I'm uncomfortable about Juan Williams' firing

[Empowerer]

Yes, he expressed a very troubling sentiment, but he was being honest and was making a bigger point. He was saying that he has a particular prejudice but that it's wrong to feel that way - that we all have prejudices but they are unreasonable and unfair and we shouldn't base public action on them.

I agree with him. And until we can all admit that we have biases and prejudices, we won't be able to get past them.

I'm not sure if he should have been fired for that. It's a close call, but it makes me uncomfortable.

[Malikshah]

1. Look into his job contract. It is a simple issue. He didn't fulfill his

end of the contract. He was let go. Simple as that.

[Empowerer]

4. Juan Williams has been expressing his opinion on Fox for years

This was not the first time he violated his contract.

[spotbird]

15. But it was the last.

He is a dog, now he gets to live with the fleas.

[golfguru]

20. He was fired for spending too much time at Fox

I recall another NPR reporter saying some right wing senator
AND HIS GRAND KIDS should contract AIDS. She still has job at NPR.

[Mimosa]

46. Nina Totenberg still works for NPR

Nina said Jesse Helms and his grandkids ought to get AIDS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Totenberg

I quit listening to NPR years ago when they abandoned classical music in favour of more talk, talk, talk. As if there was a whole lot of good music on the radio and not enough blather.

[Ian David]

2. Did he say that his prejudices are wrong? If he did, I haven't seen them play that part. n/t

[spotbird]

12. That would be because it did not happen.

But for the propaganda to be complete there must also be a flagrant falsification.

[golfguru]

22. That was exactly his point

He was trying to say that the thoughts going through his
mind about worry on an airplane upon seeing people wearing Muslim garb are wrong!

[spotbird]

25. Perhaps he sould have said that

Instead he used words to express an entirely different hatred.

[Empowerer]

27. He was clearly trying to say that

O'Reilly was shouting him down, but I fully understood his point. It's a point I've tried to make myself - often using my own prejudices as an example, as he tried to do.

[spotbird]

29. Let's see a transcript of that effort please. nt

[Warren Stupidity]

77. "O'Reilly was shouting him down" ?

O'Reilly and Williams were having a love fest. WTF?

[Warren Stupidity]

76. But he didn't say that. So how do you know he was 'trying' to say it?

sheesh. He said no such thing.

[tabasco]

3. Hope you find some help getting your panties untwisted.

Have a great evening.

[spotbird]

5. Life's a bitch

He's a very rich bigot now, don't lose sleep over it.

On edit:

Your version is incorrect.

[tularetom]

6. For the one millionth time it ain't a first amendment issue

Mr Williams is free to say whatever the hell he wants to about muslims or anybody else. If that somehow pisses off his employer then that's just TS for Williams.

He is guaranteed freedom of speech, not continued freedom to be employed.

Besides the slimy sumbitch finagled a fat contract out of fox so he didn't make out to badly. All he has to do is continue to kiss bill o'reilly's ass and he already has a lot of experience at that.

[Empowerer]

7. Tim Wise expressed it well . . .

http://www.timwise.org/2010/10/bikini-liberalism-juan-williams-implicit-bias-and-the-trouble-with-npr/

"I’ve never been a fan of Juan Williams. Far too chummy with his FOX News colleagues and too eager to attack longstanding civil rights leaders in the name of supposedly courageous political “independence,” Williams is one I have never thought to defend before.

"But today such a defense is deserved. Williams, it turns out, has been done a supreme disservice by his other employer, National Public Radio, and it is a disservice to which the harshest condemnation should be applied.

. . .
"Yet what had Williams done, exactly? He acknowledged his own biases, and then explained the fallacy embedded therein. He was being honest, and in so doing, demonstrating an important fact that the nice white liberals who predominate at NPR try to deny, especially for themselves. Namely, that even the best of us can be taken in by racism, by religious bias, by ethnic chauvinism, by prejudice. No matter our liberal bona fides, the bottom line is this: advertising works, whether for selling toothpaste, tennis shoes, or stereotypes.

. . .
"The only difference between Juan Williams and the people who fired him is this: Williams is honest enough to admit his own damage. And importantly, what the research on this subject tells us is that it is precisely those persons who are able to see and acknowledge their biases who are the most likely to challenge themselves, and try valiantly not to act on them. In other words, it is the Juan Williams’s of the world whose self-awareness in this regard will minimize the likelihood of discriminatory behavior. Meanwhile, it’s the liberals who deny to their dying breath that they have a “racist bone in their bodies,” or who swear they “never see color,” or insist that they are open-minded, forward thinking and free of prejudice, who are often unable to see how their internalized biases effect them, and move them around the chessboard of life without them even realizing it. Frankly, those are the ones from whom racial and religious “others” probably need the most protection.

"Fair enough. But in the process of their self-righteous shedding of the one who told the truth, we should not allow them to pretend they do so in the name of high-minded, unbiased principle. They do not. They do so only as a way to maintain the white liberal pretense: that racism and other forms of bias are only problems for those people over there, but never for us. We voted for Obama. We have a Celebrate Diversity sticker on our car, or one of those neat Coexist stickers, where the letters are all made out of different religious symbols. We’re better than that. And we can’t sully ourselves by associating with someone who admits that occassionally even they turn out to be flawed, and fragile, which is to say human."

[spotbird]

11. Cry this river to Bill Maher

The right believes only certain political speech should be protected from private employer reprimands.

And none of them have the faintest idea about what the 1st Amendment protects.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

58. Tim Wise is BRILLIANT!! He speaks the truth. And says what needs to be said!! n/t

[emilyg]

62. Thanks for link.

[burning rain]

65. There's a lot to what Wise says there.

I particularly like what he says about people who challenge themselves. But I suspect that it's rather less complicated than he seems to see it. Williams had become deeply unpopular with NPR listeners over his demagogy against Michelle Obama and generally moving to the right, and here he provided NPR with a pretext for firing him.

The irony of Tim Wise chiding others for self-righteousness made me chuckle. Only someone as humorless as St Tim could fail to spot the irony there.

[Number23]

71. As usual Tim Wise speaks The Truth

Meanwhile, it’s the liberals who deny to their dying breath that they have a “racist bone in their bodies,” or who swear they “never see color,” or insist that they are open-minded, forward thinking and free of prejudice, who are often unable to see how their internalized biases effect them, and move them around the chessboard of life without them even realizing it. Frankly, those are the ones from whom racial and religious “others” probably need the most protection.

He is spot on as usual. But I still think that Williams' comments were repulsive.

[Uzybone]

8. I don't think he should have been fired

but NPR had the right to do it and frankly its not the first stupid judgement they've made over the years.

Juan Williams generally disgusts me, but what he said was no big deal.

[Empowerer]

9. I didn't say they had no right to fire him, I said I am uncomfortable with it

[spotbird]

18. Gosh darnit,

I was pretty uncomfortable with the Helen Thomas' firing, but there are injustices we all just have to live with.

[GodlessBiker]

10. There have been hundreds of thousands of people fired. I just don't have the energy to care too ...

much about the firing of this particular multi-millionaire.

Let's feel more uncomfortable about all these other firings.

[pnwmom]

17. The reason this is a bigger issue than just Juan Williams

is because of how they took his comments out of context -- comments in which he was reflecting on his own bias, and discussing how it was wrong -- and used it as an excuse to fire him.

I think we're much worse off if public figures are NOT allowed to publicly reflect on their own biases and point out the fallacies within.

[GodlessBiker]

19. Feh. Teachers are being fired because they are gay; women get fired because they get pregnant, ...

those close to retirement age get fired to save costs. I think we are much worse off becasue of these things than because a talking head loses his ability to pontificate on one network while making millions at another network.

[Empowerer]

26. Exactly

I wonder how many people who are screaming for his head have similar feelings when seeing Muslims (or even people who they just THINK are Muslim) on airplanes.

Sadly, many people are quick to attack and condemn bigotry and bias in others while refusing to recognize the same in themselves. Until we can admit that we ALL have prejudices, we won't be able to move forward.

Eric Holder was right.

[spotbird]

31. Your claim is unsupported by reality

His martyrdom is already epic to the right, there just aren't as many idiotic people in the opposition.

[pnwmom]

47. Did you watch the whole segment or just a 2 minute clip? n/t

[Ian David]

73. "Ignored" is usually unsupported by reality. n/t

[tishaLA]

33. But he didn't discuss how it was wrong. That's the problem

FWIW, I don't think he "should" have been fired for this either, but NPR's COO said today that this has been an ongoing problem they have tried to cope with in a variety of ways. NPR should have been smart and not kept him under contract before this happened, really, because from both Ms Schiller's and Mr Williams' comments, the relationship has been fractured on both sides for quite some time.

Glenn Greenwald's column about this was excellent: no, Williams shouldn't have been fired--simply because it's not good to fire people for their opinions--but it's hard to take a lot of the howling seriously when the people demonizing NPR went scalp hunting when Helen Thomas, Octavia Nasr, Dave Weigel, etc etc etc said things they deemed unforgivable.

[Empowerer]

35. He tried to do so, but could barely get a word in edgewise

But I agree with your overall point. Williams has been expressing his opinion for years and NPR never did anything. Firing him over this incident makes them appear to be skittish and overly "politically correct" - and provides fodder to FOX, Buchanan, et al who bleat like stuck pigs whenever it appears that bigotry is being questioned.

There's a big difference between what Williams was saying and the kind of bigoted venom that Buchanan, O'Reilly, Beck, etc. spew on a regular basis. But this morphs the two kinds of speech together and gives those guys a certain cover.

[tishaLA]

37. In point of fact, NPR had done something before this

They changed his status from "reporter" to "analyst." They also made him an independent contractor rather than an employee of NPR. And then, after he called the First Lady 'Stokley Carmichael in a designer dress,' they asked him to no longer be identified with NPR when he appears on Fox. They have been trying to increase the distance for several years now.

[spotbird]

40. Don't muddle this discussion with facts

The feelings of Faux viewers are disturbed.

[pnwmom]

49. Did you see the 2 minute clip or the entire segment?

If you didn't see the entire segment, then you missed how he followed up (or tried to, in between Reilly's rude interruptions) on his initial statement. For example, he said you shouldn't blame all Muslims for what the 9/11ers did any more than you should blame all Christians for what McVeigh did.

[tishaLA]

53. the entire segment.

perhaps you can show me where he said his feelings of trepidation about people in "Muslim garb," who place their religious identification above all other modes of identification, was wrong. There are many transcripts of it on the internets; none of them say that, which is one of the things Greenwald noted in his excellent post about it today:

Williams began by telling O’Reilly that he was “right” in his view on Muslims. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with candidly admitting that he gets nervous when he sees Muslims on airplanes — even though those feelings reflect some highly distorted thoughts — as we all have irrational reactions to various situations. But Williams was not condemning his own reaction ; to the contrary, he went on to justify it by saying that people who wear “Muslim garb” are “identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims,” and that “the war with Muslims” (quoting Faisal Shahzad) is one of those “facts we can’t get away from.”

In fact, when Williams went on Fox this morning, he reiterated precisely this position.

[pnwmom]

60. I haven't seen any transcript that covered the whole segment.

But I would be happy to read one, if you have a link that isn't at least partially a paraphrase.

Here is the whole segment on you-tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Mbe7ErUNI&feature=player_embedded

[tishaLA]

67. Yes, I've already seen it. He never says his feelings are wrong

and, in fact, he defended them today on Fox.

[pnwmom]

68. I think that was clearly the implication of his statement

that judging all Muslims by the actions of a few is just as wrong as blaming all Christians for what Timothy McVeigh did.

When he is uncomfortable seeing observant Muslims on planes, he is judging all Muslims based on the actions of a few -- something that he then says is wrong.

[OhioBlue]

34. +1. n/t

[boppers]

13. I'm comfortable with it.

He admitted to being irrationally prejudiced, his employer didn't want their employees representing the company that way. His job required that he be above such pettiness.

[rurallib]

14. If I was working for General Mills and Kellogs at the same time

you might expect one of them to fire me wouldn't you?
William's whole value to FOX was that he could be identified as "NPR ----" thereby being used for his association with NPR.
Well he couldn't possibly serve 2 masters forever. I am surprised that NPR didn't cut him and Liasson loose long ago.
So finally they found an opening and did what they should have done years ago.

And just like the revolutionary war was not caused by the tea tax, this incident was the final straw for Williams.

And Now his value to FOX is as a martyr of the left. He is of little other use to them
He and Liasson and Cokie Roberts should have all been cut when they signed contracts with other companies.

[Ian David]

74. Fox also has a woman from NPR on their payroll as well, don't they? n/t

[rurallib]

86. Mara Liasson. I have written over and over that both she and Williams

should have been fired long, long ago.

[bluerum]

16. he can say what he wants on his own time as a private teabagger

[raven42]

24. I don't think he should have been fired over this

but I can't say it bothers me. He got his big payday from Fox as a result. And now he can continue to play the role of the self-loathing "liberal" who finds himself agreeing with his right-wing hosts more often than not--the only kind of liberal that Fox will tolerate.

[spotbird]

28. He'd cashed in on his fanciful status

as a left-wing journalist long enough. It likely cost NPR dearly. Businesses can afford parasitic relationships for only so long.

[otohara]

21. Broadcast Contracts

are very specific - why they put up with him declining to say he worked for NPR while on FOX was pretty shitty. Without NPR, he wouldn't have been hired at the propaganda network.

[tishaLA]

38. NPR asked that he not be identified with them when he appeared on Fox

[otohara]

54. Oh, I Misheard It

doh!

[Skip Intro]

23. I agree, it makes me uncomfortable as well. I have a hard time faulting people for being honest

about their feelings. I also have a hard time with approved speech, approved thought. I'm on the fence as to whether he should have been fired, but I can't fault the guy for being honest.

[Empowerer]

30. Exactly

There's a HUGE difference between saying that Muslims on an airplane pose a threat and, therefore, it is reasonable for people to fear them and saying that one feels uneasy when seeing Muslims on an airplane but that unease is unreasonable and unfair.

People can't help how they feel - their feelings come about for many reasons. We all have prejudices. But if we recognize that those prejudices are unfair and irrational, try to grow past them, and, in the meantime, refuse to force public policy and other behaviors conform to them, we are making progress. Shutting someone down for acknowledging a prejudice - particularly when they're doing it in the context that Williams did is counterproductive. It's also, in my view, hypocritical and sanctimonious.

[spotbird]

32. There are blocks on the internets

devoted to nothing but racial hatred and fear. If those places can't sustain you, I suggest you simply stay tuned to Faux 24/7, you'll fit in just fine.

[Skip Intro]

39. Are you effin' kidding me?

[spotbird]

41. What observation upset you?

Again, since Fox devotees are unpersuaded by facts, what do you feel was wrong?

[Skip Intro]

42. Maybe you should ponder the definition of hypocrisy.

[spotbird]

45. Maybe you should ponder the defination of

explanation, or of demonstrate, or of transcript, or of contract. It's hard to argue against nebulous hate filled reconstruction of the right, but even playing with right wing rules (meaning, no facts, shifting rules, and all the rest) they typically agree on an employers right to fire anyone, for any reason. That is until today, when breach of contract, or employer will is remarkably insufficient.

[Skip Intro]

48. You're the one engaged in namecalling, my friend, without factual basis.

You're the one engaging in personal attacks. You're the one making assumptions. You're the one calling me faux news viewer and full of hate. Yet you have no idea my beliefs. You clearly did not read, or at least, comprehend, my post.

And yet you seek to preach tolerance.

Again, ponder the meaning of hypocrisy. Then take a look in a mirror.

[spotbird]

50. What names have I called?

Tolerance? Hypocrisy?

Let's talk opportunism and self-hatred?

[Skip Intro]

51. Ha! Amazing. From your first reply to my post:

"There are blocks on the internets devoted to nothing but racial hatred and fear. If those places can't sustain you, I suggest you simply stay tuned to Faux 24/7, you'll fit in just fine."

Now, that is in response to my post. Therefore you are responding to me, yes? I'll fit in just fine with faux viewers if the hate sites on the net can't "sustain" me?

Your words, not mine.

Are you freaking serious?

[spotbird]

52. Now try for a responsive answer.

Disagreement doesn't count.

On edit:

Unresponsive is so predictable that it is the b in banal. You people are incapable of challenge or honest discourse. Anything short of accolades is viewed as hatred to the fragile egos of the fluffed Faux celebrities posing as journalists. What do you think would have happened to Juan if he had ever persistently spoken truth to his Faux overlords. Allow me to suggest the tolerance period would have been much shorter than the tolerance period gifted by NPR.

[Skip Intro]

55. Tired of playing whatever game it is you're playing. You need to check youreslf, though, really.

Don't go calling people names at the drop of a hat. Try to read and comprehend what your're responding to before you hit "post message."

Some serious advice. You should take it.

[spotbird]

56. You would well benefit from the same

advice.

This is personal, the right wing celebrities, with whose ranks Juan will now proudly identify, uniformly project their failings on their enemies. There is no middle ground, only thoughtless objectification of the opponent. It has continued to the point that there is no survivable alternative from the pitiful opposition, aka the democrat party, but a limp attempt at turn about.

That said your attack here is without any support. At no point did I call Juan names. The accusation does not make the charge factual, this debate isn't on Faux after all. Look at the bright side, Williams is now a rich man, and with the new job, he will never again have to challenge the residual part of his conscience that pestered him.

[emilyg]

63. Agree 1 00%.

[Ozymanithrax]

36. He violated his contract...

When you violate the contact you have with your employer, that employer has cause to fire you. It was even noted that this is not the first time he violated the contract. He had been warned.

[spotbird]

43. Fox viewers just don't like employer

empowerment, they favor unionization.

Oh, wait..

[Ozymanithrax]

64. He was fired by NPR for violating his contract. n/t

[zulchzulu]

44. Juan got a payraise ($2 million) from Murdoch for his mistake

Fuck him. He was always a weak voice for the so-called Left when he was on Fox News. Now he will take the Devil's money.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

57. WRONG!! I'm a black woman, and I've heard whites and others say about black people

what Juan said about Muslims. Bottom line: it's unacceptable.

He deserved to be fired! Bigot asshole!!

[handmade34]

61. rec +1

[Empowerer]

78. I, too, am a black woman and I know that such views

are not rare in this country - and, in fact are quite the norm whether they are put into words or not.

I would much rather that people who hold such views admit it and then try to get past them and also try to help others to get past them. But sanctimoniously shaking our fingers at anyone who dares to admit bias, regardless of the context or intention of that admission - and ipso facto morphing them into a Glen Beck or Bull Connor - is, in my view pure hypocrisy since very, very, few of us can honestly say that we don't have prejudices against someone.

I have on many occasions pointed to my own prejudices and shared how I have come to realize them and how I have tried to overcome them as a tool for teaching others about tolerance and racial harmony.

It is painful to me to see the self-righteous reaction of so many "liberals" who seem to believe or want others to believe that they are pure as the driven snow when, to the contrary, they seem not to have a clue about the true dynamics of race and racial reconciliation in America. Instead, I suspect that for many of those who are most vocally and vociferously attacking Williams and defending NPR, this is a way of avoiding their own prejudices - it's so much easier to point and sneer at other people than to take a look at ourselves. But I'll bet that if we all took a closer look inward, we'll find that something much closer to Juan Williams' sentiments than we want to admit.


It's very sad.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

80. Brilliantly stated!!

:toast::toast:

[jonestonesusa]

59. There are plenty of other things to be uncomfortable with in the news these days.

I will not have one minute of worry over the firing of a millionaire journalist who has a golden parachute to land at Faux News. I'm sure there are plenty of young journalists starting their career who could use a break at NPR and will probably cover the news better.

[saltpoint]

70. Hi, jonestonesusa. I slipped a peek at your profile

and wanted to say that I respected Alan Cranston and appreciated his presidential run very much.

He was a class act. We could use a lot more like him in today's Senate instead of the preponderance of Pukes who are in there now.

:thumbsup:

[burning rain]

66. It seems a bit dodgy to me, too.

I thought he should have gotten the boot over his demagogy against Michelle Obama alone, the "Stokely Carmichael" crap. Now they can him over a smaller matter, after they've gotten plenty of grief over him from listeners and realized he does them no good with their audience. Seems to me they were just looking for a peg to hang their hat on, and he gave them one. He's better off at Fox anyway. His opinions intrude into everything he says these days, so the work of a cable pundit suits him better than that of a news analyst. Plus, he's shown himself a prodigy at bellyaching over the oppressive liberal media, and conservatives can never get enough of that drivel. Bernie Goldberg better watch out. Judging by his virtuoso performance on Fox Thursday, Williams may quickly supplant him as Fox's #1 "liberal media" bitch-and-moan artist.

[Empowerer]

79. Unfortunately, they've now turned him into a victim

and provided fodder for real bigots like O'Reilly and Buchanan to whine about "political correctness," attack liberal hypocrisy, and embrace a black man all at the same time.

Aside from the issues I raised earlier, this was handled in a ham-handed, tin-ear manner. If they wanted to get rid of him because he'd violated his contract, they should have done it a long time ago. But they have made a mess of it and have undercut efforts to address racial issues in the media. The next time a Buchanan, et al makes a bigoted comment - the kind of comment they frequently makes that are much worse than what Williams said - you can bet that it will be next-to-impossible to get them off the air.

[saltpoint]

69. Williams, had he been on a news program with an

actual news analyst instead of the program he was on, might have been asked if Timothy McVeigh was Muslim.

It was my underestanding that McVeigh was not Muslim. Should we be "nervous" when people we think might be Christians walk into a public building?

I was never a fan of Juan Williams' weasely conservatism. His unpleasantly memorable "interview" with then-Vicde President Cheney stands out as a case of an NPR analyst allowing Cheney to steamroll him. It wasn't journalism, it was propaganda, and it most certainly did not serve the public interest of the public on whose contributions NPR significantly depends.

I consider what Williams said about Muslims and airplanes to be overtly racist and I think his dismissal by NPR was completely appropriate.

[Empowerer]

82. You didn't hear everything he said - he made exactly the point that you are making

He said that it is wrong to make broad assumptions about people and even mentioned Tim McVeigh.

I don't think that what he said is overtly racist. He expressed a prejudice - which is very different. We are all prejudiced, we are not all racist. He was urging that we not allow our prejudices to dictate our behavior - and to learn to move past them.

It is so easy to point fingers at other people and call the racist for expressing views that we often hold ourselves. And unless we are Jesus Christ or Gandhi, I defy any of us to say with a straight face and an honest heart that we don't have prejudices against other people. I have devoted my life and career to fighting racism and fostering racial reconciliation yet I know that I have prejudices. But I constantly do gut checks for them, try to overcome them and try to teach others to do the same.

Frankly, I am much less concerned about the Glen Beck/Pat Buchanan forms of bigotry than I am about the "bikini liberal" form. The former is overt, obvious and can be addressed. The latter is much more insidious and much more difficult to overcome. And we will never overcome it if we can't even talk about it.

[saltpoint]

87. No, Empowerer, I did hear all he said, a couple of times,

and I reassert that what he said was overtly racist.

Williams spoke as a news analyst. He violated both his contract with NPR and he kowtowed to Bill O'Reilly, a propagandist for the Republican Party. More specifically, Williams targeted a subculture of of American citizens and painted them with the broad brush of his bigoted remark, managing in the effort to disparage any Muslim, anywhere, and connect them to the 911 attacks.

It was repellent. He more than deserved to be dismissed by NPR.

[rucky]

72. I guarantee you there's some backstory to this that we don't know about yet.

FOX just didn't draw up a long-term contract the day he got fired.

[Warren Stupidity]

75. He said nothing of the sort.

He was just fine with his bigotry. Muslims are out to kill us and people who 'dress like muslims' are making a statement. He did not say anything that indicated that his bigotry was wrong. Instead he was supporting Reilly's War On Islam meme.

[Jennicut]

81. If only all the idiot so called analyst hacks could be fired it would be great.

I can't feel sorry for him, or Rick Sanchez. Or any of the other hacks out there that think just because they are on tv we need to bow down and kiss their asses. There are hardly any real liberals on tv (Rachel Maddow? Keith?). Most of it is unwatchable whether it is NPR, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS. Only MSNBC remains halfway decent. We have too many so called analysts as it is that don't report the news, merely give you their version of how things ought to be. Where is the real news? I don't have time to listen to some idiot blather on about how he feels nervous on planes with Muslims on it. There are far more important things going on right now. Wake me up when the news media reports on something with meaning.

[Empowerer]

83. I don't feel sorry for Juan Williams - I am no fan of his

But I do feel sorry for the rest of us, since this incident has diminished all of our abilities to honestly discuss and address bias, bigotry and racism.

[Jennicut]

84. They can't even discuss how are economy got to where it is now.

I don't expect much more from our media. Racism? They have no idea to tackle simple issues.

[Empowerer]

85. I agree, but it's not just the media

Just look at the comments in this thread - we are all part of the problem.

As I said, Eric Holder was correct. We ARE cowards when it comes to discussing race. And, sadly, many of us tend to deal with it by shutting down the discussion altogether.

[Deep13]

89. Too bad I can't "rec" one post.

:thumbsup:

[Deep13]

88. He violated the terms of his contract.

It has nothing to do with how he feels. As a journalist for a real news organization, he had certain professional standards maintain. Talking about his irrational prejudices on a show that was designed to get people riled up over irrational prejudices reflects badly on the jouranlistic integrity of NPR. That violates the terms of his contract.

Besides, there is no basic right to be on the radio. He can still say whatever he wants just like we all can. In fact his new $2M contract with Fox will let him shoot his mouth off about all kinds of crazy shit on TV to a larger audience than NPR has.

[ncteechur]

90. Who cares about Juan Williams? He shoulda kept his effing mouth shut and stayed off Fox.

He doesn't care either since Fox put $2,000,000 on the nightstand for him.

[AlinPA]

91. Williams is a loyal Fox 'news" employee. He said what he was paid to say,

and it was their usual anti-Muslim rhetoric and prejudice. It doesn't fit on NPR.

[Old Troop]

92. I think it was a poor decisiion but if you read the 1st Amendment

you see that it applies to Congress. The interpretation of the 14th Amendment expanded it over the years to all government entities. NPR is a non-government entity and they have the right to fire who they please in my opinion.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"

[ampad]

93. I wonder what exactly

He is doing to correct that wrong? He said it was wrong for feeling that way and I give him credit for that. However, what is he doing to fix that issue? Can he not dig deep down inside and utilize a little empathy? After all, he is a black man and many people would probably be uncomfortable around him as well. I also do not agree that all people carry devastating prejudices and or bigotry. Most prejudice and bigotry is learned and it can be unlearned. If he has not already Juan should educate himself on the Muslim faith. He seems to be an educated man so there really is no excuse. Yea admitting that he has a problem may be the first step but how long has he held those feelings? I suspect it has been long enough for him to educate himself.

For those who do carry a prejudice against a group based on race, gender, sexual orientation and religion I say shame on you. There is no excuse and stating that you have an issue is not enough. Stating what you are doing to reverse those prejudices is what needs to be done. I honestly believe that racism and prejudice is a form of mental illness. Those who are afflicted with that illness need to dig deep down inside and fix the issue. I believe that claiming that it is a common thing is part of the problem for some people. Some people may realize they have an issue by openly stating it then trying to fix it. Other people ( I believe most people) may say oh well everyone has a prejudice so I am normal, no need to worry about it.

I suspect Juan claimed he is uncomfortable around Muslims because he felt it was a safe bet. There are many people who feel the same way because of 9/11. Hell, I was afraid of many things after 9/11. I was afraid to fly period but it really had nothing to do with Muslims. Any crazy person can take over a plane and kill innocent people. The fact that men armed with nothing other than box cutters were able to take down a plane scared the hell out of me. The lack of security is what done it for me.

There are crazy people out there right now that if given the chance would harm the president based on his skin color. I wonder how Fox new would of reacted if Juan claimed that he was uncomfortable around armed white men because some armed white men would like to harm the black president.

[mkultra]

94. he was fired for repeatedly taking clear cut positions on political issues

[ellie]

95. I'm not uncomfortable.

Fuck him.