Thursday, October 21, 2010

Open thread: what do you think about Juan Williams being fired?

Juan Williams has been a senior news analyst for National Public Radio (NPR) for many years. On a cable news show Monday, Williams said the following: "I mean, 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 the 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."

Williams also referenced the Pakistani immigrant who tried to plant a car bomb in Times Square. "He said the war with Muslims, America’s war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don’t think there’s any way to get away from these facts," Williams said.

NPR fired Juan Williams Friday saying his statements “were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”

What do you think?

25 comments:

  1. Muslims need to start policing their own....they deserve the stigma that has been attached to them by their extremist elements. Many if not most Muslims are sympathetic with Bin Laden. So they should not be surprised at suspicious opinions like Juan William's, my own, and billions of others in the world. If your children reflect poorly on you, you set them straight. That's what Muslims need to do with their dangerous terroristic elements.

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  2. I think if you look at the number of Americans Muslims have killed compared to the number of Muslims Americans have killed over the past few years they should be much more afraid of us than we are of them. I'm glad they fired him myself, I am tired of the extremist rhetoric on both sides.

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  3. What I think, and firmly believe, is that this will come back to haunt NPR and they will suffer more than Juan Williams. Terrible knee-jerk reaction on the part of NPR.

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  4. The truth hurts. I agree with Williams. I'm so tired of the media and the liberals acting like everything with these people is just peachy cream. They have a dangerous agenda waiting to happen because of what their leaders teach, even here in America.

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  5. I don't see a problem with what he said. It is the opnion of many US citizens. He apparently hosted a show with opinions? But wasn't supposed to give THAT opinion?

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  6. [citation needed] regarding "Many if not most Muslims are sympathetic with Bin Laden."

    and
    "hey have a dangerous agenda waiting to happen because of what their leaders teach, even here in America."

    Also, how exactly should they "police themselves?" Is there a head muslim that should remove the bad parts?

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  7. It was a bigoted remark. I don't know if being fired was the appropriate action to take but some sort of action needed to be taken.

    I am a white female and if I made the comment that I was walking down the street and a black man was behind me and I was afraid he was going to rape or kill me............thats just wrong. He was just behind me. Unless he did something else why should I be afraid of him. A comment like that would be made because the person felt that because he was black and because they have a set mind on what type of character a black person is. Thats type casting, profiling and its bigoted. What Juan said was no different and he stated his feelings in a public manner that forced it to be addressed. Just because a person dresses in muslin type clothing does not make them a bad person and someone you should fear.

    Again, being fired might have been a little over the top - but something needed to be done to him.

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  8. Apples and oranges Cindy. Muslims are by far the largest group responsible for terrorist attacks. Cindy it is obvious you do not believe in free speech unless you agree. You are the perfect liberal NPR listener. Profiling works. It is used to protect us from future attacks. If we had a group of little old blue haired grannys crashing planes into buildings we would be checking them out. We are at war with muslim extremists.

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  9. It definitely was not a bigoted remark. And he should not have been fired for it! He simply made a statment that many people wish they had the nerve to make, but don't for fear of offending someone. Many Americans, are sick and tired of having to be politically correct in what our speech. We are censoring ourselves, for goodness sake! If you make the choice to practice a certain religion, then you are making the choice to be identified with that religion, including being identified with those individuals who practice the extremist beliefs. Perhaps all Muslims need to study what it is their religion truly means and start policing themselves and stop blaming us for being suspicious. We are, after all, at war and we need to be educated about what's going on in the world around us.

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  10. One more reason NOT to listen to or support NPR.

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  11. This one goes out to Cindy....we are preached to all the time by the media, thru e-mails, etc. to be AWARE of our surroundings, the people around us in parking garages, etc. etc. You SHOULD be aware of a black man following you down the street...maybe not afraid, but certainly AWARE.
    I agree with Curt...profiling does work.

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  12. I guess it boils down to that I still see the good in people and want to give them the benefit of the doubt before I just assume because they are black, hispanic or dressed a certain why that they are bad and need to be watched more closely.

    Maybe I am naive. Maybe I will someday regret my feelings but I will continue to see the best in people and not judge them on their race or religion until that time.

    I am happy with thinking the best of people and I plan on keeping right on doing that. That attitude has given me the opportunity to meet some very interesting people. I refuse to profile someone based on their appearance alone.

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  13. Kurt: Evidently we have a group of little old blue haired ladies to be aware of. Any that get on an airplane is given the same security checks that a very obvious middle eastern muslim is given.

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  14. Don't know if anyone watched the Juan Williams interview on Bill O'Reilly just a few minutes ago, but Mr. Williams was treated very poorly by NPR. I certainly hope the government stops funding this obviously biased organization.

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  15. He sounds like a tea-bagger to me

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  16. 8:34.. You're a coward and an idiot.

    Who takes NPR serious anyways? If it wasn't for the government propping them up, they would have shut up shop years ago, look how crappy Air America did.

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  17. Imagine that you are standing at a street corner in Dayton, and need to cross to the diagonal opposite corner. In order to do that, obviously you have to cross both intersecting streets, crossing first to another corner, and then to your destination corner. Both routes are the same distance.

    At corner A, you have an RTA bus stop, and waiting there are a middle aged Indian man and woman. At corner B, you have three young black males apparently loitering. Which route do you take?

    Perhaps you'd never admit it, but everyone here is going to pick corner A. Unless you live under a rock, you're aware of the simple fact that the largest offender group for violent crime in Dayton are young black males. You'll also considered the fact that the Indian couple seems to have a reason for being present (bus stop), whereas the other 3 do not have an obvious reason. You will consider that the Indian couple is middle age, and one is female, both factors making them less likely to fit the profile of a violent offender. Finally, Indians are generally known as peaceful people. In reality, you can most likely cross either way without issue. In possibility, picking corner A may result in you being mugged, and those on corner B trying to help you or call 911.

    It's a matter of heuristics, something done in the medical field every day. You will quickly analyze a bunch of factors to make the best or most likely choice.

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  18. I feel this is a show of "don't you dare talk bad about Muslims", loss of freedom of speech..Why should we NOT be aware and a bit nervous to get on a plane with muslims? They are telling us how to think or how we CANNOT think. Only people with no brain at all would not have at least a twinge of uneasiness in this situation.
    My sister & husband used to fly to Vegas every month. She will no longer fly at all!I suppose they will MAKE her or arrest her for being a "bigot" because she doesn't feel safe flying anymore. oh, I failed to tell you-her son, is in CHARGE of airport security for the state of Indiana!
    Juan getting fired was due to the fact we are NOT to speak bad of MUSLIMS! Saith the obama lord. *phfffttttt*. You speak truth, you will be fired or ostrasized with this administation and media. Period.(I'll miss Juan!)

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  19. When your on the clock and share your opinion to the public, your employer can be held responsible.
    The day will come when freedom of speech is gone.
    What you say now compared to 10 years ago is taken differently by people by the way education preaches the new way of social thinking.

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  20. First of all, Juan expressed his personal FEELINGS about flying and seeing someone on the plane dressed as a Muslim. There is a difference between expressing a feeling or giving an opinion. He wasn't asking anyone else to agree or go along with him on this. Since when is it right to fire someone for voicing their feelings? The Politcal Correctness in this country has gotten way out of hand! People need to start waking up and realizing their rights are being taken away right before their eyes and if we don't stand up for our rights and freedoms, they're going to be destroyed.I'm a conservative and I don't agree alot of times with the things Juan says or believes, but he still has that RIGHT to say them! My son is currently deployed in Afghanistan fighting for our freedom and the right to stay free. Wake up America before it's too late!

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  21. I heard him on Hannity yesterday and you could hear in his voice the fear about his family when he mentioned he realized he was out of a job, and had a kid in college. I thought it was great FOX stepped up to the plate and instantly gave him a multi-million dollar multi year contract.

    Especially when they recognize he is a democrat/liberal. That speaks a lot about integrity and freedom, something of which the leftists over at NPR know nothing about.

    People need to start being honest with themselves. If airplanes, buildings and what not start being blown up, hijacked and attacked by purple cats, then you are cautious around purple cats, it's not racism, it's common sense. Muslims have earned the distrust and suspicion, not by just the actions of a few, but by their massive unwillingness to condemn those who do carry out such attacks. Common sense states if they are that unwilling to speak out against it, then they must not have a problem with it.

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  22. what ever happened to freedom of speech?I mean does that not apply any more?

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  23. Water seeks its own level. Juan belongs on Fox where they pay him a couple million a year. I can only afford a couple hundred a year to support NPR and I don"t like to waste it on oreos.

    We all have a dark side, (you just saw mine), but a professional pundit like Juan has to pay when the lights go on in his glass house and the rock pile is revealed. I mean pay rhetorically of course, did I mention he is being paid 2 million by Fox?

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  24. NPR couldn't pay him that because the 15 people living in their mothers basements who listen to NPR don't have jobs.

    You should hold off that donation for a while cause when republicans take back power, something tells me NPR might not be on the air much longer, or at least without government tax dollars being wasted on it and it's anti-America views.

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  25. Should he have been fired, well no b/c the 1st amendment allows you to say all the stupid things you'd like... On a personal level I think its a stupid thing to say. If you cannot be around people of any race color or creed without being nervous, then you do have deep seeded racist tenacities. Lets be honest, if your logic is based on all terrorists being of a certain religion I'd be afraid of people who wear crosses as they identify themselves first and foremost as Christians rather than Americans, you know the Christians that killed thousands in Irish terror attacks, or the Christians that formed the Lord's Resistance Army using child soldiers in Uganda, or the Christians that blew up abortion clinics and murdered doctors (oh and committed the Olympic park bombing), or the Christians of The National Liberation Front of Tripura an active terror group that encourages the murder of Hindus (you know the Hindus earlier mentioned as peaceful people)...

    But I know people who do those things only represent a small portion of their religion... Its a shame we cant see that most nations and religions have blood on their hands, and work for solutions rather than the spread of fear.

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