Last week journalist Juan Williams was fired by National Public Radio (NPR) over comments he made on the Fox News Channel regarding his nervousness when he sees Muslims in traditional attire on airplanes. According to published reports, Williams had been in conflict with NPR’s management over his opinionated rhetoric on the conservative news channel. Though Williams now has fallen on the First Amendment sword and is playing the role of martyr, his comments were demeaning and incendiary at a time when anti-Muslim sentiment is running high in this country. He should know better and his rhetoric seems more an effort to please the suits in the corporate suite at the News Corporation than a sincere effort to spark a dialogue. Claims by many of his defenders that Williams was simply echoing what’s on the minds of many Americans, is just further proof of how deeply ignorance cuts in America.
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