Mark Ames, Going Postal: Rage, Murder and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (2005), p. 205
“

Petty malice is now the major premise of American life. This meanness has become so common that it even dominates our leisure time, with Americans worshipping mega-millionaire assholes like Bill O'Reilly and Donald Trump. It's an utterly masochistic addiction- and no wonder, since Middle America has taken so much shit over the past 30 years, we've grown not only used to the meanness, but we can even get a rush off it. America is now Zed Nation: addicted to the pain that our masters so lovingly deliver to us, rewarding them not only with greater incomes, but with our admiration, our leisure time, and our souls.

— Mark Ames

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Petty malice is now the major premise of American life. This meanness has become so common that it even dominates our leisure time, with Americans worshipping mega-millionaire assholes like Bill O'Reilly and Donald Trump. It's an utterly masochistic addiction- and no wonder, since Middle America has taken so much shit over the past 30 years, we've grown not only used to the meanness, but we can even get a rush off it. America is now Zed Nation: addicted to the pain that our masters so lovingly deliver to us, rewarding them not only with greater incomes, but with our admiration, our leisure time, and our souls." in the context of "Mark Ames, Going Postal: Rage, Murder and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (2005), p. 205" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Bill O'Reilly (commentator)" (Quotes about O'Reilly) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Bill O

About Bill O'Reilly (commentator)

William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. (born September 10, 1949, in Westbury, New York) is an American broadcast journalist and author. He came to national prominence hosting Inside Edition from 1989 to 1995. He hosted the American cable television news analysis program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel from 1997 to 2017. He was terminated by Fox in early 2017 after a New York Times article disclosed several multi-million dollar settlements alleging sexual misconduct. O'Reilly subsequently founded the No-Spin Zone media franchise. He has written or co-written over 20 non-fiction books on politics and history, along with several novels.