One possible devil's advocate position could be that feelings like "worried" and "nervous" are involuntary reactions. The crime isn't having a reaction or feeling, it is admitting it out loud. This squashes honest conversation, which, it could be argued, can't possibly foster a meaningful dialogue. It just pushes the things we don't want to think about further under the surface, under the radar, where they can fester unchecked and unexamined.

There is a not small difference between choosing to follow a religion and being born with dark skin. I no longer practice Catholicism because of the ugliness, the misogyny, the homophobia etc... If you choose to put yourself out in the world as a follower of some insane desert prophet don't blame the world for watching you closely. Juan is an idiot for giving Fox cover and NPR should be embarrassed for their inability to hire a decent right wing journalist.

Speaking of religious nuts.

that's a fun article to read... the folks in Texas will appreciate this part:

There aren't many good ways to end the sentence "I'm not a bigot, but...", but his could have been much worse. This seems to be more of a final straw issue than a big thing in itself. They'd been modifying his title and their editorial rules to accomodate his FOX appearnces for a while; it's probably best that he finally move over to FOX full time.

Ok, I'll chime in. First, Shawnee said "Anything could mean one thing or two things or many things or most things or all things. Anywhere could mean one where or two wheres or many wheres or most wheres or all wheres." To which I respond, what about silverware or tupperware?
Then Lamplighter said "Do Catholics, Jews, or Amish in their customary attire make Juan nervous too ?
Probably not." They don't make me nervous either. Of course, I've never heard of those groups strapping on explosives to blow themselves and everyone else up, either.
Then Griff said "Juan is an idiot for giving Fox cover and NPR should be embarrassed for their inability to hire a decent right wing journalist." I agree, but when did NPR start hiring right wing journalists?
And finally, Spudcon says "NPR has been totally biased toward the left for as long as I've known. Juan Williams isn't conservative, Fox has him on to be fair and balanced, along with Geraldo."
I still wanna know about Shawnee's Tupperware.

I made you say underwear. Oh, wait, no I didn't.

When GD George Soros gives 1.8 million dollars to NPR and that dumb beotch CEO of NPR says that Juan is crazy and needs to take it up with his psychologist, we need to cut off the public support of NPR. I have been a loyal member of NPR since 1979. I will no longer give them a dime until the rectify this situation with Mr. Williams. And this is our state drive for money week. National Pubic Radio gets only about 2% of their money from the government, not so at the state level. They get a much higher percentage. Further, today on NPR All Things Considered, what did they do? They did not just report on the issue, they attempted to demonize Juan by emphasizing his relationship with Fox News, not the fact that he was a loyal employee for 10+ years, not that he was often a voice of reason on a majority conservative news program. No, they chose to demonize their fellow reporter. I am absolutely pissed and insulted by the actions of NPR and that idiot in charge. They need to sack that bitch if they want another dime from me....
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How can you realistically call Juan Williams "right wing"?

The guy should not have the ability to express his personal feelings, many feelings that possibly numerous other people have, without being demonized and fired for those feelings after years of loyal service to an organization?

This is nothing more than another case of Political Correctness gone wild. NPR fails in a big way. I, along with countless others, have written them and publicly displayed my anger with this issue on their website. I challenge you to go to NPR.org and look at their report and after about 20 pages of comments find me positive and supportive comments about this issue. This is nothing short of character assassination of someone who had an affiliation with Fox News, they have been looking for a way to terminate him for a long time and that is evident. Nina Totenberg made comments about a religious figure, saying he should be careful because he might just get HIV and die and God will get him, or something to that effect and no one fired her. Can you say double standard? This just exposes the the hypocrisy and attempt of manipulation of the media message of the left and IMHO it is backfiring in a big way on this issue.

When he says nutty stuff like: Michelle Obama, you know, she's got this Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress thing going. If she starts talking, as Mary Katharine is suggesting, her instinct is to start with this blame America, you know, I'm the victim. If that stuff starts coming out, people will go bananas and she'll go from being the new Jackie O to being something of an albatross.

The key words are blame America a phrase limited in use to right wingers who imagine that understanding hate equals supporting it.

Ok, so back up statements from Nina Totenberg. All people say nutty things sometimes. It does not mean they should be demonized and fired because of natural feelings he expressed. It was handled poorly and I think NPR may regret this way they dealt with it. I have been a loyal member of NPR since 1980 and I am pissed, I will not give them any money this year. Who knows, maybe next year as well, at least until they fire that idiot CEO. This is nothing more than the fact they do not like the fact he appears on Fox News. He is a welcome and refreshing voice of reason in what is otherwise a mainly conservative news program. They should be ashamed.

He doesn't deserve you......

Word.

And for that, I am thankful.

Or he could just have been being honest...

But let's not give him the benefit of the doubt...

I mean he was the only black commentator on all of NPR.

Maybe they don't like black people.