Put me on the watch list, I guess.

(H/t to Melissa at Shakesville for this.)

I really want to see the best in people, I really do.  My faith teaches me to do so, and it’s something I think I’m getting better at.  I really want to believe that sometimes people say things that are dumb simply because they really are just ignorant of the facts, not because they are mean-spirited or deliberately stupid.  But sometimes, when I look at people in the public arena, at folks who have jobs in the media in particular, it’s really, really hard  to see the good.

E. D. Hill, along with most of her colleagues at the Murdoch Fake News Network, falls into this category.  Media Mattersreported this about a cute moment (seen above) between Michelle and Barack Obama last week:

A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? The gesture everyone seems to interpret differently. We’ll show you some interesting body communication and find out what it really says… First, the President of America chest bumps an Air Force graduate. Next, Michelle and Barack Obama fist bump or fist pound – people call it all sorts of things – but what happened to the old pat on the back? A handshake? A hug? Today’s body language and what we can glean from it.  Janine Driver is a body language expert and joins us now. Janine, thanks for being back with us… OK, tell me about this whole thing. Let’s start with the Barack and Michelle Obama, because that’s what most people are writing about – this fist thump. Is that sort of a signal that young people get?… OK, let me ask you about this then, because I – you know, George Bush is a little older than Barack Obama, and he did one of these – look at that. Look at that, folks. Stop. Turn around. Look at your TV screen. He’s doing that chest bump. Now I see that in the end zone in NFL games after somebody scores a major touchdown. I don’t normally expect to see the President of the United States doing it. What does that mean?

(You can see the whole thing here, and read the transcript as well, if you can stand it.)

Yeah, the “President of America,” that well-known Muslim sympathizer, does stuff like this, too.

A “TERRORIST FIST JAB”???  As I have noted at least two other places, it’s almost illegal to touch one’s students these days, in terms of an outward expression of support or encouragement, or, dare I say it, affection.  Like, when a kid is struggling with a difficult circumstance at home, such as the death of a relative.  Or the emotions that well up at graduation (as in next week, here).  We’ve been taught as teachers to keep our hands to ourselves, and usually for good reason.  Usually.  Even if we know that that little pat on the back, or that enthusiastic high-five, might be the only  physical contact of a positive kind that a kid might get all day.

So, I “pound” my kids all the time.  They LIKE the pound, girls and boys alike.  When a kid says something in class that’s funny or brilliant or insightful or thought-provoking, they get the pound in my classroom.  They have come to EXPECT it.  If they don’t get it, they sometimes seem disappointed.  They know that they have to be outstanding to get it, but I usually find a way to make sure everybody gets one at some point.  I’ve been doing this forever.

Guess that makes me a terrorist, huh, E.D. 

(At least he didn’t stick his tongue down Michelle’s neck the way Al did to Tipper…)

UPDATE: Got an email from Media Matters this afternoon.  E.D. has “clarified” her statement:

On the June 10 edition of Fox News’ America’s Pulse, host E.D. Hill addressed her June 6 comments in which she teased an upcoming segment about Sen. Barack and Michelle Obama’s on-stage “fist bump” by saying, “A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? The gesture everyone seems to interpret differently.”  From the June 10 edition of Fox News’ America’s Pulse:

HILL: Want to start the show by clarifying something I said on the show last Friday about an upcoming body language segment. Now, I mentioned various ways the Obamas’ fist pump in St. Paul had been characterized in the media. I apologize because unfortunately, some thought I personally had characterized it inappropriately. I regret that. It was not my intention. And I certainly didn’t mean to associate the word “terrorist” in any way to Senator Obama and his wife. Now, today, the senator is talking about the economy…

Too late for me.  Damage done.  But that’s the way these folks operate.  Say ANYTHING, no matter how outrageous, and just “apologize for offending anyone” later.  BUT, if, say Barack Obama says something that goes way over their heads – like his now infamously-taken-out-of-context line about “bitter Americans” – he doesn’t get that chance.

UPDATE UPDATE:  Sources are reporting that Ms. Hill has lost her afternoon show on Fox.  I am not revelling in someone losing her job.  I’m just sayin’…