I'm with Juan
Juan Williams' interview on The O'Reilly Factor
His Wikipedia Article
I understand that it may not have been the smartest thing to say, but I don't think it was worth him losing his job at NPR for. He may not fit there well anymore, though. Maybe he has been hanging out with us conservatives too long. That's okay, in my book.
His comment that caused the issue was this:
Political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don't address reality. I mean, look Bill [O'Reilly], I'm not a bigot, you know the kind of books I've written on the civil rights movement in this country, but when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, 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. Now, I remember also that when the Times Square bomber was at court, I think this was just last week. He said the war with Muslims, America's war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don't think there's any way to get away from these facts. But I think there are people who want to somehow remind us all as President Bush did after 9/11, it's not a war against Islam. -- quoted from the wikipedia article.
It's October. So, it's only a month after 'Patriot Day.' That's the day we set aside to remember the victims and those who helped on 9/11. After that fateful day, we have a tendency to be very worried at certain things, especially in airplanes (even ten years later). Especially when there have been incidents like that Times Square Bomber that he mentions.
He's an historian. He's a journalist. He remembers. To him, it wasn't words on a page or a short 90-second video played over and over. He was probably involved in writing about it, researching things, walking through the area when he was allowed. He's allowed his nightmares thinking about what he saw. Humans process things this way. Even ten years on, a huge, pivotal event like that can remain in your mind, influencing how people do things. Soldiers from WWII still have difficulties communicating to some Japanese, German, and Italian citizens. It's a smaller version of that.
Also, for most of the interview, he was making the point that there are Muslims who are not intent on terror. That was his main point. That most of Islam is not that way. My own personal feelings and understandings of the nature of Islam aside, it's a good point. There are so many levels of understanding and devotion to their religion that you cannot say "all Muslims are ..." You can say "Islam teaches that..." Or, you can say, "I have seen in practice," but the first one is basically like saying, because you've seen a very strict Baptist church, "All christians do ... this." (Perhaps require their women to wear long skirts, or something.) No, no they don't. As I have stated several times to my friends, I've been a member of (or attended for longer than a month) most of the different kinds of protestant churches who ascribe to the Apostle's Creed (or the tenets thereof). I have found a lot of differences, even in churches of the same denomination. But, there are a few things that have stayed the same. It's the same in Islam, but one of those things is not the destruction of their enemies by their own hand.
My point is that people cannot have things both ways. You cannot send someone like Juan to report on a life-changing event, and expect them not to be changed. You cannot have an historian write about a set of circumstances, do the research and such, and not remember it. That's what historians do. Let's not penalize someone for doing his job in the first place, and remembering (oftentimes, remembering for us, since we can't be bothered to do so ourselves).
He could have worded that better to make his point, but he has an opinion, and he expressed it. He's allowed. It's America. If NPR had the same standards in the 60s, I think the Civil Rights movement would have been seriously hampered. It was people who saw things and made personal comments that made that work. His heart, his words clearly show later in the interview. He's saying not everyone is like this, even if you still remember, don't judge all of them.
So, for that alone, "I'm with Juan."