Joy - Blog

Too Politically Correct?

Hey Guys! I'm sure you've heard about this on the news, but for those of you who don't watch much, I've included a video clip that everyone is buzzing about. Juan Williams was fired from his longstanding job at NPR for the comment he made in this clip regarding muslims. The context of the discussion was regarding "political correctness" and the theory that it has, in many ways, taken over our communication as Americans, preventing us from being able to acceptably have any personal beliefs that go against what everyone is "supposed" to believe.

I'm opening this up on my blog for discussion because I'm honestly a little torn about whether or not Juan Williams was injustly terminated from NPR.

I personally don't get nervous when I see a Muslim on an airplane and in many ways I would imagine, for some, it takes great courage to choose to be so readily identifiable as a person of Islam in America. However, if my kid gets bitten by a pitbull, every time I see a pitbull, I'm gonna get nervous. Is this really irrational? My personal red-flags may not go up around Muslims, but if someone else's do, who am I to say that they are wrong? That the conditioning they've experienced growing up or perhaps a traumatic incident is invalid? Mr. Williams did not say he believed ANYTHING negative about Muslims, he was speaking about his reaction. Often what we believe and know to be true about XYZ is different from how we have been conditioned to react to XYZ.

For example: I have no problem with men. I love men, I married one, I hope to raise one someday! I have also met my fair share of... not good guys; sleazy, manipulative, and scary men. So, if I'm walking down a street and I see a group of men-- or even one in-particular that strikes me as "bad news", I'm gonna cross the street and walk on the other side! I am not sexist, I simply have had enough experience to know when I feel safe and when I don't. Someone else may look at that man and say "Are you crazy? He's perfectly harmless!" But that is their experience, and I have mine. Must the two be mutually exclusive?

On the other hand, Juan Williams was supposed to be a non-partisan, neutral party to all things on which he reported. That was his job as a "News Analyst" and a representative of NPR. Did Mr. Williams' sharing personal feelings compromise his audience? Or is it, in fact, impossible to analyze anything without your own personal views and opinions being involved?

I don't have any answers here, but I'm really interested in what you guys have to say.

xo BJG