So basically, Juan Williams meant what he said.
NPR’s Juan Williams sort of apologized today for the comment he made on Fox News about feeling nervous when seeing a person in Muslim garb getting onto a plane.
Juan Williams went on “Good Morning America,” where George Stephanopoulos asked, “Should you have gone the extra step and said, ‘Listen, they’re irrational, they are feelings I fight?’”
As Washington Post writer Greg Sargent pointed out, Williams should have identified in his initial comment on Fox News that this feeling of nervousness he gets in the presence of Muslims at airports has unfortunately become an instinctual one crafted by a bigoted society.
One can only hope that this is what he meant, and whether or not this was his intent it at least serves to highlight the notion that fear of Muslims through a misled society is both extremely prevalent and unmerited. Extremism is not transposable with Islam.
Williams’s response to Stephanopoulos barely, if at all, acknowledged this message:
Yeah, I could have done that. In fact, I think it’s very important to sort of parse this. What I said was, that if I’m at the gate at an airport and I see people who are in Muslim garb who are first and foremost identifying themselves as Muslims and in the aftermath of 9/11, I am taken aback, I have a moment of fear and it is visceral, it’s a feeling and I don’t say, “I’m not getting on the plane.” I don’t say, “You must go through additional security.” I don’t say I want to discriminate against these people, no such thing occurs. So to me, it was admitting that I have this notion, this feeling in the immediate moment.
While he is saying that he was admitting to having these intrinsic fears about Muslims, he’s not identifying why that is and why it’s wrong, and that should be entirely the point of his argument.
Why wouldn’t he think it was a bad idea to say he was afraid of Muslims without directly acknowledging the fact that this fear is bigoted, whether intentionally or not? It seems as though he left off half of his argument, and unfortunately it was the intelligent half that would have kept him his job with NPR.
But don’t feel too bad for unemployed Juan Williams, Fox News just offered him a $2 million contract along with a big “up yours” to NPR and the Muslim community.
October 25, 2010 at 2:51 pm, Why You Shouldn’t Vote… Ever | Death and Taxes said:
[...] Trever Rees-Jones of American Crossroads (a 527 organization led by Karl Rove), or more prominently Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, his perpetual motion machine of corporate pitch [...]
October 25, 2010 at 7:41 pm, DFMF said:
Colleen, once again we are treated to another excerpt of the fairy tale that is your liberal dream world. If you say for one moment that you would feel no visceral rush, either intentional or unintentional and no matter how fleeting, while watching men dressed in full Muslim garb board the same airplane as you, then you are simply being disingenous.
Let's clear up some of your confusion first. Of course not all Muslims are extremist terrorists, but ALL of the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 were Muslims. That is an indisputable fact. It is unfortunate for the millions of peaceful Muslims around the world that the TERRORISTS forced a connection to be made between Islam and terrorism. Juan Williams did not slam three passenger planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon – Islamic militants did. No matter how much you want to deny this, it is the truth. Muslims did kill nearly 3,000 Americans on our home soil that day using passenger jets as guided missiles. In light of this, I think Juan can be forgiven for having the courage to admit that sometimes he does an innocent double-take when boarding an airplane.
The great thing about undereducated liberals like yourself is that you have no qualms wagging your finger and chastising other people for their behaviors all while blissfully living out your own distinct set of hypocrisies. How many dark alleys in Harlem have you confidently strolled down at 2 AM? How many times have you assumed that someone with conservative ideals is just another racist bible-thumper? How many times have you snickered with your progressive pals that all Tea Party members are a bunch of inbred rednecks? Were you as offended by Barack Hussein Obama's bigoted statement regarding gay marriage as you were by Juan Williams' honest admission that he feels a momentary rush of nervousness when he sees a Muslim boarding his airplane? In case you forgot, here is BHO's statement on same-sex marriage: “I do not support gay marriage. Marriage has religious and social connotations, and I consider marriage to be between a man and a woman.” Where is your outrage over such a bigoted comment?
There are (and always will be) people in the world who do NOT want to spend their days holding your hand, singing peace songs, playing hackey-sack, and raving about the latest Starbucks flavors. For all of your pompous, self-righteous liberal bravado, even you must realize that the Muslim hijackers of 9/11 and their associates would have GLADLY watched you burn to a crisp if you were trapped in either the North or South tower on that fateful morning, regardless of how badly you wish to crucify people for their various bigotries. Juan Williams admitted to a private feeling upon which he NEVER acted – never once did he refuse to be seated, demand the Muslims be removed from the plane, or act in any other outwardly hostile way toward them. All he is guilty of in this case is a heightened sense of vigilance due to an unfortunate connection made by the TERRORISTS of September 11.
Instead of sitting high in your sanctimonious tower of judgment, you should wander out of the liberal halls of academia and learn a little something about the REAL world. Everyone has prejudices. Even you. Intelligent people admit they have them and do their best to work around them. The rest write snarky, condescending “articles” on the web and try to pass it off as profound commentary.
November 09, 2010 at 12:05 am, Mother of Invention said:
Where in Ms. Stufflebeam's article did she mention hackey sac, peace songs, and Starbucks? And, what does your reference to them have anything to do with rebutting her article? And, whom does she wish to crucify? Talk about a sanctimonious tower of judgment, and a need to get out into the real world. GOP college kids play hackey sack at Christian colleges, peace songs come from around the world, and suits stop in for latte at Starbucks on Wall Street. I know, I've seen them all. Maybe YOU should get out, get educated, and not attack educated young women from New York City with your blanket prejudice and poorly thought out political punditry. PS Oh, and Colleen uses her REAL NAME, you fat mouthed coward.