What else makes Juan Williams nervous?
So Juan Williams gets canned from NPR for expressing the feeling on Fox News that people in "Muslim garb" on airplanes make him nervous. Republicans rush to the defense of this Democrat leaning journalist and are delighted at the chance to bash NPR for hyper-political correctness. They move immediately to eliminate the miniscule amount of federal funding that the network receives. An interesting kerfluffle all the way around.
Juan Williams is a fine journalist. He's not a bigot. He seems like an independent thinker capable of seeing both sides of an issue. He doesn't use the tactic of demonizing or disrespecting folks that disagree with his opinions. His book Enough which took a critical look at African American political and social culture was principled and perhaps even courageous. He is certainly almost the only voice of moderation on Fox News.
Mr. Williams and his Fox News defenders say that we should simply look at the facts. According to them, "Muslims" are responsible for constant acts of terrorism around the world. This is undisputed and we can't ignore it. It's not bigoted or unreasonably insensitive to have these nervous feelings when Muslims are around.
Well then, if the conversation shifted to crime in the United States [[a kind of domestic terrorism) it would appear that Mr. Williams should have no problem with a whole bunch of his Fox News compatriots as well as any other national television journalist expressing their justifiable "nervousness" when they find themselves on the street after dark in the presence of black males ages 16-40. After all, look at the undisputed facts. This group offends at a rate far in excess of its percentage of our population. It can often be difficult to perceive visually whether a particular 25 year old black male on the sidewalk is a Harvard grad or recently paroled for the third time. This is all just like the "Muslim" issue. No doubt that Mr. Williams agrees that there's nothing bigoted about this kind of nervousness either, right?
Mr. Williams screwed up on this one. Indicting all Muslims when discussing terrorism issues is wrong. NPR screwed up too. They should have asked him to publicly clarify and apoligize for the disrespectful overbreadth of his remarks. If he refused, then maybe termination would have been appropriate.