I’d like to see Erik’s response to this:
Yesterday NPR fired me for telling the truth. The truth is that I worry when I am getting on an airplane and see people dressed in garb that identifies them first and foremost as Muslims.
This is not a bigoted statement. It is a statement of my feelings, my fears after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 by radical Muslims.
It’s both, you moran.
He’s not trying to bridge any divides (as he goes on to claim), he’s trying to justify his fear and bigotry. And now he will be paid handsomely at Fox to continue to attempt to justify his bigotry.
maye
I think its moron.
chopper
first off, as pointed out before, terrorists don’t dress up in ‘full muslim regalia’.
secondly, he needs to get the fuck over 9/11. if you still get the willies seeing a muslim, get help.
ricky
Juan will fast become the right’s Black Bernie Goldberg.
Bitter.
maye
moran is a congressman from no. va.
Violet
He’s also stupid. The terrorists who took down the planes on 9/11 were not dressed in “Muslim garb.” Neither was the Ft. Hood bomber. Nor the underwear bomber. Nor the Times Square bomber. Except for the Fort Hood terrorist, who wore a military uniform, the terrorists dressed as ordinary Americans.
His Muslim terrorist profiling wouldn’t have worked in any of the actual terrorism incidents we’ve had. Not only is he a bigot, he can’t learn from experience.
chopper
third, ‘talking about my feelings and fears about muslims on billo’s show’ was a violation of his contract with NPR.
Chyron HR
I FEEEEEEEEEEEL like the Muzzies are out to get me!
I FEEEEEEEEEEEL like Anita Hill is a fithly liar!
Why are you attacking me for the way I FEEEEEEEEEEEL?
Zuzu's Petals
Like I said earlier, I’m for voting with my pocketbook on this one. Finally donated to NPR again, and told them it was a thank you for finally getting rid of this guy.
Nice if NPR could point to a groundswell of approval.
Tancrudo
I clutch my pearls when I see negroes. Hey, that’s not a bigoted statement! It’s my feeelings.
Caren
The terrorists that attacked on 9/11 were dressed in Western garb.
Not cowboy clothes, just regular American gear.
It’s really nice that Juan understands how he feels. Now if he could just understand that his feelings are racist and not based in reality, maybe we could get somewhere.
different church-lady
I worry that when I see Juan Williams on my TV that he is a complete idiot.
But you don’t see ME going on TV and talking about it, do you?
Midnight Marauder
@maye:
Someone is not aware of all internet traditions.
Evolved Deep Southerner
Shit, he’s a Fox man now, exclusively. This is just the opening salvo.
A year from now, he’ll be saying shit that’ll make this look tame.
KCinDC
Looks like maye is not aware of all Internet traditions.
Midnight Marauder
I really like Williams’ shock and dismay at the fact that he wasn’t “given a chance” to defend his actions:
You should have come in for that eyeball to eyeball meeting a few years ago, Juan.
Zuzu's Petals
@Violet:
A commenter on NPR asked today how Williams would feel if some news commentator said “You know I’m not a bigot, but every time I get on a bus and see an African American with an Afro and dashiki I get nervous.”
Or to paraphrase Williams, “People dressed in garb that identifies them first and foremost as African Americans.”
Steve
The important thing is for those on the left to acknowledge that many people have bigoted feelings. Until more liberals acknowledge this, they will fail to persuade America of the need for tolerance because people will rightly suspect that what they are really about is punishing people for the thoughtcrime of having errant feelings.
DickSpudCouchPotatoDetective
The fact is that Juan Williams has always been an idiot. This incident just highlights the fact, but it’s not news.
It’s not news, generally, that some people identified as “liberals” are just idiots. Even an idiot can be right once in a while. Look at Brick Oven Bill, for example.
Okay, bad example.
Cracker
The truth is that I worry when I am getting on a bus and see people dressed in garb that identifies them first and foremost as Blacks.
This is not a bigoted statement. It is a statement of my feelings, my fears after hearing about gangsta rappers shooting one another on TMZ.
/the logical extension of Juan Williams’ thinking
Wile E. Quixote
Jesus Christ, it’s about time that Juan Williams, professional negro, got his ass fired from NPR. Not only is he a total butt-whore for Fake Noise but he’s also a lousy journalist. Now if NPR would just fire Mara Liasson’s lazy ass…
chopper
@Tancrudo:
9/11 was done by the joos! don’t criticize me, it’s my feeling!
John O
@Violet:
He thinks he can spot ’em, Violet. It’s very weird for self-aware people, even as we acknowledge our own IRRATIONAL fears about it, as in, my fears about flying are largely based on gravity and human error, the latter of which is not irrational at all, even while statistically unlikely.
Corner Stone
“I didn’t leave the NPR! The NPR left me!”
/Juan ‘Zell Miller’ Williams
Just Some Fuckhead
Fired for being a bigot or being a pussy? It’s both, you moran.
KG
@different church-lady: ok, fuck it, I’m in for $20 on a new cable “news” channel that is made up entirely of bloggers and blog commenters talking shit on the rest of the media. Think of it as an open sourced version of the first 10-15 minutes of the Daily Show, all day every day.
kth
Though come to think of it, Williams is probably totally down with assuming any kid with saggy jeans and a ballcap on sideways is going to rob me and rape my wife.
Kryptik
Look, if I felt he was more genuine about this, I’d sympathize, I really would. I will fully admit that I find myself generally suspicious and shy away from larger black men when on the street, simply because I get told crime is a problem in my neighborhood, and I’ve ended up conditioned to be suspicious in that manner, by news, TV, etc. It’s something that I intellectually know is wrong, but have to struggle to tamp down with that emotional response imprinted. And even sadder, I do find myself immediately tense when I see someone who ‘looks Muslim’ in the wholly stereotypical way, because…well, we’re told ‘ALL TERRORISTS ARE MOOSLIMMM!!!’
But I just can’t be sympathetic for one reason. I have my emotional responses, and I recount them with shame. Juan Williams recounted his not out of shame and a wish to move past them, but as a justification of his and other right-wingers’ primal fears and essentially said ‘We should be afraid’. That he tried to backpedal and say ‘Oh, not ALL Muslims are bad’ ends up irrelevant, because the crux is he’s not ashamed of his fear. He revels in it.
Just Some Fuckhead
I bet lazyeye lisping Ron Christie doesn’t turn into butter every time he sees traditional muslim garb with his one good eye.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
This is not a bigoted statement. It is a statement of my feelings
What, precisely, does Mr. Williams think bigotry is?
Comrade Luke
According to Atrios on Twitter a few minutes ago:
Roger Moore
@Zuzu’s Petals:
“You know I’m not a bigot, but every time I drive on the freeway and see a Mexican with a crucifix driving a lowrider, I get nervous.” This could be fun with racial and ethnic stereotypes. “I’m not a bigot, but every time I see a redneck with a mullet and a Confederate battle flag bumper sticker, I get nervous.”
Wile E. Quixote
@Juan Williams, professional negro
What a whiny little bitch. I’d be willing to bet that Juan has an employment-at-will contract, which means that NPR could fire him at any time for anything they want.
I wish that someone at NPR would come out and say “Look, we fired Juan because he’s a lazy bigot who’s spent the last two decades resting on his laurels from writing Eyes on the Prize. Juan isn’t going to suffer though. He’ll make serious bank as a professional negro over at Fox News and perhaps the Republican National Committee will hire him to be their token black person next year after Michael Steele gets fired.”
MikeBoyScout
Cry me a river.
Redshift
Apparently Rupert Murdoch (or was it Ailes?) said they’ll “protect Williams’ freedom of speech” on Fox because he “spoke honestly.”
Wow, that’s just great! So anyone who speaks honestly gets a $3M contract and is allowed to say whatever they want on Fox? Sign me up! They can’t refuse me, or it’ll be a violation of free speech, right?
maye
i’m not clicking those links for fear of a rick astley video.
John O
@Roger Moore:
“I’m not a bigot, but every time I see someone who doesn’t look a lot like me, I get nervous.”
Cacti
After years of tongue-polishing Bill O’Reilly’s boots, Juan has finally landed his dream job…
Full time house negro for Rupert Murdoch.
MikeBoyScout
The truth is that Williams pals around with morans.
It is complete fiction that FUX News is going to pay Williams new contract with the proceeds from the sale of Juan Williams in jockey garb statues holding a light. That’s just an urban myth cuz someone saw one on Rupert’s porch.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Redshift: I fucking hate the Irish but so far, it hasn’t netted me a cent.
Zuzu's Petals
@Roger Moore:
Oooh, like Mad Libs for mad people !
kommrade reproductive vigor
Shorter J.W.: Must. Keep. Digging. Hole!
And if he’s convinced “Muslim Garb” = Terrist! I doubt he only gets nervous when he boards a plane.
Warren Terra
Y’know, at considerable risk to my sanity and equanimity (i.e. knowing that it was likely to lead me to the Truther sites) I googled for images of the 9/11 hijackers. So far as I can tell, and entirely unsurprisingly, they were dressed in western garb. Maybe in order to better to carry our their plotted atrocity, they didn’t want to don flashing neon signs saying “I’m not like you!”.
So, news flash: what Juan Williams is saying makes no sense. The people we least have to worry about committing terrorist acts are probably those making no effort to blend in (which is of course just as true for our own home-grown and less exotic monsters as for those from abroad and those professing Islam).
Of course, the obvious corollary is that we should worry that the next logical step is smarter racism, cracking down on those who mostly blend in but are dusky of hue or have funny names. But then, we’ve already been there; just ask most anyone you know who’s of Indian subcontinent heritage and was flying in the first couple of years after 9/11. I’m generalizing on the basis of approximately one data point there, but it’s a doozy, the treatment meted out to my former housemate, a native-born American of Hindu descent who is the nicest and least threatening person you’d ever care to meet (her being a short woman helps this latter), I’m pretty confident in doing so.
Maude
Someone should tell Juan to put down the shovel. He’s in deep enough.
General Stuck
The sharks are hungry
thefncrow
@Steve: If that’s all Juan Williams had done, he wouldn’t have been fired.
If he’d come on and said “I’m guilty too, of sometimes getting nervous on a plane when I see someone wearing a burka, but that nervousness and anxiety is unfounded, and getting beyond that is something we all, myself included, must do”, that’s not only something he wouldn’t have been fired for, but it’s a strong statement that he would have been lauded for.
The problem is that those irrational fears are based on bigotry, and if you try to pretend that those irrational and bigoted fears are actually justifiable reactions to the world as it exists, you’re accepting bigotry. Juan Williams doesn’t think he needs to reject those bigoted reactions, and has chosen the path where he attempts to justify that bigotry as a reasonable response, doubling down on the bigotry. He absolutely deserved to be fired.
Violet
@KG:
Sign me up for this. Show titles/subjects could include:
“Media Won’t Investigate…”
“Some Say…”
“No Horses Are Racing”
Etc.
Just Some Fuckhead
@thefncrow: You mean like a Shirley Sherrod thing, except NOW instead of in 20 years when it will benefit him career-wise?
JPL
KKK members were for the most part so called Christians and now I’m concerned when flying out of Atlanta sitting next to someone reading from a bible.
Can I please have a two million dollar contract now.
Cain
FTFY
cain
Just Some Fuckhead
Ya know what makes me nervous on a flight? No babies.
General Stuck
Ya know what makes me nervous on an airplane? When it flies.
different church-lady
@Steve: Steve, you’re right: everyone faces irrational inner fears that amount to bigotry at times.
Now here’s the thing: WE DON’T SHARE THEM ON NATIONAL TELEVISION.
John Bird
What I don’t understand is why Juan Williams was kept on this long anyway.
When it comes to public radio personalities who public radio listeners despise, the only person who beats out Terry Gross is Juan Williams. (Kai Ryssdal is third.)
Who was Williams blowing for the last ten years?
Just Some Fuckhead
@different church-lady:
With Bill Fucking O’Reilly, the Oprah for old white bigots.
SRW1
Did he write that before or after Roger Ailes signed that big, fat contract? Because I am inclined to think that shit classifies Juan somewhat differently in one cases versus the other. If he wrote it before Ailes signed, dear Juan may be a bit too dense to realize what a bigot he is, but if he wrote it after Ailes signed he is a corrupt, bigoted asshole.
The Dangerman
He made a bigoted statement (his right, see 1st Amendment), the company fired his ass (their right, right to work), and now he’s trying to appeal to the Fox News constituency that now owns his African American ass (after doubling down on the stupid, will he ever work anyplace but Fox?).
I don’t give a shit about him or Fox. Fuck ’em all.
suzanne
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Apparently it’s not bigotry if you’re really sincere.
Which is a weird mental construction, because I’ve never thought of bigots as exceptionally insincere in their bigotry. I assume they mean it, and that’s the friggin’ problem.
MikeJ
@different church-lady: Sharing those fears isn’t the problem. Blaming the victim is the problem.
chrismealy
Being on Bill O’Reilly’s show is enough reason to fire the guy.
DickSpudCouchPotatoDetective
@General Stuck:
“If this thing gets going any faster, it’s going to come clean up off the ground.”
Grandpa, The Beverly Hillbillies, on the occasion of his first airplane ride.
Quaker in a Basement
Hey, I’m not a bigot. But every time I see a well-fed old white man wearing a clerical collar, I pucker! It’s a statement of my feelings.
Roger Moore
@Zuzu’s Petals:
Yeah, like Mad libs. My personal suspicion is that Mr. Williams would be more realistic to fear the white guys with Confederate battle flag bumper stickers- or even the ones with “Protect and Serve” on their cars- than Muslims. Plenty of African Americans still get beaten up by white racists.
WaterGirl
Just read on Booman’s site that Raul Grijalva’s office is on lockdown after getting mail with suspicious white powder in it.
Raul Grijalva (AZ-07) is one of the folks at the Balloon Juice Act Blue link.
Is anybody besides me up for throwing some extra money his way?
Carl Nyberg
The statement shows Juan Williams is basically… dumb.
If al Qaeda was going to attempt mischief on an airplane, do you think there operatives are going to dress as devout Muslims or try to blend in?
My hypothesis: Juan Williams is basically a low IQ person who got promoted ahead of smarter journalists b/c he was a Black guy who made “White” bosses feel comfortable.
The Peter Principle got Williams promoted to a level where his lack of intellect was too obvious.
When Williams got canned for being stupid, he went back to his roots and found an employer that would give a Black man lots of money for saying things that made “White” bosses feel comfortable.
mistersnrub
I’m not saying I’m an anti-semite, BUT…when I see a guy wearing a yarmulke, I clutch my wallet extra tight! That’s just how I feel! Soros!
jacy
@Roger Moore:
I’m not a bigot, but every time I see someone Irish with a bottle of liquor, I get nervous.
Oh, wait, that’s a mirror.
John Bird
@Quaker in a Basement:
“When you hear them praying loud, you had better go home and lock your smokehouse.” –Harry S Truman, on Christians (Working with Truman: a personal memoir of the White House years, by Ken Hechler)
TuiMel
Juan Williams’ statement regarding Michelle Obama – I think he referred to her as Stokley Carmichael in a dress – should have delivered his NPR walking papers to him. His comment said so much more about him than Michelle Obama. I hope the door did not hit his sorry ass on his way out the door.
For several years I have cut my donation to NPR by 50% and told them it is a Williams – LiaRson – Roberts tax. Until they are all gone, the donation will be reduced. Sending Juan on way is a step in the right direction.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Quaker in a Basement: lol.
That doesn’t make you a bigot, it makes you smart.
MikeBoyScout
Eyes On the Prize?
,,,one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by
the content of their characterthe garb which identifies their religious affiliation.Midnight Marauder
@MikeJ:
I would also maintain that the manner in which those fears are shared and presented could very well be a problem.
Especially if it’s on national television.
John Bird
It’s the middle of the WUNC fall fund drive. My guess is their donations jumped by 50% today.
By the way, if you remember “The Connection”, Dick Gordon has a new show out of WUNC called “The Story”. Check with your local station to see if they’d like to air it. It’s pretty good and in my opinion an amazing format for Gordon to do what he does.
El Cid
Howard Dean was an evil person for saying something about Confederate bumper stickers.
Roger Moore
@MikeBoyScout:
That’s a sharp contrast to the other side of the Republican party, which thinks people should be judged by the content of their investment portfolio.
Just Some Fuckhead
@El Cid: I have a Confederate bumper sticker. Opposite side from the Obama/Biden sticker. Just to piss ’em off.
Odie Hugh Manatee
When I see them Joos wearing their skulldigger caps, I get skeered and clench my wallet (and sphincter).
b-psycho
On average, he’d be vastly better served having that nervousness around people in police uniforms than people in “muslim garb”.
justawriter
I’m not a bigot, but whenever I see a banker and a Republican office holder together I automatically check to see if my wallet is still there.
Andre
“You know I’m not a bigot, but every time I go to a country club and see a WASP with a polo shirt and a cravat I get nervous.”
Odie Hugh Manatee
Every time I drop my keys around a Republican politician I get nervous about bending over to pick them up.
And Another Thing...
@Midnight Marauder: Thank you.
The Institute For A Meaningful Apocalypse
Is it bigotry to hate everyone equally?
amorphous
@maye: Not sure if troll :/
Just Some Fuckhead
Every time I encounter an older white Republican in the stall next to mine at the airport bathroom, I get nervous.
Nah, I’m just kidding. It’s actually kind of hot.
MikeJ
@Midnight Marauder: Well yeah, but that’s what I was getting at. Nobody would have minded if he had said he gets nervous and that’s his problem and he works to get over it. Saying he gets nervous because “there’s a Muslim problem in the world” and “the Muslim threat to the world is not isolated. It’s huge!” is a problem.
Just Some Fuckhead
@The Institute For A Meaningful Apocalypse: They tell me it is.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
@The Institute For A Meaningful Apocalypse: No. Some days, that’s just wisdom.
Wile E. Quixote
@different church-lady:
No, I don’t, and do you know why? It’s because the media is biased against you and anyone else who thinks that Juan Williams is a complete idiot. I for one am sick and tired of their anti-“people who think Juan Williams is a complete idiot” bigotry!
recusancy
Don’t forget Juan also said in his “rebuttal”:
He’s buying into the holy war shit.
Davis X. Machina
‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action’. Auric Goldfinger.
Wile E. Quixote
So how long before Fox gives Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez their own show?
gbear
Minnesota Public Radio just finished up their pledge drive a couple of minutes ago. They had a record-breaking evening with about 1000 pledges since 5:00 this evening (the standard MPR pledge is $120/yr). Their music station ‘The Current’ is worth that many pledges, but I wonder how many pledges came in because Juan got canned? I hope quite a few.
kth
Srsly: I’m not a bigot, but when someone begins a sentence with “I’m not a bigot”, I generally brace myself for a bigot eruption.
Anya
@Zuzu’s Petals: My parents did the same thing. My mom called me and my brother and said that if we can afford to donate, we should send some money to NPR and let them know it’s in support of their decision to fire Mr. Williams.
He is joining the right wing victim brigade. If there’s karma, sometime in the near future, somewhere in real America, Juan Williams will be pulled over, tasered and arrested by a racist cop.
MoZeu
@Comrade Luke: What federal funding? There is no federal funding of NPR, you douchebag. (not you, DeMint)
Wile E. Quixote
@Anya:
One can only hope that when he is Dinesh D’Souza and Clarence Thomas are in the car too.
John O
Far be it from me this bigotry, but every time I watch a NASCAR race on TV I get nervous.
gbear
Juan Williams kick his keys home if he happens to drop them in a gay neighborhood.
Anya
@Just Some Fuckhead: He has one good eye?
Violet
@Comrade Luke:
I wish this would go viral:
I know Fox doesn’t receive federal funding. But why should that matter? Neither does NPR and that isn’t stopping actual elected officials from proposing to look into the matter. Why not get Fox’s federal funding stopped too.
DickSpudCouchPotatoDetective
I’m not a bigot, but Juan Williams is one dumb motherfucker.
Okay, I have a deep hatred for dumb motherfuckers. So sue me.
mai naem
I wrote an email to NPR when Juan Williams took over TOTN for Ray Suarez that if they fired his ass I would donate two hundred dollars. I don’t know if it was my measly $200 but he was canned a week or two later. Ofcourse Neal Conan is just about as bad. He just doesn’t do the Williams – ahhh, uhhm, mispronounciation of simple words etc. Anyhoo, Juan, don’t let the door hit where the lord split you. It just blows my mind that Juan Williams was one of the main people behind “Eyes on the Prize” – easily one of the best documentary series carried by PBS. How do you go from that to Fux Noose?
MoZeu
@John Bird: Nope. You forgot about that simpering fool Krista Tidbits.
Anya
@Wile E. Quixote: I am hoping Clarence Thomas’ scandal involves in a major sex scandal worse than Tiger or better yet, a video of him taking bribes surfaces.
DickSpudCouchPotatoDetective
@Wile E. Quixote:
About 5 minutes. They’re hiring Williams right now as we speak.
Sanchez can’t be far behind.
The Grand Panjandrum
Juan does have a point. I don’t take my kids into Federal buildings. Too many white guys with closed cropped hair for my comfort!
John Cole
@gbear: Just last week I committed to $240 a year to WV Public radio. I may up it to $300 and tell them I did it because NPR finally fired him. I’ll offer $360 if they replace Mara Liasson.
Ash Can
You know that Erik’s response would be to tell him he was being too polite to the Mooslims.
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: This reminds me of some years ago, when the late, great Bob Collins (one of the last reasonable conservatives) was discussing the issue of gays in the military, and guys were phoning in to the show and saying, “Now, I’m not a homophobe, I’m just afraid that these gays would…” I unfortunately had no time, before having to run off to work, to phone in and say, “You know, the definition of ‘homophobe‘ is…”
Just Some Fuckhead
@Anya:
Oh no. You don’t suppose Scalia was bribing him with sex to allow Scalia to write his opinions?
gbear
@John Cole:
I had to cut my pledge in half this year because I’m up to my eyeballs in bills. I was going to let it lapse, but today I decided to pony up what I could.
wengler
At least having hired one black guy means FOX NEWS doesn’t have to have anyone appear in blackface.
In other breaking news, O’Reilly is pushing back against Beckmania by making himself the white nationalist anti-Muslim choice.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Just Some Fuckhead: Scalia is a Catholic and Thomas went to Holy Cross … maybe he’s giving him a supply of altar boys? (OK that may be an exaggeration, but it has never been publicly denied, so who knows?)
gbear
@John Cole:
It would be nice to see the entire crew of Morning Edition and All Thing Considered sacked (except for the woman who covers the supreme court). Things went downhill fast when they moved the shows from NY to DC.
Cokie Roberts is the reason that snooze alarms were invented.
Just Some Fuckhead
@The Grand Panjandrum: It would be irresponsible not to speculum.
Jon H
Juan’s so dumb, he probably meant people in turbans.
Who are Sikhs, not Muslims.
Steve
My comment #17 has hurt fee-fees from a lack of appreciation.
Jon H
I can’t listen to Morning Edition anymore. Everyone’s voice is all scratchy and monotone and/or nasal.
And there’s too much vapid padding: Steve Inskeep will say things like “and now we’re going to keep talking about this with Bob Smith blah blah”. It’s clumsy and seems condescending.
It seems like they’re gradually edging toward the level of TV News morning shows.
I need a device that can time-shift BBC Radio 4’s internet stream by five hours, so I can listen to their morning shows instead.
zuzu
I must have missed the part where a “journalist’s” feelings — as opposed to his opinions — were relevant in the first place.
Jon H
@Violet: “I know Fox doesn’t receive federal funding”
Wanna bet? I wonder how many sweetheart tax breaks and other kickbacks News Corp has received over the years.
Jon H
@Evolved Deep Southerner: “A year from now, he’ll be saying shit that’ll make this look tame.”
Someone should set up a Juan Williams Intellectual Decline Watch blog, to track his progress into lucrative dementia.
Call it ‘Eyes On The Grime’
Loneoak
When I get on an airplane and see people dressed in clothing typical of Arab countries (there is no Muslim way to dress, since there are many Muslim cultures), I am comforted by the fact that we live in a multicultural and free society where we can dress however we want and still get on an airplane.
iriedc
@gbear: Personally I use the snooze alarm for Mara. Cokie, on the otherhand, gets me out of bed and into the bathroom to brush my teeth loudly & with the water running (an enviro offense in my house at any other time).
El Cid
Juan Cole points out that in all of 2009, out of hundreds of terrorist attempts and attacks in Europe, precisely 1 was committed by a person of Muslim heritage — the overwhelming majority by ethnic separatists, such as Basque separatist groups, etc.
I’m not a bigot, but I get very nauseous having to listen to FOXNOOZ liberals.
I feel oppressed. Please give me a million dollars.
YellowJournalism
@recusancy:
He’s not buying it, he’s selling the holy war shit. Just like his buddy O’Reilly and the rest of the Fox Bigot Brigade.
TuiMel
@gbear:
Ain’t it the truth?
Sly
Seriously, I hope this guy never gets picked up by a taxi in NYC again.
Resident Firebagger
It’s almost like Williams has followed in the footsteps of Robert Novak:
I just wonder if the expanded gig with Fox was there all along.
SiubhanDuinne
Sick of Juan, half a dozen of The Other.
MikeJ
@Jon H: Easy. get_iplayer. I use it all the time. The first developer abandoned it when Auntie didn’t like it, but it got picked up by several other people. The only NPR I bother with any more is Scifri, and even it seems dumbed down.
James E. Powell
And now he will be paid handsomely at Fox to continue to attempt to justify his bigotry.
Not exactly. At FOX his role, like everyone else’s role at FOX, will be to help Americans justify their bigotry.
AhabTRuler
@Roger Moore:
Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses.
AhabTRuler
@Just Some Fuckhead: On a big, yellow truck?
Corner Stone
@AhabTRuler: Went to see RATM in the Compaq Center many moons ago. Thought the whole fucking place was going to come swaying down on top of us.
UHH!!
Evolved Deep Southerner
@Jon H: Hey, man. You’ve got to stay relevant. Juan ain’t slow.
DaddyJ
@Zuzu’s Petals: Actually, if I saw someone on a bus with an afro and a dashiki, my first thought would be I’d been time traveling! But that’s just a quibble; your point is spot on.
Jason Bylinowski
I don’t think he should have been fired for this. I mean, fired by NPR for something said on another network? That is retarded. He’s color commentary, he’s not some journalist.
OF COURSE he’s a D-Bag. So what? He’s been a D-Bag for years, this was a bad move on NPR’s part, and you can be sure the ombudsman will agree with me in a couple of days if she doesn’t already.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Jason Bylinowski:
You need to read a bit more. Oh, and no, the ombudsman disagreed with the decision before you did so I would interpret that as you agreeing with her.
Go right ahead and agree with her…lol! Juan earned his firing, fair and square.
fasteddie9318
Imagine the FOX annual barbecue; Juan is standing there talking with Dennis Miller and Steve Douchey when someone from another event in the park walks by, and he just happens to be wearing a muumuu. Tell me you wouldn’t want to be upwind of that pants-soiling party. They could even have a race to see which one drops his panic load first.
Wile E. Quixote
@Jason Bylinowski:
No, he should have been fired for being a useless, lazy, biased hack who’s spent the last two decades resting on his laurels from writing Eyes on the Prize. And he wasn’t fired, his contract wasn’t renewed. Juan’s been pissing everyone off at NPR for a couple of years now and using his status as an NPR commentator to enhance his gig at Fox News. Juan Williams is the token negro that the racists at Fox trot out to prove that they’re not racists because hey, look, here’s a black guy saying that Michelle Obama is “…Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress.” NPR had enough of this nonsense and didn’t renew his contract. Out in the real world things like this happen all the time. Double-dipping is one thing, but if your double-dipping involves saying or doing things that really piss off one of your employers and make them look bad then you shouldn’t be surprised when that employer decides that they don’t want anything to do with you and decides not to give you money any more.
If Williams wasn’t a whiny little bitch he’d take it like a man. But of course he can’t take it like a man, he’s a conservative and conservatives are whiny little punks with massive senses of entitlement. And do you know what, Rick Sanchez, who was fired, is a class act compared to Juan Williams. Sanchez apologized and took his lumps like a man.
So, and I’m sure that Fred Hiatt will write a column condemning NPR and supporting Williams, assuming of course that he doesn’t hire him to be a columnist at the Kaplan Times. And of course William Saletan has taken time out from his busy schedule of writing articles about why women are having more anal sex (No, I’m not linking to it. If you want to you can find it yourself. Consider yourself warned.) to write a column defending Williams and Senator Jim DeMint is positively outraged and just frothing at the mouth about this (and everything else) and I’m just waiting for Sarah Palin to chime in via Twitter and make Williams an honorary Mama Grizzly. Yeah, you’re in some fantastic company here.
Jacquelyn
@Just Some Fuckhead: I spit my drink!
RobChicago
I’ve got news for Juan. Most of his Fox viewers get “worried” and “nervous” when they see him — someone who identifies himself first and foremost as a black man — coming down a dark street. But hey, they’re just expressing their feelings.
Zuzu's Petals
@DaddyJ:
Actually it was the NPR interviewee’s point, but I know what you mean about the time travel bit.
Zuzu's Petals
What I find truly despicable – okay, even more despicable than the rest of his despicable screed – is his sanctimonious use of Daniel Schorr to validate his skeevy trip:
Yes, the recently deceased Daniel Schorr, who can’t tell him to go f himself.
The guy is beyond shame.
RadioOne
Wow.
Keith
At least he didn’t preface the statement with an “I’m not a bigot because I have some Muslim friends”
Peter
Wow, that does kind of sink Kain’s argument that he was, Sherrod-like, just trying to enlighten us on the dangers of bigotry.
Quiddity
Williams is trying to bridge a divide. The divide between fear and bigotry.
El Cid
What’s coming next: the right wing anti-NPR freedom frenzy will involve some threats to funding, and NPR will now hire in Juan Williams’ place some outright right winger, you know, to show their ‘balance’ to people who will never, ever, ever listen to them or donate money.
Terrye
Bigotry my ass. I have heard people on the left make some of the most ridiculous comments about Christians, midwesterners, red staters, Republicans etc…but Juan Williams simply says something most people feel and it becomes an issue. It is ridiculous. Some of the most prejudiced and provincial people I know are liberals. They judge everyone all the time.
First the government tells us to be more observant in terms of terrorism. What are we supposed to be looking for? Who are we concerned about?
A paper like WaPo or NYT will not run certain types of cartoons because some people {whose identities we are too sensitive to mention} might go off the deep end…but it is bigoted to mention that sometimes when we get on a plane with someone who is dressed like a traditional Muslim there is a part of us that feels some level of anxiety. My God, what a bunch of judgmental little hypocrites some of these back stabbing lefties are.
El Cid
@Terrye:
Show where a guest on NPR said it. No one gives the slightest shit what you heard ‘on the left’.
I also don’t give a shit what ‘most people’ feel, because ‘most people’ aren’t invited on the air to discuss their dumb-ass sentiments.
El Cid
@Peter: Sherrod was talking about an occasion in which she had reluctance to help a white farmer in need but she went ahead and did it anyway, not only referring him to an attorney but then following up when the man received no help from that attorney, in a way that had nothing whatsoever to do with her job, and then went on in the speech to say that she shouldn’t have had those reluctant feelings in the first place.
How anyone could compare that to idiot bigoted comments from Juan Williams, who did not go on to explain why his impulses were wrong, is just an example of Our Nation’s Stupid Discourse.
Pug
@maye:
No, it’s moran.
Tancrudo
@recusancy: Yup, it’s the context. His “not bigoted” statement was in the context of an appearance on a propaganda network and a project to pump up the idea of a “Muslim war on America.” In appearing and giving support to this propaganda project, he harmed NPR by giving the impression that NPR condones or agrees with this propaganda. This is misuse of his employer’s good will.
Myself, I am also afraid of Saudis in typical Arab dress, but not when they fly on airplanes… I’m only afraid of Saudis in Audis.
HyperIon
@maye wrote: i’m not clicking those links for fear of a rick astley video.
oh, so you are aware of some internet traditions! ;=)
HyperIon
@Jon H wrote:
Me neither and I have been a real NPR junkie from the start.
And ATC is pretty much in the same category.
I emailed ATC recently concerning one of the Michelles’ tendency to gush breathily “always good to chat with you” when greeting politicians. Why not just say “Thanks for being on the program”?
Very sad. A once-treasured resource for fact-based reporting has been severely degraded.
DaddyJ
@Zuzu’s Petals: Oops! Pardon: my misattribution.