National Public Radio’s decision yesterday to fire Juan Williams is stirring up considerable animosity toward the partly publicly-funded news organization, and rightly so. Williams’ firing is as maddening as it is unjustified.
In an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor on Tuesday, Williams told Bill O’Reilly, “But when I get on the 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.”
Racist!
Except he prefaced this comment by saying, “I think, look, political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don’t address reality.”
Too bad that’s exactly what happened. Only the rashest political-correctness police could interpret Williams’ comments as inappropriate. They were honest, well intentioned, and made without malice….
