Glenn Greenwald: NPR fires Juan Williams for anti-Muslim bigotry

[meegbear]

On Monday, I documented the glaring double standard in our political discourse generally and in the world of journalism specifically, whereby anti-Muslim bigotry is widely tolerated, while those perceived as expressing similar (or even more mild) animus toward other groups are harshly punished (see, for instance, Octavia Nasr, Helen Thomas, Rick Sanchez). That double standard suffered a very welcome blow last night, when NPR announced it was firing its long-time correspondent, Juan Williams, due to blatantly bigoted anti-Muslim remarks Williams made on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News program.

O'Reilly had created controversy last week when he went on The View and blamed 9/11 on "Muslims," and Fox's morning host, Brian Kilmeade, then exacerbated that ugliness when he falsely claimed, as part of his defense of O'Reilly: "not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims." On Tuesday night, Williams went on O'Reilly's program to perform his standard, long-time function on Fox -- offering himself up as the supposed "liberal" defending Fox News commentators (and other right-wing extremists) from charges of bigotry and otherwise giving cover to incendiary right-wing attacks -- and :

Well, actually, I hate to say this to you because I don't want to get your ego going. But I think you're right. I think, look, political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don't address reality.

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. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.

Now, I remember also when the Times Square bomber was at court -- this was just last week -- he said: "the war with Muslims, America's war is just beginning, first drop of blood." I don't think there’s any way to get away from these facts.

As Andrew Sullivan wrote about Williams' attempts to preface his bigoted remarks by declaring himself not to be a bigot: "No, Juan, what you just described is the working definition of bigotry . . .What percentage of traditionally garbed Muslims -- I assume wearing a covered veil or some other indicator and being of darker skin -- have committed acts of terror? . . . The literal defense of anti-Muslim bigotry on Fox is becoming endemic. It's disgusting."

<snip>

I'm not someone who believes that journalists should lose their jobs over controversial remarks, especially isolated, one-time comments. But if that's going to be the prevailing standard, then I want to see it applied equally. Those who cheered on the firing of Octavia Nasr, Helen Thomas and Rick Sanchez -- and that will include many, probably most, of the right-wing polemicists predictably rushing to transform Juan Williams into some sort of free speech martyr sacrificed on the altar of sharia censorship -- have no ground for complaining here. Those who endorse speech-based punishments invariably end up watching as the list of Prohibited Ideas expands far beyond the initial or desired scope, often subsuming their own beliefs. That's a good reason to oppose all forms of speech-based punishment in the first place. There's obviously a fundamental difference between (a) being punished by the state for expressing Prohibited Ideas (which is isn't what happened here) and (b) losing a job for doing so, but the dynamic is similar: those who endorse this framework almost always lose control over how it is applied. And that's how it should be.

The Nasr/Thomas/Sanchez incidents -- and countless others -- demonstrate how unequal and imbalanced our standards have become in determining which group-based comments are acceptable and which ones are not. If we're going to fire or otherwise punish people for expressing Prohibited Ideas against various groups, it's long overdue that those standards be applied equally to anti-Muslim animus, now easily one of the most -- if not the single most -- pervasive, tolerated and dangerous forms of blatant bigotry in America.

http://www.salon.com/news/fox_news/index.html?story=/opinion/greenwald/2010/10/21/williams

[CatWoman]

1. no worries

Roger has a contract waiting in the wings for Juan.

Besides - he'll be more at home there.

[upi402]

2. ...and then they came for my neighbor

and I said, "oh well, he probably deserved it anyway"

He's a turncoat douche, but!

[Donald Ian Rankin]

3. Any chance of Fox following suit?

I thought not...

[BrklynLiberal]

4. I almost jumped up and down when I heard this.

Personally, I am thrilled that NPR dumped that asshole Williams. Almost restores my faith in NPR.
:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[wowimthere]

5. NPR did the right thing. Just because he has a microphone doesn't mean he has to be irresponsible

with it.