Why NPR is sheltered, stupid, and contra common sense.

When did we become a nation of pussies?

When did "freedom of speech" give way to "obligation not to say mean things that might hurt someone's feelings?"

When did we decide that a "wrong" opinion is every bit as bad as a "wrong" action, and in some instances worse?

Juan Williams was fired from his job at NPR, ostensibly because of a decidedly nuanced comment about concern at sharing a plane with self-identified Muslims wearing burkhas and robes. He followed that by noting that those we need to fear are specific groups of Muslims who advocate terror, and he further noted that we have to be careful about putting all Muslims in the same categories. This, apparently, was a firing offense.

Williams is a fair-minded, respected liberal journalist who tries to understand the world from all sides before he writes or comments about it. I have found myself in diametrical opposition to his viewpoints on numerous occasions, but I respect his opinions because he knows why he came to the conclusions he reached; he reasoned through his opinions. He does not merely accept prevailing received wisdom. In short, he is an honest journalist. But that, apparently, was not enough to save his job. One nuanced comment about Muslims while appearing on Fox News with Bill O'Reilly later, and he is shown the door...

Um. Yeah. Just a sec. About Fox News...

NPR hates them. NPR believes that Fox News is opinion disguised as news, and, as such, is a Bad Thing. They insist that Fox is Republican territory, whereas NPR is an unbiased presentation of news and opinion.

But here is the thing: even if we entirely accept that point of view, which I decidedly do not, if NPR was really concerned about having unbiased news reach people that are not their natural constituency, why would they NOT want to have their commentators appear on Fox to provide some balance? Why would they NOT want to "infect" Fox with the truth, daily, if possible?

Because that ain't what this is about. NPR is "elite" opinion received. If you want to know what people who graduated from the Ivy League think, go to NPR. If you want to hear the same received wisdom that runs through the editorial pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, et al, listen to NPR.

And elite opinion doesn't want a thing to do with anyone who watches Fox News, except to look down on them.

But here is the thing: even on the "opinion" shows, Fox brings on commentators who contrast the opinions of the hosts. There is some effort expended to provide some balance of opinion.

Unlike NPR.

There, you get liberal doctrine untainted by conservatism. Elite opinion unmixed with...that icky other stuff. It is sheltered opinion disguised as comprehensive. ANd while there is much good work on NPR, too often it fails to come to grips with what is actually happening in America...as opposed to what is happening in Eastern Seaboard, Blue State America.

There is a difference.

What NPR finally admitted, in a back door sense, was that Williams was consorting with the enemy. The true firing offense was that he appeared on Fox at all.

NPR's loss. Fox News' gain. And it will probably work out better for Williams, too, in the long run.

The only losers are the 26.5 million listeners of NPR who won't hear a thing that makes them uncomfortable. It's all good. Go back to sleep, untroubled by thoughts of THOSE people. You know: the OTHER 280,000,000 living here in the US.