“My Fox News Sunday colleague Juan Williams has been fired by NPR for telling an inconvenient truth,” writes Bill Kristol on The Weekly Standard’s blog this morning. Apparently, NPR’s high and mighty can’t allow their people to express certain emotions or honest fears. Perhaps certain entire topics cannot be touched on.
Here, Mr. Williams describes what he thought and how he was fired for it over the phone.
Update: For a liberal take on this story, see Gawker. Max Read writes: “‘I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot,’ he told O’Reilly, and you knew it was going to be good, because who says that unless they are about to say something racist.” Help us.
Where did he ever get the idea he was allowed both to work for NPR and to think for himself?
Rush Limbaugh is talking about the NPR internal memo for how NPR people should talk about Williams’ firing. He says he was fired from a radio station once for being conservative, but the bosses told him initially that he used the word “therefore” too often and called his co-host “dear,” so he would have to stop that or lose his job. He complied as best as he could and lost his job anyway.
You know, Lars, we’re just fanning the flames of hatred and bigotry here. We can’t carry on like this. Is freedom of speech not merely a privilege of those who think properly?
True. If people said what they really thought, where would it end?