Kenn, Omolola, Shola,
Just so I am not misunderstood, my posting was not an endorsement of the substance of Juan Williams's views. Rather it was an attempt to spur a conversation on how we conduct the business of dialogue. Kenn, implying that Juan Williams's articulation of his anxieties is "hate speech" is over the top. I don't personally care for Mr. Williams's views; I find him self-serving and pandering. I have been studying him very closely since the Clarence Thomas days and I find him exasperating. Having said that, I don't think he is half as dangerous as know-it-all white liberals who seem to know what we want. White liberals should allow us have courageous conversations on race, poverty, equity, etc, etc. Right now, they are mostly serving as eclectic thugs, ineffective foil to the semi-illiterate thugs on the right. As my late good friend Ronald Reagan would have said, they are so left, they have left America!
That is what I was saying, before I was politely interrupted ;-))))) And by the way, if NPR was convinced that Mr. Williams had breached his contract, they should have fired him then. It seems to me, they have given this dog a bad name just to hang it. That is what I call white liberal cowardice.
Be well, people! And Shola, next time you call me a member of the tea party movement, I shall make you drink one thousand gallons of the stuff!
- Ikhide
From: kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sun, October 24, 2010 12:52:57 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Should NPR have fired Juan Williams?
as a white liberal, i am happy to drive hate speech underground; i am also bemused at the support for williams who apparently repeatedly violated his contract with npr which forbade him from publicly expressing his opinion on issues that engaged news stories. he had broken his contract with them in the past, and this was the last straw, according to them
this is not the same a driving dialogue underground. it is a judgment that reporters are barred from practicing editorial work when employed as reporters.
i personallydo not agree with that injunction against reporters; i prefer bbc obnoxious challenging to guests, even when they are wrong, which has been the case in the past.
but my heart won't break over firing someone who tars muslims with the brush of terrorism.
friend ikhide, it is not a question of dialogue; it is a question of death. u.s. anti-muslim sentiments are enormously high; indifference to the destruction of muslims, and not simply armed militants fighting against u.s.troops, is widespread. halliburton for instance can slaughter iraqis with indifference, and courts cannot find them guilty.
the u.s. has decided to resolve its conflict with a tiny segment of islamic militants by completely conquering and repressing opposition in two countries, and in imposing its will on the rest of the muslim world. how many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are now dead in revenge for 9/11? more u.s.troops died in these senseless wars than died in the twin towers.
this is bush's crusade that obama is mired in. and juan williams's comments are 100% part of the ideology that justifies it.
so, it is not liberal, or white liberal, or political correctness that is at stake: it is the total imposition of a dominant war-machine mentality on the u.s., and indirectly on its allies, that npr is resisting.
ken
p.s. "as a white liberal" is ironic: liberals don't see this war as an expression of a dominant economic, social, military order, as i do. they are the compassionate side of that order; i am in opposition to it. they think bush was an aberration; the tea party, and juan williams, prove them wrong.
At 04:26 PM 10/23/2010, you wrote:
I don't think so. This is another example of liberal orthodoxy gone haywire. I think NPR should be stripped of its tax-exempt status and all her top leaders promptly fired. I would be interested in people's thoughts on this issue. White liberals are driving dialogue underground and that is reprehensible.
Read this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/21/juan-williams-fired-npr_n_770901.html
- Ikhide
- Ikhide
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Kenneth W. Harrow
Distinguished Professor of English
Michigan State University
harrow@msu.edu
517 803-8839
fax 517 353 3755
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