NPR's bonehead move

[Perd Hapley]

Juan Williams. He's a leftist, but that rare breed of left-wing journalist sometimes guilty of reason. And NPR threw him overboard for admitting his own fears. What boneheads they are.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/business/media/22williams.html?src=busln

But what about this phrase "Muslim garb"? Why has the archaic "garb" been plucked from the dust-bin to create this silly phrase we now so often hear? No one ever says "There were some Amish there in Christian garb," or "That is an Orthodox Jew in Jewish garb." People are dopey. 


This is not a duplicate thread. Williams was mentioned in another thread, which is now a thread about whether we should fear Muslims, so the actual incident requires a dedicated thread.

[MechAg94]

I think the "muslim garb" thing was smart on his part as he didn't actually say he feared muslims, 

I was listening to Mark Levin a little tonight and he mentioned that he would feel the same way, so would everyone other passenger, so would the air marshals, so would other Muslims. 

His beef was that this happened because CARE brought it up in a press conference.  He was wondering why a publicly funded radio network would worry about a CARE press release.

[Perd Hapley]

You mean CAIR?

[roo_ster]

Juan Williams did the unforgivable: he spoke what MSM-types really think and what shapes their actions.

All those cowardly editors don't refuse to print Mo-toons because they are afraid they'll get sent fruit baskets.  They don't print them because they are afraid Muslims are going to kill them.

IOW, the real Islamophobes are the MSM.

[Perd Hapley]

Nah. Juan is no hero of mine, but he seems to have the courage to speak his mind. Based on this, and past commentary.

[MechAg94]

You mean CAIR?

Yeah, but who CAREs. 

[Perd Hapley]

Juan Williams is a journalist/analyst who doesn't just fit into a mold of mindless leftism or rightism. That's why, by firing him, NPR shot themselves in the foot.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5618023

http://www.amazon.com/Enough-Dead-End-Movements-Undermining-America/dp/0307338231

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304252704575155942054483252.html

Tea party activists are surprisingly mainstream when it comes to their grievances about politics. They fit right in with most American voters who tell pollsters the country has been headed in the wrong direction under both Presidents Bush and Obama.