Juan Williams

[Luminiferous]

Juan Williams expresses glowing admiration for Glenn Beck following NPR firing

Now that Juan Williams has been fired from NPR, and signed a new $2 million contract with Fox News, he suddenly has a new-found admiration for Fox News' lead personality Glenn Beck. Today Williams went on Glenn Beck's show for an interview regarding the NPR controversy. Even though Williams had never been on Beck's show before, and never even commented on Beck, he suddenly started gushing about his respect and admiration for the conservative talk show host.

At the beginning of the interview, Glenn Beck congratulates Williams on his lucrative contract with Fox News. Williams returns the favor by calling Beck a man of "integrity" who he "respects." Then in the middle of the interview, Williams claims that Beck gets "hit unfairly" by the rest of the press. Again, Williams never complained about the treatment of Beck before signing his multi-million dollar contract with Fox News.

Williams goes on to complain that there cannot be an "honest" conversation about controversial issues, and claims that is the reason he was fired from NPR. Williams holds up Beck as someone who is capable of having these kind of "honest" conversations. Lost in Williams' points is the fact that Beck never has anyone debate him with an opposite viewpoint on his show. To the contrary, when Beck once tried to interview an SEIU leader Beck ended up kicking him off stage when he refused to agree with Beck's points. When one radio caller named "Kathy" disagreed with Beck, he actually cut her off, and proceeded to scream at her through the microphone saying "get off my phone! Get off my phone you little pinhead!" Beck has also consistently called for liberal organizations to be "hunted" or shut down because he views them as a threat to society.

Williams then claims that he was only expressing his real fear about seeing a person dressed in Muslim garb come on a plane. While everyone can express their fears, Williams in fact went further than that. Williams did not ever step back to say that his fear was unjustified, or that his fear did not justify discrimination. Instead, Williams cited his fear as a justification for the kind of Muslim stereotypes Bill O'Reilly recently used on "The View."

The rest of the interview is devoted to making Williams out to be a martyr, who had been unfairly persecuted by the liberal press. Beck goes as far as to try and connect the firing to a "Death Star" of liberals which include the Tides Foundation and George Soros. Williams joins in on the conspiracy theory, lending credibility to Beck's "six degrees of separation" conspiracy theory involving Soros and others.

http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz- ... npr-firing

[vlad]

Well slap me with a wet cod....Williams snuggling with Glen Beck.

[LuciferSanchez]

...calling Beck a man of "integrity" who he "respects."

Now that's laugh, was Beck crying over this...

[EvilMadman]

Juan's not a dumb guy. He to have said it on purpose. He had to knew full well exactly how his lib bosses at NPR would react. Probably already had a prior verbal agreement with Roger Ailes.

I also don't think what he said was really all that outrageous.
Now, how many crybaby liberals on an airplane with 6 or 7 middle eastern men all wearing traditional robes, all sitting in separate seats, and they started looking around, who wouldn't be the slightest bit concerned about that? I'd be sweating like hell. And so would they, so would
anyone with half a brain in their head.

If liberals want to understand how conservatives feel about NPR, they should ask themselves this: How would I feel if I knew that every time I paid my taxes, a tiny little bit of it was going to Rush Limbaugh?
NPR’s firing of Juan Williams amounted to an instantaneous prosecution and conviction for thoughtcrime. A CNN columnist named Arsalan Iftikhar (haven’t heard of this important figure? Why, he’s “an international human rights lawyer [and] founder of TheMuslimGuy.com”) said Williams “ignorantly disparaged an entire minority group on national television” and took a “bigoted potshot.” Not at all. What Williams did was, in the course of opposing Bill O’Reilly, honestly admit to feelings that, as a student of the Civil Rights movement, struck him as especially unwelcome, ironic and disconcerting.

His position was actually anti-stereotype, pluralistic, frank — bracingly American. On Bill O’Reilly’s show, Williams said, “When I get on a plane . . . 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’ point was that terrorists may sometimes be Muslims but that doesn’t mean you should think of Muslims as terrorists. “It’s not a war against Islam,” he said. He drew an analogy with Timothy McVeigh, whose acts shouldn’t cause anyone to “say first and foremost we got a problem with Christians.”

NPR says in its mission statement that it is “committed to providing diverse and balanced viewpoints through the entirety of its programming.” There are many things to like about NPR, but no one can argue with a straight face that it is a bastion of diversity of thought. Some 43% of Americans admit (out loud!) to harboring at least some prejudice toward Muslims. Where are the NPR commentators who strive to represent this large minority? Where is the counterweight to the many NPR commentators who sing the praises of Islam? An academic 2005 study out of UCLA ruled that NPR was, to no one’s surprise, a liberal news outlet. Media columnist Howard Kurtz has cited NPR and Fox News Channel as opposite poles of the spectrum.

But Fox News Channel isn’t getting government handouts. Meanwhile, NPR gets both your tax dollars and contributions from partisan extremists like George Soros. Who do you think it will make more of an effort to please — you, whose money it can count on whether you like its programming or not, or Soros? And if Soros is your idea of a great thinker, how would you feel if your supposed public service NPR were beholden to a far-right billionaire?

NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin said in 2005, “News organizations everywhere engage in ‘group-think’ about stories. Does NPR make sure that other perspectives are given enough consideration when editorial decisions are made? I think NPR needs to do a better job at making sure those ideas are heard.” There was certainly a lot of diversity in the list of excuses NPR CEO Vivian Schiller gave for firing Williams (who noted that the real reason was, “they loathe the fact that I appear on Fox news”). Kurtz, writing on The Daily Beast, asked, “Did National Public Radio really fire Juan Williams for his remarks about Muslims — or the forum in which he made them?”

Schiller gave a dizzying deconstruction of the fine distinctions between whether Williams should be an “analyst” and a “commentator” — can’t he be an “analyst” when he’s on NPR and “a commentator” when he’s on Fox News Channel? Does NPR exercise thought-control rights over him even when he’s not on NPR? She noted the distressing perils of Williams daring to offer his “opinion” and the undoubted benefits of his instead sticking to dishing “perspective.” Look on the bright side, Schiller said. Although she did instantly fire Williams, she added, “We don’t want to take these people out back and shoot them,” though no one had asked whether she had contemplated assassinating analysts for being too much like commentators.

There were “several [similar] instances over the years” that bothered Schiller, she added. Williams made it clear in interviews that he had not known that Schiller was Dean Wormer and he was on some kind of double-secret probation. Also, Schiller claimed, Williams broke “journalistic rules of ethics” and “his integrity as a news analyst has been undermined by the fact that he expressed these very divisive views.” Divisive views are unethical? NPR’s glamour girl Nina Tottenberg once said, chuckling, that if there were such a thing as “retributive justice” then Jesse Helms would get AIDS. Was that not divisive?

Contra the excitable commentary of Sarah Palin, who seems to detect a violation of the First Amendment every time someone is punished or even criticized for saying something she finds inoffensive, freedom of speech isn’t really at issue here, although NPR receives public funding. NPR is a media outlet, not a street corner. If it just opened its mic and let any street-corner prophet come in to command the airwaves, it wouldn’t be providing a public service. It can and should hire and fire contributors according to the quality of commentary.

But despite Schiller’s insistence that analysts (or is it commentators?) stick to fact-based reporting, Williams’ remark was a factually accurate statement (he was simply reporting on his feelings). It wasn’t a policy prescription. There is no “should” there. He didn’t say, “We should be nervous when we see people on planes in Muslim dress,” “People in Muslim dress on airplanes should be targeted with hateful looks” or “if you see people in Muslim dress on an airplane, you should start looking around for something that you can turn into a weapon.” Williams is a liberal, although maybe not for long. “I’ve always thought the right wing were ones that were inflexible and intolerant,” he said on “Good Morning America.” “And now I’m coming to realize that the orthodoxy at NPR, it’s representing the left.”

A conservative is a liberal who has been mugged by the media.

nypost.com

[vlad]

meh...double post.

[vlad]

Juan's not a dumb guy. He to have said it on purpose. He had to knew full well exactly how his lib bosses at NPR would react. Probably already had a prior verbal agreement with Roger Ailes.

I also don't think what he said was really all that outrageous.
Now, how many crybaby liberals on an airplane with 6 or 7 middle eastern men all wearing traditional robes, all sitting in separate seats, and they started looking around, who wouldn't be the slightest bit concerned about that? I'd be sweating like hell. And so would they, so would
anyone with half a brain in their head.

Again, twatty thinking. I'll tell you what I'd do..I'd ask them where they are from if they had accents. I'd be interested in them and where they are from.

As has been noted, those "muslim-garbed" men (or women) had to go through the exact same security screenings, Hell, as was also pointed out, they quite possibly had to go through extra screening.

What a bunch of bed wetters. Really. Are you all this chickenshit?

And a whole lot of liberals have been mugged by the media and they don't go running to Fox for a big hand out. And here's a little clue for you. NPR has not been "liberal" for years. I know, I know, it's one of the boogeymen righties like to drag out as TEH_PROOF of something. At least since the Bush admin, it has swung quite right. If a whole bunch of the wankers complaining about it actually listened, they might be surprised. Just because it isn't full of screeching mouthbreathers like Rush Limbaugh doesn't mean it's some liberal bastion.

I'll repost this, because it says it very well.

The only good thing that came out of this story were reports of indignant callers to NPR announcing that they were never going to watch NPR again.

[MotorVenom]

This was kind of fun, reminded me of when the Iraq war started. I lived in No. CAL at the time and that area surprisingly has some real whacko right wing radio. I used to love to go back and forth between Air America and the right wing station up there (forget the name) and listen to them each rant about how evil, stupid the other one is. For this issue I went back and forth between Rachel Maddow and Fox, listening to each sides righteous indignation, pretty funny stuff. After watching it all though I think Juan Williams seems like a pretty decent dude if this is generally how he is. Myself and most people I know think Fox, MSNBC and most news sources are full of crap. I don't always know who is telling me the truth but I do have a pretty good idea when I'm obviously being fed a line a crap. I try to watch all the news and then realize the truth is somewhere in the middle, I thought that is what most people did......apparently I was wrong. I'm very glad I'm neither an (R) or a (D).

[lerxstcat]

Again, twatty thinking. I'll tell you what I'd do..I'd ask them where they are from if they had accents. I'd be interested in them and where they are from.

As has been noted, those "muslim-garbed" men (or women) had to go through the exact same security screenings, Hell, as was also pointed out, they quite possibly had to go through extra screening.

Do you think it's any twattier than Nina Totenberg wishing AIDS on not only Jesse Helms, but also his grandchildren? It might not be an opinion he thought through all that well, but it was how he felt. And I'm sure Nina totenberg felt what she said too, but she suffered no repercussions. That's inconsistent and probably the basis of a bitchin' lawsuit on Juan's part. He can also toss in the "because I'm black" card while he's at it just to add a few dollars to the claim.

[Crazy Levi]

I simply do not care about this story at all.

Next.

[vlad]

Again, twatty thinking. I'll tell you what I'd do..I'd ask them where they are from if they had accents. I'd be interested in them and where they are from.

As has been noted, those "muslim-garbed" men (or women) had to go through the exact same security screenings, Hell, as was also pointed out, they quite possibly had to go through extra screening.

Do you think it's any twattier than Nina Totenberg wishing AIDS on not only Jesse Helms, but also his grandchildren? It might not be an opinion he thought through all that well, but it was how he felt. And I'm sure Nina totenberg felt what she said too, but she suffered no repercussions. That's inconsistent and probably the basis of a bitchin' lawsuit on Juan's part. He can also toss in the "because I'm black" card while he's at it just to add a few dollars to the claim.

Oh whatever....I could give a shit about NPR....I, a liberal, haven't listened to NPR since I was in my early 20s. I never listened to Air America or any radio.

Juan Williams said some bigoted and stupid (which is tragic because he made his bones on his scholarship on civil rights)...he got fired and whined while driving to the bank with his Fox money. He should have known better. I am sure he would not have been crying in his loot, if someone had said that they felt uncomfortable being around Black people.

I care that it is acceptable in this country to be scared of people who don't dress the same as most other people. That makes me sick. Really it does.


As for the Totenburg quote.

'I think he ought to be worried about what's going on in the Good Lord's mind,' she said of Senator Jesse Helms in 1995, 'because if there is retributive justice, he'll get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will.'"

Do you even know what that was in response to? It wasn't because of the way Helms dressed but for things like this:

Jesse Helms who refused to even speak to Ryan White's mother, even after the young boy died from AIDS. The same Jesse Helms who said all cases of AIDS could be traced to sodomy and opposed any federal research for research or treatment, even for kids like Ryan White (no wonder he couldn't face Jeanne White).

Should she have said it. Absolutely not (and really I don't care if she gets fired or not...like I said, I don't listen to NPR), but don't paint that miserable fuck, Jesse Helms as some kind of victim. Speaking of mindless bigotry, Helms, who said that the Civil Rights voting act was, and I quote:

'the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress'

So cry me a river that NT said a mean thing about that vicious old fuck.

There is a profound difference, for the sake of argument, of targeting one specific politician who did everything he could to NOT help kids like Ryan White and the nebulous fear of people who don't wear stupid t-shirts and dockers.

[Cliffenstein]

Juan Williams said some bigoted

Juan Williams did not say anything bigoted.

[lerxstcat]

Again, twatty thinking. I'll tell you what I'd do..I'd ask them where they are from if they had accents. I'd be interested in them and where they are from.

As has been noted, those "muslim-garbed" men (or women) had to go through the exact same security screenings, Hell, as was also pointed out, they quite possibly had to go through extra screening.

Do you think it's any twattier than Nina Totenberg wishing AIDS on not only Jesse Helms, but also his grandchildren? It might not be an opinion he thought through all that well, but it was how he felt. And I'm sure Nina totenberg felt what she said too, but she suffered no repercussions. That's inconsistent and probably the basis of a bitchin' lawsuit on Juan's part. He can also toss in the "because I'm black" card while he's at it just to add a few dollars to the claim.

Oh whatever....I could give a shit about NPR....I, a liberal, haven't listened to NPR since I was in my early 20s. I never listened to Air America or any radio.

Juan Williams said some bigoted and stupid (which is tragic because he made his bones on his scholarship on civil rights)...he got fired and whined while driving to the bank with his Fox money. He should have known better. I am sure he would not have been crying in his loot, if someone had said that they felt uncomfortable being around Black people.

I care that it is acceptable in this country to be scared of people who don't dress the same as most other people. That makes me sick. Really it does.


As for the Totenburg quote.

'I think he ought to be worried about what's going on in the Good Lord's mind,' she said of Senator Jesse Helms in 1995, 'because if there is retributive justice, he'll get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will.'"

Do you even know what that was in response to? It wasn't because of the way Helms dressed but for things like this:

Jesse Helms who refused to even speak to Ryan White's mother, even after the young boy died from AIDS. The same Jesse Helms who said all cases of AIDS could be traced to sodomy and opposed any federal research for research or treatment, even for kids like Ryan White (no wonder he couldn't face Jeanne White).

Should she have said it. Absolutely not (and really I don't care if she gets fired or not...like I said, I don't listen to NPR), but don't paint that miserable fuck, Jesse Helms as some kind of victim. Speaking of mindless bigotry, Helms, who said that the Civil Rights voting act was, and I quote:

'the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress'

So cry me a river that NT said a mean thing about that vicious old fuck.

There is a profound difference, for the sake of argument, of targeting one specific politician who did everything he could to NOT help kids like Ryan White and the nebulous fear of people who don't wear stupid t-shirts and dockers.

Way to miss the point, Vlad. My point is simply that Juan's comment is not any more vile than Nina's, maybe less so, yet Nina keeps her job and Juan is fired. I don't accept your thesis that there is a profound difference here. Sounds like straight-up racism to me and I hope he takes them to the cleaners on that basis.

BTW, I have been used to having little old ladies lock their car doors and look at me in fear since I was 16 because I had long hair and a beard. It is what it is, and I feel bad because they are scared rather than feeling any outrage because they judge me.

[SeminiferousButtNoid]

I was reading about Vivian Schiller the other day and this woman was named the VP of Development of Turner Entertainment (the production and distribution wing of Ted Turner's empire) at the age of 27, three years after she got her MA in Russian, no less. I've never heard of anything like that in my life. That's like Goldman Sachs hiring Ugmo to be Chief Financial Officer.

[cantstopthemusic]

If you think NPR is "liberal," then you're on crack.

It's liberal as fuck.

Put down the pipe.

[EvilMadman]

No one, as far as I know, has made the point that no sensible, right-minded souls would be more inclined to agree with Juan Williams than Muslims.

For example, why would the Muslim mother of two or three kids think differently than Williams?

After all, if a flight from, say, Detroit to New York, were running a special — no security measures of any kind for Muslims, a “Muslims Fly Search-Free” flight — do you think this Muslim mother would allow herself and her children to board that flight?

Neither do I.

Do you think that the knee-jerkers at NPR who decided to fire Williams would be any more eager to board that flight with their kids than that Muslim mother?

Neither do I.

Thus, Juan Williams, fired from NPR for anti-Muslim bigotry, is no more bigoted against Muslims than a Muslim mother of two or three.

Bottom line: Williams wasn’t tossed by NPR for his bigotry. He was tossed for his practicality, for the unpardonable sin of speaking common sense in public.

Phil Mushnick
NYPost.com
October 30, 2010

[CrouchingStonerHiddenBong]

[MurrayFiend]

No one, as far as I know, has made the point that no sensible, right-minded souls would be more inclined to agree with Juan Williams than Muslims.

For example, why would the Muslim mother of two or three kids think differently than Williams?

After all, if a flight from, say, Detroit to New York, were running a special — no security measures of any kind for Muslims, a “Muslims Fly Search-Free” flight — do you think this Muslim mother would allow herself and her children to board that flight?

Neither do I.

Do you think that the knee-jerkers at NPR who decided to fire Williams would be any more eager to board that flight with their kids than that Muslim mother?

Neither do I.

Thus, Juan Williams, fired from NPR for anti-Muslim bigotry, is no more bigoted against Muslims than a Muslim mother of two or three.

Bottom line: Williams wasn’t tossed by NPR for his bigotry. He was tossed for his practicality, for the unpardonable sin of speaking common sense in public.

Phil Mushnick
NYPost.com
October 30, 2010

That is horribly-written, and frankly, it's kinda stupid.