I've been hearing people say that National Public Radio's firing of Juan Williams for these comments is an assault on free speech:
People who say such things don't know what they're talking about. Let's review:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
What this means, boys and girls, is that if NPR doesn't want to be associated with the bigoted comments of Juan Williams, they don't have to be. They can fire him, and the government can't do anything about it.
What this also means is that if Fox News wants to pay $2 million for the services of a journalist who makes bigoted statements like Juan Williams, they're free to do so. The government can't do anything abut it.
The first amendment does not impose a burden on any entity to give voice to points of view they find objectionable. In fact, it's just the opposite. The first amendment restrains the government from imposing any such burden, short of extreme cases such as libel. That's what makes it free speech.
And make no mistake: Juan Williams' comments were bigoted. That's the real issue here. He wasn't confessing to that all-too-common sin of judging a book by its cover, and asking for forgiveness or resolving to repent. Williams was backing up Bill O'Reilly, who had said on ABC's The View that "Muslims" were responsible for the 9/11 attacks, a statement that's about as true and enlightening as saying, "Americans were responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing."
Could NPR have handled this situation better? Their ombudsman thinks so, and she's probably right. I do find it curiously inconsistent that the same people who love right to work laws aren't backing management to the hilt on this one. I also wonder where these free speech advocates were when CNN's Rick Sanchez made bigoted comments about Jews running the media, and was fired post-haste (and rightly, in my opinion). Or is the right to free speech being dumbed down to the right (and indeed, the obligation) to stereotype Muslims?
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