About NPR

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill stripping National Public Radio (NPR) of its federal funding.

When I started this blog, I said I would write about NPR.

So, I guess it's time.

Some Background

I love NPR. I love the newsquiz, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," which is hosted in Chicago (whoop! whoop!). I love "The Splendid Table," "The Moth Radio Hour," "Old Time Radio," "Morning Edition," "All Things Considered," and the splendid "This American Life." I could write a lot about each of these (and many other) shows and how they enrich my life, and someday, I will. For now, though, here's a blanket statement: NPR explains what's happening in the world around me in an empathetic and interesting way. Their respect for other cultures as well as our own is something I appreciate and find unique, even in this age of cable television and the Internet.

NPR Is In Big Trouble With Mom and Dad

Two recent events have resulted in NPR placing itself in a position of losing federal funding for support of its programs.

Juan Williams

I guess I will start at the Juan Williams flap, which was probably a tipping point for many people who think the federal government should revoke funding for NPR. On "The O'Reilly Factor," Williams said the following: "But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Williams Comments: Background

The conversation Williams was having with O'Reilly was about O'Reilly's comments on the television show, "The View." In that appearance, O'Reilly said that Muslims attacked the U.S. on 9/11.

In trying to explain his way out of this gaffe, O'Reilly called upon two commentators on his show to talk about it, one of whom was Williams. When Williams made his statement, above, it served not only as a partial defense of O'Reilly's previous comments, but added to it with his line about "people who are in Muslim garb..."

What Happened Next

National Public Radio fired Williams because, "[h]is remarks on The O'Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."

My Opinion on This

The comments by O'Reilly and Williams make my heart hurt and my head ache, because it shows how ignorant we are almost ten years after September 11. Muslims didn't attack us on 9/11. People who were "Muslim" attacked us. The reason why I put Muslim in the previous sentence in quotations is because more than 99.9% of Muslims would say, "they weren't Muslim," in the same way that Christians say, "that's not Christian" about the actions of their radical and fringe elements.

The people who hijacked those planes on 9/11 adopted a radical and twisted interpretation of Islam which the vast majority of Muslims does not subscribe to. That the hijackers self-identified as Muslim, and that Muslims are rare in the U.S. (if you doubt this is correct and if you are part of the majority culture in either race or religion, ask yourself this question: how many Muslims do I know?) complicates the matter a little, perhaps. But it shouldn’t muddy the waters this much, for this long.

And about "Muslim garb":  what is that? If you know what it is, let me know. Women, I grant you, are more easily-identifiable as Muslim, due to their head coverings. But I don't think Juan Williams—or the many who sympathized or agreed with his comments—were referring to women Muslims, though I could be wrong.

Should Williams Have Been Fired?

I go back and forth. On the one hand, I think NPR overreacted, because why draw even more attention to such comments? On the other hand, I think enough is enough and NPR was right to fire Williams. The comments from O'Reilly and Williams are just too steeped in ignorance to be classified merely as missteps or gaffes. Comments like theirs are wrong and, I think, dangerous. Anytime we—individually and collectively—take the actions and attitudes of the few and apply them to the majority, it ends in very bad things happening.

Tea Party Comments

The latest flap is fresher in everyone's minds so I don't feel like I need to go through what happened, but here is an overview: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/09/134358398/in-video-npr-exec-slams-tea-party-questions-need-for-federal-funds.

Should the NPR fundraiser have resigned? Yes. Should the CEO of NPR resigned? Yes, under "the buck stops here" leadership requirement.

Is it disgusting that the people who went undercover posed as representatives of a invented organization called "Muslim Education Action Center Trust"? You're goddamned right it is! Not only does the fundraiser become undone by his own words, but Muslims are placed in the unenviable position as patsys—as people who would naturally detest the Tea Party movement and would be happy to hear it characterized in overwhelmingly negative terms.

Federal Funding of NPR

So, should Congress strip NPR of its funding? Yes—but not because of any of the above. We (taxpayers) shouldn't fund NPR because the country is facing tough financial times. I think NPR fulfills a valuable function, but we've put ourselves in a position where can't afford everything that is valuable. NPR's supporters would have the onus to keep it funded and going for at least the short term, and that seems reasonable to me.

What About Public Television

I looooove me my public television. Even though there are way too many "Three Tenors" type programs. Enough with the Celtic singers, geez! The only reason I say we should fund public television, though, is when I think of the indigent and infirm elderly. But even there, I'm torn.

Argument for: yes, because the indigent and infirm elderly have nothing else reasonable to watch that they would have the slightest interest in seeing. Think about what's on "regular" (non-cable) TV, and then think if you were elderly, indigent, and infirm, with no access to other forms of entertainment. Have mercy, and give them PBS to keep their minds active.

Argument against: no, because the indigent and infirm elderly today were part of the dumb-dumb generation, putting us in so much danger today due to their bad economic choices. Why didn't they fix Social Security when they had the chance? Now we have to fix it AND give them their Public Television?

The end.