The Juan Williams Firing — Or a Primer on Elite Liberal Thinking
There were lots of slants on NPR’s firing of news analyst Juan Williams that reflect how surreal cultural liberalism has become. Let us walk through ten of them.
1 ) NPR is in some part either publicly funded or relies on a public brand to earn cash. Its charter is to promote the free exchange of ideas. That did not happen. Mr. Williams simply reflected the common experience of many Americans after 9/11 to tense up when someone in Islamic dress or otherwise identifiable as a Muslim boards an airplane — and then quickly explained why such an emotional reaction should not lead to prejudicial stereotyping.
For that opinion on another network he was fired. Note that for NPR to prove that it is even-handed in censuring controversial speech it would long ago have had to fire reporter Nina Totenberg for a long history of venomous partisan slurs (e.g., hoping Sen. Jesse Helms and his grandkids might contract AIDS). I think we can glimpse the operative NPR ideology: the exalted ends justify the tawdry means. Williams, you see, unlike Totenberg, is perceived as not working for liberal social justice and therefore allowances can be made to get rid of him.
2 ) Note how the NPR CEO Vivian Schiller herself slanders Williams by suggesting that he talk with “his psychiatrist”— and a subsequent brief apology cleans up her mess. So digest this: the person who fired Williams for supposedly inflammatory speech explains the firing by far worse inflammatory ad hominem invective, made worse by McCarthyite allusions to vague and unsubstantiated charges that Williams has a prior record of incendiary speech. So Williams wakes up in the morning a respected journalist and goes to sleep a few hours later with the burden of proving that he is not a bigot, and not unhinged and not under medical care in the eyes of his employer, and not guilty of a litany of additional but unspecified crimes. All this comes from soft-spoken contemplative NPR, which prides itself in being the antithesis of intolerant shock-jock right-wing talk radio. Hypocrisy is again a force multiplier to ideological prejudice.
3 ) Supposedly intolerant hard-driving Fox News has no problem with liberal Williams working for NPR; supposedly soft-spoken, inclusive NPR has a lot of problems with Williams working for Fox. The asymmetry is quite astounding, especially when we factor in the public/private angle. A private, for profit company does not mind that Williams works for the public’s station whose views are considered liberal; but the liberal public station most certainly does care that Williams works for private conservative Fox news. Isn’t the network that takes public money supposed to be the more tolerant? Is this a reflection of audience taste and assumptions: Fox knows its viewers don’t care whether liberal Williams works at a liberal network; NPR fears mightily that its intolerant audience can’t stand anyone who is associated with Fox? Yet, again, conservative citizens own or run Fox; we the people own NPR.
4 ) Note how CAIR, the Islamic advocacy group, pressures NPR on Williams’s remarks, but gives a lifetime career achievement award to the anti-Semite Helen Thomas, who calls for the destruction of Israel by having the Jews “get the hell out of Palestine” and return to “Poland” and “Germany” (gee, I wonder what happened to Jews in those two places once upon a time). Wanting Jews gone from their homeland earns CAIR praise; discussing both fears and prejudices after 9/11 is hate speech. Why would anyone give this extremist organization any credence? Speaking of which…
5 ) Note the silence of the NAACP, which is usually the first to speak out when some African-Americans are deemed railroaded. By its present vote here, the organization simply gives a green light to go after African-Americans tagged not entirely liberal (or does anyone think Williams would be in trouble with NPR had he moonlighted at MSNBC or PBS?). Juan Williams becomes the Clarence Thomas of journalism, or proof of the notion that the NAACP has nothing really to do with race per se, but rather is concerned only with racial issues to the degree they touch on massive state support for racial identity, the publicly funded industry of racial grievance, and the rationale for public atonement and reparation — in other words, the reason to be of the NAACP. To the degree one is for all that, one is protected; to the degree perhaps not, one is on their own. In today’s spoils system climate, the NAACP would excuse the racial insincerity of a hard-left white liberal statist (cf. the crude racial remarks of a Howard Dean, Harry Reid, or Joe Biden), and equally ignore the ill-treatment of a prominent, but middle-of-the-road African-American done an injustice. With Williams we have a classic case of guilt by association: it was not what Williams said that incurred the wrath of NPR and the silence of the NAACP, but where he said it. (Note further that the NAACP is in the pre-election process of proclaiming that the Tea Party is racist).
“6) Notice that ideologue and partisan George Soros just offered NPR nearly $2 million to hire 100 reporters—and NPR accepted the gift.”
—
Anyone think the self-described truthseekers in the MSM will notice this and aggressively attempt to find discover what Soros is getting in return for his $1.8 M “contribution”?
I don’t.
But if the political labels in this sordid story were flipped does anyone doubt they would be all over it? The easiest way to identify bias in the MSM and poke a hole in their inflated, hypocritical, and smug claims of objectivity is to flip the political labels in a story like this.
Good for you, Hookay, for pointing to the phony objectivity of NPR. That was the theme of my blog today: http://clarespark.com/2010/10/23/the-neutral-state-and-the-williams-firing/. I argue that the claim to objectivity is part and parcel of progressivism’s insistence that their state is neutral, just as their arbitrators and mediators are in bringing about “compromise.”
Just this morning, Bob Schieffer pressed Karl Rove on what Bob Perry wanted in return for his $7 million donation to Karl Rove’s 527, American Crossroads. Rove said “nothing,” by the way, but seeing as Perry gave to a 527, “to win” is a reasonable answer. Schieffer ought to have on George Soros, or better yet Dr. S(c)hill, and ask what what Soros wants from his $2 million donation. For Soros to answer “objective journalists” when he is the money-machine behind the left-wing agenda would be a lot harder to swallow. At least Perry’s desire for conservatives “to win” is a plainly partisan desire supporting his donation, as opposed to the answer Dr. S(c)hill likely would give for Soros.
The “psychiatrist or publicist…take your pick” smear by Schiller against Williams is illuminated nicely by VDH here. I had not thought of the idea that Schiller has contempt for Williams because he works for a private sector news channel and that he writes books and such for…gasp…profit! And that for dipping down from the lofty ivory tower of NPR he might even require one of those awful publicists. Good stuff!
I used to watch the PBS News Hour mainly to avoid the ads on commercial TV (remember the toemail fungus ad, yuck, at dinner time). But I got a DVR and now record all programs to play later (mainly Bret Behr news program). I can skip all the ads and also segments I don’t care to watch. I don’t need PBS anymore, but I do record the News Hour on Friday and watch only the segment with Shields and Brooks. I love Mark’s hang dog look now that the Dems are in such trouble.
VDH, it’s worse than this.
Take for example the execrable position taken by the “ombudsman” for NPR, someone named Alicia Shepard. (fitting for the mindless sheeple who would buy this blatant fraudulent notion of a leftist propaganda organization having an “ombudsman” who did anything OTHER than shill for the lies, distortions and fraud put forth by NPR)
The misstatements of fact, the intention distortion of the underlying acts, words and deeds, the whitewashing of intentions behind the firing, the excuses and alibis for bad behavior and worse intent…all typical of EVERY lying coward who grabs the title of “ombudsman” at a leftist propaganda mill in this country.
An “ombudsman” at an American leftist “news” outlet, is precisely the same as a corrupt Internal Affairs Division of a corrupt police department.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2010/10/21/130713285/npr-terminates-contract-with-juan-williams
(via Hot Air link)
Exactly right.
To justify Williams’ firing, “ombudsman” Shepard cites Dr. Mohamed Khodr from Winchester, VA. Even a casual Googling of this guy’s name (and city) brings a flood of anti-Israeli and anti-American “occupation” letters.
He writes letters demanding to know “how much money has (a congressman) received from pro-Israel PACs..?”
He writes letters saying, “Our national interest in the Middle East and world surpasses any value in our relationship with Israel, which has cost us dearly in money, lives and moral credibility…”
He writes letters insisting “every US President… has caved in to the Israel Lobby’s demand for full political, financial, and military support for Israel. Even during deep recessions, aid to Israel often supersedes funding for domestic programs…”
The good Doctor Khodr seems to spend half his time reading articles and the other half writing angry letters. Yet, this is the guy Shephard chooses, from among the “scores” of people who contacted her, to justify the firing of Williams?
Then again, reading some of his thoughts, Khodr may well be the ideal NPR listener.
Remind me: Who are the Puritans now?
Ouch… that has got to leave a mark, another VDH homerun drubbing as the liberal media sails out of the park to plop uncaught in the sewer.
I was raised on NPR and the liberal media but I can barely turn it on now as the constant sneering assaults on the US are being too irritating to drive to. It has become maddeningly impossible to do the dishes listening to the tripe that passes for “news”.
Luckily I have a computer in the kitchen that can play pajamas TV
Pre Tea Party I thought of NPR it as National Palestinian Radio along with many others for their unsympathetic position on Israel and but now with a new boogie man it has morphed into National Piss on the Tea Party Radio
Living in the liberal bell weather state of Massachusetts who brought you the Scott Brown surprise….expect some more surprises.
Here on the ballot in Mass. is a referendum to eliminate the Sales Tax on alcohol and one to reduce the sales tax from 6.25% to 3%
The silence from the public station WRUR in boston and the national NPR tells me that these two initiatives will pass. There has been a complete absence of polling or discussion on this, or reporting on it.
Expect it to pass and then the bitching and moaning will will up the airwaves some more about the end of the world being brought on by reduction in taxes.
The good news is that here even in Mass. people are starting to think for themselves.
See you all on election evening.
It’s the late cretaceous for the democrats, and the asteroid hits on November 2nd.
Now that’s funny…!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think you is right.
He am? :-{)}
Motor Week is now on cable, has the signal gone out, abandon ship.
We agree Dr. VDH. We have come to a critical tipping point. Do we live in a country who supports tax subsidized intolerance of NPR and Black Panther thugs at voting places ? Yes we have arrived. As with all things government the only way to kill it is to cut off its money. We must elect people who have the courage to do this. We all wonder if this is even possible anymore. Juan Williams is dumped without a second thought just as many Obama democrat congressmen are essentially dumped to achieve Obamacare and tax enslavement. Obama, NPR, NAACP, Soros and friends et al are on a mission to transform us into a European / Muslim state. They are moving right along and have become immune from criticism. Firing the CEO of NPR is hardly the answer as she is easily expendible in their mission. Juan now knows who his friends are. Take note Liberals as you may be next.
I think you may be inadvertently referring to the new “chilling effect.” If one is a liberal, one now knows he must not stray from the liberal orthodoxy lest he be, in whatever manner, terminated.
It is so interesting to see the violent, right-wing Tea Partiers rioting in the streets and venting their anger and then to compare them to the calm, left-wing French union workers and students gathering together in solidarity to seek redress from their government.
Well said!
And ordinary folks are beginning to really pay attention.
Share your news link; It must be Arianna Huffingtons ex-husband, or ‘wife’.
It’s 1789 and you are betting on King Louis? Rioters win 100% of the time unless superior force is employed against them.
That is hysterical-thank you for the laugh! And for the comeback to all of the French people around me… :)
The scornful left — this includes almost the entirety of the academy, the cultural panjandrums and the media — spurns any opinion that differs from those that prevail or are imposed within its circles. I can remember a decade or two ago when the right lamented that it had won the political war but lost the cultural one. We’re now paying the price in spades. But the journey on the road back begins with a single step. That step will be taken in a couple of weeks. Maybe victory won’t happen in your lifetime or mine, but it will happen.
The Juan Williams affair may end up in the history books.
The biggest problem for liberals is that Juan appears to be a genuinely nice guy. The more the salivating libwits pile on, the more people will come to his defense….including a lot of black people….and early indications are that Fox News is going to gnaw on this story like a starving dog gnawing on a bone. O’Reilly is having paroxysms of glee since he is a central figure and has the power to reward Juan handsomely and increase his own ratings.
When the affair is paired with the conservative voting tsunami in progress right now, the Williams affair may end up being the symbol of the first step in the fall of the arrogant, intolerant, insufferable marxist left.
Fancy seeing you here. And opining about the lack of reasonableness in reacting to people with views different than your own.
Indeed.
The management of PJM lets you comment here.
However, have you ever tried to leave a comment of a conservative nature on, say, Daily KOS, or HuffPo, or Democratic Underground? They’re typically deleted quite quickly.
Just as with Fox and NPR, the conservatives let both sides have their say; the lefties impose ideological rigidity.
They’ve done both. Allowed and censored.
Show me three that have been allowed. And the date on them have to be before the Juan Williams flap started.
Come on, three links. That’s all it will take.
Oh, so even handed. So inviting of alternative views. So brainwashed.
http://www.newshounds.us/2007/10/01/fox_news_cuts_mic_on_mother_and_brother_of_murdered_blackwater_security_guard.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTkFU4MtubU
They let Alan Colmes co-host a show until he left of his own free will.
They let Juan Williams air his lefty views all the time… and now that he’s got more free time, they’re “expanding his role” on Fox News.
They let Mara Liasson, also of NPR (and possibly the next one in the crosshairs) give the liberal view on their network quite often as well.
How many conservatives are regularly allowed to speak their mind freely on NPR?
THe really funny thing is the little ad on the side of one your links… “If you’re right on the issues then you get to be really radical.” So which side is self righteous and violent dear not really?
It isn’t the views, slick, it’s the actions. Pay attention!
How do know when you’re having an impact?
When the mentally defective start stalking you on websites.
I wonder if Dianne and Wowette are a lesbian couple, sharing their own unique perverted love.
Don’t look ow, proreason, but you’re stalking me. You said you’d “take your patronage someplace else” if Ron Radosh wasn’t forced out. I called you on it. Man up.
Why do you denigrate your responses with crawling into the area of personal destruction. I don’t care what Diane and Wowette do. Keep on topic.
I wasn’t referring to Fox, I was referring to your claim that PJM lets me comment here, while liberal sites delete conservative comments. I’ve been deleted multiple times from this site
And yet… here you are. And all your posts on this thread are still here. The evidence is that PJM is far more tolerant than your beloved lefty sites.
You still haven’t shown me three surviving conservative comments from major lefty sites. Probably because you can’t.
However, as I just said, your comments are still here, and here you are. I find it more credible that you changed your name because observant regulars here, like myself, got used to your shtick and pointed out your more unreasonable prior comments… so, to avoid that, you change your identity so that you can–you think–credibly claim not to be “that” person.
I’ll let the readers here make up their own mind… and if you never come up with the conservative comments (from prior to Juan Williams’ termination) that I asked for, well, readers can and will take that into consideration.
News flash, I’m not here to take assignments from some confused, misinformed yahoo. Demands from you that have nothing to do with my comments aren’t really high on my to do list. I suggest you approach that guy snoring in the lawn chair to your right. He looks available.
Delete: a) personal attacks b) spam c) profane language d) because Wow is a jackass.
BRILLIANT!!!!
Dang, I’ve never read such succinct, witty prose in my life!
Do you want to run in 2012!!??
In Juan William’s case, he ran afoul of one of NPR’s pillars of orthodoxy; “Thou shall not say or report on any matter that may offend any minority group or religion that NPR has deemed to be ‘misunderstood’. ONLY Christianity and Christians may (and should) be pilloried – or at least smugly ridiculed.” That William’s point was to highlight the psychological reality (fear) of terrorism (as intended by Islamic fanatics in his example) is hopelessly irrelevant to the high priestess of NPR.
That’s how NPR maintains there ‘unbiased’ point of view – by “faithfully” exorcising the infidel Williams! And you thought news organization didn’t favor religion?
Iceman, don’t get too excited about any ballot questions. The mass legislature has demonstrated its contempt for the voting citizenry and has repeatedly ignored the results of ballot questions in recent elections if the union gangsters that actually run this state did not approve. A mass tax revolt movement is what is needed to strangle the parasites.
Juan is a very likable guy, and his star will rise significantly with this event. NPR did him a big favor (unintentionally) and has given him a platform to roast them for some time. …I love it!
while I am a liberal and my views are somewhat to the left, I am sick and tired of you guys painting everyone with the same brush. christ! look this guy did not say anything wrong and he should have never been fired. period. don’t just label people.
m
That was hilarious! What’s your next joke?
Miriam
The sad fact for you as a liberal is that the party you associate yourself with has no problem with what npr did. In fact, Obama would like to censor all media outlets to the point that the only information we receive is the mindless pabulum they dish out on a daily basis.
Sucks to be you!
I think you might watch your language, Ms Rove. Frankly, I’m sick and tired of the insensitive and boorish use of the Name of the Person I worship.
Why don’t you try using “Allah” as a term of derision? Do it publicly and then see what happens.
Psst . . . your self-satisfied post might be a clue as to why some of us negatively “label” liberals!
Language, Miriam. You don’t have to offend us to get your point across. Or do you?
Miriam; Sweet miriam;
Your keyboard has spoken. Listen to your keyboard! It has wisdom!
85% of the posters here, conservatives most, are more ‘liberal’ than you, Miriam. Liberal could knock you flat and you wouldn’t know it.
I’m not positive but I _think_ Miriam is directing her remarks at NPR, not at PJM readers. I believe that the “you guys” remark refers to NPR management, otherwise the rest of what she’s said makes very little sense since the only one fired was Juan Wiliams and she appears to object to that firing, just like the vast majority of PJM readers.
Then again, I could be wrong. After all, if she did mean to direct her remarks at NPR, she could have said so more clearly and/or made those remarks _to_ NPR, rather than here…..
This is just more Leftist spin. Miriam regularly dishes out hyperbole and invective. Now, when the Left is caught out in doing something truly ugly and unpopular, suddenly Miriam wants us not to tar them all with that brush. Now she is the “voice of reason and moderation”.
Expect to see more of this distancing from the lone individual at NPR. Maybe even a little disavowal. It is another shameless attempt of the Leftists to exploit our decency. Sorry, Miriam, no more decency and tolerance for the likes of you. You have exceeded your humanity-credit limit.
This will be the defining moment of this election. McCain was competitive in the last election, until he uttered, “The fundamentals of the economy are still strong.” The firing of the popular, decent Juan Williams was the removal of the mask, revealing to all the ugliness beneath.
P.S. Canny move by Murdoch to immediately sign Williams to a new contract. NPR now cannot “un-fire” him. Williams will become a symbol. His popularity will gain. He may even become a draw for the new “former NPR listeners”. Slick. Really slick.
Remove NPR tax-exemption status and tax it retroactively 100% Soviet-era style: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”
Excellent piece (as usual) Mr. Hanson.
The wall eyed Mara Liasson is next!
Watch your language too, newguy40.
I’m a dyed in the wool conservative, who watches Mara regularly on FOX News. She’s intelligent, knowledgeable, and civil.
Attractive too. But what does that have to do with anything?
Shame on you.
Well dopey lookout, she is also a contributor to Fox News AND most likely NPR will be looking for a great reason to get rid of her as well. Her name has already come up.
Juan may be a great guy, and as such can contribute the liberal crap on Fox that is needed to be “fair and balanced”., But I get tired of him as I do all liberal talking heads. If I wanted that point of view I can go to any of the other channels…while they can still afford to broadcast that is.
“dopey lookout”. Nice sound: I’ll take it!
Re Mr. Williams: I rarely agree with anything he says. I don’t even think he’s particularly intelligent. However, I still believe he has First Amendment rights. NPR doesn’t.
’Guess who does think so? Well, if it isn’t that retrogressive, narrow-minded, bigoted FOX News.
The world is full of surprises . . .
Mara Liasson is safe — she has the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card. She can go on FNC as often as she wants and say whatever she likes, without fear of retribution, because NPR can’t afford another blunder.
Nina Totenburg is also safe but… she has to watch what she says in the future.
So Mara’s situation is superior in all respects.
I love it. Juan Williams gets fired for saying what we all feel. Fox hires him, even though he’s a liberal. Now he will be making 2 million a year for the next three years. He should have said what he did years ago. Good luck at Fox…….Juan!
Regarding VDH point 5 – Of COURSE the Tea Party is racist. Didn’t they dress up like Red Men?
I, too, used to listen to NPR all the time (in the 70s and 80s); I remember arriving in a new city in a new state for graduate school and contacting the local PBS classical radio station right away, so that I could become a member–my parents always had done that. I loved the music and thought (way back then) that I was getting some good news, too! Well, a few decades later, we had to stop funding one local NPR station (WSKG, in Binghamton) when the balance between classical music and “news and information” got way out of whack–and wall-to-wall Garrison Keillor on the weekends; God, who is that for!?–and luckily the Syracuse station (WCNY) hardly does news at all–just those 5 min. things, not even on every hour!–and mostly broadcasts classical music. But I’ll be glad to see all of it, even NPR’s World of Opera, simply defunded. There’s no reason why taxpayers should be supporting it at all. I get most of my news from Fox (yes, Bret Baier, with the panel of Krauthammer, Juan frequently, Bill Kristol when we’re especially lucky, et al., recorded in advance so you can fast-forward through the commercials), and strangely enough it’s not so hard tolerating a viewpoint (Juan Williams’) that I rarely agree with. It’s been kind of instructive to hear how weak their pro-Obama arguments have been, lately! I guess Fox is a more tolerant and inclusive place than the world of NPR. Let’s cut those smug, sneering know-it-alls loose. No more National Propaganda Radio.
You’ve got a point, Suzanne. Not only are the NPR news shows nauseatingly biased, but Garrison Keillor is really, really offensive sometimes. He can be downright mean and nasty in his digs at evangelicals, Catholics and political conservatives. And then there is the even more offensive “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” on Saturday mornings–which would be and could be a very entertaining show, except for its savaging of–who else?–evangelicals, Catholics and political conservatives. I haven’t given money to my local NPR affiliate in many years. I like their classical music, but no way will I financially contribute to people who’ve made very obvious their utter contempt for everything I hold dear.
I also used to love public radio, enjoyed NPR, and never missed an episode of “Prairie Home Companion,” but it seemed like Garrison K. just went absolutely bonkers with dislike of conservatives, evangelicals and ‘fly-over country people’ over the last three or four years. I completely stopped listening to PHC at all … I wonder how many other devoted listeners have been driven away? How many others who used to contribute to the local public radio and TV stations have also been turned off by the very obvious bias?
I stopped listening to Garrison when he described Republicans as Nazis. The full quote, which I find abhorrent, describes Republicans as “the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.”
Yes, Sgt. Mom, I used to listen to PHC as well. For years. Then 5/31/08 happened and I began to shake off all the old stale thinking. I was a yellow dog democrat my entire voting history until then. I continued to listen to PHC even though I was put off by its obvious bias and Garrison’s nastiness toward anyone not a Leftie. He poses as a folksie lover of Americana but I’m not sure about that anymore. It’s more likely a guise to push is politics. I will no longer listen to anything on NPR including Garrison Keillor. I have all the music he has on anyway. I don’t need his attitude.
Another great one from the pen of Hanson. The most outrageous discovery was the fact that George Soros just handed off almost 2Mil to this operation. As a taxpayer I absolutely rebel against the notion that my dollars will be co-mingled with the ill-gotten gains of Soros so that he can buy himself another mouthpiece, that is supported by our government and thus we, the people. What a coup for Soros whose rapacity knows no end. What a thrill he must get knowing the Federal Government will now be directly supporting another organ of his propaganda. The NEA, NPR, PBS, and any other organization whose existence can not be constitutionally justified must be dumped. They are anachronisms that have long outlived their original excuse for being supported in the first place. This will be a test for a new congress and the financial mess it faces. And it will send a signal that times have changed and we are serious about restoring integrity in our government. The lefts yammers on and on about separation of church and state. It’s time we have separation of speech and state. RE Juan Williams – I seldom agree with anything he says, but there is no denying that he is a soft spoken gentleman, decent and polite to all. I wonder if he has noticed that all who have rushed to his defense have been those labeled bigoted, intolerant, and hateful? And will an epiphany cause him to reflect on the opinions we have heard him express over the years? Should be interesting.
I love the irony that Fox handed Juan $2 million for just three years of work – more than Soros donated to NPR overall for its “new initiative.” The comparative valuation is fascinating.
I am really, really looking forward to some of Juan’s no-doubt upcoming specials on race and problems in the American black community. Though I’m a staunch conservative (and liberal in the classical sense) I always find Juan’s take on things fascinating and enlightening, opening true conversations that can lead both sides to some sort of agreement. Perhaps that is why the liberals fear him.
Where is it stated that our Government,ie, us taxpayers, must fund “NPR, PBS, the NEH, the NEA, universities, etc.,”? At least one of these entities has just proven it will not tolerate a person’s freedom of expression (freedom of thought). If NPR only wants a specific type of thought out of their employees, as bigoted as that may be, then it is now that we demand that no more funding for this and the other obviously intolerant left leaning ( and right leaning if you can find one) organizations. The Government should never be in the business of funding “thought”.
Re: defunding NPR. Is not what’s needed.
I can’t find the cite on the big business that non-profit radio (and TV) have become as well as the personalities that have lived very high on the hog given their near monopoly status and grants of airwaves / spectrum. Congress exempted them from competition (and fees), which certainly isn’t warranted given the “income inequality” their big-name employees have increased to new highs (for a so-called non-profit).
To restore balance, don’t (just) defund NPR, but force it and the other fat-cat non-profits to compete for the airwaves they currently get gratis. And establish a web-licensing mechanism that automatically grants low-power stations a right-to-operate upon application and agreement to a non-interference provision (and use of suitable technology to insure same), as well as on-line posting of interference complaints.
The amount of diverse media and opinion on the airwaves will increase by factors of 10, and the corrupt legacy “non-profits” will either clean up their act or go out of business or find themselves carried by low-power stations at much lower cost (and much lower aggregate and abusive-of-non-profit-status “star” salaries).
We need to stop making reactionary moves on a board where the Left has written the rules find and find (free-market) game-changers. Licensing low-power stations would remove any truth to the Left’s argument that the public stations provide content no one who must make a profit can provide. Granted, our existing form of centralized government (irrespective of a corrupted-by-D.C. left and right) covet the power that the citizen and their enterprise can bring to bear to communicate ideas that differ from theirs (both old and new media).
Detroit’s WRCJ is public radio–jointly owned by the orchestra and the school district, primarily supported by listeners,plays classical music from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. and jazz the rest of the time. They’re finishing their pledge week and I was delighted to offer a regrettably small contribution.
As to NPR, well, if others want to give them money go ahead.
Juan may be a nice guy excluding his politics but the mush that comes out of his mouth was always more than I could bear.
I find it hard to feel any sympathy for a liberal. Their ideas are harmful, name one thing that liberalism has done that ended up helping anyone in the long run. I’m glad FOX gave him a job if for no other reason than to show they welcome people with opposing views. The proof of Obama’s agenda and that of the progressive socialists in the Democrat party are so plain for all to see you can only conclude that anyone who is still liberal is ignorant of the facts, a socialist or a parasite. In Juan’s case I would say socialist.
Essential vdh.
I’m with you Benson. Juan is and has always been a swishy liberal who every once in a while may slip and say something that could pass for being a conservative (someone with some degree of common sense)
This is Juan’s high water mark. He could not have helped himself more if he had tried to plan it. By being sacrificed on the alter of liberalism he, however inadvertently, has shown what it really is–what he himself would never have seen or understood.
Liberalism is what Juan himself is a part of, and derives his living from. One is not sure if Juan even now understands what happened–he is acting like a deer in the head lights. I can assume however he is counting his money and has a lawyer whispering dollar signs in his ear. Your tax dollars and Soros’s contribution will help make Juan a rich man.
NPR is a symptom of something that America should not want within its shore line and something that Americans and America cannot afford to carry and let it continue to parasitically grow. It attracts other dollar manipulation parasites like George Soros. It creates weakness that is exploited by such.
Liberalism, socialism or communism in the name of “Social Justice” it is unjust. In the name of “caring” it has destroyed the family and individual character and integrity of entire generational populations of Blacks. It destroys countries. It destroys people, families. It is everything the founders of America sought to destroy. It is as old as the Garden of Eden when the devil approached Eve with an Apple and promises.
It seeks to destroy in the same way now more and all other minority groups who seem, like lemmings willing to destroy themselves for its Utopian chimera. It continues to grow and rot out America and Americans who “follow it”.
It feeds on and creates political power for the few and like the Muslim religion’s diminutude status, it creates a permanent under class that are not beneficiaries of the American dream as promised but simple victims of the class war fare that is set up to create a political base that can feed the parasites, race baiters and money men who have no problem in selling America short.
Excellent comment!
Victor Davis Hanson is a great writer. Actually, a Hanson-Williams ticket would be more attractive and govern more effectively than pretty much any other that might materialize.
When I’m on a plane and I see a retard, I get nervous.
How Silly – Homeland Security lets you on a plane with a Funhouse Mirror? And a Kick Me sign riveted to your ass too?
Whatever.
You’re making me nervous.
Probably when you’re in the airplane’s bathroom. Looking in the mirror.
Leave the light off when you use the bathroom, and you won’t see any.
I’m like rubber, you’re like glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you . . . Why don’t you look in the mirror . . . I know you are but what am I?
Geez, Louse, boys make an effort. Your lack of imagination is threatening my willingness to deride it.
NPR succumbed to pressure from George Soros, who as a young man collaborated with Nazis in Budapest, and CAIR, Muslim Brotherhood front organization and Hamas funder. Strange who Liberals tolerate and who they don’t!
That b**ch CEO of NPR, unable to distinguish naive hope expressed as rigid ideology from common sense reality, driven by her arrogant narcissistic personality disorder to suggest that Williams needs a psychiatrist (as do by extension most of the rest of us), is the one with the mental disorder.
For twenty years I was a loyal supporter of National Public Radio. You could not find classical music elsewhere on the air. And I was a regular viewer of Jim Lehrer News Hour. As the latter drifted more and more to the left, I tuned out. But I continued to support and listen to NPR radio. Until one fateful
Sunday afternoon, while driving home, I tuned into the featured NPR broadcast of ‘famous homosexual composers’. Well, until that moment, I had never paused to contemplate the sexual preferences of the composers or the performing artist I was enjoying. It was very intrusive. And that really bothered me. I telephoned the station to suggest that perhaps the next week they might highlight famous pedophile artists. And then stopped sending in my checks. But, I still listen to the music. I figure that that is costing them. The newest wrinkle on NPR is BBC news on their late afternoon show. That about sums up fair and balanced. David Mamet also experienced sort of an epiphany one afternoon, when forced to listen to some anti-Israeli piece on NPR. His reaction, in print, was to rename NPR National Palestinian Radio, possibly with a few expletives, and withdrew support. It is time to terminate all federal support for this flawed instituition.
And how would you have reacted to them identifying “patriotic” composers? Tone is important, and I don’t know how they presented their points, but it sounds as if you could not handle the truth.
Sometimes the “truth” is superfluous. Why would anyone identify the sexuality of a composer, not unless a point was attempting to be made? And that’s just the point Jan was making. She wanted to listen to the music without a political hammering. I don’t blame her. Everything spewing from the left is oriented around race, class, and sexuality. It’s all Marxist propaganda, pushing the listener into a mental cage, conditioning, and silencing, indoctrinating, and conforming. Give it up already! Can’t anyone just listen to beautiful music without having to be brainwashed?????
You are offer a false equivalent. You proffer the innocuous “patriotic” as a comparison. Apples and Oranges.
“Homosexual composers” falls into the category of “too much information”. No need to sexualize it. The proper contrast, “Heterosexual composers”, would be also, too much info. It would also be met by quizzical responses. What would be the point of highlighting such normal behavior?
The point of highlighting that some composers were queer is merely an attempt to normalize homosexuality. It was raw propaganda. You may think that it is a perfectly valid case to be made, but it does not change the fact that it was propaganda.
Well, Dwight, reflecting upon Tschaikovsky diddling his boyfriend while listening to the 1812 Overture would give an entirely new meaing to the climax. Does that add to your musical experience? The truth, dear Dwight, is that whatever the composer was ‘handling’ is irrevelant to the music. The programming was meant to further legitamize an aberrant lifestyle. And despite the opinions of the American Psychiatric Association, it is, indeed, aberrant. That is not to say that we should bar gay culture, or deprive gays of civil rights, etc, etc. Just stop insisting that it is another ‘normal’. It is what it is.
so, let me get this str8, so to speak…you enjoy listening to the music from the ‘abberant’, as you so delightfully put it, but having that tidbit of information drives you into a fit of bigotry, hence ruining your pleasure?? whew! you live a complicated, yet oh-so-’normal’ life..how i don’t envy you!
OK, now YOUR agenda and prejudice is becoming more clear.
Look, I, too, have a point where gay affirmation gets to be too much in schools, or wherever, BUT, my overload point is undoubtedly far beyond your point. What is your response to the disproportionately high rate of suicides in young gay people: “Serves the aberrant little bastards right?” Some affirmation and support seems appropriate, wouldn’t you say, or would you prefer just not to think or have to hear about the issue?
In a country that claims to honor the rights of citizens to think and speak for themselves, why do institutions like NPR presume to define what is and is not acceptable ideas?
Besides cutting the funding, NPR, CPB and PBS should not be allowed to use the word PUBLIC. Also, I have watched PUBLIC television and their have many “ads”. Why are they allowed to be a “non-profit”. outfit?
Fascinating! Juan Williams is fired for telling the truth about his personal feelings about Muslims on planes. The liberals go apecrap over his remarks and the president of NPR accuses him of suffering from mental illness. Geez, what’s next?
Another observation that many fail to recognize is the make-up of this country, approximately 80% center right with about 20% professing proudly they are liberals. Yet, the 20% control the media, entertainment industry, universities, unions, teachers, and most who draw a paycheck from the government. How the hell did this ever come about in this country?
Fox News is the lone voice in the wilderness for conservative views, yet, it is the most villified network, even by the president. Talk radio is the only medium where the conservative voice dominates yet, radio audiences are in the vast minority. So, how is it that America remains 80% center right under the circumstances mentioned?
Juan Williams has learned what the rest of us have known for a very long time. Liberals will eat their young if they think it will make them look good in the eyes of other liberals. NPR just proved that point. They threw Juan under the bus and thought they had finished his career. Problem is, his career has just taken off and now, he is a national figure and has the collective sympathy of America.
Defunding NPR cannot happen fast enough.
Good luck with your unlimited future Juan.
…. 20% control the media, entertainment industry, universities, unions, teachers and most who draw a paycheck from the government. How the Hell did this ever come about in this country ….?
Easy.
The totalitarians care enough.
The problem with the left is not always just their views, but their “hollier than thou tolerance for me but not for thee” attitude. they are constantly preaching on how we must tolerate thoes who would do us(and them) harm in a second. but arethe first to patronize and slander anyone who has a different opinion than them. they will not even debate the issue. they seem to come from the henry ford school on thought. where he said we can have any color as long as it is black. they say we can have free speech and any thought ..as long as it is what they agree with.
WHY DOES NPR TOLERATE APOLLOSPEAKS?
If NPR found Mr. Williams’ comments on the Factor so damning and offensive to Moslems as to necessitate the termination of his contract then why do they tolerate ApolloSpeaks? Why do they post my even more offensive and politically incorrect articles about Mohammed and Islam on their website? In several of my 64 pieces that NPR posted I crossed the line and dared call Mohammed a “theiving mass murdering terrorist thug” and said, God knows how many times, that “Islam was a religion of hate, intolerance, discord and war.” If NPR gave Mr. Williams the boot for saying that he’s nervous around traditionally clad Moslems on airplanes then why haven’t they booted me? Why do they post “racist bigoted Islamophobic” articles that blatently ridicule and disrespect the prophet and founder of Islam? A man so great, wise, holy and good that he stands above criticism (according to most Moslems) and was the closest thing to God on earth? What utter puking hypocrites!
Click my name and see for yourself the complete list of my worse than Juan’s anti-Islam articles posted by NPR.
Great reading. Perhaps they’ll give you an hour show? I’d listen then.
…. We have no tradition of a monolithic, intolerant and state-run Pravda in this country ….
Sure we don’t.
But what difference, pray tell exists between the monolithic, intolerant and state-run Pravda we do not have and the abjectly corrupt, lock-stepping, Goebbelsesque, propagandist, polemicist, pamphleteer and Pravda-like “press” we do?
80%? Be serious. Your statement is absurd, unless your “center” includes center left.
OK is this the message coming across from FAUX news fear mongers:
1. It is ‘healthy’ to be nervous if you see another airline passenger in “Muslim garb” even now with all the security screening? Even when none of the airline terrorists were dressed that way?
B. It is also ‘healthy’ to not be nervous seeing “gun toting citizens” at political and public events?
iii. It is also ‘healthy’ to not be nervous when “media” pays million dollar salaries to those spouting the above.
1) Shoe-bomber. Underwear bomber. Nervousness when seeing possible signs of danger is, indeed, healthy. It might even save your life.
I suspect anyone who wears clothes reflective of Muslim beliefs. I am wary of gang insignia.
I do not suspect those who wear Amish clothes. I do not suspect the old duffer who wears fashions from 60 years ago.
These things are simply not equal. Clothes are outward expressions of inward beliefs. Amish do not kill people. Muslims do. How stupid do you have to be to think otherwise?
2) Folks carrying guns at rallies does not disturb me a bit. Why should it? Americans own some 400 million guns. It is, therefore, very normal.
“But, but… it is not normal to carry them at rallies!” Really? Sez who? Who set that ridiculous standard? A rally advocating freedom should see some guns. Remember that, in a tyranny, the Citizens do not get to carry guns.
What fantastic timing! The big $$$ Marxist Soros dumps big bucks into the far-left leaning NPR during their fund raising blitz; Soros dumps $1M into marginalizing and boycotting Glenn Beck and FOX News (according to the NYT); then, NPR smears and dumps left-of-center Juan Williams for telling the TRUTH on FOX News. And all this just before the mid-terms!
A coincidence? Me thinks: The desperate Progressive Left, George Soros and NPR (and others)finally got their proverbial teats caught in the proverbial wringer. I see it as a Divine Appointment! Just sayin’
Williams was fired because he made an anti-Islamic statement. (It was illogical – none of the 9/11 terrorists wore traditional Muslim garb – but that’s to be expected from a liberal. It did however reveal a truth which liberals find unpalatable. You can’t tell the difference between a moderate Muslim and a devout Muslim who follows the command to Jihad contained in the Koran. Until it’s too late.)
NPR reacted like Behar and Goldberg. These people aren’t bright but they’re not stupid enough to believe Islam is peaceful. They are afraid.
Yeah, well, one difference is that if you are in this country and some Muslims are sitting or standing near you, you can feel as uncomfortable as you moronically want but you have better odds winning a Powerball than those Muslims doing anything particularly bad. If, however, you are a Muslim in your own country of Iraq, well…
But with that awful, terrible stuff in the new Wikileaks release, one has to wonder if this chronic demonizing of all Muslims by the right wing media and irresponsible fools like Juan Williams (on Fox News of course) is at least partly to blame for US troops looking the other way when Muslims are being brutalized or tortured, or especially when they go a bit further than that: it’s well known that U.S. soldiers tend to be conservative and gullible, so how much ideological baggage does a young soldier bring to the Middle East, along win a rifle, because of all the deliberate, fear mongering BS back home?
This is just more of your Leftist propagandizing. Ooo, such terrible stuff we are doing. Feh.
Three items in your first link.
Surrender. There is no way for a helo pilot to accept your surrender. You can rail against it, but as well as rail against gravity. The helo can only remain airborne for so long. If it lands, it exposes itself to greater danger. They cannot transport the prisoners. They’d have to call in ground forces… and wait while they run out of fuel.
Forces who cannot effectively take prisoners are allowed to kill them, if taking them will greatly imperil the captors. The lawyer was right. You may not like it, but it is an established fact, brought about by ugly reality. War is hell.
Civilian casualties. Yes, lots were killed. By us. It is called collateral damage. We killed millions of civilians in WWII. So what? You try to limit it, but you cannot afford to go overboard. Soldiers are not police, whose job it is to incur greater risk for the sake of the civilians.
Killed 800 at checkpoints? Yep. Those people died of stupidity. The rules were made clear, rules made in response to acknowledged tactics of… Muslims! The enemy, in effect, killed those civilians.
Torture by Iraqis. No doubt. Are the troops supposed to intervene? No. That is the jurisdiction of their civilian masters. They are forbidden to act and usurp the civilian authority. Again, ugly reality.
But, “toleration of it by the Bush administration comes awful close to active participation.” Comes close is not the same as actually doing it. Also, there is an assumption that we did tolerate it. Not necessarily true. Who knows what diplomatic efforts were made to stop it?
The fact is, we viewed the new Iraq government as an ally and sovereign, which made it an embassage issue, a function of State. Interestingly, we might have been able to better stop it, if the support for the war had been more certain at home.
The Dems’ constant efforts to exploit the political opportunity resulting from the war, their efforts to undermine it, left Bush with a weak hand in dealing with the Iraq government.
The same thing can be said of the resistance to disciplining Hussein regarding inspections and such were the direct cause of the Iraq invasion. As long as the tyrants see us as divided, and thus, weak, they will always be encouraged to flout us.
So, the article you linked was another innuendo-campaign.
All the stuff we shall see from Wikileaks will only tell us what we already know: “War is Hell”. The details may vary just a little, but it is always the same story.
“Oh. but this happened and that happened!” – Yep. “War is Hell.”
“it’s well known that U.S. soldiers tend to be conservative and gullible”
Gullible? You meant like Duty, Honor, God and Country and all that American loving icky sheet? Or like the crap that Obama spouts.. like clinging to guns and Bibles stuff?
How dare you denigrate those who serve and those who’d give their lives…so that you can be an armchair twerp. I hope it never happens here…that you need a rifle of one of those ( who’s boots you’re unworthy to lick ) to defend your right to be….fill in the blank.
Ok…moderator…censor. On a story like this…why would this be censored? Give me a Juan Willams reason.
“it’s well known that U.S. soldiers tend to be conservative and gullible”
Gullible? You meant like Duty, Honor, God and Country and all that American loving icky sheet? Or like the crap that Obama spouts.. like clinging to guns and Bibles stuff?
How dare you denigrate those who serve and those who’d give their lives…so that you can be an armchair twerp. I hope it never happens here…that you need a rifle of one of those ( who’s boots you’re unworthy to lick ) to defend your right to be….fill in the blank.
abdul Kareema Wheat stupidly wrote: Gullible? You meant like Duty, Honor, God and Country and all that American loving icky sheet? Or like the crap that Obama spouts.. like clinging to guns and Bibles stuff?
Nope, you dope — gullible as in too easily believing rubbish the government tells them, much more so than even likewise gullible civilians. If you had clicked on this link I had included, it’s to a poll of US troops in Iraq from 2006 that shows “Almost 90% think war is retaliation for Saddam’s role in 9/11“.
Hussein had nothing friggin to do with 9/11 despite a pile of BS from Bush and his people early on. Yet in 2006, the overwhelming majority of active US troops stationed in Iraq thought they were there because of Hussein’s “role” in Iraq.
How you explain this, “Mr. Wheat” — that they are actually morons instead of being just young, gullible and overly trusting?
One nice thing about BC – He’s pathologically consistent. VDH writes about the Juan Williams situaiton and we get another hysterical screed from BC on Iraq, Wikileaks and all rest of it. I know its asking a lot, but can’t you write in response to the actually posted article rather than ranting on about unrelated topics? PJM gives you plenty of opportunities to vent since it regularly runs articles on foreign policy, Iraq, Afghanistan and the always popular “sinister right-wing conspiracy” against the Obama administration.
What are your views on the dismissal of Juan Williams from NPR? That is the subject at hand here. You seem to vindicate Churchill’s observation that…. “A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
Reading on the Fox site Juan Williams’s explanation of his firing, I am struck by how Stalinist NPR has become. It’s not enough that he has towed most of the party line. Because he deviated just a little, he has been exiled to Siberia.
All on the taxpayers’ (and George Soros’s) dollars! Let’s hope November brings a strong correction to Congress. There’s a big, big mess that needs a-cleanin’.
You may never appear on the cover of Time magazine as “Man Of The Year”, but you certainly are mine. Lordy, son, how you can write!
#16 Miriam, I may be a frustrated editor but while many people now-a-days don’t bother to use uppercase to begin sentences you do not even when saying “Christ” Opps, you did use uppercase words “I” twice, a little selfcentered are we? Above our Lord Jesus, a Freudian slip typo?
This affair has illustrated the stark contrast between public and private tolerance of dissent. In one case, you might get slapped around and toyed with a bit, but in the other, a boot firmly on your neck.
It also revealed a willingness to conform with “the views of this management and station” that happen to favor a muslimic view of things in general, if one is to stay employed.
My fear of flying in general stems from the fact that a loose bolt or a frayed wire could make a hard-landing something to be celebrated. That a recent graduate from a Yemeni terrorist school might be seated a few rows behind me accenting his Hanes with matching wrench and wire snips only adds to that discomfort.
Aside from Tom and Ray’s Click and Clack car show, NPR just blows.
“Notice that ideologue and partisan George Soros just offered NPR nearly $2 million to hire 100 reporters …”
Applying the WWAD (what would Alinsky do) rule I suggest a re-wording:
“Notice that former Nazi collaborator George Soros …”
Source: http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=43876
“Geez, what’s next?”
He’s unethical.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/nprs-schiller-says-juan-williams-was-fired-because-of-ethics-guidelines/
But it won’t stop there. They haven’t got to the obvious accusations that he has been a subversive all along, that he is anti-American, that he isn’t really African American, that he is plotting to kill Obama, that he is a homosexual, that he is a child molestor, and that he is a mass murderer.
No far, just softball.
The Corporation for Public Broadcastin has long been filled by sniffy elitists who can barely conceal their contempt for the rest of us. Most come from or aspire to that well-off, genteel and left-wing orthodoxy that marks so many of our “elite” East Coast colleges. To paraphrase the old saw about the British upper-classes; NPR types come from backgrounds “where they send the idiot of the family into public broadcasting.”
Dr. Hanson’s analysis of the Juan Williams imbroglio is dead center perfect. Hopefully this event will finally shed a little light on the history of bias and distortion long practiced by the various tentacles of PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They have bee hiding behind the fig-leaf of “the public interest” far too long. Should this happen look for public broadcasting executives whip out the “censorship” card…..”W don’t censor. Were liberals.”
Obama and the Democratic party did this to Juan Williams.They hate Fox news.The Democratic party uses MSNBC,NAACP,Media matters.Salon and the rest of their toadies to attack every conservative and Republican especially at the time of an election.Obama and the Democratic party aredisgraceful and ruthless
Can’t wait to see the VDH post on November third !
The Left is totalitarian and demands total control of every individual. Look where they are in power: universities, media including NPR, and the dem party with its communist like Obamacare. All non-thinkers who reflexively vote democrat need to wake-up.
Humorous cartoon at http://drawfortruth.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/juan-williams-firing/ that shows the “Real” reason why Juan Williams got fired. Check it out.
The only thing missing from your piece, Mr. Hanson, are the numerous apparent calls from listeners to NPR who demanded the dismissal of Williams. Few wish to call the general public, who are willing accomplices to this outrage, the intolerant intellectual mediocrities they are. The left not only encourages intellectual laziness, it demands it of her adherents. And, the infuriating thing about it is, it is all of us who suffer from having to clean up the messes of the left. Worse yet, the existential threat of islam continues its march on our freedoms and way of life unabated and un-debated. These jerks would have innocents killed rather than approach the reality that islam poses to us all.
I am definitely a conservative, who has watched Juan Williams for years on Fox News shows and have heard his viewpoint on any issues. I usually agree more with Dr. Charles Krauthammer’s analysis, but I feel if someone as liberal as Juan Williams can be fired for what he said this week, that free speech is definitely not something NPR allows. NPR allows other columnists and reporters to say whatever, as long as it’s in line with NPR’S leftist views. Mr. Williams was only being honest. I would definitely not call Mr. Williams a conservative; and if he can be fired for stating this, then I don’t see how government funds can support NPR any longer. Americans need to wake up and see what is happening to the First Amendment. I say good luck to Mr. Williams at Fox, where he’s needed more, since they really do provide both sides, fair and balanced, as they say. why else would Fox’s ratings be so high? People want the truth in their media news!
It’s a two-fer. The supposed Friends of the Minorities, to protect their newest minority ward from the Middle East, just fired one of the few Black Men who worked for them, and then slandered him, for saying and then qualifying, what most Americans would accept as true, though not PC. And his first name is Juan. How about that?
Maybe a few more American-bred Minorities will now wake up to the fact that they have been used and ignored by the left for the last 40 years because who has to supplicate those that can be relied upon to remain 90% loyal, no matter what? Imagine being so blinded by Hubris that you could so easily bite the hands that for so long have been taken for granted.
Note how the NPR CEO Vivian Schiller herself slanders Williams by suggesting that he talk with “his psychiatrist”— and a subsequent brief apology cleans up her mess.
It’s worse than that – Schiller is a Soviet specialist, and is doubtless quite familiar with the Soviet practice of placing political dissidents in psychiatric prisons. She was doubtless feeling nostalgic for the good old days when she suggested that psychiatry was the appropriate way of dealing with **her** dissident.
If NPR is taken off the public dole I doubt Soros or many others would give the donations they do. After all, it would no longer be tax deductible. What would be the purpose? Might as well give to MSNBC. Their balance sheet might also look a bit different as a taxable organization. So, even though they may not get that much in tax subsidies, the ramifications of being tax exempt does save them, and their donors, a bunch of money.
Vivian Schiller didn’t apologize to Juan Williams she apologized to the media, for letting her bitter, inherently socialist bile out into the open.
When Gwen Ifill had her book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama released on January 20, 2009, I jettisoned all faith in PBS being impartial. This game is played like the worst of women’s petty fight. I’m disgusted, and am a woman.
It getting kinda hard to march Lock Step with Jack Boots this Narrow.
But having NoBarry as Pres sure makes ‘em shiny
roflmao
I like Juan, although I never like his views. When he has emceed O’Reilly’s show, he always seems to try the middle ground. I heard him talk about the arguements in his house over something and he had taken the left view, and those in his home (unnamed)were argueing the other side. (Can’t remember what it was) Then someone said his son is working for the GOP. Did I hear correct? Anyone know the truth?
Williams was not fired for what he said about Muslims.
He was fired for what he said about Political Correctness.
After Bill O’Reilly condemned PC, Juan said, “… I think you’re right. I think, look, political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don’t address reality.”
PC is a fundamental tenet of the Left. It DOES trump what the little people call “reality”. Attacking PC is a far more unforgivable sin than attacking any minority.
As to point #7, it has long been the dream of NPR to become an American version of the BBC Home Service. They are well on their way; all they need now is the passage by the democrats of a tax on radios (or iPods or Sirius/XM receivers).
That NPR could not handle a simple (but tragic and baseless) termination and have done the “out of the box” strategic gaming vis a vie the unintended consequences (FOX having a wonderful opening to approach Juan, NPR tax exempt status ($40 mil in property tax abatment in DC alone), government funding, stupid legally actionable comments by the CEO, etc.) is actually way more scary than the very significant points being made today. It’s this same generation of radical Leftists that have hung out since the late 60s in safe tenured teaching positions, mid level government jobs, who are now running our country, negotiating for the US world-wide and trying to defeat our enemies that want us dead because we are NOT Muslim. At least Trump DOES know how to fire somebody and I’m darn sure he’d do a better job in treaty and trade negotiations with the rest of the world, friend and foe alike. But the fools at NPR, to the extent that they are representative, as I believe they are, of the rest of our current national leadership is both shameful and, like Juan, makes me nervous. Actually, I’m terrified of the disaster potential with the folks running our government.Inept in every respect yet they now want to control our thoughts.
You are too close to the unfolding events hence the difficulty to acquire a perspectival reckoning. Very few of you noticed that the 1st. Am. has been officially nullified and superseded by PC rules in the Anglo World.
In Can. the “Human Right Commission”, in Britain the “Hate Laws”, here in the US the “PC Laws” rule.
The International Left tried to impose the same mental terror on the non-Anglos without much success: Geert Wilders in the .nl is acquitted and A. Merkel of .de disavowed the “Multikulti” idea.
In Continental Europe – no matter how much hideous political crimes had been committed through the History, – a decent, and fair rebirth is always possible – theoretically speaking of course!
It’s because the national cohesion, ethnicity, culture, language, historical pride…all that remained intact. The all-Euro. Anthem is still Beethoven’s IX.th.
The US has became a conglomerate of competing ethnicities, tribes, languages, races with pent-up hatred which was under wrap by the Great American Success story under Judeo-Christian values – until now. The population replacement is supported by both parties, the reverse racism is cool: how many times one can hear the epithet: stupid, old white man?
The Aristotelian logic is crucified when the two mutually exclusive idea: “melting pot” and “diversity-multikulti” (sic) became the national mantra and the “elite” inanely repeats it like the cockatoo.
There are open reckoning on the time when stupid, old white man will be the minority and the US is no mo cracker, porque se puede!
When Laurel Booth (Tony Blair’s sister-in-laws) converts to Islam and Sharia is about to be implemented in Britain the “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” is clearly visible.
You shall remember: the word macaca is punishable in the United States of America.
Pax Vobiscum
As the liberals love to chime in with the separation of church and state, I think we need to take it a step beyond. Separation of public and private. The government has encroached upon too many things the private sector should be solely responsible for. Time to divest political speech from any organization that receives tax payer money. Period.
E. J. Dionne was on Meet the Depressed and stated that one of his students made a detailed study of NPR and concluded that they had no bias at all. Gee, that’s good enough for me……E.J. also said that Fox was nothing but a Republican right wing propaganda machine, although he made no reference to any study to prove that statement.
Lets face it.
The racists at NPR like Schiller can not handle a strong black man offering an opinion that might stir up the House Negroes to also wander off the plantation.
The hanky heads like Jackson and Sharpton are silent of course lest the racist cabal running the White Boy Dem Party get angry.
The Congressional Steppin Fetchit Caucus is also silent.
Massa can lynch any black man he like and they will look the other way.
To me, defunding NPR will be a test case for the Republicans. If they win in November, we should see if they have the intestinal fortitude to yank NPR’s federal funding. If they can’t do that, how are they going to have the will to defund ObamaCare? I for one will be very interested to see who votes for and who votes against the NPR defunding bill.
There was a time and place when you could have culture radio without public money and that place was WQXR in New York where Gilbert Highet had a wonderful radio program (many of which are still available in CD form). WQXR was mostly known for its classical music. I have lived in different parts of the country and I used to rely on the local NPR affiliate to get some classical music or to hear the Thistle and Shamrock with Fiona Ritchie as I love traditional Celtic music too. Many times they were the only places I could hear this music. In order to buy records I had to make trips to big city record stores in San Francisco, New York or Glasgow. Now all that is changed. We have a variety of programs on cable TV (yes, I often watch Fox though I enjoy TCM and the History Channel) but most importantly we have the Internet. The Internet means we have Pijama TV, Youtube, Internet Radio etc.plus Facebook where one can share articles, news clips etc. In other words NPR has outlived its usefulness. I rarely if ever listen to NPR. If on the road I listen to news stations or commerical free Catholic Radio or I listen to books or CD’s of music or talks I have downloaded from Itunes. The Metropolitan Opera doesn’t rely on Texaco to broadcast its operas it broadcasts them direct worldwide via HD (charging $18-$24 a ticket) only in theaters. Then they sell the DVD’s or downloads. They do it the oldfashioned way: they meet the demand of a certain sector of music aficcionados. NPR, however, is more than just an antique dinosaur. It has become a horror and example of the arroganance of the hypocritical illiberal “”liberal inquisition.” I find it remarkable when Democrats and Liberals are so shrill about intolerance; my conservative and Republican friends are much calmer and more polite. And what’s more it is the conservatives -not the liberals- who respect private opinion, private religion and individual rights. The reason why is because many of the Left have yielded to the Totalitarian Temptation of the Bold State. They form their own Tribunals and their own Inquisition. They don’t want and will not tolerate dissent or true diversity. And as Orwell noted what they really want is fame and power. At the base of all of this is hatred and resentment of the success and popularity of Fox News and the fact that Juan Williams worked for Fox News. His guilt by association was enough; yes, Victor Davis Hanson is correct we have witnessed McCarthyism of the left. I have always found it astounded when people assert that only the Right (or conservatives can have prejudices. The Left , make no mistake, abounds in deep prejudices. They are just differnt from the prejudices of the Right. But let me amend that. In American we should talk about the Center-Right. I don’t know any mainstream poltical figures -even Tom Tancredo- who could correctly be alligned with Mussolin, Franco, Pinochet or Hitler. THAT is the Far Right. As so I would say using terms like Far Right is an ad hominem slur. You will notice I used the term Left and sometimes I use the term New Left. I reserve the Far Left for people who really deserve it; though I do suspect that unlike the Republican party -which would not tolerate extreme racism its leadership roles-the Democrat party since 1970 has allowed special interests of the Far Left to seep into its leadership and power struction. Need an example? Van Jones or William Ayers. Those men do not represent merely liberal points of view but Far Left points of view bordering on Marxist-Leninism and Communism. But the Democrats of today are too often “Corry-fisted Sullivans.” That is an old term of the Red Clyde in Glasgow which means that the Democratic Left is blind in the left eye and tilts to the left and only sees dangers or extremism from the right. Hence the alliances of the Labour Movement in Scotland with Stalin and the Communist Party.Yes, the real problem with the Democrats of today (they are not the Democrats of Humphrey, LBJ or JFK) is that they are obsessed with “diversity” by racial and gender quotas (while not even being concerned about religous or political diversity or even diversity of opinion which Juan Williams represented.). The Democrats today are also obsessed with Statism and are filled with people who never had a real job in their lives -people like our esteemed president Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama has got to be the least experienced, least cultivated and least mature president ever elected to the office. Don’t rely on what I say: just keep observing his behavior and his bizarre view of the world. Finally, I find it incredible that Mr. Obama who always puts his nose in every teachable moment -remember the “Beer Summit”- has absolutely nothing to say here. It isn’t as if this were Thomas Sowell. This is Juan Williams a man who cried with joy when president Obama was elected and has ALWAYS respected the president even when he disagreed with him. Juan Williams IS (or was I can’t say now) a Democrat. But Juan Williams committed the cardinal sin: he consorted with Hannity, Huckaby and O’Reilly of the so-called “Far Right”. So he was left to twist in the wind. Except Juan was smart enough to hedge his bets. Thanks to Fox News and private industry he has his goldern parachute. Thank heaven for the true diversity of capitalism.
Nice going, Juan. You stepped off the plantation owned and operated by the liberal elite media by offering an honest – but not politically correct opinion – and that was just too much. Also, I was pleased to see that Al Charlatan and Jesse Jackson stepped forward to boldly decry the treatment Williams received at the hands of the white women who run NPR and how they defended his right to……What? They’ve kept their mouths shut? Since when have they done that? I would love to see if these two race baiters have received some of the generosity of CAIR or George Soros. Please. Anyone willing to take up that investigation?
Juan is a Gentleman. A man of character.
He espouses his opinions because He believes in them,
not because it’s required dogma. But, for the life of me,
I just can’t understand how He’s just now finding out
how dogmatic, intolerant and downright mean the NPR types
really are ! He’s a liberal who thought “progressives”
were like him. Progressives are marxists. Marxists are
socialists and socialism is tyranny.
The fact that Juan can be close friends with Sean Hannity
is testimony of his good nature and sincerity.
I’d love to see him at a Tea Party rally !
He’d meet many friends there. It might even give him
the opportunity to challange the principals of his core beliefs.
Good luck at Fox, Juan. You’re already intelligent.
Maybe some wisdom is coming your way ?
Juan Spoke Over the Line
—apologies to Brewer and Shipley, and “One Toke Over the Line”
Juan spoke over the line; it don’t please us
Juan spoke over the line
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
If he doesn’t stick to our talking points then
We’ll stop giving him airtime
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
Muslim terrorists are targeting you and me
But you mustn’t talk about that reality
“Islamophobia” is a secular sin, some things should stay unsaid
And so we won’t offend anyone, even if we end up dead
And that’s why…
Juan spoke over the line, it don’t please us
Juan spoke over the line
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
If he doesn’t stick to our talking points then
We’ll stop giving him airtime
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
We rely on taxes for our support
But have pledge drives ’cause that comes up short
We toe a straight left line so that our listeners finance us
So if somebody upsets them, that person goes under the bus
We’re telling you…
Juan spoke over the line, it don’t please us
Juan spoke over the line
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
If he doesn’t stick to our talking points then
We’ll stop giving him airtime
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
Don’t you know that…
If he doesn’t stick to our talking points then
We’ll stop giving him airtime
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
We’re telling you…
Juan spoke over the line, it don’t please us
Juan spoke over the line
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
If he doesn’t stick to our talking points then
We’ll stop giving him airtime
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
We won’t let him speak on our public station
Juan spoke over the line
Juan spoke over the line
Juan spoke over the line
Hooray for Juan for stating his “feelings. I was a liberal for 50 plus years. I cannot believe how dumb I was.
“6) Notice that ideologue and partisan George Soros just offered NPR nearly $2 million to hire 100 reporters—and NPR accepted the gift.”
That’s $20,000 per reporter. Not going to make anyone rich. I guess NPR gets what they pay for.
Essential vdh.
On George Soros. George Soros is not a communist. He is a simple, egocentric opportunist who knows that dollars, Euros, and german Marks are a commodity that he can make billions on doing nothing but betting on their rise and fall. Their value can swing widely on current political happenings and how they handle it i.e. printing money to pay debt.
Soros has found the American left very willing to do his bidding for the funding he can give them. His American game is to create havoc. They, the left, have no qualms about this because the end always justifes the means. They have the same goals but different reasons. Soros wants the dollar value to fall and places his bets (shorts the dollar, buys gold, etc.) to take advantage of that.
Since Soros has found he can manipulate the politics of America through the left it is almost a sure bet. The left since it wants to destroy America as we have known it finds itself being able to “assist” Soros as he can assist them with funding. They both are parasites in symbiotic existance. BHO leads this effort. He may or may not be smart enough to recognize the destruction that results.
The new world order that Soros talks about is essentially the financial failure of America and the aftermath of what will take place when it fails.
Anyone who is idiot enough to vote for a Democrat (5th column that will now destroy America) in this upcoming election will deserve what they get if they win and then lose America as we will all in the final analysis.
NPR is one of the simple George Soros Tools to help him destroy the currency of America. NPR like all parasites think they have a right to “live” even if it means destroying America, the host that even funds them and underwrites their “existance” with your tax dollars. Folks they really are that stupid–and since we are paying for it we in some sense deserve what we get. Have you been listening to their response to the firing of Juan Williams, one of their own. Government funding seems to turn anyone who takes it into idiots.
With that kind of money from Soros NPR can go private. This has been long overdue. But as a private radio network they can hire and fire as they please; everybody’s happy.
With respect to point number nine, we do indeed have a long tradition of state sponsored left wing Pravda. It is called “NPR”.
Another sparkling piece Herr Hanson – a different kind of fireworks this time, but eventually the celebratory kind will fly I hope.
Just defund NPR. It’s long past time.
Yes i agree Juan Williams needs to be fired
Thanks for these points, so well-stated VDH. Now for the flip side that never really gets asked or answered with any honesty?
How are Muslims doing living in everyday, big-city America?
NPR can’t bring itself to investigate this interesting question. Instead (last NPR Weekend Saturday – sorry, I refuse to post the link) they go out and find a young, well-spoken, college-bound Muslim girl who wears a burkha (body and head covering) to ask if she feels at all persecuted for her Muslim Religion. Of course she does! Surprise, surprise. This is classic NPR reporting that I call “NPR Egyptian Waiter Reporting”. That is, NPR sends a correspodent to say, Cairo, Egypt to report on a successful joint Israeli/Egyptian clinic & orphnage. At the end of the story the NPR reporter will always — for balance! — find the Egyptian Waiter. Inevitably, after being asked, the Egyptian Waiter will say, “I hate Israel. Israel no good for Egypt. America bad, Bush bad too. I don’t like.” Just in case, you know, we might forget for a moment that America and Israel are basically evil and that the world hates America and that there is nothing we can do about it.
But back to the underreported flip side of the Juan Williams question:
how the heck are new urban Muslm immigrants doing in contemporary America anyhow?
Since the beginning of the decade many hundreds or perhaps thousands of Muslims, mostly from Somalia, have settled in south Seattle. I live in south Seattle which means I am in daily contact with Muslim families. Their kids go to public school with mine; I sit in the park with Muslim moms while our kids play at the playground (they are often waiting for their menfolk who are playing soccer down on the field below). I stand with them in lines at the grocery store, at the bank, at Starbucks and at our local health clinic.
I can assure everyone that America has nothing to apologize for in its treatment of Muslim immigrants—Muslim women freely wear any form of burkha; their female children wear burkhas in the public schools which have a No Tolerance/No Bully policy towards Muslim kids; the local (tax funded) neighborhood clinics make sure that Muslim women see only female doctors; a special state liaison is assigned to the local clinics to make sure that they know about the state health insurance program; city attorneys contravene separation of Church and state and arrange for special ‘International Swim’ at municipal swimming pools that are essentially Muslim-women-only swim nights (when some citizens expressed concern about this they were shouted down as—what else?—racists and bigots); local refugee aid societies make sure Muslim immigrants know about and how to avail low-cost public housing. Local banks accommodate Muslim depositors concerns over Islamic strictures on banking interest and investment.
I repeat, Americans have nothing to apologize for in their treatment of recent urban Muslim immigrants.
Two million for a hundred reporters. That’s only $20,000 each. Half has to go to FICA, taxes, the HR Department. Who works at NPR, monks?
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