Morning Folks!!
One of those moments. I don’t want to get political here so I will stop and just focus on the numbers. So bare with me as I make my way through this political mine field and try to make my point that is not political.It is hard to ignore the Juan Williams Story. If you are not up to speed, take a moment. Read both stories and others. Was he unfairly fired after 10 years with NPR without so much as a hearing? Was what he said so over the line that it merited firing or is something else going on? Free Speech on attack? Did he say something that perhaps the majority agree with? Shut him up, you are shutting up too many too keep quiet. Lots of people and groups between a rock and a hard spot.
Juan said something that many feel. They won’t take a poll on what he actually said because the number they would get would be unsettling and the media does not know how to deal with it nor want to. But they are about to be forced to and it will unfold in front of all of us. This is a BIG story about to get bigger. About to explode. NPR will be the biggest loser. Juan Williams a big winner.....but more important, read on.
There are watershed moments in history or at any point of time that shifts people in a real and effective way. Jolts them! Here is what I see because of the Juan Williams episode. I am a numbers guy. Just follow the numbers.
With the U.S. elections just days away, there is a significant number of Americans that remain undecided. On the fence. Can go either way. Like a feather and a breeze. That is in the midst of a huge change and it will be the Juan Williams story that may do it. I don't want to go any further or get political. All I do is follow the numbers and RARELY do you see numbers when 75%-90% agree about his firing. That cuts across political ideology. Just the numbers. And to have it play out over the days preceding the election is could be powerful and the impact could be absolutely stunning. If it happens, it will never even be reportrd on. It's invisible.
That's what I see and I am sharing it with you because it is an invisible wave. This time it may play out in votes. Other times it can play out in sales. But picking these points in time out are vital to benchmarking your gut. Right or wrong the answer calibrates that gut.
When you focus on the numbers you can predict a reaction. In domaining, we predict reactions before the event even happens. There is a connection. Predicting human behavior after they are exposed to a catalyst can be rewarding. That is why there is advertising. But things like this is an advertisers dream and a political dream all rolled into one at exactly the most important time. Invisible to the naked eye. But that is what THESE eyes see. I am simply sharing what I see and how it may play out based on the numbers with a keen gut for the current pulse of things.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
todaro
i always feel safer on a plane when a group of angry looking men are wearing robes and speaking arabic because it enhances cultural diversity… but that’s just me.
Ron S.
Good point and I agree the firing was stupid. Especially since the comment was pure flamebait and made no sense at all. Of course the typical terrorist is going to dress up in religious garb and attract all sorts of attention at one of the most highly sensitive places of all, an airport. Yeah right. The 9-11 guys had no problem trimming their beards to blend in. What kind of mental gymnastics does one have to go through to be that deluded?
But the issue is how free speech meshes with”company policy”, especially for a professional news organization like NPR. Not that the guy is a moron making idiotic statements.
Fatih
Hi Rick,
I am a fan of your blog and i thank you and your friends for your efforts in this”industry”.
I wanted to add a comment to todays blog cause i am a person who is only”trying to be” a good muslim,that is ,a good person.As far as i read the story from the link there is nothing that disturbs me cause i am also nervous about the issue.We lived a terrorist attack in in istanbul in front of HSBC headquarters and many”muslims” died(i and my wife could also be there) for so called others”muslims” jihad.But the point is we have to be scared about not only the ones that”only seem” to be muslim. People use masks to defend their violence and fight for money.the mask can be anything .It can be Islam today,it can be Anti-Islamism tomorrow for others.
Gazzip
I think its bullshit and unfair to fire him for what he said, he was’nt nasty about how he expressed”HIS” feelings, he was asked a straight forward question and he answered it honestly. He had three options, 1) Lie and make up some bullshit 2) Answer honestly 3) Say sorry, I can’t answer that.
Its HIS opinion and he’s entitled to have one of his own.
If you asked five thousand people in London how do they feel when they have to walk past a group of Hoodies late at night you’de probably get the same answer.
Nothing racist about it, this”politically correct” crap is overated, overused and over abused.
There is no more Free Speech, it’s been lost to over protecting Lawyers and do-gooders with unrealist expectations of human nature IMO
ps – In Britain you can’t walk into most shops, post offices or government buildings wearing a motorcycle crash helmet and its been that way for years. There’s no point in having security cameras everywhere if people are allowed to cover their faces up in public.
owen frager
You don’t have free speech when you are on the job and under contractual non-disclosure. What he said was right and what most believe in their hearts. That said I also feel safer than pre-9/11 because of the security in place and the air marshals onboard. If I can’t get a tube of toothpaste past security how are terrorists of any race going to take on weapons and bombs? That’s why it shouldn’t be so scary.
Mr. Williams got a $2 million raise for the statement and all the publicity the news cycles about it, everywhere, generated for Fox. He should be on top of the world.
Gazzip
“You don’t have free speech when you are on the job and under contractual non-disclosure.”
His contract must be alot different to Max Keiser’s one on RT.com :) He gets to say what he wants, and that’s Russian
How times have changed :)
BullShitwebsites
Oxymoron!!! totally BS
ScottM
Rick is absolutely right its going to be all about numbers, specifically $$$. The bonehead knee-jerk reaction by this idiot drone Vivian Schiller, who somehow was promoted to running NPR, is going to cost PBS and NPR specfically tens of millions of $$$ in donations. Donations are the lifeblood of this entity. Juan is now supported by both liberal and right wing talk hosts. He’s now getting a bigger and better deal with Fox, which is where he belongs anyway because he has the respect and credibility of both the right and the left.
And Fox’s ratings will only go up, MSNBC will continue to tank and NPR will be severely handicapped by the drying up of individual donations and possibly also a severe defunding by Congress. An off-the-cuff personal comment by Juan, followed by a cowardly and cruel firing by Schiller is going to ultimately be about numbers and $$$ disappearing for Public Broadcasting Corporation. How stupid.
Stephen Douglas
Oh, let the ANGELS SING!
Poor Juan! Fired for making a statement so lame, so obviously set up to create a firestorm (“I get nervous seeing people on a plane dressed in Muslim garb”).
Really? Does every American get”freaked” when they see people dressed like those evil”muslims?” Like, a high % of Americans? Cuz you know, we’re all VERY SCARED of that”other religion”, even though that religions supports Jesus Christ in their”Bible”, which we call the Koran.
Now, Juan makes a comment he knows will get him targeted, and position himself for a big job with anothehr news agency… wait… is it CNN? CNBC? or no, Fox wouldn’t make it obvious by hiring him, would they?
Of course they would.
Demonizing is GREAT for business. Certain people in our own industry have used this themselves to gain a group of followers that don’t think beyond what they read or see.
My favorite bumpersticker:
“VOTE REPUBLICAN – It’s easier than thinking”
Hence, an article here by Rick, who just couldn’t let this”outrageous injustice” go by. Like Rick has Juan W. on his contact list and agrees with everything he says.
When you have a national audience, and you say”I get scared or nervous when I see people dressed in Muslim clothing on an airplane”, you KNOW what will come next. Unless you’re an idiot, like all those people who FELL for this comment, and the firing of the jerkoff who planned and said the comment.
Woe is us. We are so picked on that we can’t say stupid, and unintelligent comments like Juan said in order to”up his visibility game” or we might be FIRED from NPR, who can see this angle from a mile away.
And Rick might be right that many Americans will agree, cuz these are the same dumb-as*es who voted in GW Bush for 8 years, and blame Obama for all their troubles as the result.
And now I wasted my time answering this ridiculous post by Rick.
Muslims didn’t”attack” us, no more than”Catholics” attacked us when Tim McVeigh bombed OKC. However, if we’re inbred, lame, single-minded, and prejudiced, we’ll buy into the”horror” of Juan Williams being fired from NPR (which we didn’t support anyways, because they’re liberals).
What a waste of my time having to point this out.