Juan Williams: "Muzzled"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-07-21/juan-williams-muzzled
Fox news political analyst Juan Williams says Americans are being muzzled -- from the halls of Congress to town hall meetings to talk shows and print media. The former NPR analyst said in an interview last year that he gets nervous when boarding planes with people in Muslim garb. He’s using the controversy over his firing to begin what he sees as a much-needed discussion about the state of political debate in America. Williams says censorship and political correctness are undermining our ability to have meaningful conversations and to solve big problems. Diane talks with Juan Williams.
Guests
Juan Williams
political analyst, FOX News.
Related Video
Diane talks with FOX News Analyst Juan Williams about his new book and the state of political discourse in the U.S. today. "On so many issues right now in this country, you can not say what you think; you can not have an honest conversation," Williams said.
Juan Williams talks about how his wife has spoken out about feeling uncomfortable around his colleagues at NPR, and feeling as if she was being treated less than warmly by NPR employees because she is black:
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Excerpted from "Muzzled" by Juan Williams. Copyright 2011 by Juan Williams. All rights reserved. Excerpted by kind permission of Crown:
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It's not political correctness that NPR stood up for when they fired Fake News commentator Juan Williams for his racist comments that played into the mob mentality of Fox viewer. Fox consistently reports and spins news that is outright false. A prefect example is seen at in this example: http://articles.cnn.com/2007-01-22/politics/obama.madrassa_1_islamic-sch... (Lies that Fox new reported as facts). Fox does this sort of thing on a daily basis. They are NOT conservatives. Conservatives look and behave like George Will or William F. Buckley, not like Juan Williams or Bill O'Reilly. But Williams original hiring was part of a disturbing trend at NPR toward right-wing messages being peddled as "reasonable." NPR continually soft pedals its pro-war message, as it whips up frenzies against our so-called enemies in Venezuela and Iran. NPR suffers from a serious problem at the top. The mission of NPR has been being undermined ever since faux news and pentagon experts became "legitmate" sources and common sense and folks at NPR actively sought to appease conservative democrats and and conservative republics by reporting the lies of WMD in the absence of any credible evidence. This was made even more apparent when Valerie Plame's career was destroyed because her husband told the TRUTH about the CIA and Pentagon's lies being pushed by the Bush Administration.
NPR also continually fails to report the misdeeds of the Obama administrations' wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, and Columbia/Venezuela. The BBC reports things that NPR just ignores. Juan Williams firing was a sign that there was someone who cared about news at the time, not faux spin that Williams and Fox are known for. I get nervous when fascists play the "victim" of political correctness, when it's their hate that got them in trouble. Or in Williams case a nice fat payoff from the evil peddlers at Fox.
MSNBC is partisan but unlike FOX they don't make stuff up. Fact checking FOX vs. MSNBC shows exactly who makes stuff up.
This joker, Williams, is trying to rehabilitate his image has a voice of reason. Too late, he has been exposed as another FOX puppet.
Juan Willams was on this show during the 2008 presidential election, the Friday News Roundup, as I recall. He was insistent that candidate Obama lied about his credentials in Obama's claim that he was a professor at the University of Chicago School of Law. Williams insisted even after Diane read a fax from the law school asserting Obama's position as a faculty member.
So the notion that Williams is a "fair and balanced" journalist who has been "muzzled" is utter and inane nonsense. I said it then and will say it now.
THANK YOU, NPR, for losing a couple hundred pounds of bigoted blot in the form of Mr. Williams
Thanks.
Juan Williams is a courageous, reasonable man whom I as a latina woman admire. He did not fit at NPR because he was probably more moderate than most there. Ms. Rehm and others are wonderful, but clearly have a left-leanding affinity, which is okay, but please let's not pretend here.
I will agree that Juan's firing from NPR was inappropriately handled and people have left NPR because of that. However Juan's move to tear done the only good news organization available leads me to believe the firing was justified. He has become the puppet for Fox which is not a viable news organization by any criteria. I am disappointed that Diane is publicly supporting this situation.
Ah! A huge slip-up by both of them! Diane asked a serious question... and Juan answered it honestly! LOL
This is very helpful to understand! Juan's wife suffers some insecurity issues, particularly about her social position (Juan repeatedly mentions how much people earn; perhaps he doesn't make enough to suit her?) and her own career choices (something he felt he needed to mention about social work).
So... logically... his wife concluded that people at NPR must be racist! Rather than helping her learn otherwise, or gain confidence in herself, Juan concurred with her irrational fear and... her as yet unacknowledged simmering bigotry. Wow.
Seriously: this is the clearest explanation yet for Williams' subtle hypocrisy, and inability to decide what he actually stands for. His wife wants him to earn more, her insecurities hold him back from doing exactly that, and he won't address her biases openly because he's afraid of her -- probably more than of any flying Muslims ;-)
Very revealing...
Diane,
While I feel for Mr. Williams circumstance, I'm reminded of the current 'zero tolerance' golden rules that most American corporations adhere to. I'm retired from a Fortune 50 corporation (Caterpillar) which went to great lengths to 'educate' all their employees in what is considered unacceptable conduct, behavior, comments and etc. We all understood and agreed to, in writing that there was zero latitude for debate or discussion on these issues and we all understood that breaking these 'corporate golden rules' would bring immediate termination!
What is NPR's corporate position on employee conduct and comments?
Mr. William's appeal for more reasonable, honest, moderate political debate is laudable. However, his willingness to diminish the importance of the Murdoch scandal is troubling. If he is serious about discussing important issues, then he should be willing to explore this scandal as evidence of the growing influence of money and political opinions in the news (media).
To "muse" means to think. "Amuse" means NOT thinking. Unfortunately, news has become big money a-musement .... simply entertainment. The disturbing after-effect is that public thought (or lack thereof) is moved by much of the outlandish comments made on "news" shows. Thank goodness for intelligent and courageous news analysts like Juan Williams. He is refreshingly honest. It will be a treat to muse over his book.
Sincerely,
Carla Hamm
Does Mr. Williams consider Fox News as a Conservative news organization? Or does Mr. Williams consider Fox News as an entertainment or commentary outlet rather than a news organization?
Juan Williams, I am not a longstanding follower of you or your programming but I've always appreciated your contribution to honest debate. I find your presence and contribution to news reporting to be intelligent and dynamic in it's analysis. I truly believe you were made an example of. Your firing was an assault against intellectualism in America. Yes, you are a black man however, you are an intellect first. Your mission has always been to push the envelope of honest conversation and dialogue.
If the firing was supposed to be an exercise in political correctness, I think NPR lost a golden opportunity to discuss the biological basis of so many people's "gut reaction". Mr. Williams expressed discomfort (or fear) assocaited with people who looked like they belonged to a certain group and (I think0 said that he thought that response was one he should examine.
I think we have many hardwired responses that evolved at a time when humans lived in small homogeneous groups that are counterproductive at best in our current mult-cultural, multi-racial world. If more people used the "big brain" also provided by evolutiion to examine our "gut reactions" we might make more headway in overcoming predjuces.
Juan Williams used to be a favorite commentator of mine when he was solely on NPR. When he started working with Fox, I figured it was totally a financial move, and that a guy as incisive as him couldn't seriously consider many of their (Fox) stances, and they are not even worth addressing. I've been watching a lot of Fox, and I feel like there is a level of pandering on his part. How can he be a part of station that perpetuates lies like Obama's birth place or religion? This station seems more opportunist than conservative. They are even more politically correct than NPR. Try questioning Israel's policy, global warming the church's role in our government. The challenger will get yelled at. The comments about NPR being elitist should be balanced with comments about Fox's smugness. At least NPR's alleged elitism is backed by real substance.
It was refreshing to hear Juan on Diane's show. I miss his voice on NPR.
I also relate to his discussion about being liberal or conservative. I face the same contradiction when people ask me if I am liberal or conservative. I am certainly progressive in terms of social policy, but conservative in terms of fiscal policy. Yet, we feel that we need single labels for people rather than the discussion of complex issues - as Juan said.
I was heartened to hear his view that NPR avoids many of the tough discussions (NPR and other news outlets) such as the lengthy wars we are in, the state of unionization in the US, the lack of respect for labor, the apparent "war" on women spearheaded by the GOP (including governors especially), and income polarization in our country (currently playing out in our Congressional fiscal games).
I listen to DemocracyNow in order to get a broader sense of the voices in America..certainly broader than I would get from NPR with the exception of Diane's show. I no longer listen to Morning Edition or All Things Considered because my perception is that their coverage is skewed toward the middle east (without the tough questions about our role or Isreals) and often surprisingly favorable toward the MNCs. We don't get this coverage from NPR anymore. Too fearful they appear to be. Why? Perhaps it is the political correct stance mentioned by Juan.
So it was refreshing to hear Juan today...as it is usuaully refreshing to hear the topics from Diane's show....especially because she requires civility from guests and callers.
My hope is that Juan can find a venue (since I cannot watch Fox news) that allows the NPR listeners to again have his perspectives on a more frequent basis.
Although I certainly appreciate Mr. Williams comments and agree in general with the overly cautious nature of expression prevalent in the world in which we live I have to take exception to his comments relating to religion. He stated that he believes that religious belief also stifles "honest debate" by limiting the scope within which that debate can occur. He offered as an example debates relating to gay marriage and how ones religious perceptions can predetermine ones response to such an issue.
However it seems inconsistent (even contradictory) to state that one should not be muzzled or kept from expressing ones position and then to state that ones opinion has no place in "honest debate" when that opinion is informed and expressed from the perspective of religious belief. Is it even realistic to expect that ones beliefs should not effect ones words and actions? Does Mr. Williams really believe that he has some corner on objectivity in which he has no preconceptions, no beliefs which inform his opinions and actions? It's simply absurd. Religious belief may indeed limit the scope of a discussion but it does not eliminate it or render it dishonest. And it certainly cannot be said that you are not muzzeling one of faith when you refuse to let them express their position or exclude them from a debate merely because you don't agree with the underlying beliefs behind their opinions.
Rehm was predictably easy on Williams, who didn't have much new to say beyond truisms about political correctness.
His account of his firing was partial, self-serving and paranoid. I don't think NPR should have fired him, but it's not because he wasn't wrong and didn't cross the line.
Williams has yet to acknowledge what was wrong with what he said about Muslims, namely that he implied it's *rational* to have a fear of Muslims on a plane, a point he made in support of O'Reilly. Basic facts and simple math show that it's not rational. Acknowledging his fear as irrational would have been an entirely different matter than what he actually said, and has continued to say. It's not political correctness to criticize that aspect of his view.
Further, he didn't mention that he had a long record of saying inflammatory things at Fox, that he generated by far the most complaints to NPR for years, as pointed out by NPR's Ombudsman at the time. His claim that the firing was due to his working at Fox rather than what he *said* there doesn't make sense next to the fact that Liasson has long worked there too. Again, I don't think he should have been fired, but he was screwing up.
Though he denies it was a factor now, in the past he has also insinuated there was a racial element to his firing. Glad to see he's gotten past that. If race had any role in his employment at NPR, it would more likely be what got him hired and protected his job despite his poor behavior at Fox. (And he was not the only back male on air for NPR, as David Folkenflik (I think) has pointed out.)
Meg - interesting point. However, since I imagine you believe in evolution, then you must acknowledge that these responses got hardwired in to the brain because they had an advantage of preserving our genes. Not only for our distant ancestors - but even for we moderns, it's an unfortunate FACT that there are some groups which are not like us - who WOULD do us harm.
If you deny that, then how do you dispute the statistics that in certain neighborhoods there ARE certain groups that commit more crimes. I would dare you to fearlessly take a walk at night by yourself in a gang-infested LA area!
Juan Williams claims to have been punished by NPR for engaging in the honest exploring of sensitive issues.
Yet, throughout this interview he continually engaged in the same old verbal bobbing, weaving, feinting, and ducking so familiar to any of us who've paid attention the last few years.
If he truly wants to explore and expose sensitive, "politically correct" positions on certain issues, he won't insist on doing it in a Fox-News style way. I was embarrassed---for him.
It's really kind of a shame almost nobody on the right seems to be able to present or defend their convictions or positions with any kind of fact-based reasoning or intellectual courage.
They might even occasionally have a valid point, but it gets lost in all the emotional dust kicked up by people like Juan Williams.
looking for tru... wrote:
"Carl Bernstein's NEWSWEEK article about Murdoch's decades of political influence in Britain and more recently in the U.S. describes a serious threat to democracy. Does Mr. Williams recognize this threat?"
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Please. Woodward & Bernstein sold The Washington Post property Watergate notes and other papers to the University of Texas for $5 million. Bernstein also took credit for contributing to "The Final Days," a recounting of the concluding months of the Nixon presidency, when Woodward denied Bernstein had any contributions to the book and did not want to list Bernstein as a co-author. Both NEEWSWEEK, which was sold for $1, and Bernstein have scant credibility.
MDavey wrote:
"Juan Williams claims to have been punished by NPR for engaging in the honest exploring of sensitive issues."
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He was fired from NPR. Did you want NPR to have him arrested? On the other hand, Nina Totenberg, the NPR/PBS hate-spewing harpy, is still picking up her pay check from NPR. This is the women who said;
She wants god to give Jesse Helms AIDS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INKQwUHE510
Here we have Charles Krauthammer confronting Totenberg with her NPR hypocrisy. Totenberg is actually a correspondent, not an analyst, as was Juan Williams.
http://storyballoon.org/blog/2010/10/25/krauthammer-calls-pbs-hypocrisy-...
Last Thursday, Grover Norquist...
Today, Juan Williams...
Are Thursdays the new "bring a conservative to work" day or is Fox News renting air space in WAMU?
MtnMig wrote:
"MSNBC is partisan but unlike FOX they don't make stuff up. Fact checking FOX vs. MSNBC shows exactly who makes stuff up."
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MSNBC could give seminars on how to make up outrageous stuff. Rachel Maddow constantly reported with breathless hysteria that a "right-winger" had murdered census taker Bill Sparkman. The day the FBI reported that Sparkman had committed suicide, Maddow was conspicuously absent from her own program. It was left to guest host Howard Dean to inform the scant MSNBC viewers this revelation.
Misquoting:
Ms. Totenberg was talking in a show as an analyst, not reporting news, and her actual quote in that link is:
"if there is retributive justice, he'll get AIDS from a transfusion"
Given Jesse Helm's hateful trajectory throughout his life and his public position and statements regarding AIDS, Ms. Totenberg's statement, though metaphorically hypothetical, is rather subdued.
reasonableleft wrote:
"Last Thursday, Grover Norquist...
Today, Juan Williams...
Are Thursdays the new "bring a conservative to work" day or is Fox News renting air space in WAMU?"
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Hate to break it to you, but Juan Williams is a liberal. But you did stumble on one fact; the only way a conservative gets on the liberal NPR public airwaves is if they are a guest. NPR does not hire conservative hosts.
Muzzled, Oh, please.
How is it muzzled for a guy to lose one job for making a mildly bigoted remark when he's rewarded with a book contract and a fat Fox contract with a big microphone to a national audience.
I don't agree with how NPR threw you under the bus but give me a break, Juan.
You're able to say whatever you want on Fox.
You're not muzzled. Man up and stop whining like a crybaby in a wet diaper.
Rick Evans
Lat 42.185 Lon 71.076
reasonableleft wrote:
"Misquoting:
Ms. Totenberg was talking in a show as an analyst, not reporting news, and her actual quote in that link is:
"if there is retributive justice, he'll get AIDS from a transfusion."
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Ah, you left out this gem from Totenberg's quote:
"He ought ot be worried about what's going on in the good Lord's mind..."
Totenberg is an NPR news correspondent and PBS analyst. Juan Williams was an NPR analyst and is a FOX News pundit. He was talking on FOX News' Bill O'Reilly show as a pundit, not a reporter. Your erroneous "correction" about Totenberg's quote is a distinction without a difference. if Juan had said what Totenberg said he would still be working at NPR.
You characterize Totenberg's comments as "subdued," but Juan saying he fears flying with people in Muslim garb as outrageous? Totenberg wanted a U.S. Senator to die, and Juan spoke about his personal fear. One is fired from NPR, the other is celebrated at NPR. This speaks volumes about NPR's target audience.
rickevans033050 wrote:
"Muzzled, Oh, please.
You're able to say whatever you want on Fox.
You're not muzzled. Man up and stop whining like a crybaby in a wet diaper."
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The question is what does what Juan had to say on FOX News have to do with what he says on NPR? Obviously, NPR couldn't care less about what the hate-spewing harpy Nina Totenberg says on PBS, so why does NPR get colic about what Juan says on FOX News?
People never cease to amaze me with thier personal attacks of others. Seems like such an unproductive waste of time and leaves me with a heavy heart. There really should be HS courses on how to disagree without being disrespectful. I am a democrat and don't find much value in most FOX news shows, but as a regular listener of NPR I always enjoyed listening to the general reporting and opinions that Mr. Williams gave. I think NPR messed up in their handling of his firing. Furthermore, I don't want to tune into any type political debate if both sides aren't represented and interacting in positive manner. I think to be legitimate, NPR needs to have more of the republican view point represented.
Murdoch's errand-boy sent out to disperse mixed messages on his "muzzling" extremist employer.
It pays well. That's about the only concern a Fox employee would have about democratic values.
I used to listen to everything Mr Williams said -- all his commentaries, etc. But since he was let go by NPR, he has gotten so anger. Maybe Fox has rubbed off on him. I really do want to hear from / about Mr Williams anymore. His anger is just so evident.