On air: Was Juan Williams fired for saying what many people think?
| 18:00 UK time, Friday, 22 October 2010
This topic was discussed on World Have Your Say on 22 October. Listen to the programme.
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It was for America's National Public Radio.
This is what Juan Williams had this to say during a Fox news interview which has lead to him losing his job.
"I'm not a bigot, but when I get on a plane, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."
It's taken me quite some time to sieve through the endless chatter about this on the blogosphere, Twitter and newspapers. I'm just going to throw some of it out there for you to make up your minds as to whether or not NPR did the right thing.
blogging for Forbes,
'There are a lot of good-hearted, intelligent people in the United States right now who harbor irrational prejudice against Muslims, and the fact that the sentiment is widespread - that lots of people, if they're honest with themselves, would be nervous if they were boarding a plane next to someone they assumed to be Muslim - doesn't change the fact that their reaction is bigoted.
Founder of IrishCentral.com shares Juan's fears,
'He was being undeniably honest when he said he felt a flicker of fear when spotting Muslims in garb boarding a flight he is taking. I do, too....But we get over it, which is a sign of our healthy democracy, and we will get over the Muslim "otherness" too. But we need to be as honest as Juan Williams in understanding our prejudice and discussing it openly. Pretending it is not there as NPR has done and acting so shocked is no solution either.'
But NPR is not without support. writes for the Chicago Tribune,
'It's not fair. We should know this. It's a basic tenet of human decency to not damn the masses for the actions of the few...Juan Williams' comments, however he meant them, were offensive. But the swift responses from his defenders on the right may have been, in what they failed to say, even worse.'
says he should have kept in line with his employer's values,
'I think Juan, with passion, spoke his mind. But if his contract with a left-leaning, public radio entity owns the right to squash opinion and bias while analyzing news, then Juan had it coming.'
Did Juan Williams just say ?
