Intellectual Midget or Political Partisanship

[runningdownthatdream]

so what does the board think: is she just plain stupid or stupidly partisan

http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/07...wants-to-know/

Were I her, I think i would crawl into a hole after watching this. Were I the head of programming of the network I think i'd want her fired. On the other hand, the author has to be the happiest man on earth right now as sales of his book have likely jumped through the roof.

[Prospero]

Fox is a politically partisan station. This woman is ignorant and/or badly briefed. What a remarkably dunderheaded interview. Yu'd think a researcher briefing her might, at least, have read the book and prepared some questions. he entire interview was an attack on him, as a Muslim for daring to write about Christ. Scholars of all faiths do this all the time. Consider karen Armstrong's book on islam for instance. (She is a former Christian nun)

[trish]

I read Aslan's book No god but God, when it first appeared years ago. It's a very well written, astute and critical analysis of Islam. I met him a few years after that when he was on the campus lecture circuit. He is a very friendly and reasonable man with a sense of humor. A colleague of mine (who is a professor of religious history) attended Harvard Divinity School with him. She has the same general assessment of his work and personality. He had in fact converted to Christianity in high school, thought better of it and converted back to Islam before entering college. He's been doing scholarly research on all manner of religions for at two decades.

I ran across OP's linked interview a couple of days ago. It seemed out of character to me for Reza to step so stridently right out of the box and wave his credentials with his very first remarks. He was evidently anticipating an attack and sought to nip it in the bud with sentence one. This was an interview on FOX afterall. Though there may have been some pre-interview discussion that led him to believe he was about to be accused of being a Muslim with Islamic preconceptions writing a book about Jesus in order to vent the prejudices of his own faith. Ms. Green(I believe that's the interviewer's name) would not have been the first critic to make that accusation, though she really only managed to make it through repeated innuendo. The title of his book, Zealot, does invite a certain amount of animosity.

To her opening question, Why would a Muslim write a book on Christianity?, Reza replies that it's his job as an academic in religious studies. I would have preferred (and it may have sat better with the audience) if he also explained why or how he came to be a professor of religion.

My favorite part of the interview is when Green remarks that some critics accuse Aslan of writing a book on Jesus while never revealing that he is a Muslim and Aslan points out that he says he is is a Muslim on page two of the book.

Once again the people at FOX look like four year olds on a sugar high. In answer to your question, Green is an intellectual midget who nabbed a job at one of the most intellectually dishonest news networks in the Nation. Reza Aslan is one of America's top scholars.

[Prospero]

I read that book too Trish some years back. I forgot it as the same man. it was a very good piece of writing. I agree with the rest of your summation.

[runningdownthatdream]

I read Aslan's book No god but God, when it first appeared years ago. It's a very well written, astute and critical analysis of Islam. I met him a few years after that when he was on the campus lecture circuit. He is a very friendly and reasonable man with a sense of humor. A colleague of mine (who is a professor of religious history) attended Harvard Divinity School with him. She has the same general assessment of his work and personality. He had in fact converted to Christianity in high school, thought better of it and converted back to Islam before entering college. He's been doing scholarly research on all manner of religions for at two decades.

I ran across OP's linked interview a couple of days ago. It seemed out of character to me for Reza to step so stridently right out of the box and wave his credentials with his very first remarks. He was evidently anticipating an attack and sought to nip it in the bud with sentence one. This was an interview on FOX afterall. Though there may have been some pre-interview discussion that led him to believe he was about to be accused of being a Muslim with Islamic preconceptions writing a book about Jesus in order to vent the prejudices of his own faith. Ms. Green(I believe that's the interviewer's name) would not have been the first critic to make that accusation, though she really only managed to make it through repeated innuendo. The title of his book, Zealot, does invite a certain amount of animosity.

To her opening question, Why would a Muslim write a book on Christianity?, Reza replies that it's his job as an academic in religious studies. I would have preferred (and it may have sat better with the audience) if he also explained why or how he came to be a professor of religion.

My favorite part of the interview is when Green remarks that some critics accuse Aslan of writing a book on Jesus while never revealing that he is a Muslim and Aslan points out that he says he is is a Muslim on page two of the book.

Once again the people at FOX look like four year olds on a sugar high. In answer to your question, Green is an intellectual midget who nabbed a job at one of the most intellectually dishonest news networks in the Nation. Reza Aslan is one of America's top scholars.

I've become an intellectual delinquent as I've grown older. Less inclined to chase after knowledge so I haven't read anything by Mr. Aslan although with you and Prospero praising his earlier book, I may pick it up.

Hearing the title of the book - Zealot - I related it the actual political movement of the time and was intrigued by his linkage with Jesus as I have long held the belief that the historical Jesus was a political revolutionary more so than a religious one. Even if she had only read, in passing, historical works centred in the first 100 years before and after the C.E. she could have conducted a good interview. Sadly, her lack of knowledge resulted in a missed opportunity to educate herself and her audience.

I agree with you that he did come across a little strident in proclaiming his academic credentials and should have talked more about his motivation for writing the book instead. In fairness he was probably told right before getting on air the angle she would take because he clearly looked a little flustered and indignant from the get go.

I laughed when he pointed out to her that page 2 of the book divulges his religion which I think clearly shows his sincerity. It's rare to find a writer who would do that in the preface rather than just allow people to draw conclusions from the work. IMO I think writers should do this more often when writing about a topic which is contrary to their own personal beliefs.

I typically avoid anything to do with FOX which isn't hard since I don't own a TV. Even sporting events covered by FOX have become ridiculous in their over-the-top approach to analysis. It seems FOX caters to the lowest part of human nature - the McDonalds of media. Unfortunately it also seems to me - an outsider - that much of America is headed that way. Looking for the quickest sound bite, the most obvious analysis, the least amount of thinking. In some ways Green is becoming more of the norm than the aberration. Over time, Idiocracy ( Idiocracy (2006) - IMDb ) is becoming more of a certainty than a warning.

[broncofan]

Intellectual midget. Fox news doesn't seem to understand that they should afford a Muslim man the same courtesy and civility they would a Jew or Christian. That much is obvious. It's also clear their viewers don't care that they treated this man that way. It's part of the appeal.

[robertlouis]

"one of the most intellectually dishonest news networks in the Nation".

Umm, Trish, isn't that just a teensy bit generous - perhaps even sui generis? Is there a station anywhere in the western world that is less honest, intellectually and otherwise, than Fox?


Oh shit, I can hear OMK winding up his clockwork green pen somewhere in the tumbleweeds.....

[runningdownthatdream]

"one of the most intellectually dishonest news networks in the Nation".

Umm, Trish, isn't that just a teensy bit generous - perhaps even sui generis? Is there a station anywhere in the western world that is less honest, intellectually and otherwise, than Fox?


Oh shit, I can hear OMK winding up his clockwork green pen somewhere in the tumbleweeds.....

You're not serious are you? You've traveled a lot so I'm sure you've heard the drivel that passes for news and commentary in other countries. What bugs the hell out of me is the way so many other news organizations mimic the worst of the US formats. I think the most laughable recent example was the candidate debates leading up to the last election in Egypt.

FOX is bad but they have plenty of copycats far worse IMO.

[robertlouis]

You're not serious are you? You've traveled a lot so I'm sure you've heard the drivel that passes for news and commentary in other countries. What bugs the hell out of me is the way so many other news organizations mimic the worst of the US formats. I think the most laughable recent example was the candidate debates leading up to the last election in Egypt.

FOX is bad but they have plenty of copycats far worse IMO.

I am serious and I did say in the western world. The only other place which comes close to Fox in its one-eyed bias is Italy, and that's largely down to Berlusconi. Otherwise I genuinely can't think of one.

In the UK a station like Fox would simply not get a licence as a news channel. All news broadcasting has to be strictly neutral and analysis must be without political bias, to comply with long-established guidelines and principles. That's why there's always such a stout defence of the BBC's independence when it's attacked by the right-wing press with their vested interests and friends in the Tory party. Without it we'd be subject to the same kind of crap.

I find it utterly bewildering that a country like the US allows such blatant propaganda to masquerade as news. And that so many credulous morons believe it as well.

[broncofan]

Dude, intellectual midget is not the preferred nomenclature. Intellectual dwarf please.