The Firing of Juan Williams From NPR

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

In my opinion, these sort of events are part of the way society changes for the better.
When people see there are negative consequences of bigotry,
they tend to think twice about belittling the minority.

One possible devil's advocate position could be that feelings like "worried" and "nervous" are involuntary reactions. The crime isn't having a reaction or feeling, it is admitting it out loud. This squashes honest conversation, which, it could be argued, can't possibly foster a meaningful dialogue. It just pushes the things we don't want to think about further under the surface, under the radar, where they can fester unchecked and unexamined.