By Marshall, October 25 at 7:06 pm Link to this comment

“I didn’t mention Muslims - I’m giving you a simple scenario but your state of PC denial prevents you from actually answering the question.”

You did’t mention Muslims becasue in a thread about Muslims, it’s inherently implied.

“When you find yourself left of Whoopi Goldberg you might consider that it’s time to worry.”

When you find yourself at a tea party rally, standing among people holding racist signs and think you’re an average American, it’s even more reason to worry.

By Shingo, October 25 at 4:53 am Link to this comment

“Would you consider a group fo priests or Hassidic Jews to be gang members
Marshall?”

Obviously not.  I think you’re at least bright enough to know i’m talking about
“gangsta” here, which can mean white, black, hispanic, or whatever group
associates itself with that lifestyle.

“or has your Islamophobia prevented you from even asking yourself that
obvious question?”

I didn’t mention Muslims - I’m giving you a simple scenario but your state of PC
denial prevents you from actually answering the question.  When you find
yourself left of Whoopi Goldberg you might consider that it’s time to worry.

Juan Williams should have been fired. You can’t maintain the facade of being “objective” while holding prejudicial viewpoints about other people. But beyond that, Williams should have never been hired in the first place. Anybody who was paying attention knew he was a right-winger and incapable of objectivity. NPR itself has been drifting steadily right-ward since Reagan co-opted it in the 80s. They hired all these righties, like Cokie Roberts (again, disgraced since outed) to maintain “balance” in the news, as if we should give equal time to flat earth claimants just because they have another “viewpoint.” Lies and facts are not two sides of the same coin. Juan Williams has been a liar for the right since day one and now, since he’s been outed, he’ll go on to be a liar for Fox. Good riddance.

What is really scarey is not Mr. Williams comment but the knee-jerk reaction to it.

Political correctness is running rampant all over the Constitution and common sense in the USA.

Free speech ain’t what it used to be.

“How many of you walking down an alley would not be scared a group of guys dressed like gang members?”

Would you consider a group fo priests or Hassidic Jews to be gang members Marshall, or has your Islamophobia prevented you from even asking yourself that obvious question?

“To pretend that we don’t feel the same way when seeing muslims on a plane is PC BS.”

Who’s we Marhshall?  Not everyone is a racist, like you.

RE: How many of you walking down an alley would not be scared a group of
guys… To pretend that we don’t feel the same way when seeing muslims on a
plane is…

Right, “group of guys” - I think, hope they don’t jump me; “muslims on a plane” - I
think, what kind of black-op/psy-op am I walking into?

What’s more important is “What the Juan Williams Fiasco Tells Us About the Liberal Class”—-

The overreaction of NPR to Juan’s ill-considered, but otherwise non-existential comment, shows more about the gutless, complicit, collapsing, and occasionally stupid Liberal Class than about Juan or NPR in particular.

As Christopher Hedges’ latest and incomparable book, \“Death of the Liberal Class\” compellingly documents, the gutless and self-delusional liberal class of later 20th century America (most particularly the Democratic Party and the media) has been entirely co-opted, captured, corrupted, and is complicit with the ruling-elite proto-fascist corporate/

financial/ militarist EMPIRE, which hides behind the facade of its TWO-Party Vichy sham of democratic government.

Hedges makes the even more important and unique contribution that broad swaths of this intellectually dishonest and financially ‘kept’ courtier class now recognize the deceit of their treasonous turning away from working-class concerns, honest / empathetic critical analysis of the American corporate Empire’s crimes, and acceptance of the Empire’s monetary rewards for their support that they (the publicly recognized Liberal Class) now recognize that their own service to the ruling-class is irreversible, obvious to the working and former middle-classes, and will not end well for anyone.

Hedges notes particularly that specifically because of the deceit of this publicly visible, captured, and ‘used’ Liberal Class in assisting the corporatist Empire in taking over our government that the phrase \“Consent of the governed\” is now meaningless, and that we have been reduced to nothing but a disguised form of \“participatory fascism\”.

The public Liberal Class is starting to realize that their gutlessness, complicity, deceit and financial co-option by the Empire has been recognized and is turning against them—- and some elements of this Liberal Class are taking irrational, and chaotic actions (like NPR Executives) to protect their indefensible bonafides, but this will not work.

They have been discovered for the triangulators and strangulators of democracy (and handmaidens of EMPIRE) that they have been.

The following is the lead letter that I wrote my Boston Globe in January of 2001 in response to the Globe’s question of \“What will be Clinton’s Legacy?\”—- and the same legacy will likely apply to Mr Obama if he does not ‘call-out’ the EMPIRE:

\“Clinton’s legacy? It will be as the Neville Chamberlain of the Democratic party, and for the same reason: that he caved to fascism——not the old personalized, nationalist fascism, but a newer \“friendly fascism’ of global corporate empire.

Clinton tried to triangulate corporate fascism with a slightly friendlier version, which could feel our pain while applying it also. He learned too late that you can’t co-opt fascists by applying half their programs for them. They will only grouse and continue to do the second half with rougher hands on the controls.

Clinton has left America without the defense of a democratic party——without an opposition party to the rule of global corporate empire.

Clinton and the DLC hijacking of the Democratic party were a ‘one trick pony’, as proven by Gore’s loss.

Christopher Hitchens has summarized better than anyone, \“The Democratic party is not so much dead, as actually, visibly, palpably rotting on the slab\”.

Clinton, like Chamberlain stepping off the plane, is smiling to the crowd, while waving the death certificate of the Democratic party, which he has just negotiated.\”

Alan MacDonald

Sanford, Maine

How many of you walking down an alley would not be scared a group of guys
dressed like gang members?  If you say you wouldn’t be, then you’re either lying or
you’re a member of their gang.

To pretend that we don’t feel the same way when seeing muslims on a plane is PC
BS.

Had to add the following:

    Don Juan started it and got a $2 million dollar contract. So now its time to
express the same freedom of speech in using JW’s words:-

  “I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written
about freedom of speech in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to
tell
you, if I see people who are in JEWISH garb and I think, you know, they are
identifying themselves first and foremost as JEWS, I get worried. I get nervous.”
-

  ” Those folks are telling their troops to use Palestinian children as shields”.

shilling the global war of terror - clearly a rich asset

As often happens, Glenn Greenwald puts the whole
shameful hypocritical mess in perspective:

Quote

I’m still not quite over the most disgusting part of
the Juan Williams spectacle yesterday:  watching the
very same people (on the Right and in the media) who
remained silent about or vocally cheered on the
viewpoint-based firings of Octavia Nasr, Helen
Thomas, Rick Sanchez, Eason Jordan, Peter Arnett,
Phil Donahue, Ashleigh Banfield, Bill Maher, Ward
Churchill, Chas Freeman, Van Jones and so many
others, spend all day yesterday wrapping themselves
in the flag of “free expression!!!” and screeching
about the perils and evils of firing journalists for
expressing certain viewpoints.  Even for someone who
expects huge doses of principle-free hypocrisy—as
I do—that behavior is really something to behold.
And anyone doubting that there is a double standard
when it comes to anti-Muslim speech should just
compare the wailing backlash from most quarters over
Williams’ firing to the muted acquiescence or
widespread approval of those other firings ... And
then there’s the more amorphous but arguably more
significant self-justifying benefit that comes from
condemning “Muslims” for their violent, extremist
ways.  I’m always amazed when I receive e-mails from
people telling me that I fail to understand how Islam
is a uniquely violent, supremely expansionist culture
that is intrinsically menacing.  The United States is
a country with a massive military and nuclear
stockpile, that invaded and has occupied two Muslim
countries for almost a full decade, that regularly
bombs and drones several others, that currently is
threatening to attack one of the largest Muslim
countries in the world, that imposed a sanctions
regime that killed hundreds of thousands of Muslim
children, that slaughters innocent people on a
virtually daily basis, that has interfered in and
controlled countries around the world since at least
the middle of the last century, that has spent
decades arming and protecting every Israeli war with
its Muslim neighbors and enabling a four-decade-long
brutal occupation, and that erected a worldwide
regime of torture, abduction and lawless detention,
much of which still endures.  Those are just facts.

Unquote
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/ind
ex.html

My shock, in this case, was not because there was another incidence of public bigotry directed against Muslims, but my real shock came when learning that a black person, like Juan Williams, would get involved in this ugly bigotry against Muslims, playing in the hands of a known rabid bigot like O’Reilly, when as late as the 1960’s white Americans would say and feel about blacks what he said and felt about Muslims.

I agree that Williams has lost his moral compass when he started associating himself with Fox-evil propaganda outlet and with big-mouthed evil O’Reilly in particular.

So, I applaud the swift decision of National Public Radio to stop giving this latest bigot a forum and employment.

And good riddance stupid Williams! And may I live to see the evil propaganda outlet of Fox-non-News dismantled for their cowardly cover behind the fig-leave of freedom of speech to keep bigotry, misinformation, libel, hate-mongering and evil propaganda going on at a time when all Americans should form a solid alliance in favor of love, decency, mutual respect, understanding and civility.

In fact, if we accept for the sake of argument that there might be some one million Muslims in the world who are fanatic, dangerous and frighting, from among a world population of 1.5 billion, constituting between one forth to one fifth of humanity, and compare that with what white America has done, then the Muslims in general will come out as benign and peaceful.

In comparative perspective, considering what white America, constituting only 3 to 4 percent of the world population, has done historically, like
committing genocide on the native population, vaporizing entire cities with A-bombs, napalming millions in Vietnam, enslaving millions of people of color, helping Zionists steal Palestine, stealing the Western states from what was Mexico, and concluding with the killing and destruction they keep doing, in plain twenty-first century, in Iraq and Afghanistan, then the Muslims, in comparison, as a group should come out like angels!

good for npr…williams should never been hired in the 1st place…his mindless drivel belongs on fox “news” and it’s no accident they have “expanded” his role…there are real people out of work and this pompous twit isn’t worth any sympathy….

I find it surprising that Williams, author of Eyes on the Prize, would say such a
thing on the air.  As the author of the book, he can imagine his reaction to
O’Reilly saying something like he “gets scared when he goes to Harlem, black
men with baggy pants make him hide his wallet.” 

What’s interesting about Williams’ feelings, though, is how he’s come by them.
Media has a lot to do with shaping people’s thoughts and emotions, which is
why the media has to be careful and thoughtful in what they put on the public
airwaves. Journalism has safeguards for preventing these misconceptions, but
lately, with the rise of tabloid journalism and the hunt for ratings, media
journalism has jettisoned those tools and ethics.

I wonder what kind of professional development takes place at these media
outlets?  On almost most jobs now, especially white collar, employees are
required to pass harassment and discrimination tests, learn what’s appropriate
in the workplace and how to relate to people. I wonder if any kind of prof dev
takes place of NPR or Faux News? 

If Williams had rephrased his comment saying instead that “from the media, I
often get the impression that Muslims dressed in traditional garb pose some
threat,” he would have grounded the discussion legitimately.

Brilliant career move, Mr. Williams. You may have lost your gig at NPR, but you’ll probably get a promotion at FOX. Write a book quick, so the Muslim hating righties can turn it into a best seller.