So, the reactions to the firing of Juan Williams from NPR have shown me several things:
Sarah Palin still doesn’t understand the Constitution or just doesn’t care (hint: this is not a First Amendment issue)
If you’re a right wing mouthpiece, and I’m sorry, but kissing O’Reilly’s ass for a living makes you just that, your firing for what you say will draw outrage from people who thought it was fine to get rid of Rick Sanchez, Helen Thomas, Phil Donohue, Ashleigh Banfield, Bill Maher, Shirley Sherrod – not to mention NPR dumping Bob Edwards because they wanted younger hosts. OK, some of those people said stupid things, but so did Williams.
A Republican congressman actually questions supporting public radio, apparently not quite grasping the meaning of the word public
Like ACORN – also not guilty of any of the phony accusations brought against it – people want to stop federal funding of NPR, which, also like ACORN, receives no federal funding. You could cut money for PBS, but that would hurt Sesame Street not NPR.
People still seem to think that NPR is liberal, which hasn’t been true in the 4 decades I’ve been listening to it and has been a dead and buried hoary old chestnut of a myth since lately they’ve tilted so far in the other direction it isn’t even funny (hint: Juan Williams has been on Fox for a decade and NPR just fired him, not to mention Cokie Roberts) If you have evidence otherwise please point it out because I don’t listen as much as I used to – it’s just not as interesting as it used to be.
Yes, I know you can have differing opinions and a station should have balance, but the balance is not there. NPR started a swing away from the center around the time of the First Gulf War – and isn’t it a shame we need that modifier on there. Back then it became all war all the time ain’t we great at killing people rah, rah, rah.
Should he have been fired for saying what he said? If it violated NPR standards then certainly. Personally, I think it was a tone deaf and poorly worded statement that may have just been an expression of personal fear – though what exactly he meant by Muslim garb being frightening is beyond me since so far the terrorists tend to wear what is known as Western clothing. That alone is an idiotic enough statement to deserve firing for someone who is supposed to be some sort of expert commentator.
I think these people spend too much time talking to each other and reinforcing their own views of the world, and they do not live in the world of the average American. Inside the Beltway, inside a TV studio or inside their own heads, it’s all a strange fantasyland and they don’t serve the public well by always looking in the mirror and never seeing the real world.
Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley are spinning in their graves. Heck, journalism these days would embarrass Ted Baxter.
(ETA: The title is meant as a reference to the so-called explanation, not what I said.)
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