Juan Williams Terminated From NPR

(Fox News) On Wednesday, Juan Williams, who's worked at NPR (National Public Radio) for 10 years, was fired for his comments on the O'Reilly Factor he made Monday night, when he said when he's on an airplane and he sees Muslim dressed in their traditional garb, it makes him nervous to fly on an airplane with them.  Williams, who was on the O'Reilly Factor yesterday evening, said, "They take something totally out of context," Williams said Thursday night, adding that his point was that Americans must come to grips with their prejudices.  "I have always thought of journalism, in a way, as a priesthood, you honor it and you protect it," he said, before criticizing his former employer.  "These people don't have any sense of righteousness, of what's right here.  They're self-righteous."  "I don't fit in their box," he said.  "I'm an unpredictable black liberal."  Williams said NPR wanted to get rid of him because he's a Fox News contributor.  Williams is a guest on the O'Reilly Factor on Monday evenings and he's also a guest on Hannity on Wednesday's "Great American Panel. 

Fox News has re-signed Juan Williams to an expanded role with the network in a multi-year deal," according to Roger Ailes, chairman and chief executive officer of Fox News.  Ailes, in making his announcement, said, "Juan has been a staunch defender of liberal viewpoints since his tenure began at Fox News in 1997.  He's an honest man whose freedom of speech is protected by Fox News on a daily basis."  NPR terminated Williams in the wake of a discussion he had with Bill O'Reilly concerning the dilemma between fighting jihadists and fears about average Muslims.  "I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot.  You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country," Williams said Monday.  "But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried.  I get nervous." 

Williams also commented on remarks by Times Square Bomber Faisal Shahzad warning Ameridans that the fight is coming to the U.S.  "He said the war with Muslims, America's war is just beginning, first drop of blood.  I don't think there's any way to get away from these facts," Williams said.  NPR issued a statement Wednesday night saying that it was "terminating Williams' contract over the remarks.  "Tonight we gave Juan Williams notice that we are terminating his contract as a senior news analyst for NPR News," CEO Vivian Schiller and Senior Vice President for News Ellen Weiss said in a statement.  "Juan has been a valuable contributor to NPR and public radio for many years and we did not make this decision lightly or without regret.  However, his remarks on "The O'Reilly Factor" this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR," they said.  "We regret these circumstances and thank Juan Williams for his many years of service to NPR and public radio." 

Williams said on the O'Reilly Factor that this decision was made up the chain and he didn't even have a chance to do this eyeball to eyeball, person to person, and have a conversation.  They told Williams he was fired from NPR over the phone.  Williams said he said exactly what he meant because that's the fear he has when he's on airplanes with Muslims on them.  He said he has a moment of anxiety given what happened on 9/11.  I guarantee you he's not the only one that feels this way.  If I was on an airplane and several Muslims were on board, I would be very apprehensive myself.  That's due to what took place on 9/11.  There was nothing bigoted about what Williams said. 

Williams, a liberal African-American commentator who has written extensively on civil rights in America, previously got in trouble with NPR for comments he made while appearing on "The O'Reilly Factor" in February 2009.  At the time, he described first lady Michelle Obama as having a "Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress thing going."  Carmichael was a black activitist in the 1960's who coined the phrase "Black power."  After that Carmichael quote, Williams' position at NPR was changed from staff correspondent to national analyst.

What you're seeing is a case of political correctness run amok.  I saw on Fox News yesterday that billionaire George Soros has donated over a billion dollars to NPR and other liberal think tanks.  They want to oust those from the media that don't think according to their politically correct views.  Today, you can hardly say anything negative about Muslims whatsoever, or else you will be ousted if you work for some media network like NPR.  NPR is very far left in their ideology.  They express their opinions all the time.  I do agree with O'Reilly NPR was looking for an excuse to fire Juan and the excuse was that he's a contributor to Fox News.  President Obama and some members of Congress have been on the attack against Fox News because there are some commentators on Fox that are highly critical of President Obama's administration such as Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, for example.   NPR CEO Vivian Schiller needs to be ousted from her position at NPR.  Whatever happened to to the First Amendment right to free speech?  The First Amendment was placed there to protect unpopular speech or speech that may not be politically correct for the occasion.  Congress needs to defund NPR.  No taxpayer dollars should be going to fund NPR.  Let NPR compete with the other media outlets.  If NPR was defunded by Congress and they had to compete on their own merits, they would go into bankruptcy just like Air America did.  No taxpayer dollars should be going to fund propaganda such as what NPR spews out.  The problem today is the media has become nothing but an arm of the government.  The media is to be separate from govenment.  The purpose of the media is to make the government accountable.  The media is to hold the government accountable.  Instead, the media is a lapdog for the government for the most part; esp. the progressive media such as CNN and MSNBC. 

What's ironic about NPR's firing of Juan Williams is that Juan Williams is a liberal.  He's no conservative.  I disagree with a number of his opinions.  Whatever happened to Williams right to free speech?  I believe he's on the wrong side of the fence on a host of issues, but that's his right as an American.  He said something that was offensive to CAIR, a radical Muslim group trying to halt any type of criticism towards Islam.  Free speech is one of the great privileges we have as Americans.  We have the right to be correct or the right to be wrong.  Williams said nothing out of context that deemed him worthy of being fired.  He made a statement that I actually agree with and most Americans undoubtedly agree with.  America is a country where we have the privilege to debate in the arena of ideas.  I agree socialism and the big government agenda is wrong.  I'm totally opposed to it.  However, Americans have the right to spout off their views in the philosophy of "big government" if they so choose.  Instead of allowing for honest debate on political issues in America, the Progressive fascists such as George Soros are trying to silence those who are opposed to their worldview.  That's not what America's about.  We must stand for the right to free speech.  Those of us who are conservative in our philosophy towards governnment have the privilege to prove we are right when we debate our opponent.  America's been known for debating issues since colonial days in America.  Have we come to the point where America will no longer be the place to debate and share our ideas without being silenced?  I'm afraid we're closer to that point than we may realize.