FIRING OF JUAN WILLIAMS BY NPR

Lee Lawrence is a former student of mine who has made me really proud. He is a SWAT team sergeant with the Houston Police Department. Lee is a long-time army paratrooper - and now a Green Beret - who recently served a tour of duty in Iraq. He is a true hero in every sense of the word.
　
Here are Lee’s thoughts on the recent firing of Juan Williams by NPR:
　
TRUTH: GOOD FOR THE GOOSE, BUT NOT GOOD FOR THE GANDER?
By H. Lee Lawrence
　
Fear is, with a few exceptions, largely a learned response. Although a few species exhibit fear from the moment of birth, an instinctive response bestowed upon them by a higher intelligence to ensure their survival in a predatory environment, most humans come to fear things based on experience – mostly bad experience. We learn that although we would like to think we are at the top of the food chain, we are not. If we are camping or hiking and encounter a bear, a reasonable person experiences a varying level of fear based on what they have learned about bears. We know that our childish notions of all bears being cute, cuddly and harmless are ill-conceived and foolish and truthfully, most bears are large, predatory and potentially dangerous, capable of inflicting serious bodily injury or death. Sane persons experience some level of fear and take appropriate action.
　
The firing of Juan Williams by NPR is disturbing on several levels. Not only did Mr. Williams exercise free speech, he also exercised free thought and, more importantly, spoke the truth. He was very candid and truthful about his thoughts and feelings – yes, thoughts and feelings. Those of us who generally believe ourselves to be sane are constantly criticized and sometimes, not unlike Juan Williams, even ostracized for not only speaking our minds, but for the very thought processes and feelings that spring from our minds based on our experiences. We are incessantly reminded that not only is our speech politically incorrect, but our very thought processes are wrong and unacceptable. Mr. Williams truthfully admitted that he experiences fear when he finds himself on a plane with Muslims. The left would have us believe that not only was it outrageous and indefensible to say such a horrible thing, but he and any of us who might also feel likewise under similar circumstances are dead wrong for feeling that way and maybe even mentally disturbed. Similarly, any of us who speak out against a mosque at Ground Zero because we feel it to be hurtful, insulting and inappropriate are also wrong, intolerant and clearly not engaging in sound, reasonable and sane thought.
　
It seems to me that truth, tolerance and free speech are only good for the goose, but not for the gander. The left can freely and openly rant on at us, admonishing us not only to be silent and not speak the truth about our thoughts and feelings, but insisting that we are fundamentally wrong for thinking the way we think or feeling the way we feel, blaming our fear, intolerance and warped thought processes on our own dysfunctional, even possibly pathological mental state. Sounds suspiciously like groupthink to me. More disturbing is that the real victims in this sad state of double standard intolerance are those priceless, splendid and uniquely American ideals of free speech, free thought and, most frightening of all - truth.
　
EDITOR’S NOTE: After Bob Walsh read this he wrote: It’s pretty obvious the problem was not what he [Williams] said, but where he said it. Fox is the anti-christ to liberals. Can't consort with the enemy or you will be destroyed. So much for open exchange of ideas.