If most liberals were like Juan Williams, America would be a better place. Although I rarely agree with anything he says, Mr. Williams commands my respect for his intelligence, his demeanor, and most of all, his civility. Civility is the rarest of commodities demonstrated by progressives, because it conflicts with two of their basic assumptions: 1. most Americans are "too stupid" to understand how brilliant progressives are; and 2. those who dare to disagree with them are not only wrong, but evil.
In other words, why bother being civil to evil idiots?
Yet unlike most of the punditry out there, Mr. Williams gets no dispensation from me. That is not to say NPR's firing of him was remotely justified, nor do I think what he had to say could be remotely construed as bigoted. If American leftists wants to close their eyes, stick their fingers in their ears and sing nah, nah nah, in order to obscure the reality of radical Islam that is their choice, myopic as it may be.
Nothing epitomized that particular mindset any better than intellectual "giants" Whoopie Goldberg and Joy Behar storming of the set of "The View" when Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly had the "indecency" to remind them that Muslims perpetrated the attacks of 9/11, and that the public was still 70% against building a mosque near Ground Zero. Behar and Goldberg are not the first, nor will they be the last, leftists to engage in childish behavior as a substitute for cogent rebuttal.
The reason Mr. Williams gets no pass from me is because of what he wrote in the above excerpt. It is quite apparent that he was well aware of the ideological bias at NPR, and had been for years. It is not as if he suddenly discovered the management there "has no use for a diversity of opinion, ideas or a diversity of staff." Yet this is the first time Juan Williams has gone public with his feelings regarding his former employer. What does that mean?
It means Juan Williams was, at the very least, an enabler. It means he was willing to abide the bias at NPR, as long as that bias accrued to his best interest. And his best interest may have been little more than cashing a paycheck.
Mr. Williams is not the only American who's had to stifle his personal opinions in order to avoid the wrath of his superiors in the workplace. On the other hand, precious few of those other Americans make their living expressing opinions, which is the essence of Mr. Williams' occupation.
Go along to get along doesn't cut it, Juan.
Or does it? The Fox Network immediately stepped into the breach. Mr. Williams has just signed a three-year contract worth nearly two million dollars. No doubt that's a bigger paycheck than the one he was cashing at NPR. Forgive me for wondering what particular biases Mr. Williams might be inclined to overlook at his new place of employment, even though Fox has demonstrated far more respect for divergent opinion than NPR ever has.
If such an assessment of Mr. Williams sound cynical, that's because it is. Criticizing one's former bosses takes far less courage than confronting them when it still matters. Being a "disgruntled former employee" is far less effective than being a "whistle blower" willing to risk one's career in order to do the fight thing. It's called "having the courage of one's convictions," or in this case, "journalistic integrity," a phrase which is rapidly becoming an oxymoron in American media.
As I write this, Mr. Williams is getting the equivalent of a national high-five. For what, exactly? Perhaps in a modern-day America where "victimhood" has been elevated to an almost reverential status, Mr. Williams is the beneficiary of nothing more than being in the right place at the right time. The upcoming election is about many things, but first and foremost, it will be a referendum on the kind of progressive-inspired political correctness that got Mr. Williams fired. It will be a referendum regarding whether or not such PC will maintain a stranglehold on this nation, or be slapped down by an electorate fed up with progressive elitists masquerading themselves as champions of compassion and social justice.
Government-mandated compassion and social justice undeterred by fiscal calamity.
Congrats on the new gig, Mr. Williams. No doubt your star will shine brighter than ever. But in this particular precinct, not so much. Maybe that's nothing more than my cynical nature rearing its head. But maybe, just maybe, in a private moment you might reflect on what could have been. NPR has been a progressive viper's nest for years.
Too bad one of its former employees waited until he was fired to say so.
"Well, now that I no longer work for NPR let me give you my opinion. This is an outrageous violation of journalistic standards and ethics by management that has no use for a diversity of opinion, ideas or a diversity of staff (I was the only black male on the air). This is evidence of one-party rule and one sided thinking at NPR that leads to enforced ideology, speech and writing. It leads to people, especially journalists, being sent to the gulag for raising the wrong questions and displaying independence of thought."--Juan Williams on his firing from National Public Radio
