This is not just a media circus nor political theater. There is a serious problem here; given our psychology and the reverberating circuits of participatory social networks hate won't stop just with airport nervousness about Muslims. Hate will flow and spread. In fact, such flow and spread is how Fox News works. Fox fans the flames of divisive anxiety and then reports as news the fact that people have reason to be afraid. It's a vicious and highly profitable network-fueled cycle.

[Note: All of the following quotations are comments made by Juan Williams widely cited in the press since the story broke. As you'll see, to make my point, I've converted his comments about Muslims into comments about middle-aged black men and done the same changing NPR into Psychology Today.]

Since I too am caught up in the cycle of media-fueled hate what I want to say is that if you find a well-dressed middle-aged black man sitting next to you in an airport waiting area caution suggests you should immediately seek another seat as far away as possible. After all, "it is an honest experience that when I'm in an airport and I see people in the garb of middle-aged black men who identify themselves first and foremost as middle-aged black men, I do a double take. I have a moment of anxiety or fear ... That's just a reality."

I know I'm taking a risk giving voice to the reality that we should all be afraid of middle-aged black men. However, I am proud of my comments because they are "in the best American tradition of a fair, full-throated and honest discourse about the issues of the day."

Nevertheless, I must admit I'm a little worried. Will I also get fired for speaking my mind by the "self-righteous ideological, left-wing leadership at Psychology Today?" Of course, if such "censorship" were to happen because the PT editors do not want to be associated with what they deem to be racist hate speech, it would not be an expression of their free speech rights but "a chiiling assualt on free speech." In fact, if I did get fired it would be like "Nixon" putting respectable journalists on his enemies list because, of course, writers have a right to free speech but editors do not, especially when those editors are as powerful as the President of the USA.

OK, sarcasm over, but hopefully point made. It's just that I believe silence is not a viable response when someone shifts the anchor point for our public discourse towards hate speech. We need to fight such a move and ridicule puts things in context.  Furthermore, speech is not just chatter, it is a meaningful action with often tragic consequences. Juan Williams should have know better, and if he did know better (which is likely since he is a very smart man) he should have cared.

For more than 50 years, ever since Leon Festinger's ground-breaking formulation of a theory of cognitive dissonance, we know when beliefs and actions conflict we change our beliefs to fit what we've done. We also know you do not have to hate to engage in hate speech if such speech is the norm for public discourse. There's a reason "I'm just saying ..." is such a popular cliche. Consequently—and here is the tragic consequence—once you start speaking hate you will soon start feeling hate regardless of motive. The next thing you know you'll be getting nervous when you see a Muslim or a person of color—maybe one of Juan Williams' relatives—at the airport because, of course, you hatefully believe there is a good chance they are a terrorist or a mugger.

Hate speech comes first, then the hate. No one escapes the pull of cognitive dissonance. Furthermore, social networks long ago coalesced into silos of like-minded individuals, even back when they were just newsgroups and listservs.  Today those silos rapidly reproduce so more and more people can participate in hate speech just because it's the thing to do and why not since no one else is listening except other people doing the same thing. And for THAT reality, for the alchemy of turning hate speech into hate, Fox, O'Reilly and now Williams should be seen as the dangerous, destructive influences they are.