Glenn Greenwald finds the stench of hypocrisy on the right over NPR’s firing of Juan Williams to be more remarkable than usual:
I’m still not quite over the most disgusting part of the Juan Williams spectacle yesterday: watching the very same people (on the Right andin the media) who remained silent about or vocally cheered on the viewpoint-based firings of Octavia Nasr, Helen Thomas, Rick Sanchez,Eason Jordan, Peter Arnett, Phil Donahue,Ashleigh Banfield, Bill Maher, Ward Churchill, Chas Freeman, Van Jones and so many others, spend all day yesterday wrapping themselves in the flag of “free expression!!!” and screeching about the perils and evils of firing journalists for expressing certain viewpoints. Even for someone who expects huge doses of principle-free hypocrisy — as I do — that behavior is really something to behold. And anyone doubting that there is a double standard when it comes to anti-Muslim speech should just compare the wailing backlash from most quarters over Williams’ firing to the muted acquiescence or widespread approval of those other firings.
The rest of Glenn’s piece goes into why that double standard exists, and it’s well-worth reading. I just wanted to highlight that first paragraph, because it’s so dead on point and it cannot be said often enough.
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