PrintOctober 22, 2010
NPR Lashes Juan Williams
When escaped slaves were caught, they were lashed into submission. This was intended not only as a warning to that particular slave, but to the entire plantation of black servants to stay in their place. Liberals do the psychological equivalent of this to any black person who dares to leave the plantation of liberal orthodoxy. After working over a decade for liberal National Public Radio, Juan Williams was summarily fired, publically ridiculed and told to see a psychiatrist. Liberals have a proprietary attitude toward blacks and other minorities. When anyone one of us dares contradict leftist thought, they try to punish us severely.
Juan Williams is a self-described liberal and until a few days ago was a news analyst for NPR. That was not enough for his liberal masters. They required that he toe the proverbial line. There was to be no subversive talk in the field, no contradiction of the master's doctrine and certainly no roaming free to FOX News. On October 20 at about 4 PM Juan was called by NPR's Vice President for News and fired on the telephone. His offense was expressing his anxieties about seeing Muslims in traditional garb board an airplane on which he is flying. He was accused of making a bigoted statement.
One of my daughters saw a group of Muslims board a plane and sit in different sections. Their behavior caused her such anxiety that she got off the plane and took another flight. My daughter is not a racist or a bigot. We are black and have Muslims in our family. Are we to believe that it is bigotry to admit that the terrorist acts of 911 actually terrorized us? Signals which remind us of that horrific day evoke anxiety, a normal human response to terrible trauma. An entire flight was traumatized when a group of Muslims decided to have open prayers in an airport just before boarding a plane. The passengers became frightened by what seemed a bizarre display calculated to disturb those who witnessed it. Were they also bigots?
Two things are at play here. First, the far left -- which NPR represents -- does not have the same visceral reaction to the suffering inflicted on Americans on 911 because they believe we brought it on ourselves. America, in their view, is imperialist, greedy and militaristic. Therefore, we do not dare ascribe fault to any group but ourselves. It is alright to say "extremists" attacked us on 911 because America has its own extremists. It is not acceptable to identify those extremists as Muslims. Liberals do not view Juan Williams' expressed "feelings" as intellectual honesty, but as proof of his own and America's bigotry. That is the warped thinking of the left.
The second thing has to do with Juan Williams being a black man commenting on FOX. When a black person expresses a viewpoint which does not meet liberal standards, it is particularly egregious to the leftist mind. To do so in a venue which they disapprove, such as FOX, magnifies the offense. Liberals believe they have a proprietary claim on the souls of black folk. Juan Williams became persona non grata when he agreed to appear on FOX. Anytime he made comments not in keeping with the ration of ideas put on his plate by liberals, the stigma hardened. His comment about Muslims was the last straw. He had to go.
The way he was fired demonstrates that it had nothing to do with any objective assessment of his professional conduct. A man who worked for them for ten years had become a political enemy and they meant to harm him financially, emotionally and professionally. When a slave escaped from the plantation, it wasn't merely a case of one slave being a problem. That slave became a threat to the institution of slavery and to the master's way of life. The response was brutal or the slave was sold off, i.e., fired. The attempt to break free was a personal affront to the slave master. "After all," he thought, "I've been good to my slaves. Why would they want to be free?"
I have been saying and writing for years that elitist liberals do not like black people or other minorities. They only like the "good" ones whom they control. They like the ones who bow to the god of liberalism. Any black person or other minority can test this thesis by expressing a pro-life view, opposition to same sex relationships or doubts about global warming. They will find the liberal welcome mat unceremoniously yanked just as Juan Williams did. How ironic that the people who are always demanding tolerance have none. Maybe they are the ones who really need to see a psychiatrist.
I don't agree with Juan Williams about much, but I am glad that conservative Roger Ailes gave the liberal Juan Williams a new contract with FOX where freedom of thought is honored. NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting may no longer receive public funding as a result of this debacle. They will still be free to run an intellectual plantation, but not at taxpayer expense. Somebody needs to tell liberals that slavery ended a long time ago.
E.W. Jackson Sr. is President of STAND - Staying True to America's National Destiny, a retired attorney and Pastor of Exodus Faith Ministries. Email: stand@standamerica.us; website: www.standamerica.us.
