The headline on the National Public Radio website said, “NPR Ends Williams’ Contract After Muslim Remarks”, but it should have said, “NPR Fires Williams for Telling the Truth.”
I am familiar with Juan Williams as Fox News Channel’s designated liberal. I have often wondered how Williams found time for NPR because he is on Fox morning, noon and night. The other night he was on with the incredibly popular Bill O’Reilly discussing the way the ladies of “The View” had thrown a hissy-fit over Bill’s comment that “Muslims killed Americans” on 9/11.
Well, yes, Muslims had planned it, funded it, and were the perpetrators. Not all Muslims, but all those involved in the terrorist act that involved hijacking four commercial airliners. Muslims have been killing people in London, Madrid, Moscow, Bali, Mumbai, and other places for a very long time when not killing other Muslims in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In the aftermath of 9/11 some Muslims were dancing in the streets to celebrate the attack on the Great Satan.
So, when Juan Williams said “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 a 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”, NPR thought that was “inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”
You do not have to be a NPR news analyst to worry about sharing a plane with self-identified Muslims. In December 2009, nothing but luck saved a plane from being blown to pieces by the Nigerian “underwear bomber” over Detroit. Nothing but luck saved an untold number of lives when another Muslim made a car bomb and parked it in Times Square. The Muslim Fort Hood shooter is still awaiting trial.
Telling the truth while exercising his First Amendment right of free speech was why NPR fired Juan Williams.
It happens that on October 19, Rasmussen Reports published the results of a telephone poll that asked respondents their opinion about political correctness. The conclusion was that “Some people think that government officials too often override the facts and common sense in the name of political correctness, and 74% regard political correctness as a problem in America today.”
The poll found that “57% of adults believe America today has become too politically correct” while 23% said it was not a problem. The Caruba Rule of Political Percentages says there is a hardcore of about 25% of Americans who are too stupid to walk and chew gum at the same time.
It is to Fox’s credit that Juan Williams was their “go-to guy” whenever they needed a liberal opinion on the events and issues of the day. I rarely agreed with anything he said, but I understood his contribution to the discussions because one could always gain an insight to the warped liberal point of view on matters great and small.
Recently in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie let it be known he saw little reason for the state to be funding its own television news channel and it has always struck me as strange that the federal or state governments should be doing this.
Founded in 1970, NPR has always been a propaganda arm of the government and has always been liberal in its news reportage and analysis no matter what party was in power. About 10% of its funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a federally funded organization. The rest comes from local and state governments, government-funded universities, along with member station’s fees, foundation grants, and corporate underwriting.
In 2008, NPR programming reached a record 27.5 million people weekly, according to Arbitron ratings figures. NPR stations reach 32.7 million listeners overall according to Wikipedia.
While it is true that the mainstream media has for decades rendered itself unable to provide reasonably unbiased news coverage, outlets such as C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, and Fox News Channel have filled the gap along with a plethora of Internet news and opinion websites for anyone seeking information and analysis.
No doubt Williams will find a permanent home at Fox News Channel, but his firing is a warning to everyone that anything they hear on NPR is filtered through its liberal “editorial standards and practices.”
© Alan Caruba, 2010
8 comments:
Alan,
Another well thought out analysis. I have said more than once in the past that a government run co-opted media is but one step towards the Soviet style dictatorship that we witnessed with the old USSR. This is beyond Big Brother. This is not only the squashing of Free Speech, but is in fact taking away one of our most sacred rights. And he wasn't even on an NPR show!
This Political Correctness, which is nothing more than a Gestapo style propaganda issue has to stop!
I for one do not agree with some of Mr. Williams stands. however, he has never been afraid to call it as he sees it and in this case he was correct! To be fired for relating the truth is beyond everything we hold sacred in this country.
Alan,
His firing clearly demonstrates how these people don't really want open dialogue or diversity; they want conformity to their views, no matter how illogical or irrational they may be; a group that claims to prize individuals but requires everyone to be the same in order to remain in the herd.
There is one more problem to this firing that you touched on briefly. We will have to endure more of his comments on Fox News than we already do.
Rich
NPR = Enemy of the American Republic.
By this action those responsible have added their names to the Proscription List.
Patriots have long memories...long knives.
This is what poetic justice looks like. I could never stand the liberal gooblygook that came out of Williams mouth, that he should be fired from the far leftist NPR is to perfect to be true. Although rare this isn't the first time Williams has managed to say a truth but in the atmosphere we're in now and his being continually on Fox what would you expect. This is the face of liberalism for all to see. It's time to fire the rest of them. Lets see if they can stand with no support from the tax dollars from those for whom they never have a kind word. It seems political suicide has become the new norm for Democrats and other liberals. May the trend continue.
NPR has certainly stirred up quite the storm. Oh, dear, oopsie.
Can't break the programming cycle, now can we? They done messed up BAD!
Hate to say it, but I think this will backfire tremendously. America awakens! The "sleeping giant", and all that.
I agree with cabby.
I always like to remind people that only about 17% of Germans voted for the Nazi Party candidates in the German elections in 1932. There were a great many Germans who didn't agree with what the Nazis went about doing after Hitler was made "Der Fuhrer", a dictator, put in power by the politicians who had been elected by the German people by democratic means.
Those Germans who were in opposition to what the Nazis did were deathly afraid, with excellent reasons, from speaking even privately of their opposition.
Still, the US waged war with Germany.
The simple fact is that there are a whole lot of Muslims who want to see, and see to, if possible, the destruction of the US of A.
There are a good many "leaders" of Muslim countries who participate in funding and even directing of terrorist activities in countries of western culture, and even in countries with a majority of Muslims in the population, where the leaders of those countries are not following hard-line Islam (that is, as it is written in the Quran)
There are only about 300 million citizens in the US, and we not only are not invincible, we have become unwilling to take the steps of basic survival as a sovereign nation, and our economy has become undone. Basically, we are not merely "broke", but hugely in debt.
Our so-called "news" media has long since been taken over by members of the liberal intelligentsia, who are dedicated to the destruction of the US of A as a sovereign nation, and who are also dedicated to the concept of "world government".
Juan has learned a hard lesson about Liberals and the left in general. Let's hope he doesn't forget it, and makes hay with it on FOX News. He should have known better though. NPR stands for Nasty Partisan Rightbashers.
@Opit (whose comments will not be posted on this blog)
There are plenty of liberal blogs that will glady post your idiotic opinions. Stick to them because they are not welcome here.
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