It seems to me that debating Juan Williams’ firing from NPR in terms of the role of “opinion” and “objectivity” in journalism is missing the point. Williams has expressed his opinions on Fox News countless times. Other NPR employees frequently express opinions, too, as when Scott Simon wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal (10/11/01) comparing opponents of the invasion of Afghanistan to Hitler appeasers; it didn’t seem to set back Simon’s career any.
The reason that Williams’ discussion with Bill O’Reilly (O’Reilly Factor, 10/18/10) got him fired, it seems clear to me, is that he sounded like he was declaring himself to be a bigot—even as he announced that he wasn’t one:
I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. 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.
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.
Now, it’s clear that Williams is describing an irrational prejudice here: Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols together represented a larger percentage of American conservatives than the 19 September 11 hijackers did of worldwide Muslims, so panicking when you see a Muslim get on a plane with you makes a little less sense than worrying that the passenger reading the Wall Street Journal might have a bomb.
Was Williams justifying his prejudice or criticizing it? That’s a little harder to say. As you can see in the quote, he immediately links it with a bomber’s statement about America’s “war with Muslims…just beginning” as “facts” you can’t get away from—suggesting that he did not think he was just describing the psychodrama inside his own head. On the other hand, he does go on in his conversation with O’Reilly to suggest that all Muslims shouldn’t be held responsible for the actions of extremists: “If you said Timothy McVeigh, the Atlanta bomber, these people who are protesting against homosexuality at military funerals, very obnoxious, you don’t say first and foremost, we got a problem with Christians. That’s crazy.”
On the third hand, he did begin his appearance by appearing to endorse O’Reilly’s thesis that “there is a Muslim problem in the world”: “I think you’re right,” Williams began. “I think, look, political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don’t address reality.” When O’Reilly concluded the segment by saying, “to diminish the whole thing as the left wants to do [would be] very dangerous”—apparently meaning the whole Muslim thing—Williams seems to agree: “That would be hypocrisy.”
So you have to do some parsing of words to determine what exactly Williams was trying to say. (My best guess: People are right to be afraid of Muslims, but they shouldn’t get carried away about it.) But that was also true of Rick Sanchez’s comments that got him fired from CNN, and Helen Thomas‘ remarks that ended her 67-year career. In those cases, though, the speaker’s lack of clarity did not keep outlets from drawing conclusions and acting accordingly. Many of the people now condemning NPR for firing Williams took the opposite position when it came to Thomas, but the media principle ought to be the same: Bigotry is not just another opinion.
Personally I thought the most offense line was “identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims.” I wonder if he thinks that about Jews wearing yarmulkes, or Christians wearing crosses, or Sikhs wearing turbans? The idea that someone practicing their religion is “identifying themself first and foremost” by that religion is absurd, and obviously, in some cases (particularly women in the case of Muslims, in which case Williams is really off base since there weren’t any women involved in 9/11), what they wear is part of that religion.
I wonder if he thinks about someone “identifying themselves first and foremost as X” when he listens to Jon Stewart, who can’t go three nights in a row without reminding you he’s Jewish?
Hi Fair,
I like Fairs analysis usually. I think Fair is not considering the natural “fear of the unknown” which we need to counter daily. My thinking is that Williams was expressing this as it is with us all.
Don’t be in a rush to judge.
George
I’ve been listening to Juan Williams for years and have been disgusted by his obvious right-wing bias in his NPR pieces. I don’t know of anyone else on NPR who so blatantly shows their personal bias. This incident makes me wonder if Williams and FOX planned the whole thing. Williams says something on FOX that gets him fired from NPR and FOX instantly offers Williams a lucrative contract? Seems fishy to me.
Like Wowspring, I could not help but wonder if the whole thing was planned ! FOX is dishonest enough to do so.
@George McGinnis: I think “fear of the unknown” is the point, George. Williams was not pointing out that this was something to be dealt with, something to be controlled. He was going out of his way to agree with O’Reilly about the “Muslim Problem” and expressed his own fear (generated by their clothing, for God’s sake!).
Fox was all ready to hire Juan Williams. So suddenly he says something irrational and bigoted of the “”o’Reilly Factor”, a safe harbor for that sort of remark. He gets himself fired by NPR and is immediately hired by Fox. This has something of the odor of a put-up job. And could it possibly be that he will receive more remuneration at Fox than he did at NPR? Perhaps this wasn’t a firing, it was a promotion.
Jim, to further your analogy, by Williams’ logic, he should be scared shirtless about any white guy sitting next to him, given the history of black folks in this country.
Of course, he could always wear a lapel pin proclaiming he’s a “Big Bud of Bill O”, just in case.
Ijust wish people would stop referring to Timothy McVeigh as a Christian. His attack had nothing to do with being Christian. He was mad about gun right violations, as he saw them, in the Waco incidence. I wish otherwise educated people would stop just passing on this incorrect asertion. He was raised in a religion by his family, but he did not practice as an adult. He was just plain anti-government.
When is someone going to be fired for trashing Christians? that’s all I want to know.
I think this whole pathetical correctness junk is totally out of hand. You should be able to say what your fears are. If I’m a white conservative living on the south side of Chicago I may be afraid of blacks, but if I’m black and living in an all white community, I may be afraid of whites. Fear is not bigotry if it’s backed up by precedence. If nothing ever happened in those communities or to the person in fear I would say the fear is based on hearsay, bigotry and bias. But if there is multiple incidences of violence toward people the same as the fearful one then it is based on fact. Fact is fact. It doesn’t matter what color, shape, size, gender, whatever, you will be afraid of someone at sometime, it doesn’t neccessarily mean you are a bigot. People need to grow up and put their big-boy pants on. The world is so full of whining cry-babies it’s pathetic. Get over it already. People should be able to voice their opinion. It’s their opinion, that’s it, freedom of speech, get it. Good.
Correctly or not, a lot of us seem to be afraid of some other: a lot of Americans fear our president as a non-citizen or radical or muslim (or probably just as a black man). Juan Williams is not expressing anything particularly unusual as a sentiment, but shouldn’t the rol of journalists be to challenge irrational fears with facts (statistically, Americans should be afraid of conservative white men because they are the ones most likely to cost us our jobs, take away our rights, send us to war, commit acts of terror on our soil, kill us with a gun, etc) instead of pandering to atavistic lowest common denominator fears?
NPR’s only mistake with Juan Williams was waiting too long to let him know his regular appearances on an extremist program was unacceptable. His credibility on NPR was compromised by his being a regular on the Fox program. Good journalism for NPR requires that no on-the-air staffer can appear regularly on an extremist (right or left) program. – George Beres in Eugene, Oregon
I barely watched Juan Williams on O’Reilly and had the sound down a lot. What I saw was a man writhing under pressure to ‘prove himself’. He made some lightly ‘liberal comments’ and got the cold looks and cold shoulders from O’Reilly and company, and then he started to squirm physically. The creep was fighting for his job – for his ‘inclusion’. You have to pity this poor jerk – wanting to fit with the dominant whities – a tough assignment.
Watch his whole performance non-verbally (WITHOUT the benefit of comments from O’Reilly’s bimbo ‘body language’ consultant) and you will see a man sweating blood – to ‘prove himself’ to his masters – to avoid the backroom lash that I’m sure his has gotten frequently.
disgusting.
Oh yes, and by the way – just try having someone – anyone – on national media – say that they fear that the Jews are taking over and are to blame for the financial collapse of our country while the big rich Wall St Jews are sacked the money away – and, OH WOW – would there ever be such a nuclear explosion of wrath!!!
Some young black woman on an afternoon Fox (?) program (Oct. 23) brought up the analogy of Juan Williams saying that he’d be uncomfortable seeing a black man walking down the street and he/her would clutch his/her wallet fearing that the black person would attack him. No one blinked an eye at this analogy and it was then I thought that had this women brought up the Jewish analogy, e.g. – “clutch your wallet when a Jew gets near’ analogy, and the poor woman would have been dragged from the stage never to be heard again.
Let’s get our PCs correct and try out an actual open ‘contest’ of offensiveness. The question is: Would Juan Williams – or any other talk person – on any station or program – have lasted ONE minute talking about their FEAR of being fleesed – or screwed financially – by a Jew? Can you even IMAGINE such a comment taking place or the reaction to it???? Perhaps mentioning the their fear of the international Jewish cabal which controls the world’s economies. Would this result in a hanging perhaps? The SILENCE would be deafening!
I barely watched Juan Williams on O’Reilly and had the sound down a lot. What I saw was a man writhing under pressure to ‘prove himself’. He made some lightly ‘liberal comments’ and got the cold looks and cold shoulders from O’Reilly and company, and then he started to squirm physically. The creep was fighting for his job – for his ‘inclusion’. You have to pity this poor jerk – wanting to fit with the dominant whities – a tough assignment.
Watch his whole performance non-verbally (WITHOUT the benefit of comments from O’Reilly’s bimbo ‘body language’ consultant) and you will see a man sweating blood – to ‘prove himself’ to his masters – to avoid the backroom lash that I’m sure his has gotten frequently.
It is also interesting to me what the networks and everyone would done if Williams had expressed his fear of the International Jewish conspiracy – and how he shudders when he thinks that the International Jewish conspiracy is behind the breakdown of our country. Would the SILENCE BE DEAFENING? Would anyone say ‘anything’ – far less make it a national discussion??
Why ISN’t the International Jewish Cabal who control our financial system a topic of discussion – especially by our well known TALK radio and televison hosts?
Amerika is and remain a crazy country. All what you hear for more than 20 years is about the horror and fear of Muslim extremists and Muslim intolerance, the media treats the Muslims with extreme contempt day and night, always with the excuse that we can make the difference between a good and a bad Muslim, oh, yes? Look at the nations airports, see what they do to people there, to dark skin people, to turbans wearing people, to Arabs, to Africans, if they can make the difference why do they treat everyone like a terrorist?
So, now Juan Williams having a debate of sorts with a real bigot who looks as if he had had it, admits that yes when he sees recognizable Muslims in an airplane he is scared he is fired and his contract with NPR terminated. It seems that his reaction when boarding a plane should have been to go to greet them and offer them flowers and love and kisses. To tell them that what the media does to them daily non stop is a sign of love, tolerance, multiculturalism ((Merkel our greatest friend, says it does not work in Germany) understanding, reaching across barriers . . . would the media have reported it with a good eye?
LIke others have said, the fears that Williams expressed are not uncommon. I wish that Williams had the presence of mind (conscience? media time?) to analyze his fears one step further to understand what they are a manifestation of, the trumped fears of the ‘other.’ These are often manufactured fears (the ‘culture industry’) and they need to be processed by us personally and collectively in order to understand them and diffuse them. An opportunity is being or has been missed.
While I would not have fired him for this and it was poorly handled, I am glad he is gone.
Williams and the entire NPR staff that are also paid by Fox News should be prohibited from appearances on a cable network that is not news but infotainment and GOP propaganda. He was really fired because he crossed a line at Nice Polite Republican radio – he wasn’t polite enough in expressing his fear of Muslims. The right jumping on this is typical and another example of hypocrisy considering all the other journalists fired for expressing bigotry and their opinions.
In reference to your statement about the characterization of Timothy McVeigh… “When is someone going to be fired for trashing Christians? that’s all I want to know.”
It might go along way if some Christians weren’t pointing fingers at Muslims and refusing the suggestion that any Christian has ever done anything evil…that any other belief than Christianity is inherently evil. An uncomfortable number of Christian leaders seem to be willing to, on the basis of some extremists and radicals out of millions, paint the entire Muslim religion as evil. Perhaps it would behoove some Christian to mind their own before condemning all others.
The sad part of this is that Juan Williams should have been ‘let go’ long ago. I can remember listening to something he was saying over 2 years ago and thinking “my god, is that the best NPR can do?”. If he (and others) are ‘analysts’ our standards for analysts have gotten pretty low. If he’s just an ‘opinion’ guy then they actually don’t have a case this time, but I wasn’t aware NPR was that fond of opinion journalism. He never appeared to be a reporter as there wasn’t much factual substance in his remarks. Whatever qualities got him accolades for his books don’t appear to have transferred to this career. “Resting on his laurels” comes to mind.
I find it interesting that so much of the media is outraged at his firing. It’s quite obvious that none of them wants to be open to such action because there is no one in the media who is not opinion based. I’m not sure if their real objection is based on journalistic standards.
With NewsCorp’s recent million dollar contributions to the Republican party, any claim of Fox News being anything other than an arm of the Republican party should be ended. If Juan Williams was paid to work for the Republican party would NPR make him an ‘objective’ analyst?
The most important aspect of this flap, imho: it demonstrates the managed character of what is considered “acceptable” debate. Williams has served as a “liberal” voice for both NPR and Fox, despite his many obvious right wing statements, as others in this thread have noted. When he is fired by NPR for a racist statement that, while perfectly acceptable on Fox, goes beyond NPR’s pale, both CBS (Katie Couric on its evening news) and the New York Times in its coverage keep up the charade of the possibility of “free” debate by characterizing Williams as a “liberal” commentator. Thus, by implication, NPR has somehow constricted free debate by firing Williams. Of course, the debate on any of these outlets has not been anything like free. And never mind that “liberal” CBS’ and “liberal” New York Times’ construction of Williams as a “liberal” builds the right wing case for “liberal media bias.”
This works for all those who have been fired recently.
More and more people who aren’t PC are loosing their jobs and careers. Freedom of speech means you can say something even terribly offensive to almost everyone. If we allow corporations to ruin careers every time people working for them offend, we will have lost our right to free speech. Free speech means saying something YOU don’t like. It means you can safely say something that OFFENDS you and keep their job without fear. Loosen up people. Let others speak – even when what they say is dumb. Lets’ say everyone can say 10 separate dumb things before their career is ruined.
As I read this it becomes clear to me we should be concerned with EXTREMISTS, not with any religious person. I work with many muslims that think the bombers are insane. I work with many people that don’t like taxes but wouldn’t blow up a federal building. I work with many christians that wouldn’t shoot a doctor for performing abortions. I fear gangs of all sort because they believe in the law of the jungle or they believe their god believes in a violent resolution of a religious dispute. I really didn’t want to have to arm myself to protect my home from christians, hebrews, muslims or from the bloods, the crips, or the nazi militia. I would honor the second amendment and join a reasonably minded militia to protect my neighborhood, but I wouldn’t go with the national guard to Afghanistan, because I don’t live there. And I already spent my time in the service exerting corporate america’s will overseas. Yes I am a veteran that is not excited about weapons or war. I don’t care much about the flag, but I would defend the constitution with my life, until the conservative right distorts the document into something I don’t recognize anymore. Then I guess I’ll have to move somewhere that people are working together to improve everyone’s life then remaining somewhere that values only the individual, not the group.
I don’t listen to Juan Williams, or if I hear him I don’t pay attention to his name. I listen to NPR and not Fox News because whenever I turn Fox news on I feel like someone is trying to make me think a certain way, and when I listen to NPR they seem more fair and balanced. My bias is open minded verse close minded. I listen for ideas and enjoy hearing a good discussion of a conservative idea, but it is so rare to hear anything new on the right. For instance you can’t go to war and cut taxes and decrease the deficit. This has been adequately proven once again in the past 10 years, yet the right brings up the same lame ideas without any real discussion on Fox news or much discussion on NPR for that matter. If Juan Williams discussed these ideas than maybe he wouldn’t have been fired from NPR and wouldn’t now have a job on Fox news. I bet Fox pays better anyway. And I agree with Jack, a long conversation about our fears should be had … will Fox news rise to the occasion? As in the line from ‘The Replacements:’ I’m afraid of spiders.
Like Gary D., I don’t know that this latest misstep by Williams merited firing him, but I’m glad he’s gone. Rumors of sexual harassment have surrounded him for years, and while rumors alone aren’t a reason to fire someone either, I wonder how many female staffers have left NPR thanks to him?
Mainly I think anyone stupid enough to fear all Muslims because a tiny percentage are terrorists is too stupid to be a news analyst on any network (other than Fox, of course). People don’t wear “Muslim garb” (?!) to make a political statement; it’s just their normal clothing. And really, would a terrorist wear something that shouts “Hey, I’m a Muslim!” The 9-11 terrorists certainly didn’t. Williams is just an idiot.
This is a really bad article with really biased opinions and flawed ideas. That is not describing a prejudice at all first and foremost. So how you think thats clear prejudice is simply crazy. Secondly the point could be argued whether what he said was irrational or not. Was it irrational to say what he said? What makes you the authority on what is rational or not? He’s describing an experience and the feeling associated with it, based upon his education. Also there is no reason to think that what he said was a bigoted statement. Especially considering that he makes the point to say we should be careful not to develop a bigotry or prejudice against all muslims becuase of the actions of extremists. He is identifying with the audience and attempting to make his point clear which is not to stereotype all muslims becuase of this feeling associated with 9-11 terrorist attacks.
I never get surprised to find out that there are some people who can make such clearly biased articles like this and still have confidence in them. What this really is is an article which is an attempt to influence the society with crazy ideas for some crazy reason. Also, hes not linking a war on muslims as facts. He’s saying its fact that a muslim stated that in court as his reasoning for doing the bombing and that its a fact that the people who bombed the towers on 9-11 were muslim. Both of which are not bigoted statements.
And finally, its completely outrageous to fire this guy for saying something that; 1. was not an opinion 2. was not a bigoted statement 3. there was absolutely nothing wrong with to begin with.
I’ts only going to be a matter of time before the real bigots and people who have irrationality will make themselves clear to us. Your “irrationality” is blatently clear in this article and its bias is easily detectable. You’re probably not even going to read this but it is your opinion then that people can’t make a statement to the public even if it was an opinion if they work for a news station? Remember that clause growing up? The views expressed by the people on this program are their own personal views and do not necessarily reflect those of the management or the company as a whole.
I don’t know why conservatives should be upset by this at all. Seems to me NPR was exercising a “fire at will” option that is part and parcel of the “right to work” philosophy that the rightwing thinks is essential to the survival of free markets. Now if this firing is in violation of an employment contract both parties had signed onto, then he can take issue with that. Hmm, come to think of it, if there is a contract…this may have been the quickest way for him to get out of it to go work for Fox. We don’t know.
Regarding the comments themselves, I think the commenter who noted that this reflects, more deeply, the fear of the “other”, is spot on. Why should it surprise us if these comments come out? Fear-mongering is one of the greatest political weapons there is and is being used with great design and skill by the powerful. The second part of that design is, once the fear and resulting hatred are established, it’s a pretty easy task to direct people toward the “enemy” you want. With the corporate powerful, the goal is usually to have us turn against each other. Keeps us from focusing on them while they robbing us blind and taking over our government and courts. Best weapons they’ve got are think tanks full of psychologists and advertisers and linguists all figuring out how to push our buttons — what sound bites will stir us up against each other. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” But, that’s just my opinion. A lot of their power would be diffused if we could learn how to talk WITH one another, rather than spending so much time ranting “AT” each other. Depersonalization happens on the internet…as well as in gulags and on plantations. And the masters move mightily on.
It’s not polite to call someone a liar, so I’ll just say that anyone who says that his reaction upon seeing a “Muslim garbed” passenger on his plane would be different than what Juan Williams said is telling an untruth. As far as whether or not NPR had the right to fire Juan, I assume everyone agrees that they did. This is still a free country. Oh, I’m a Conservative, but I’ve always liked and respected Juan. There should be more like him on the screen.
One more note. Thank you, Sean Webb, for your eloquent and measured comments.
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REmember Obamas comment regarding his grandmom being a typical white woman scared of blacks……Can we fire his dumb ass?
I wonder if Juan Williams said that, “as a black man, I often have a fear of southern conservatives as they remind me of the KKK though I remember they’re not all racist” and NPR fired him. I would bet that FAIR would be outraged, the MRC would be supportive. It would be nice if we could all just admit our own biases. While this blog makes good points at times, I have yet to see them defend a single conservative figure or criticize a liberal outlet, even in the case of Juan Williams who is himself a moderate-liberal.
Anyone that does not think we have problems in this country must have their head in the sand. Everything has to be PC.
In my opinion, Juan Williams expressed the same thoughts as millions of Americans when in the same situation. Less than 10 years ago almost 3000 of our fellow Americans were killed in a horrific attack carried out by a group of men practicing a religion which considers any one who is not a follower an “unbeliever”. There has been little or no condemnation of that or other attacks carried out by subscribers of the same religion by “moderate” Muslims. If this apprehension makes one a “bigot” I expect there must be great many of us.
I can only hope this fascination with political correctness passes on before it kills a lot more of us!
Really Really FAIR analysis with lots courage this is true JOUNALISM
A wonderfull piece of propoganda with blatent bias and alot of trolls to backup support for it.
This discussion should not be about Juan Williams, it should be about how we, as individuals and society as a whole, deal with prejudice. We all have our unreasonable prejudices, especially in this era of all-consuming media. By honestly acknowledging our biases, we facilitate the possibility of changing them internally. By acknowledging them publicly, we open the door for larger-scale dialog.
We’ve given false cover to racism against blacks for decades now, institutionalizing it, making it insidious and covert, obviating the possibility of change. Let’s not make the same mistake and ignore feelings about Muslims. As one of the others posters said, we’ve already begun institutionalizing those fears, especially at airports. Punishing someone who acknowledged the personal impact of that institutionalization just makes it less possible to pursue an honest dialog.
Kvout….
Well said. Have no illusions -FAIR is completely left. They move as a hive attacking the right without any thought to their 100% bias. Which makes their reporting completely ideologically motivated,and so unbalanced.I have always thought they should change their name to “FAIR TO THE LEFT, UNFAIR TO THE RIGHT”.Ok it’s a bit long but you can dance to it!
#1 rule of reality…any statement that begins with “I’m not a bigot,” NEVER ends well
FAIR is not very fair since while they mentioned that many people supporting Williams did not support Helen Thomas they neglect to mention the opposite is true also. I guess they have their own bias, eh?
To whomeever used the anaology of “”clutch your wallet when a Jew gets near” to what Williams said is overreaching. There is no proof that Jews are more likely to steal or be greedy than Africans, Europeans, Asians, Muslims or Christians. There is 100% proof that Muslims are more likely to attempt aviation terrorism than all the groups listed above.
Tim Wise has a much better progressive analysis on the issue. Frankly I’m a little disappointment Wise’s points are not raised on this site.
Bikini Liberalism: Juan Williams, Implicit Bias and the Trouble With NPR
http://www.timwise.org/2010/10/bikini-liberalism-juan-williams-implicit-bias-and-the-trouble-with-npr/
We are all biased, the idea of a fair society is to have all the spins acknowledged. Most of the corporate media slants from Conservative to extreme Reich wing. The so-called “left” and any other sides are shunted to the ghettos of radio, internet and TV. Political Correctness has been bastardized by the Right who took it from the Left. Now it means that if you aren’t allowed to voice the old prejudices un-molested then you are intolerant and this is a bad thing. Instead of the racist, sexist etc being the bad thing. In the 1920’s PC originally meant any who stayed with the narrow intolerance of the day from racism to sexism to whatever it was it was PC, or status quo now it has been reversed, turned back upon those who wish to end the old cycle of hatreds and inconsistencies with our Bill of Rights. Just like now if you are Liberal or painted as such you are the one who is actually racist, sexist and tyrannical. A common tactic that still works.
just trivia at this point but when jaun said “muslim garb” he clearly meant “arab garb.” the vast majority of the world’s 1 billion muslims aren’t arab.. .
and that “they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims” is wrong in another way…traditional arab clothing reflects culture rather than religion….[nevermind the fact that none of the highjackers were in robes while committing their crimes]
and he misquotes the time square bomber who actually said was that he was the “first droplet of the flood.”
it’s fitting that this kind of “journalistic” hack gets a big ol wingnut welfare check from fauxnews…
Who is Juan Williams?
In my opinion Juan’s offense was trying to excuse Bill O’Reilly’s bigotry with his own little anecdote.
Now he’s part of the Fox PAC daisy chain of rear enders. Enjoy it while it lasts Mr. Williams.
Ok, I am an Oregonian. With the legendary progressive tendencies oft associated with the Beaver State. My concern here is that Mr Williams (and I saw the segment) was simply trying to speak his mind (and expose his frailty) honestly and openly . How can We The People ever hope to move forward in eradicating discrimination if whenever someone has the courage (that is what I said) to expose their own frailties we fire them, beat them down, demonize them etc… ? Just because we disagree or choice a different lifestyle? EVERY ONE OF US HAS THESE TENDENCIES! Most of the commentary I have read is so filled with hate for any kind of conservative thinking that it undermines the most important goal: ….in order to form a more perfect union… all people are …… unalienable rights…. OR, do unto others…. So, my fellow lefties, we try to tone down the hypocritical hatred of all the we disagree with (and I am guilty too!) and try to enter into these conversations with the love and respect we see as so lacking on the right. One last thing, it it so hard, for we who promote diversity and acceptance of differences, to show a little respect and tolerance to the right?