Bottom line: NPR has its own interpretation of sharia, and Juan violated it — and paid the price. My column today is about Bill O’Reilly’s recent appearance on The View and the attempt by such folks as Whoopi Goldberg and Professor John Esposito to shut down all any debate about the connections — and separations — among Islam, Islamism, and jihadism.
It’s also true — I have this on good authority — that NPR has long been furious with Juan simply for being a regular on Fox. You’d think they’d appreciate the fact that he is making the liberal case, intelligently, to a largely conservative audience. How else are right-wingers going to learn? But no, at NPR most people favor engagement with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — but not with Bill O’Reilly.
Juan Williams, as a black man, is not allowed to be afraid of Muslims, because Islamophobia is a form of "racism", and any attempt to protect citizens from Islamic terrorism is a form of "racial profiling". That's why he was fired from NPR.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI saw John Esposito's ridiculous testimony for the five defendants in the Holy Land Foundation trial. This man is living in serious denial of reality! The jury also did not buy that garbage he was selling - but they had the advantage of seeing all the other evidence the government presented in the case. Something the general public does not know because there was only one news reporter there for the whole trial.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMr. May, if conservatives are ever going to get any credibility in this country, they are going to have to do a couple of things: first, they are going to have to quit whining about the words and actions of their political adversaries; and secondly, they are going to have to give a wide berth to commentators such as O'Reilly.
It's difficult to defend one's rationale if the defense rests on someone who regularly goes bananas on the set claiming 'spin'. Well, yes, it is spin; it's just a spin in a different direction.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI was tempted strongly to donate this past week to NPR for their fall fundraising drive. Only the thought of my money going to pay for the constantly (at least on political/religious matters) infuriating Fresh Air with Terry Gross program kept me from calling in.
After this incident, I am reconsidering supporting the remainder of NPR's programing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAbsolutely no surprise here. The Liberal playbook is to espouse freedom of speech so long as it is in support of their position. Contrarians are not allowed into that particular club.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAmusing how NPR is so responsive to the CAIR crowd but they have pretty much shrugged of complaints of bias from the right. Oh well when the powers that be at NPR are looking for jobs in 2013 I hope the don't expect to get recomendations from Juan at Fox.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"NPR has its own interpretation of sharia, and Juan violated it"
This has to be one of the more ridiculous things written on this blog.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNPR ombudsman just stated explicitly on "Talk of the Nation" that NPR fired Juan Williams because of his role as a commentator on Fox. Apparently from her remarks, the lefties swamped NPR with outraged emails.
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