The Schiller syndrome, cont’d

In “The Schiller Syndrome” I took a look at the speech by NPR chief executive Vivian Schller at the National Press Club on Monday. One could fairly understand Schiller’s patronizing hogwash as requiring translation into the opposite of the thoughts expressed, which is what I tried to do.
Now come senior NPR executives Ron Schiller and Betsy Liley, letting their hair down with potential donors purportedly connected to a Muslim Brotherhood front group seeking to support NPR in its good works. Unburdening himself in private before a friendly audience, Ron Schiller is all NPR id to Vivian Schiller’s NPR superego. The two Schillers are not related by blood or marriage, but they are for practical purposes the same person.
In the edited 12-minute video below we get the distilled essence of the NPR party line. (The unedited video is posted here.) We have the liberal elitism, the liberal condescension, the liberal smugness and self-satisfaction, the liberal disparagement of Republicans and the Tea Party, the liberal anti-Semitism, the liberal anti-Zionism, and the liberal appeasement of Islamism.
Vivian Schiller to the contrary notwithstanding, Ron Schiller also has a timely message for Congress: we don’t need your stinking money.
It is all topped off with the trashing of Juan Williams. Vivian Schiller never did get around to disclosing the reason for Williams’s termination from NPR. We learn from Ron Schiller, however, speaking as a senior NPR executive, why NPR terminated Williams. It’s because this liberal black journalist and historian of the civil rights movement is a racist and a bigot, or is guilty of having expressed an opinion in public, or something.

One of the brothers jokes that he and his friends call NPR “National Palestinian Radio” because NPR is the only media outlet that covers Palestinians’ perspective, and refers to “a little bit less Jew influence of money into NPR.” Schiller responds by saying he doesn’t find “Zionist or pro-Israel” ideas at NPR, “even among funders. I mean it’s there in those who own newspapers, obviously, but no one owns NPR.” Hey, thanks for clearing that up.
I love how Schiller carefully distinguishes his personal opinions from the NPR party line in the course of the conversation. I believe that Schiller’s explanation of the virtues of NPR’s corporate structure — no troublesome Jewish owners — is part of the party line.
Someone could write a good book on the fatuity of modern liberalism based on Schiller’s talking points. At the least, David Mamet could update his essay “Why I am no longer a ‘brain-dead liberal.'”
NPR has issued a statement professing itself appalled by Schiller’s comments. It has also placed Schiller on administrative leave pending his departure for a prestigious job at the Aspen Institute. Here is the statement issued by senior vice president of marketing Dana Davis Rehm on behalf of NPR:

The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept.
We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for.
Mr. Schiller announced last week that he is leaving NPR for another job.

Rehm’s statement represents Vivian Schller’s superego reasserting control, but I must say that I understand the Schillers better than I do Rehm. Rehm’s implication is that the phony Muslim Brotherood front group did something wrong by pressing NPR to accept a $5 million contribution “with no strings atttached,” while NPR did something right by refusing to accept it. Does NPR prefer contributions with strings attached? I don’t get it, but I trust that the meaning will become clear in the fullness of time.
UPDATE: Larry O’Connor has more on Rehm’s statement.
THIS JUST IN: Ron Schiller has agreed to resign from NPR effective immediately, and Vivian Schiller has been forced out of NPR by the NPR board. The NPR board is trying, shall we say, to move on.
ONE MORE THING: A loose end has been resolved. Ron Schiller will not be joining the Aspen Institute after all. He turned out to be a little more than the institute could handle at this time.

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