NPR fires Juan Williams for Muslim remarks on Fox

Originally posted by Hefficide



Juan Williams has been a fixture on a number of television and radio shows for many years - and now he is no longer employed by his full time job on National Public Radio. Having lost his job for stating that people in Muslim garb, on airplanes make him "worried" and "nervous".

I'll be right up front in stating that I do not always see eye to eye with Mr Williams, and with his views. It is my opinion that he has a tendency to be too much of an apologist for and blind follower of our current President. Or at least he does on the the Sunday morning round table shows.

And I personally can't stand when Pat Buchanan comes across as "in the right". Juan Williams has afforded Mr Buchanan this luxury a bit too much for my tastes.

But Mr Williams does come across, generally, as a very intelligent man with many valid points. And, in my opinion, to fire him over what I see as an innocent mistake, rather than a statement of hate, is disagreeable to me.

I have made quite a number of people on ATS angry, over the last several months, by standing up for the rights of Muslims to be Muslim - and demanding that we, in the west, respect their religion.

But to act as if suicide bombers are NOT a reality is just absurd. There are Islamic jihadist fanatics who do commit these acts of terror.

Acts of TERROR: IE meant to instill fear in others.

Apparently, now, suggesting that terrorism actually creates fear is to be considered bigoted. That is all that Juan Williams was trying to communicate, at least as I see it - that the terrorists have been successful in creating fear.

Should a man lose his job for stating such an obvious thing? If we are to have an open dialogue about Islam and learn to accept it in the US these issues have to be addressed. Suicide bombers exist and we cannot simply pretend that they do not.

What do you think about this?

~Heff

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Excellently reasoned and very well stated. To ignore the obvious effect of Islamic terrorists does no service for the vast majority of Islamics who are kind and peaceful, and just trying to live their lives here.

All of us need to recognize that terrorists of any stripe damage their innocent communities by instilling fear against those who dress like them or look like them.

The muslims in America who are simply living their lives are the victims of the Islamic terrorists as much as anyone else.

I think Mr. Williams was trying to say something along that line, but botched it.

reply to post by Hefficide

What Juan Williams said was quite tame compared to what President Obama said about his grandmother's fear of blacks.

Did NPR report that people were intimidated when the New Black Panther Party leader stood in front of a Philadelphia polling place? If they didn't cover up that story, did they fire the reporter?

I have heard nothing to convince me that Juan Williams was not fired for being on Fox News too often, Here's my conspiracy theory: George Soros gives NPR a bunch of money then Juan Williams gets fired and then he calls for another NPR person who appears frequently on Fox News, Mara Liason, to be fired.

Originally posted by CharlesMartel
reply to post by Hefficide

 

What Juan Williams said was quite tame compared to what President Obama said about his grandmother's fear of blacks.

Pres. Obama remembering his grandmother's issues is a world different than Juan Williams discussing his own.

If you are proposing that if Pres. Obama's Grandmother was an NPR reporter that appears on FOx that she would have been fired by NPR...I will give that to you, otherwise...seriously...Apples to Orangutans.

Originally posted by CharlesMartel
Did NPR report that people were intimidated when the New Black Panther Party leader stood in front of a Philadelphia polling place? If they didn't cover up that story, did they fire the reporter?

Black panthers equal the entire Muslim faith?...try again.

NPR is probably the best news organization out there.

That said...this was a ef-up. Juan Williams should not have been fired and the President of NPR should resign. She has done NPR and Juan Williams a huge disservice. It is one thing to protect the integrity of your Journalists and demand a modicum of objectivity, but when you fire Journalists for acknowledging thier own irrational fears in the context of having an honest discussion around the issues of fear and prejudice..well she accomplished the precise opposite of her goal. The decision damaged the credibility of her news organization. She needs to go.

For a lighter view on the matter, here is John Stewarts take.
www.thedailyshow.com...

reply to post by fooks


Especially since he signed with FOX shortly afterward. This should illustrate that FOX values out spoken individuals for their programming. FOX is a ripple in the water, not another fish in the pond. Come one, the White House issuing reports on the validity of a news program? Why, because CNN told them to?

reply to post by Hefficide


Well let me just say that I do not disagree with any of that. I guess I am just hung up on the fact that I still feel quite strongly that his statement about traditional Muslim garb was really stupid. It bothers me because Juan is not stupid. When an intelligent man says a stupid thing and gets paid for it, I tend to be distracted away from worry about his bosses being tyrants. I cannot help but be more curious where he is headed. After seeing and hearing him pretty regularly this week, I believe everyone has what they want at this point.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
That's what NPR claims. They haven't backed it up (not that they have to with the general public) and considering that (far left wing) SOROS is donating huge amounts of money, and that CAIR insisted on immediate action, it is understandable that people aren't buying the NRP story. Lots of people, not just paranoid conspiracists, are seeing this as possibly big money controling a media outlet and/or appeasement of CAIR (which many see as a radical group ... some other islamic groups have come out against CAIR as well).

Well there is a part of me that sees this like an employer. I have had more than enough chances to be the person who had to try to justify a punishment/termination to someone who really did not deserve any such justification. Unfortunately, there is low level PR in every management position. Sometimes you want people to just go away but not to foment an atmosphere of hatred and distrust. It can be a lose/lose.

I have had more than a few people that routinely needed to be reprimanded. I can barely count the number of times the idea of being humanitarian instead of cold hearted busineswoman bit me in the ass just because it was not a public matter. Issues with employees come up and the best thing to do is keep them between you and that person.

Maybe NPR is lying, maybe not. I just know that I have been standing at the end of a wagging finger listening to "how could you fire "X" over that?????" Only to be left standing there not able to say "Because you do not know how many 'second chances' they already got. You do not know what other problems we have had. It is not your business. You have no right or need to know."

I can understand how that may bias me.