NPR correct to cut ties with Juan Williams
NPR has fired senior news analyst Juan Williams, who also appears as a commentator on Fox News, for comments about Muslims that Williams made in an appearance with Bill O’Reilly.
“I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country,” Williams told host Bill O’Reilly during a discussion on the dilemma between fighting jihadists and fears about average Muslims.
“But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous,” Williams said.
The truth is that as a commentator and analyst, Williams has been skating on his reputation for a long time, and the ice was getting thin. He had already given NPR cause for concern with previous statements on Fox, such as the time he inexplicably described Michelle Obama as “Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress.”
His denials of bigotry aside, Williams’ remarks this week validated a stereotype of all Muslims as terrorists just as a similar comment about black people — “When I get on a bus, if I see black people, I get worried, I get nervous” — validates a perception about black people as criminals.
There is no qualitative difference between the two stances. A very small percentage of black people are criminals, and a much much smaller percentage of Muslims are terrorists. But once you start defining the much larger group by the activities of that much smaller subset, you start down a very bad road.
NPR, in other words, acted appropriately.
Of course, that’s not how the incident is being taken by some on the right, where Williams is in the process of being sainted. At Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government site, the headline is “Screw Free Speech, NPR Fires Juan Williams for Muslim Remarks.” Williams’ fellow Fox News contributor, Sarah Palin, just tweeted to the effect that “NPR defends 1st Amendment Right, but will fire u if u exercise it. Juan Williams: u got taste of Left’s hypocrisy, they screwed up firing you.”
That’s nonsense. The First Amendment guarantees each of us the right to say whatever we wish, free of government interference. However, it does not guarantee us the right to be paid by NPR or anybody else to say whatever we wish. It certainly does not mean that we are free to make bigoted remarks on national television and be guaranteed a paycheck.
After James O’Keefe, the conservative guerrilla filmmaker and Breitbart’s one-time protege, launched a bizarre “seduction” of a CNN reporter recently, Breitbart cut him loose, calling O’Keefe’s antics “patently gross and offensive.” He wasn’t violating O’Keefe’s right to free speech by doing so, he was holding him accountable.
That’s all NPR has done with Williams.
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1,025 comments Add your comment
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
4:35 pm
Rally
But does she float?
jm
October 21st, 2010
4:35 pm
Rally – I do vote for the Donkey on occasion….
Del
October 21st, 2010
4:35 pm
Paul@4:17, I was making the point albeit in a sarcastic tone that their hasn’t been any terrorist mass murders of innocent people in the name of Christianity since 9-11-01 that could have been included in casual observer’s posted summary of terrorist attacks.
jm
October 21st, 2010
4:36 pm
… and that may meek me an absolute a. But I’ll accept that I guess…
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
4:36 pm
larry
Having trouble keeping up here myself…huh on what?
Optimist
October 21st, 2010
4:38 pm
Just a point of reference, and no I will not post a link go do the damn research for yourselves. But we are more likely to have crimes committed against us by those who look like us rather than the inverse. But “yaaay” for fear.
Paul
October 21st, 2010
4:38 pm
SoCom
When you return:
“I’d tend to classify their motivation as both religious and political. ”
That’s an element of fundamentalist Islam – there is really no difference between the two. They’re more than intertwined.
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 21st, 2010
4:38 pm
A sidebar since we are talking about TV News. I watch little TV news but lately I’ve been watching Anderson Cooper a bit. In the shows I’ve seen, he tends to play it down the middle. Every guest on those shows has some sort of agenda to promote and/or axe to grind. He tends to ask left leaning guests questions that a person on the right would ask and to ask right leaning guests questions that a person on the left would ask. It makes for interesting interviews, where nobody gets a free ride. Last night the conversation got around to the Tea Party and how some have made a big deal of them using the phrase, “take our country back”. Then he proceeded to show clips of others using the same phrase, in political speeches.
Howard Dean 2003
John Kerry 2004
Charles Schumer 2006
Barak Obama 2007
Hillary Clinton 2008
Al Franken 2008
Bill Richardson 2008
http://www.cnn.com/video/
A double standard perhaps?
Paul
October 21st, 2010
4:38 pm
Del
Thanks for the clarification.
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
4:39 pm
jm
The only absolute I know anything about is the vodka!
Scout
October 21st, 2010
4:40 pm
Scenarios:
1) I am a black man. I am traveling at night in Mississippi and see a BBQ place and since I love BBQ I stop. I notice I am the only black man in there but I order and eat my meal. As I leave the restaurant, I have to walk right by a pickup truck that has just arrived with three “Bubba’s” in their deer hunting camouflage getting out and a huge Confederate Flag on the grill. Knowing that most white people are not racists, is it right for me to feel a little nervous and to swing a little wider to walk to my car?
2) My wife and two teenage daughters have gone to a movie at night. At the end of the movie we walk back to our vehicle. The parking lot was very crowded when we arrived and we had to park at the very last row where there is very little lighting. Two vehiciles down from our car four Hispanic looking males wearing what appears to me to be gang colors/clothing and sporting gang tattoos are committing “mopery with intent to creep” also known as loitering. Knowing that most Hispanic people are not gang members, is it right for me to feel a little nervous and to take extra precautions like getting in the car quickly and locking the doors?
3) Green Martians have landed on earth and infiltrated our population. Most of them are very peaceful but a few of them have developed a bad habit of eating humans alive. While out jogging in the park I spot three of them jogging up behind me. Knowing that most Martians are peaceful vegetarians, is it right for me to be a little fearful and to increase my pace?
I could go on and on but I think (if you have any common sense) that you get the picture.
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
4:41 pm
Hillbilly
Bit of a fan of Cooper myself…did you happen to catch any of his exchange with Jon Stewart on Larry King last p.m.?
AmVet
October 21st, 2010
4:41 pm
…but all terrorists ARE Muslim.
Linual Harless, third grade fail.
Eric Rudolph, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nicholes among many others were not…
jm
October 21st, 2010
4:41 pm
Hillbilly Deluxe: Not sure its a “double standard.” Everyone thinks their country is “their country”, and they are fighting (politically) for their country. That’s probably a good thing. As long as it stays non-violent.
KansasGirl
October 21st, 2010
4:42 pm
Didn’t Jessie Jackson state that he was scared when he saw black youths walking toward him? Bookman, pal, you are wrong.
jm
October 21st, 2010
4:43 pm
josef nix – I know of absolute v. Prefer grey goose.
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
4:43 pm
Scout
Point. Believe me, I pause to try and figure out if it’s a breeder or not even though most of my friends and family are…do we like to admit it? No. But I’d be a fool not to, too…
Optimist
October 21st, 2010
4:44 pm
“And the only way we go down such a path is if we ignore/remove the Christian principles upon which this nation was founded. Of course, this is the path most liberals would have us on”
Hilarious considering the FACT that Jesus was the biggest, most deliberate liberal to walk the earth. HA!
paleo-neoCarlinist
October 21st, 2010
4:45 pm
josef and SoCo, regardless of the legitimacy of JW’s ‘fears” this is very much a Lenny Bruce “I said the word I didn’t do it” or George Carlin “we have more words to describe dirty words then we have dirty words” type of thing. namely, are we at the point where people can get fired for their “fellings”? granted, Williams may have used a poor choice of words, but again, you are in an airport and you see a backpack and maybe there is a cell phone attached by what looks like electrical tape or wire. what do you do? better yet, you probably do nothing, but what do you feel? perhaps he should not have made the comment about “identifying themselves as Muslims…” but again, it’s not like he called DHS or refused to fly. we are bombarded with information; from ALL directions. and whether we get it from NPR, or Fox News, or al Jezeera, or the Westboro Baptist Church, there’s a lot of stuff flying around. and all I am saying is, at the end of the day, homo sapiens are animals. we have instincts and fears, and some are rational, others more emotional. the problem is, we are animals with Fox News/O’Reilly, The View, PBS, the internet, etc. we each have a self-defense/self-preservation barometer, and each is calibrated and sometimes re-calibrated by our environment and experiences.
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
4:45 pm
jm
Vodka is one of those things of days long gone that I miss! I was rather fond of Grey Goose myself…
Scout
October 21st, 2010
4:47 pm
P.S.
A police officer receives an emergency dispatch that a bank is being robbed at gunpoint. No description of the suspect is given. The officer just happens to be right around the corner from that location. As he silently drives up toward the bank he sees a woman exit the bank and run south. A second or two later he sees a man exit the bank and run north. Since he can’t chase both, he decides to confront the man and determine if he is the bank robber.
Is that a sexist action on the part of the police officer ? Why or why not ?
Keep up the good fight!
October 21st, 2010
4:47 pm
Did someone say Inquisiton?
Our single weapon is fear and tax cuts…Do’h
Our 2 weapons are fear, tax cuts and historical revisions….Do’h
Our 3 weapons are fear, tax cuts, hysterical revisions and a fanatic devotion to a dead guy who theories are disproven.
Amongst our weapons are…fear, tax cuts, hysterical historical revisions, a fanatical devotion to that dead guy and a fear of Muslims on a plane
(Stay tuned…next week we’ll add a few more fears)
Sydell
October 21st, 2010
4:47 pm
Bookman, are you stating that statistically, more blacks than muslims are crooks? Maybe you should be fired.
Optimist
October 21st, 2010
4:47 pm
Why do people keep bringing up Jesse Jackson? Are he, Al Sharpton, and Obama the only black men you all know of? They are constantly mentioned in these blogs even when irrelevant. Good grief…
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
4:48 pm
paleo
You make an excellent point with the word “rational.” Training ourselves to be think rationally does not mean we are immune to irrational emotional responses…
Montana
October 21st, 2010
4:49 pm
Good for NPR, Juan Williams slant belongs to “Fake News” with the rest of the failed political candidstes Palin, Huckabee, or should I say the 2012 GOP Presidential contenders. They are not racist they are just the good old boys. They are the bunch that keep saying that they are scared of BLACKS, scared of ASIANS, sacred of LATINOS, scared of WOMEN, scared of the GAYS and now they are scared of Muslims. So long Johnny,don’t let the door hit you. I love that you went crying to “Fake News” and played the victim card, I guess its another “it is a high-tech lynching”.
Linual Harless
October 21st, 2010
4:49 pm
Marky Mark, what on earth was that post earlier that Timothy McVeigh “killed more people in one fell swoop than died on 9/11?” Did you REALLY say that?
Optimist
October 21st, 2010
4:49 pm
Keep up: Liberals are out to destroy the world and are potentially the anti-Christ. Please do not leave that one off.
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
4:50 pm
good fight…
@ 4:47
Good one!
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 21st, 2010
4:51 pm
jm @ 4:41
The double standard comes in where some, including people who’ve posted on here, make a big deal of Tea Partiers using the phrase, when their side has used it just as much. And I’m not a Tea Partier, by the way. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
josef @ 4:41
No I didn’t happen to catch that. What’d I miss?
Keep up the good fight!
October 21st, 2010
4:51 pm
Just potentially? We have got to try harder!
Chaupacabra
October 21st, 2010
4:51 pm
Thank you NPR. The termination was a fantastic snack.
MoveOn, Center For American Progress, Tides, Media Matters and the other ilk are now in the sunlight.
IRS.gov website defines these organizations as:
To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.
Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) are commonly referred to as charitable organizations. Organizations described in section 501(c)(3), other than testing for public safety organizations, are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions in accordance with Code section 170.
The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, and no part of a section 501(c)(3) organization’s net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. If the organization engages in an excess benefit transaction with a person having substantial influence over the organization, an excise tax may be imposed on the person and any organization managers agreeing to the transaction.
Section 501(c)(3) organizations are restricted in how much political and legislative (lobbying) activities they may conduct. For a detailed discussion, see Political and Lobbying Activities. For more information about lobbying activities by charities, see the article Lobbying Issues; for more information about political activities of charities, see the FY-2002 CPE topic Election Year Issues.
MediaMatters.com website:
Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
The Center For American Progress website:
October 3, 2002 as the American Majority Institute [501(c)(3)] with companion lobbying group, the American Majority Fund [501(c)(4)].
Re-named: October 24, 2003 as the Center for American Progress [501(c)(3)] with companion lobbying group Center for American Progress Action Fund [501(c)(4)].
Exempt since: 2003
MoveOn according to Wikipedia:
MoveOn comprises two legal entities, each organized under a different section of U.S. tax and election laws. MoveOn.org Civic Action is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation,[4][5] [6][7] and was formerly known as MoveOn.org. MoveOn Civic Action focuses on education and advocacy on national issues. MoveOn.org Political Action is a federal political action committee, and was formerly known as MoveOn PAC. It contributes to the campaigns of selected candidates across the country. MoveOn calls the legal structure of MoveOn Civic Action that of “a California nonprofit public benefit corporation” and MoveOn.org Political Action that of “a California nonprofit mutual benefit corporation,” and refers to both corporations collectively as “MoveOn”[8].
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
4:52 pm
“are we at the point where people can get fired for their “fellings”?”
No, he didn’t get fired for their feelings. He got fired because he compromised his credibilty as a FAIR AND UNBIASED new analyst for NPR.
Keep up the good fight!
October 21st, 2010
4:53 pm
Thanks Nix…But kudos should go to the real heros…Comedians who point out the silliness of so many.
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 21st, 2010
4:54 pm
I’d submit there is no such thing as a “fair and unbiased” news analyst, reporter, or news anything else. The best ones just manage to hide their biases well.
Del
October 21st, 2010
4:54 pm
Scout,
Scenarios 1 and 2 you could be accused of bigotry for feeling nervous and fearful. Should you work for NPR you could also be in danger of losing your job because of your failure to disregard caution and embrace diversity. As for 3, never trust a Martian under any circumstance.
Scout
October 21st, 2010
4:54 pm
Montana :
I would sincerely appreciate your responses to my 4:40 and 4:47 posts. If you have the time, please address each scenario separately.
Scout
October 21st, 2010
4:54 pm
Del:
LOL !
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
4:55 pm
“The best ones just manage to hide their biases well.”
and Juan Williams showed himself incapable of doing that.
Scout
October 21st, 2010
4:56 pm
Doggone/GA:
I would sincerely appreciate your responses to my 4:40 and 4:47 posts. If you have the time, please address each scenario separately.
Optimist
October 21st, 2010
4:56 pm
Scout @ 4:40: 1. “Most whites are not racist…” (I have not taken a poll to validate this, just quoting) but MISSISSIPPI?! FAIL.
Dusty
October 21st, 2010
4:57 pm
Vodka?? Vodka?? Somebody said vodka.
I am happy to say that I just happen to have a fine bottle of Manichevitz, my protection against cooler weather. First bottle in this leaf turning time. Have you noticed that tree colors are turning in Atlanta? Gold, green and yellow. Going to be a color season to remember.
Oh yeah, Juan Williams, long may he live in happy unemployment after this brief recess. I wuld offer my services to NPR but I am told that white women ( in white boas) are not needed. What a put down. I’m filing a complaint. Bigots! Fascists! …Did I miss anything? I must be politically correct, by all means!!! I am open minded….. Does Osama work at NPR??
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
4:57 pm
“I would sincerely appreciate your responses to my 4:40 and 4:47 posts”
You won’t get one. I didn’t bother to read them. I seldom DO read anything you post. Now you know.
Optimist
October 21st, 2010
4:58 pm
What say you all about people in trench coats? Or a Wall St stock broker approaching you about investments?
Harry Callahan
October 21st, 2010
4:58 pm
Liberals are so funny…it’s perfectly fine to go on TV or radio or whatever and say that Christians scare the crap out of you, but say the same about muslims, and it’s bye-bye baby!!!
Chaupacabra
October 21st, 2010
4:59 pm
Who’s more dangerous?
The socialists rioting in Europe or The Tea Party people?
sharon zirn
October 21st, 2010
4:59 pm
Juan is laughing all the way to the bank. Eat crow.
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
5:00 pm
“but say the same about muslims, and it’s bye-bye baby!!!”
No it wasn’t. But this will go down in what passes for history as “fired for what he said” – he wasn’t, but that won’t stop the pop historians.
Keep up the good fight!
October 21st, 2010
5:00 pm
Really Harry…have any proof that a liberal said that in a serious discussion? Or are you just shooting your mouth off again?
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
5:00 pm
Hillbilly
It was just in the “teaser” banter with Anderson on “coming up…” but Stewart, who had spent a good part of the show lampooning the talking heads parading as journalists made sure he “excepted” Cooper…
good fight…
Much agreed on the commedians…and there are those who question those of us who get our “news” from Jon Stewart….!
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 21st, 2010
5:01 pm
As I stated earlier, NPR had the right to fire him, though in my view, it was an overreaction. I don’t recall Jay writing a column a few months back when that guy called Juan an “Uncle Tom”, though. That’s the problem I have with both the left and the right, selective outrage.
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
5:02 pm
Ah! And there comes the Mississippi one! Thank you, Optimist, won my bet and don’t have to do the dishes tonight…!
AmVet
October 21st, 2010
5:02 pm
Personally, I err on the free speech line of thought. Let people say what ever they stupidly wish.
For example I love it that Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Savage, Coulter, et al, ad nauseum are on the air. (Though I wish the “parasites” would at least pay us for using our airwaves!)
There is nothing quite like going back to see what idiotic and repulsive things they have all said.
And I still contend that these people are some of the very best recruiters for the non neo-cons…
Scout
October 21st, 2010
5:02 pm
Del:
Checkout Doggone at 4:57. Now we know. And they’re usually the first to become victims.
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
5:03 pm
“when that guy called Juan an “Uncle Tom”, though”
Was “that guy” a new analyst with NPR?
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
5:04 pm
Hillbilly
@ 5:01
There is decidedly a double standard at work…but, then, we live in a memo riddled, partisan world these days….
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 21st, 2010
5:04 pm
josef @ 5:00
But we’ll never know if Stewart was sincerely excepting Cooper, or if he was playing the game because he was on CNN, right?
Nothing on TV can be taken at face value.
Chaupacabra
October 21st, 2010
5:04 pm
“The speech that needs to be protected is the speech that makes people uncomfortable”
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 21st, 2010
5:05 pm
Was “that guy” a new analyst with NPR?
I don’t think he was but it doesn’t matter, if he was or he wasn’t. The act was the same.
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
5:05 pm
“There is decidedly a double standard at work”
What double-standard? Did NPR allow another new analyst to call Mr Williams an “Uncle Tom” without retribution?
Keep up the good fight!
October 21st, 2010
5:06 pm
nix…Stewart/Colbert are on point on much that they say, but great comedy is built on truth. To get the true depth of their commentary you do have to be informed. I watch them but I don’t depend on them for my news.
Linual Harless
October 21st, 2010
5:07 pm
eddy, RE: your earlier post. Your point is very well taken and my point exactly! Considering everything you said and every example you cited were spot-on correct it is extremely difficult for me to understand how a “possible” Muslim threat cannot be decerned by otherwise seemingly sane people.
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
5:08 pm
“The act was the same.”
But “that guy” did not work for NPR. It doesn’t matter if “the act” was the same. HE was not under a contractual agreement to maintain a fair and balanced approach to new analysis.
Juan Williams WAS NOT FIRED FOR WHAT HE SAID. He was fired because he compromised his reputation as a fair and balanced new analyst for NPR. He did not meet his contractual agreement, and he was fired for it.
Scout
October 21st, 2010
5:08 pm
Scenario #5:
White male Irish terrorists have been attacking the United States for 20 years due to our support for Great Britain. They have become particularly adept at crashing airplanes into various buildings across the U.S. You are taking a business flight from Los Angeles to Japan. While you wait in the terminal area you hear four white males sitting behind you whispering to each other in a thick Irish brogue. Knowing that most Irish people are not terrorists, is it racist for me to be nervous and take another flight?
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
5:08 pm
Hillbilly
Oh, I give Stewart his credit there…some of the things he said about CNN twarn’t real nice!
The Taxman Cometh
October 21st, 2010
5:08 pm
“FAIR AND UNBIASED new analyst for NPR” Someone is blowing some real sunshine up your ____ if you think that is even close to a possiblility……
npr views
October 21st, 2010
5:08 pm
npr is mainly for liberals and should only hire liberal reporters and writers. no conservatives needed!
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 21st, 2010
5:10 pm
Doggone
Seriously, Williams wasn’t fired for what he said? I don’t believe that for a minute.
One if by Mid-Day
October 21st, 2010
5:10 pm
A double standard perhaps?
I was leaning more toward plagiarism. Those Tea Partiers are so unoriginal.
Scout
October 21st, 2010
5:11 pm
JAY BOOKMAN (or anyone else):
I CHALLENGE you to debate my 4:40, 4:47 and 5:08 posts. After all, this is supposed to be a debate vs. personal animosity website (Doggone/GA excluded).
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
5:12 pm
“if you think that is even close to a possiblility……”
That’s a different discussion. Juan Williams contracted with NPR to provide that kind of new analysis. He proved by this, and other statements, that he was not capable of doing it. He violated his contract, and he has paid the penalty for that.
Dusty
October 21st, 2010
5:12 pm
Well, JOSEF,
I see that you have a few words about being immune to Irrational Emotional Responses, I am immune. I have had my flu shots.
I E R brings irritability.. L D P ( long dull posts) brings insomnia.
Del
October 21st, 2010
5:12 pm
Scout@5:02, I know she reads mine because she comes right after me barking and growling. Particularly, if I make some comment about Jay. I asked if she was Jay’s alter ego or maybe if it really was Jay using that handle. Never got an answer. Evidently she did read yours because you got a response. Semper Fi
Dan M
October 21st, 2010
5:12 pm
Bookman is correct to point out that censorship is only censorship when the government does it. The problem is that NPR is — sort of — the government. They have a responsibility to represent a diverse range of viewpoints.
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
5:12 pm
Doggone
The double standard is that my fellow liberals get all bent out of shape when a conservative does it, but we don’t challenge our own when we do it (and, yes, conservatives are just as guilty).
good fight….
Much agreed. It’s why I put “news” in quotes…what I like so much about Colbert and Stewart is that they assume their viewers are informed…
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
5:13 pm
“I don’t believe that for a minute.”
Care to try to prove otherwise? NPR has issued a statement. Their ethical standards are posted on their website for anyone to read. In the absence of any PROOF to the contrary, your beliefs mean nothing.
paleo-neoCarlinist
October 21st, 2010
5:13 pm
has anyone read the transcript from NPR head (Schiller?) on the Rodney Ho blog? let me amend my Carlin/Bruce analogy to be more along the lines of Capt Renault; “…I’m shocked to learn there is gambling at Rick’s!”. so Juan Williams was a “loose cannon”? why wasn’t he canned last year? oh, and technically, he’s not a NPR employee; he’s a “contractor” so he wasn’t fired, his contract was terminated. and if, as Ms. S maintains, one can be a political activist, but not a political activist AND NPR analyst; why did they hire this guy in the first place. the only time I have seen his mug on TV is offering legal/political opiniona on Nancy Grace, Fox News or CNN. I am not some TV junkie, but this guy never struck me as Edward R Murrow, or Chet Huntley.
Paul
October 21st, 2010
5:14 pm
Optimist
“Why do people keep bringing up Jesse Jackson? …They are constantly mentioned in these blogs even when irrelevant.”
Well, Jay wrote “Williams’ remarks this week validated a stereotype of all Muslims as terrorists just as a similar comment about black people — “When I get on a bus, if I see black people, I get worried, I get nervous” — validates a perception about black people as criminals.”
Rev Jackson said “I have reached a stage in my life that if I am walking down a dark street late at night and I see that the person behind me is white, I subconsciously feel relieved.”
And people do tend to view the two men differently.
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
5:15 pm
“They have a responsibility to represent a diverse range of viewpoints.”
but not at the hands of somone who has contracted to be an unbiased news analyst. If he was hired as on opinion commentator, he would not have been fired. he wasn’t, so he was.
paleo-neoCarlinist
October 21st, 2010
5:16 pm
oh, and Williams’ employment status (contractor vs. full-time employee) aside, NPR “terminated” him for something he said while on Fox News (he wasn’t on the NPR clock at the time)
Jefferson
October 21st, 2010
5:16 pm
I’d like to see O’riley make fun of Mohammed on his show.
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
5:17 pm
“NPR “terminated” him for something he said while on Fox News ”
Their contract covers that.
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
5:17 pm
DUSTY
You just plumb bad!
If I want liberal party line, I tune in NPR. If I want conservative party line, I tune into Fox. I listen to both and draw my own conclusions.
AmVet
October 21st, 2010
5:17 pm
Agree or not with the outcome for Mr. Williams, it is a tad ironic that he gets canned for sucking up to O’Reilly…
jm
October 21st, 2010
5:18 pm
Hillbilly – yes. It’s everyone’s country as far as I’m concerned. May the majority win.
I rather like the puritan / fiscally conservative / personal responsibility ethic that, I think, the majority of Americans hold. For that I’m grateful.
The financial crisis alerted Americans to the danger of debt. Americans have woken up. The government hasn’t yet gotten the message, but it will. Maybe.
md
October 21st, 2010
5:19 pm
“The action that initiated the hatred was the idea that the US was involving themselves in business in the Middle East that they had no reason to. That would be more in line with politics.”
I believe the gist was that the infidels had soiled holy ground, primarily Saudi Arabia – sounds more like religion, but as Paul said, for some the two are intertwined.
@@
October 21st, 2010
5:20 pm
DDR:
What you are witnessing between Bosch and I is NOT a “tiff”. I can’t abide “a man” who wastes everybody’s time discussing mundane topics like popcorn with or without butter. A man who can take pride in failing to deliver on his arguments. A man who is constantly making excuses for himself. He’s a slippery little eel like creature, but hey….that’s just my opinion.
Many people I admire here enjoy exchanges with Bosch. That’s important to him. Me? I don’t have the patience for Bosch, and I couldn’t care less whether people find fault in that or not.
josef:
Second, I don’t care what anybody says, we do, too, do a pause when we see someone in “Muslim dress.”
I object, your honor! Can’t recall which program it was on FOX, but it was stated that while we focus too much on illegal immigration, legal immigrants get lost in the debate. They then showed a swearing in ceremony of immigrants. Among them were Muslim women in their traditional hijabs…smiling and so proud. Gaining citizenship is a long and arduous process. The process makes the rewards all the more appreciated.
____________________________________________
Let’s just call ‘em terrorists with a “distinction”. Muslim terrorists. Environmental terrorists. Left-wing Terrorists (Weather Underground), White Separatist Terrorists (STORMFRONT), Black Nationalist Terrorists (Black Panthers), Anti-Capitalist terrorists, Animal Rights Terrorists (PETA), Gay Rights Terrorists (ACT UP), Anti-Gay Terrorists.
Hope I haven’t forgotten anyone.
Common link? Acts of terrorism thru intimidation, damage to property and/or persons. To different degrees perhaps, but terrorists just the same.
Huff Post Stormtrooper
October 21st, 2010
5:20 pm
Si I mention NPR in an NPR blog and you block me Jay?
Peter
October 21st, 2010
5:20 pm
Well according to Bill O’Reilly…..on 9/11 we were attacked by Muslims, and Juan Williams was just kissing A$$.
paleo-neoCarlinist
October 21st, 2010
5:21 pm
Doggone/GA, even so, as part of the media, I question the very fact that NPR would make employees or contractors sign such a document. and again, I never listened to him on NPR, but did he read the news, or was he paid to analyze/comment on the news?
Huff Post Stormtrooper
October 21st, 2010
5:21 pm
typo again… “So I mention NPR in an NPR blog and you block me Jay?”
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 21st, 2010
5:21 pm
your beliefs mean nothing.
Nor do yours. End of discussion.
josef nix
October 21st, 2010
5:21 pm
Just being EOI here, but where on G-d’s green earth do we find an unbiased individual?
jm
October 21st, 2010
5:22 pm
The whole Juan Williams thing should be a settled issue. NPR has the right to fire him. God forbid there ever be an NPR union that prevents NPR from ever firing anyone.
Was it a bad call by NPR? Who cares?
But I think the point that the government should not be funding NPR is a reasonable perspective to have, even in the absence of the Juan decision. I wonder if the NPR funding will be cut. Should be interesting to see. Not exactly a big money saver for the US Govn’t, but along with a bunch of other cuts, it would be a start at turning the tide.
Peter
October 21st, 2010
5:23 pm
Hey Scout 5:08 …..take another flight you are paranoid, but down a few more cocktails first cause that was silly !
Huff Post Stormtrooper
October 21st, 2010
5:23 pm
There’s a lot more to the story at NPR besides Juan Williams. This is only a smokescreen.
Paul
October 21st, 2010
5:24 pm
josef nix
“but where on G-d’s green earth do we find an unbiased individual?”
In a crib?
Doggone/GA
October 21st, 2010
5:24 pm
“I question the very fact that NPR would make employees or contractors sign such a document.”
No one forced him to sign it. He knew what was in it before he agreed to it. Isn’t that a personal repsponsibility issue? He agreed to the terms. He didn’t keep them. He paid the price, his contract was terminated.
“and again, I never listened to him on NPR, but did he read the news, or was he paid to analyze/comment on the news?”
He was paid to analyze, not to opinionate. “Commenting” on the news is not necessarily carte blanche to inject your personal opinions.
jm
October 21st, 2010
5:24 pm
josef nix – the “medical vegetable” ward of a hospital?
Scout
October 21st, 2010
5:24 pm
Doggone/GA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aY8cRXs4-Q