NPR and Fear

A Muslim in his NYPD garb from Muslimswearingthings

Whether or not the firing of Juan "Scaredy-cat" Williams was appropriate (I personally think it was) isn't the issue. To call for the elimination of government funding for NPR (its only 2% but that's not the point) because Williams got the boot is absurd.

The attack on NPR served one purpose at least, I just pressed the confirm button for a donation.

Andrew Sullivan hits the nail on the head...

[Juan Williams] says that Muslims wearing Muslim garb are somehow more scary to him than Muslims not wearing such garb. Apart from the fact that this makes no logical sense when it comes to Jihadist terrorists (who all try to look as un-Muslim as they can), it also sends a signal to Muslim-Americans that there are appropriate ways to dress publicly if you are not to provoke fear. I don't like the implications of that.

One thing that distresses me about the plain meaning of Williams' remarks, and his justification of them by his own record of writing about the civil rights struggle for African Americans, is that he is implying that this other minority has to abide by standards of public appearance that his own minority doesn't.

He wasn't invoking his civil rights journalism to stand against stigmatizing minorities based on appearance, he was invoking it to allow him to stand for their stigmatization. He was creating a new other - not by endorsing removal of constitutional rights, of course - but by defending the legitimacy of being scared because someone is obviously "the other".

Michael Moore tees off on Fox's new $2 million man...

Juan, you probably remember in 1986 when the Washington Post Magazine ran a Richard Cohen column defending jewelry store owners who wouldn't buzz in young black men. It caused such a big controversy that the New Republic ran a bunch of responses to it, including one by you. You might find it interesting to go back and read what you wrote then -- for instance, "Racism is a lazy man's substitute for using good judgment ... Common sense becomes racism when skin color becomes a formula for figuring out who is a danger to me."

Lastly, the Gawker shines a light on the big picture...

More importantly, these people, these newfound supporters, Sarah Palin and Bill O'Reilly and Mike Huckabee and Pat Buchanan and Roger Ailes, are not your friends. They are using you, Juan. They are using you because of who you suddenly are: a black, moderate, journalist who was fired from NPR for saying you don't like Muslims.

Those credentials are extremely valuable for Fox News, and for the right wing at large. Because they can be easily presented in a way that bolsters the myth of the "liberal media," a myth which the right wing has used to shockingly successful effect over the last two decades, to systematically erode the influence of media outlets that they don't like. Respected, earnest, good media outlets. Like NPR. Now, Juan, you are a convenient tool in their furtherance of this campaign. $2 million is cheap, for them.