How's this for a double standard...on NPR

[elias7]

Can someone tell me how this statement differs from Juan Williams'? This is a statement regarding muslims:

"I got to tell you, when I went to Great Falls Park the other day, and I saw a woman in an full-face veil and her husband had a little leather bag that wasn't looking like a picnic basket, I felt a little nervous."

This is a statement by Professor Asra Nomani on an NPR discussion panel re: "controversy involving the media, ethnicity and ethics"

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130751882

[mediaman007]

1. Was he an employee of NPR?

[LostInAnomie]

2. Is Professpr Nomani a contracted employee of NPR?

[Spazito]

3. Professor Asra Nomani is NOT under contract to NPR....

so your comparison is moot, imo. Mr. Williams was 'fired' because he broke his contract, not just once but multiple times.

[elias7]

4. OK, not my point... Is this a bigoted statement?

So many have posted about how the statement by JW was bigoted, and I am curious about people's take on this statement...

[demmiblue]

7. It was your point. n/t

[blondeatlast]

25. Yeppers. nt

[Iggo]

8. Yeah it was.

:hi:

[walldude]

11. Yes it is... but how does that make for a double standard?

He didn't work for NPR so they couldn't fire him..

And frankly if you are going to go after NPR maybe you ought to read their "Code Of Ethics". Williams violated his contract the minute he appeared on Fox news. THey could have fired him at any time.

Here is the relevant passage:


"10. In appearing on TV or other media including electronic Web-based forums, NPR journalists should not express views they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist. They should not participate in shows electronic forums, or blogs that encourage punditry and speculation rather than fact-based analysis."

So now tell me again about this double standard and how poor Juan is being picked on :eyes:

[Turborama]

12. She is a Muslim who was defending Williams in an interview on NPR

She wasn't being bigoted, she was admitting to being a bit prejudiced.

Full quote posted in response to your same question here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9372485&mesg_id=9374297

[Demoiselle]

13. Ms. Nomani is a Muslim activist and a moderate.

She is engaged in the argument among Muslims about women's role, how they should dress, etc.It's a conversation she has engaged in for some time with her fellow Muslims, and I would hope that Muslim women all over the world are free to speak out against Muslim customs they believe are wrong.
She was also very specific. She's against the face veil. Mr. Williams, who is NOT a Muslim, set up a straw figure for us to fear...ie., someone "in Muslim garb."
What is Muslim garb, anyway? An Indian sari, a Bedouin robe, a Beirut businessman's three-piece suit, a Javanese sarong?

[Spazito]

16. Your whole premise behind your OP was the firing of Mr. Williams...

and I pointed out your use of comments by Professor Nomani was a moot argument to use because Professor Nomani is NOT under contract to NPR while Mr. Williams was and, as such, is subject to the ethics clause in his contract which, again, he broke multiple times.

[Turborama]

18. Hopefully they've realized that if they continue with this they'll just embarrass themselves further

[Spazito]

20. Yep, when a question is asked AND answered....

it doesn't work to say but that isn't what I asked just because one doesn't like the answer, lol.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. How's this for FAIL: TOTAL?

[Iggo]

6. Nice try.

Welcome to DU.

:hi:

[HuckleB]

9. He appears to have been at DU since 2004. -eom-

[Iggo]

14. I just like to wave at 'em...lol. (n/t)

[HuckleB]

15. Got it. Cheers. -eom-

[HuckleB]

10. No double standard.

Do you want a news organization to censor the responses of people interviewed by the organization?

That wouldn't let the public know who those people are, thus making the news organization completely pointless.

[Iggo]

17. Where's the double standard?

Williams, an employee of NPR, said something cowardly and bigoted while appearing on Fox.

Nomani, NOT an employee of NPR, said whatever she said while on NPR.

Before you call "double standard", you first have to identify a standard.

Does that help?

[asdjrocky]

19. Logic fail.

:hi:

[AsraNomani]

21. Greetings from Asra

Hi Friends, Thank you for your conversations here. I got a
Google alert about your discussion, and I wanted to just
contribute briefly, if I could. Just to answer a couple
questions raised here, I'm not a contract employee at NPR. I
go on from time to time as a guest. I understand your deeper
point regarding the acceptance of such confessions, if I could
call them that, by NPR, and that was indeed why I made my
admission to my inner thoughts on NPR. 

My larger point is that there is a fear associated with
certain symbols of Islam in the world today, and I believe we
would be well served by being honest about our inner thoughts
so we can address these fears in a real way. As a Muslim
American writer and activist, I crossed the fence from
traditional journalism to commentary, following the 9/11
attacks, because I am committed to challenging very real
interpretations of Islam that promote violence, intolerance
and sexism. 

Let me know if you have any questions for me. I can be reached
also at asra(a)asranomani.com. 

Thanks for your thoughts, Asra

[Turborama]

22. Hi, Asra

Thanks for singing up to DU to explain exactly where you were coming from when you said that.

I understand what you say about being "committed to challenging very real interpretations of Islam that promote violence, intolerance and sexism". However, what about challenging the Islamophobia which has become endemic in American Main Stream Media, as Glenn Greenwald discussed so well http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9374125">here and as Rachel proved about Fox news' agenda so well http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x518018">here?

Also, thanks for sharing the link to your website, I'm going to check it out now...

[AsraNomani]

24. Challenging Islamophobia

Hi Turborama,

You ask an important question, regarding how to deal with the hatred, if not fear, of Islam and Muslims. I believe that we, in the Muslim community, have a very serious responsibility to address these issues of fear, dislike, hatred and even violence, from an intellectually honest place.

What that looks like, to me, is that we talk about how, yes, it is an interpretation of Islam that the hijackers were practicing when they crashed planes into the World Trade Centers. Those hijackers were Muslim, as was Maj. Nidal Hassan. To disclaim them as "not Muslim," I believe, means that we don't own the problem that is very much real inside our community of Muslims who practice an interpretation of Islam that is violent, sexist and intolerant.

When we acknowledge to the world that we recognize that we have a problem inside of our Muslim community, I believe then that we can distinguish threatening intepretations of Islam with those intepretations that are peaceful, progressive and women-friendly.

That is how I am trying to address the fear and the hate. And that is where I believe progressives in other communities can help. By making nuanced arguments, rather than asserting blanket statements like, "Islam is peace." That is, I believe, the distinction that Juan Williams was trying to make.

I hope that helps answer your question? I'd love to hear the thoughts of others here on how to address and acknowledge the intepretations that are threatening and support more tolerant expressions.

Warmly, Asra

[Number23]

26. It would be wonderful if you could stick around. Muslim voices are not often heard here

It would be great if yours was.

[sabrina 1]

23. Hi Asra, welcome to DU.

What do you think of the very real anti-Muslim sentiments so pervasive in the U.S. since 9/11?

I see your point about the extremism in some interpretations of Islam, but here those distinctions are rarely made. We have our own extremists here who engage in violence, sexism etc. Those who kill abortion doctors eg, and those who believe women should be sent back to the kitchen and let men decide what's best for them.

But the Islamaphobia here has made the assumption that all Muslims are violent and a threat to our national security and should be viewed with extreme suspicion. Even an elected Muslim Congressman was told on TV that 'to be honest, I wonder about you' something that would never be said to anyone else.

The problem is that when this kind of bigotry is not challenged, it takes hold and spreads and innocent people are often targeted for no other reason than fear.

Frankly I don't fear people who wear clothes that are traditional for them, Muslim or otherwise. So, I find it hard to understand people like Juan Williams who, if he's telling the truth, has allowed himself to live in fear for no reason.

Fear is what caused the holocaust and other great historical atrocities. I think we should avoid instilling fear into any population and certainly should not add to it as Williams did by 'confessing' his own fears. Those are HIS fears, they are not mine or anyone else's I know.

[Turborama]

29. Good points, very well made

Especially the last paragraph.

[blondeatlast]

27. Welcome! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

As you can see, we are a contentious but informed group and the flaws in the original poster's statement were quickly seized upon and discredited.

It is an honor to have you on DU!

[hughee99]

28. To bad he wasn't just a "typical white person".

"The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, you know, there's a reaction that's been bred in our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that's just the nature of race in our society". - President Obama describing his own grandmother.

http://politics.usnews.com/news/blogs/news-desk/2008/3/21/obama-typical-white-person-comment-delights-clinton-aides.html