Vivian Schiller, Chief Totebag-Giver-Outer at National Public Radio, has apologized to her employees for firing the black guy for his prohibited thoughts and then calling him crazy. Well, this is how she puts it:
I want to apologize for not doing a better job of handling the termination of our relationship with news analyst Juan Williams. While we stand firmly behind that decision, I regret that we did not take the time to prepare our program partners and provide you with the tools to cope with the fallout from this episode…
Juan Williams’ comments on Fox News last Monday were the latest in a series of deeply troubling incidents over several years. In each of those instances, he was contacted and the incident was discussed with him. He was explicitly and repeatedly asked to respect NPR’s standards and to avoid expressing strong personal opinions on controversial subjects in public settings, as that is inconsistent with his role as an NPR news analyst…
In any event, the process that followed the decision was unfortunate – including not meeting with Juan Williams in person – and I take full responsibility for that…
I stand by my decision to end NPR’s relationship with Juan Williams, but deeply regret the way I handled and explained it.
For example, when she said he should have saved his opinion for his psychiatrist, she probably should’ve said “shrink” instead. If you’re going to be thoughtlessly contemptuous of someone you just fired for fraternizing with the enemy, why not go all out?
Hey, what’s a “news analyst”? Is it somebody who analyzes the news? Okay then: How does one perform that task without expressing personal opinions? Why is Williams the only NPR employee held to this standard?
Just kidding, we all know the answer: Because he’s black. In fact, the NAACP is so shocked by the whole thing, they’ve lost their voice. When it comes to Juan Williams, NAACP stands for Nobody Ask Anything, Crickets Please.
P.S. Great minds think alike, and also sometimes I have the same opinion as somebody who’s actually good at thinking:
P.P.S. Mary Katharine Ham speaks out on Juan Williams and the speech police.