This past Thursday, Juan Williams, a news analyst with National Public Radio, was fired from his job after statements made on the Fox News Channel. Among the offending views expressed was the following:
“… when I get on a 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."
NPR has long been concerned with Williams many appearances on Fox News, a station whose right-wing leanings are at odds with NPR’s more liberal stances. NPR actually requested Fox News to stop identifying Williams as an NPR host when he appears on the network. Williams apparently crossed the line this week in revealing his own fears or anxieties and suggesting that the war against terrorism is not readily distinct from opposition to Islamic doctrines that run counter to the western ideology that characterizes democratic and free nations.
In parashat Vayera, there are at least three incidents where that which is seen is either not identified for what it is or in some way completely invisible. Three strangers show up at Abraham’s tent, and neither he nor Sarah understood that these were messengers from God. Hagar, spent and despairing in the wilderness, lays her child down to die for lack of water, failing to see the well that is only feet away from her. Finally Abraham stops short of sacrificing his son to God, coincidentally discovering a far better alternative, a ram caught in a thicket just behind him. In all three cases, not seeing the reality for what it is, brings the viewer to error. Sarah ends up not taking the messengers seriously, Hagar is on the verge of giving up her’s and her child’s life, and Abraham almost sacrificed his beloved son to God.
Seeing the truth is only the first part of arriving at the truth. After we see the truth, we have to be able to verbalize it. All attempts to dictate how we speak about what we see are violations of free speech. A communication distorted is the first step on a road to error.
Before God brought destruction upon the two wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, He says, “…shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham is to become a great and populous nation and the nations of the earth are to bless themselves by him?” (Genesis 18:18). God probably knew what would happen if He mentioned his intentions to Abraham. Abraham would challenge the wisdom and the justice of it all, and that is exactly what happened. But it was in sharing the plan with Abraham, and the subsequent debate, that the righteousness of the plan became ever more transparent. Honest perceptions will not always be pleasant perceptions, but in speaking them aloud we at least give others the chance to challenge us and thereby refine our views. We should be suspicious of all those who try to shut us up. It was actually a good week for free speech, but not such a good week for NPR.
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