Juan Williams Fired from NPR

I would question his air marshal skills. Who were the 9-11 hijackers decked out in Muslim garb?

 

I'm just disappointed Brian Kilmeade still has a job.

 

Yes.

If you are a black man and know what it's like to have people assume you are a mugger and cross the street when you are walking their way, I think you should know better than to be afraid of people just because of how they choose to dress.

 

Absolutely could not have said it any better.

 

Except Jesse Jackson was allowed to say that, with no apparent penalty.

 

Anyone is allowed to say it. I'm not aware of Jesse getting paid by NPR.

 

I guess Juan Williams just didn't realize or respect the responsibilities of the Black Man's Burden.

 

Jesse only gets paid when he shakes somebody down.

 

If being in the "opinion business" is a blanket defense here, what happened to Helen Thomas?

 

First and foremost, I think this was a culmination of a lot of things for NPR, which had already told Williams to stop using his affiliation with NPR when he appeared on Fox News and had (at least according to NPR's EIC) already dealt with multiple ethical problems with Williams. So while I'm not sure if NPR was right to fire Williams for this and this alone, it changes the dynamics of it when you look at the full scope of events. If Williams was on his last chance as it appears, then he's an idiot for saying something this inflammatory.

Second, while I'm not yet sure how I feel about Williams' firing, I do find it slightly amusing that there is a vocal conservative response to this when there was almost nothing to be found from leading conservatives when a GOP Senate candidate had his private security arrest a blogger/reporter.

Third, when you preface a statement with, "Bill, now you know I'm not a bigot," chances are you're getting ready to say something that is going to make you sound like a bigot.

 

This brings up another point that a writer from Salon brought up this morning. If organizations are going to fire people for making blanket, politically incorrect statements about Jews, then it's quite a double standard if organizations aren't going to fire people for making blanket, politically incorrect statements about Muslims.

 

The fog lifts:

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-juan-williams-20101022,0,4294425.story