There's a Difference

Yeah, I concede that there might be some troubling aspects to the firing of Juan Williams. Specifically, as I think Jonathan Chait said, it's a shame if the "one strike and you're out" bar, which certainly ought to exist, somewhere short of advocating Nazism, is in fact this low. Actually, I guess I think it might be troubling for that bar to be that low; saying that Muslims on planes are scary isn't all that innocent, I'd say. But here's my main point. Did NPR fire him for a somewhat trivial offense? Maybe. Is it maybe unfortunate for modern journalistic culture that people in the situation of Williams or Helen Thomas get dismissed without a second thought? Quite possibly. Is this censorship by the establishment of opposing viewpoints? Nuh-uh. I don't think I recall Sarah Palin's rushing to defend Helen Thomas, and I can't think of a good reason to favor Williams over Thomas except that right-wingers dislike Muslims in this country. And again, you have a Constitutional right to freedom of speech. You do not have a Constitutional right to be a commentator on NPR, even if NPR is in some sense a government-funded institution, which it only marginally is. There is no right to a successful public platform. Might we prefer if people in the private sphere were somewhat more forgiving and tolerant of individual misspeakings/offensive things said by people they might give platforms to? Maybe. But if so, we first would have to do so in an even-handed way, not favoring those who malign Muslims over those who offend Jews, and in any event, it's just not a Constitutional or governmental issue.