Juan Williams and the Carpetbagger Progressives

I am constantly impressed with Juan Williams’ readiness to discuss his beliefs and those of the left in a reasonable and none threatening matter. Unlike most liberals, Williams is comfortable enough with his belief system that he does not need to personally attack those with differing opinions. Further, in the political world of Kool-Aid drinkers on both sides, Juan Williams as a left leaning journalist is not bound by the political dogma of the left. In other words, even though I disagree with Juan Williams politically, I admire him as a journalist and his personal of integrity, the two being almost mutually exclusive these days, especially from the progressive left. On October 20th, Juan Williams exposed an emotional bias that many have since 911 against those in Muslim "garb" at the airport, saying it "makes (him) nervous". This is not bigotry, it is bringing emotional belief systems to the surface to be examined. All of us have emotional reactions to persons and situations that do not reflect our worldview. One can keep them buried and brand any discussion as bigotry and/or racists, or we can be open to any subject for discussion. Part of drinking the progressive left Kool-Aid is the former; the shutting down of free expression.

In an similar incident to the October 20th, 2010 incident on the O’Reilly Show, Juan Williams said on January 26, 2009 that Michelle Obama needs to be careful not to overplay the Black victimization card, “Michelle Obama, you know, she's got this Stokely Carmichael-in-a-designer-dress thing going. If she starts talking, as Mary Katharine is suggesting, her instinct is to start with this blame America, you know, I'm the victim. If that stuff starts coming out, people will go bananas and she'll go from being the new Jackie O to being something of an albatross.” The result was NPR ordered Williams to refrain from mentioning employment with NPR when on the O’Reilly Show. On the 20th, he made the below statement and NPR fired him after 10 years of employment without any discussion.



The progressive left continues to define itself as the protector of the common man and those who face discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex or sexual orientation. But to be accepted by the progressive left, each of these sub-categories are required to play a role and take on a forced consensus of victimization. Those of a protected race must identify themselves as victims of racism; those of a nationality or religion must consider themselves a victim of discrimination; females must believe that abortion is an inalienable right; and homosexuals must demand not parity but approval of their lifestyle. But when a black man, like Juan Williams, who has a long background of supporting civil rights, actually attempts a dialog on discrimination, he must be silenced and if possible banished; NPR ends up firing their only black journalist and in effect tried to discredit him as such. A similar banishment was seen in the Climate-Gate emails, where global warming scientists contacted colleges to try and get them to rescind the skeptics degrees and redefine the peer review system by only allowing one point of view.

This not only has the affect of cooling any meaningful discussion, it appears that there is a cleansing going on. George Soros, the world government billionaire, who views himself as god like, has been the man behind the curtain in funding just about every left wing anti-constitution group in the country through his Democracy Alliance, including the Tides Foundation (a foundation dedicated to protecting left wing money trail), has just dumped another $1.8 million into NPR to hire reporters through his Open Society Foundation and another $1 million to Media Matters. Media Matters has reportedly claimed not to have received it’s funding from George Soros directly, as if there is a mystical wall between Soros and his Moveon.org or Center for American Progress, which has funded Media Matters with tens of millions of dollars. Almost immediately after Williams was fired, a Media Matters writer called for the firing of another NPR member that shows up on the O’Reilly Factor, named Mara Liasson. NPR Senor fellow, Eric Boehlert replied to the Media Matters posting with, "I'm not suggesting Liasson has said anything as offensive as Williams, or that she has that kind of track record while appearing on Fox," Boehlert writes. "I'm just saying that if you look at NPR's code of ethics, there's simply no way Liasson should be making appearances on Fox."

So what is happening is a ratcheting up of the left wing propaganda machine. The left sees it is losing it’s grasp on the American people, but it also knows the average American is angry at government and somewhat divided, which creates areas of weakness to exploit. The left has been selling its message for the need of it's elite leadership and more government control with a corresponding weakening of individual rights, so more government-controlled entitlements will be available for the collective. But the message is not taking hold. There is no doubt that the majority of Americans feel the same way as Juan Williams, but the progressive left relies on a lack of discussion of any critical societal issues. They prefer that citizens see these issues as irreconcilable without the controlling hand of big government. But, this can not happen when journalists like Juan Williams are willing to bring these subjects to the surface for discussion; areas where American exceptionalism has a history of blending differences through the prism of equal opportunity, individual rights and liberty. In the south, racists had a word for blacks that did not know their place and refused to kowtow to their world order. It seems the progressive left has resurrected the concept and that’s a long ugly trip in the wrong direction.