NPR's Taxpayer-Funded Intolerance

One Muslim’s reaction:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304023804575566363119493650.html?m
od=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop


NPR's Taxpayer-Funded Intolerance

All Americans, particularly those of Arab or Muslim descent, should protest the
firing of Juan Williams.
By EMILIO KARIM DABUL

NPR's firing of commentator Juan Williams this week is one of the worst examples
of rush to judgment since 9/11.

Mr. Williams, whether one tends to agree with him or not, is immensely respected
by his fellow journalists and viewers alike for his ability to conduct himself
with dignity and respect in a field where extremes of opinion and low-ball
tactics have become all too common. He's mostly a moderate liberal who is able
to hear other points of view with respect, and he can be nuanced in his own
views.

In these times, Mr. Williams's instinct for finding both middle and common
ground is no small feat.

And for what offense has he been pilloried by the censorship squad of NPR? For
saying out loud what many Americans think—that he gets nervous when he's on a
plane and sees people dressed in traditional Muslim garb.

As an Arab-American of Muslim descent, I am not offended by this because in all
honesty I have had the same reaction in similar circumstances. In Berlin a
couple of years ago, my flight was delayed because, we were told, one of the
passengers, who was in a wheelchair, needed extra assistance. When she finally
was brought into the waiting area, she was covered from head to toe in
traditional Muslim dress and only her eyes were visible. What happened? I grew
nervous. I got on the plane just the same, but with trepidation.

Was my response rational? Yes and no.

It was not Muslims in traditional garb who hijacked those planes on 9/11, and it
certainly was not Muslim women in veils and wheelchairs. If anything, an
Islamist terrorist wants to blend in, not stand out.

However, it was not a traditional sort of terrorist attack I feared in this
case, but perhaps something unexpected: a traditional Muslim woman in a veil,
confined to a wheelchair, who was loaded with explosives.

That may make me guilty of an overactive imagination, but perhaps not. Not that
many years later, a young Muslim on an international flight into Detroit tried
to light explosives in his underwear.

I mention all this for one main reason. I grew up surrounded by Islamic culture,
went to Islamic events, and was used to seeing women in traditional Muslim
clothing, and yet when that woman appeared at the Berlin airport, I was scared.

That's all Mr. Williams was saying. He didn't say that they should be removed
from the plane, treated differently, or anything close to that. He simply said
he got nervous. And for that, he was fired.

The reality is that when Muslims cease to be the main perpetrators of terrorism
in the world, such fears about traditional garb are bound to vanish. Until such
time, the anxiety will remain. In the long run, it's what we do with such fears
that matters, not that we have them.

But regarding what happened to Mr. Williams, no one should tolerate such
intolerant behavior on the part of NPR. This broadcast network is paid for by
the American taxpayers, and as such we all have a stake in its decisions.

Anyone who cares about freedom of speech should protest what has been done to
this decent and fair man. And even if that were not the case, even if Mr.
Williams' views made him a detestable ogre to most, he still has the right to
voice them. For many Americans, NPR's consistent tilt to the left has caused
them to reject it as a viable source of news.

NPR often embodies the very things it claims to stand against: unfairness,
narrow-mindedness and reactionary policies.

I ask all Americans of conscience, most particularly those of Arab and/or Muslim
descent, to protest the firing of Juan Williams and to demand that public
funding to NPR cease until Mr. Williams's good name has been cleared and he has
been rehired (if he still wants to work for this network).

We deserve better from a public radio network funded by taxpayer money.

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