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NPR fires Juan Williams.

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jmig

jmig

SOH-CM-2025
I hope I don't have to close this thread for getting too political. However, I have always admired and respected Juan Williams. He is a man I could have and would have loved to sit down with and discuss real issues.

As a white man, I have always felt that most Blacks hold their real feelings and thoughts from white people. I see this as bad for both races. Juan is a man with whom I think I could have sat down with and asked, "What is it really like to be Black." I think he would have been honest with me and we would have had real dialog. Both of us would have walked away more knowledgeable and empathetic.

It saddens me that NPR would fire such a man for being honest. I have just written to my local NPR station to tell them they will not be receiving my annual $100 contribution. I know that I am being unfair to them, but they are the only way I have of letting NPR know what I think of their management decision. Maybe if enough NPR stations complain, NPR management will get the message?
 
jmig,.........You couldn't have stated it any better.......
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I too am aggrivated with the way Juan was treated. I do not think he said anything inflammatory, or anything that none of us have thought as well. I mean I would have expected them to do something like this to Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh given the chance, but never would of thought it would of happened to Juan for saying that statement. I have heard way, way worse from people (in particular Ed Shultz comes to mind), and nothing happens.. At least he is going to be retained by Fox News, so it is not a total loss.
 
It really is a shame that PC has got to this point,Juan and I may disagree on our political views but he is by all accounts a decent and thoughtful man.Thumbs down to NPR.
 
Juan really got the short end of the stick on this one. He is very much in the left wing, makes no bones about it, and is very honest in what he says. It appears to me that NPR cannot tolerate this level of honesty. Last night I was watching Fox News. It seems that in the past two of NPR's people have made statements against Christianity, but they were not even reprimanded. Juan makes a statement regarding his own feelings about Muslims and gets fired. Definitely a double standard is in play at NPR.

If Juan wished to do so, I think he could sue for wrongful termination and slander. Anyone hear what NPR CEO Vivian Schiller said Thursday? She said that whatever feelings Williams has about Muslims should be between him and "his psychiatrist or his publicist — take your pick." So basically she implied, in public, that Juan has a serious medical problem.

Two things I do not willingly support, but I'm forced to support through my tax dollars; NPR and PBS.
 
I can't remember the last time I listened to NPR; I avoid talk radio while driving. I used to listen to science Fridays regualrly, but it's been a while. My point is, I have no idea what their contractual policy is towards their employees behavior. I have no idea what they're thinking, if they're thinking at all. My big example is the Tobacco industry; where in the 70s you could tell the simple truth: nicotine is addictive, cigarettes cause cancer, and the company knew both - and not only be fired, but liable for civil suit for sharing trade secrets. Quite frankly, I feel much worse for a Wal-Mart employee making minimum wage, whose family lives in a motel at weekly rates, and can be fired for saying "hell" or "damn" than I do for Juan Williams. I'd be willing to be Rupert Murdoch is going to give him a nice salary bump and stock options. I also have a feeling if I went on television and talked about how many average Americans get fired because something they did in their personal lives embarassed the company, and how much dictatorial power corporations have over the 1st Amendment rights of their employees, I'd immediately be accused of creeping neo-Marxism. I should stop there, if I start talking about cable news, the thread will be closed. If I start talking about religion, the thread will be closed, and if I behaved like I thought the whole linear Left vs. Right paradigm was sane, I'd be lying.

I have no problem with the concept of political correctness; only with the pretense that it's a new phenomenon. I'll argue that point to a nub with any and all comers.

JAMES
 
P.C. strikes agian. I enjoy our local classical music station on my stereo, but it seems the NPR news only comes out of the left channel..
 
Every commentator on Fox, and almost all of their 'news' is nothing but opinion, does not allow their guests to speak freely. They speak over them whenever the guest gives an opinion that the show's host doesn't like, or isn't in line with Fox's right wing agenda.

If Juan's contract prohibited him from making such statements then his firing is legal. If not, he'll have a day in court. But as pointed out in an earlier post, corporations are free to fire their people for just about anything. And there have been a number of people fired where I work for what they've said about the company. The company has also issued warnings to employees not to speak to the media.

Freedom of speech? Where.
 
I think some people are missing the point. Juan Williams made the statement that got him fired on another outlet, not on NPR. He stated that this was how he felt and these were his feelings. NPR did not fire him untill after a Muslim Rights Group demanded that they take action. I also am one that does not always agree with Mr. Williams, but he belives in what he says. As for those who say that there are no 1st amendment rights while working for the big corps., think again. Most of these companies have code of conduct clause. You go against the code, you get fired. For those that have not served in the military, ask someone who has about what can happen to them when they talk like this while in uniform. Somethings just cannot be talked about in a public forum while in uniform, and we all knew it. NPR just showed it's true colors when they fired Mr Williams. You can bad mouth Christains, just not Muslims.
 
I too have always enjoyed Juan.

Now, that being said, a commercial news outlet is free to dismiss anyone they want. I've no issues with that. The 1st Amendment applies to government restriction of speech, not private restriction. A point some folks tend to forget. So if Helen Thomas or Rick Sanchez say something stupid and get fired, oh well....too bad. They shouldn't say stupid things.

However, the fact that NPR, through Public Broadcasting Corporation, was established through legislation, receives government funding, and obtains access through registration free use of the public airwaves (something commercial vendors do not receive) changes the dynamic.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. I do believe It is time to review the whole justification for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The environment it was created to address no longer exists.
 
Gibbons said:
Every commentator on Fox, and almost all of their 'news' is nothing but opinion, does not allow their guests to speak freely. They speak over them whenever the guest gives an opinion that the show's host doesn't like, or isn't in line with Fox's right wing agenda.
Click to expand...

W00t! The truth hath been spoken. :jump::jump::jump:
 
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by Gibbons
Every commentator on Fox, and almost all of their 'news' is nothing but opinion, does not allow their guests to speak freely. They speak over them whenever the guest gives an opinion that the show's host doesn't like, or isn't in line with Fox's right wing agenda.

Kiwikat said:
W00t! The truth hath been spoken. :jump::jump::jump:
Click to expand...

are the mods just ignoring this political ranting? if so why.
 
johnh_049 said:
are the mods just ignoring this political ranting? if so why.
Click to expand...

That's not a rant. I'm not going to rant about politics here. Just because you don't agree with us doesn't make it a rant.

Besides, this political thread was started by a moderator... :mix-smi:


ANYONE who starts a political themed thread here at the outhouse should expect opinions from ALL sides to show up. Not just the "popular" opinion.
 
Much ado about nothing. He's not going to be sleeping on the streets any time soon. Fox is just making a big deal about it because they will jump at any chance they get to attack NPR. The 1st amendment argument is a poor one. He's not getting arrested or imprisoned, and NPR isn't preventing him from making prejudicial statements, they are just not allowing him to do so as a representative of their name.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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(was that political enough?)
 
Silence one of us, and you silence all of us! ..The start of CENSORSHIP?? all tax payer money should not support narrow political views held by anyone!!.........


I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
-- Voltaire,
 
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by Gibbons
Every commentator on Fox, and almost all of their 'news' is nothing but opinion, does not allow their guests to speak freely. They speak over them whenever the guest gives an opinion that the show's host doesn't like, or isn't in line with Fox's right wing agenda.

Kiwikat
W00t! The truth hath been spoken. :jump::jump::jump:
Click to expand...
If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, I do not know what else could be more so.

The thread was fairly neutral politically up to the point shown above. But while on the subject, I suppose the other 95% of the so called "News Media" being ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and nearly all the printed and net news outlets don't have a left wing rubber stamp agenda either huh? I guess not having control over the other 5% to silence the "opposition" just kills their egos. When people like those behind NPR and similar outlets do things as they did to Juan Williams, it saps away whatever minuscule amount of credibility and integrity they may have once had. Shame on them!!!
 
I'm not going to refute any of your guys' arguments on here. It isn't worth it. No good was going to come out of this thread to begin with, as sort of suspected by jmig in his first post. The second someone said something contrary to what the popular opinion here is, the thread may as well had been locked.

I'm not asking any of you to agree with our point of view. A little bit of tolerance goes a long ways though. :wavey:


All of these political threads as of late certainly haven't been good for the overall morale here. It is one of the reasons I took a few months off.
 
deathfromafar said:
If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, I do not know what else could be more so.

The thread was fairly neutral politically up to the point shown above. But while on the subject, I suppose the other 95% of the so called "News Media" being ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and nearly all the printed and net news outlets don't have a left wing rubber stamp agenda either huh? I guess not having control over the other 5% to silence the "opposition" just kills their egos. When people like those behind NPR and similar outlets do things as they did to Juan Williams, it saps away whatever minuscule amount of credibility and integrity they may have once had. Shame on them!!!
Click to expand...

Two deathly serious questions questions: 1) How does a single linear relationship (Left to Right) describe a country of 300 million people, representing a staggering number of beliefs, whose anscestry comes literally from all over the world, except by the criteria of the public relations industry? I personally perceive that as a set of total strangers who've given themselves the divine right to dictate my identity to me without a care as to whether I live or die, and I know I'm not alone in this. My name is JAMES, not "liberal" or "conservative". There is no network I perceive as my proxy advocate. 2) Where do the percentage points come from, and what criteria were used?

JAMES
 
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