), then, obviously, you are liable to inherit that dementia or tendancy to Alzheimer's from them.
Either that, or someone is a blithering idiot. (I wonder if he inherited that from his kids?)
Ed says:
Bringing up genetics is a giant red herring.
The sample is "swedes." The experimental condition is marriage. The dependent variable is Alzheimer's. Everything else in the equation is held constant through random sampling.
Matthew says:
Even without sound (I'm at work) the look on the face of Ms. "Slightly-less-crazy-than-dickbag-over-here" from 0:37 – 0:38 is absolutely spectacular. Can you give Oscars for people who are having sincere emotional responses?
Robert says:
Every time I hear stuff like this, I think: race-mixing gave us Tiger Woods and Barack Obama, racial purity gave us Byron de la Beckwith and George W. Bush. I know, generalizations are ALWAYS bad.
Another Luke says:
Brown-haired guy who's not Steve Doocey loves his blond masters.
MarilynJean says:
Update: He apologizes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/20/brian-kilmeade-apologizes_n_241135.html