Mos Def proves to be a panel expert
Last night on Bill Maher's late show that appears on HBO, Mos Def, musician, artist and activist was on his panel. How refreshing. Yes Bill Bradley, former Senator and Christoper Hitchens who always claims to be "way more informed and more important than you," appeared on the show as well. Folks, forget them all, even Bill Maher. What Mos Def had to say was way more realistic.
He may have dominated the panel, but his first and best rant was when Bill Maher pointed out that during President Obama's first town hall meeting, Internet questions were all about legalizing marijuana. Bill Maher went on to say that our Internet community may not be "all that smart." What good old Bill is missing is what Mos Def said. "You don't realize how many people aren't exposed to the Internet or know how to use it. Not everyone has a MAC or PC in their home." How true, especially when it comes down to the remote areas of New Mexico and other states who have an poor education system and salaries that simply can't afford a computer or a DSL line let alone Wifi.
Salman Rushdie, an author, was also on the panel and pointed out that our biggest problem is Pakistan because they are comforting the enemy and well, we just need to bomb them too I guess. Mr. Def quipped back by reminding us that 175 teachers lost their jobs in the US and compared to the Bin Laden problem, losing the teachers is worse. Bll Maher had a poor attempt at making his point and said, " bad teachers should be fired." Whatever! Did Mr. Maher even know which teachers lost their jobs? No folks, I would guess not.
When Christopher Hitchens entered the panel, he carried a glass of scotch which he was proud about. He also likes to pick on people who are religious, because he's not so I guess people, that makes him right. He wrote a column once for the magazine Vanity Fair where he rented a convertible and traveled Route 66. He complained about the lack of intelligence of the Native Americans in New Mexico. I, banged back at the time and set him straight about their values, their beliefs, and their choices. He never responded back to me. Most likely he was way too intoxicated to respond. Good old Hitchens thinks we should fund our health care system from the sale of legalized drugs. You can see now people why this man is an idiot. His ideas behind the whole Iraq situation was incoherent to me.
My hero Mos bantered back that what everyone is missing is that other countries (rich or not) look at the US like, "hey how come you can have weapons and we can't?" When Bill Maher compared the US to an empire and how we need to get rid of the 50,000 and 30,000 military personnel based in Germany and Japan, I was proud of Mr. Mos. He said no one understands the "average American view," and he's right on that one. We want to be safe, but we want to know more," Mos said.
When Mr. Mos reminded all of us how President Obama has only been in office a few months and surely we can't judge his performance, Bill Maher went on to say that President Obama's town hall meeting answers were things that John McCain would say. Come on Bill, be on one side or the other...don't pick at both sides of the cherry tree. It was you and your show after all that had a count down clock that constantly reminded us of the days, hours, minutes and seconds we would have to deal with President Bush while we awaited the election of our new leader.
As I said, I don't like Christopher Hitchens much, although Vanity Fair does, and I know he has become a US citizen (formerly a UK citizen), but don't pick on what you don't know Chris, you are so into what you believe in that you miss the point. As far as Bill Maher goes, I was way disappointed with this show folks. Salman Rushdie did okay, when he could get a word in. I, for one, wonder if HBO thinks it's okay to have a panel member who brings his own glass of scotch to the stage. I know, it's cable and anything goes. Not with me people, not with me. Kudos to Mos Def for bringing these three men back to reality.
Comments
What a silly, silly piece of commentary. Mos Def over Rushdie, Hitchens and Maher? I mean, really? Do you even take your writing seriously? What a waste of my time.
I am never surprised by ignorant responses such as yours Ramon. Obviously you didn't listen to one thing Mos Def said while on the show. I commend Ms. Scheid for seeing and acknowledging that, and for pointing out what a fraud Hitchens really is.
OK...I get it. You're a Mos fan and you do not like Hitchens. But Mos Def as "voice of the people" was surely exposed last night as a a fraud. On the one hand he says he doesn't trust any information source other than himself, yet he cannot be bothered to research and discover facts for himself? The
Taliban and A lQuaida have been in existence for how long? And he's asking what their manifesto is? He claims to understand why Iran wants the bomb, but hasn't bothered to
research what Islamic fundamentalist groups are saying
about the bomb? Come on, Jean. How do you defend that?
I suppose what I mean is that Mos cannot have it both ways. If you don't trust what the media is telling you, you have a responsibility to do a little work yourself. Say what you want about Hitchens, but Def was exposed as a phony.
Did you get paid to write this uninformed idiotic rant? Where do I apply for a job?
The most important point that was made on show that evening was made by Salmon (not Simon -- by the way you obviously need to read more, if you wish to read something evidently written by a superior human being read Salmon Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" if you wish to believe in divinely written texts read "Haroun and the Sea of Stories") As I was saying the most important point that was made that evening was made by Salmon Rushdie and was completely missed by Def-Fuk-need-family-y'all home-boy who talked way the hell to much and was treated far more patiently than he deserved. the point was this: that the only group in the world that is seeking nuclear weapons for the sake of using them, and is proudly boasting ahead of time that it is going to use them, is militant Islam, wherever you find it. Mr. Definition seems to think that the United states (which has fought many wars while possessing the nuclear weapon and hasn't used it) is the moral equivalent of organizations that have mushroom clouds on their flags and think they can bring on the apocalypse by detonating one in say NYC. you can be opposed to nuclear armament (as Salmon Rushdie has been since his youth) and still make a distinction between the threat posed by the nuclear club and radical religious nut-bags who want to prove the truth of their holy texts by killing millions.
you ought to be ashamed of this post.
Did you actually watch the show Jean. This is pathetic journalism. Yes, Mr. Hitchens is a douche bag, and, yes, Mos Def is brilliant, but you really need to pay better attention to what you're writing.
If your editors have any sense they'll pull this factually inaccurate disaster asap.
Mos Def is a total idiot. I don't know why Maher even has him on, except for the laugh value. My five year old knows more about politics than he does. Scary that he appeals to the typical Obama voter, like the writer of this cartoon blog.
You are fired!!!
You don't know what you are talking about. Mos Def lives in his own little world and he does not know much. He said he does not care about osama and he was asking about the political manifesto of Taliban in overtime of real time !!!
Now who would argue with that and he said he thinks for himself.If you don't know you better shut up and listen rather than argue.
Christopher Hitchens (douche-bag) is an atheist by the way, which you would know if you'd actually paid attention to last night's show. And that's just the tip of the iceberg in your mess of an article.
The peope saying that Mos Def is an idiot are simply too close-minded, and unintelligent really, to understand his facility to question the apparatus that delivers our information to us. This regardless of the fact that it's one of the basic tenants upon which our country was built. They just take what they hear on Fox News and swallow it down without a second thought. (And it's not the only thing they swallow, truth be told.) Mos Def scares these pinheads because fear mongering is what they relate to. It drives them into their submissive status quo. I feel sorry for them.
Hey Jean...get a friend to read your articles in the future before you post them. It'll save you a world of embarrassment.
Readers, A correction note, I did spell Mr. Rushdie's first name Salmon right at the beginning of the article and regret the type of "Simon" in the last part of the article.
Thanks for your comments
How about Bill MahEr's name. I think we all deserve an apology for that dousy too.
I agreed with Mos on one point. Finding information in America does take an effort. But it certainly doesn't take a Mac. (He didn't say PC.) All it takes is a trip to the library and regardless of which American city you live this is not prohibitive.
Also, Hitchens, dram in hand, made considerably stronger points than the perceptibly intoxicated Mos Def.
Readers,
I appreciate your understanding of the Typos on the last name of Bill "Maher" and the first name of Salmon Rushdie. After the show aired, I ran to my computer to write this article. But, as Mos Def would put it, sadly so many great Americans who don't have a PC or a MAC will never see it.
Again, apologies on the typos and thanks for your comments
It's very difficult to upset me. You've really got to try hard. But this frigging article has me absolutely seething. I mean, I am pi$$ed right off. This pitiful piece of inarticulate commentary is representative of the mediocrity that infects the American media; American society for that matter. For the author to actually believe that this deserves to be distributed to the masses is presumptious at best and deeply irresponsible at worst. I can't believe this is anybody's best work. If it is, you have no right to call yourself a reporter. If it isn't, shame on you. So bad.
Electronic documents are easily changed Jean. You misquote Mos Def and spell two names wrong. Why don't you fix it?
Thank f(_)cking god those Americans you mentioned won't see it.
Who are you and why do I find articles of yours on google news? Mos Def was a chump on Real Time. He had some intelligent points and articulated a few of them well; but they were all undercut by his goofiness and discourtesy to his fellow panelists. If you blab while Salman Rushdie is talking, you are a douche-bag. Ayatollah Komeini, supreme leader of Iran at the time, issued a fatwa calling for him to be killed because of a book he wrote; If anyone has first-hand experience of the lunacy and barbary of Islamic fundamentalism it's Rushdie. Mos Def, on the other hand, recommended that the USA give up its nukes in the hopes that such a gesture will inspire the Islamic theocracies and authorities to give up their plans to develop them and use them. Are you mad? Someone's muslim faith (Mos Def's) is blinding their sense of logic.
And Hitchens rules. I'm sorry, but walking on stage with a glass of scotch equals automatic awesome points. Always.
First of all, I like Mos Def. But this particular appearance on Maher's show was an absolute joke. He thoughtlessly blabbered about nothing in particular while his much fellow guests, who really do know a lot more than he does about...pretty much everything except rap...tried to get good points in before he cut them off and changed the subject.
Mos Def came off like an idiot last night, and suggesting otherwise is simply disingenuous.
oh yeah... Salmon? Are you even trying?
"But, as Mos Def would put it, sadly so many great Americans who don't have a PC or a MAC will never see it.
Again, apologies on the typos and thanks for your comments "
That is really a pitiful excuse. It angers me that while so many people are losing their REAL jobs, you get paid to write this schlock.
I will make it a point never to purchase a copy of the "Albuquerque Green Business Examiner."
Ahem. Um...Did anyone see the "overtime" segment on RT website? (It was unaired.)
Search YouTube for "Real Time with Bill Maher, March 27 2009 - Overtime"
The author's name is Salman Rushdie, not Salmon for God's sake.
I thought Mos Def (who I had never heard of before last night) had some really good points and was the best guest by far last night. A few times he did talk over the other guests, but once Bill reigned him in a bit his analysis was spot on.
He was absolutely correct that we set the example for the rest of the world. How can we tell Iran they have no right to have nuclear weapons when we ourselves have them and are the only country to have actually use them against an enemy? I am most definitely going to check out this Mos Def guy's work because I was VERY impressed by him last night.
Will anyone be truly satisfied until she takes this crap down. Otherwise, Jean, you're going to be making corrections all week. (It's very sad that you can't seem to get to them all at once.) The next one I'll point out to you, 'Salmon' notwithstanding, is the fact that you misquoted Bill Maher. He said no such thing about the internet community. In fact, he was upset that President Obama implied that, because an inordinate amount of people were asking about marijuana, there must be something wrong with them. Your powers of comprehension are ridiculously weak. That's particularly disturbing in a so-called 'writer'.
I'll give you another one real quick. Just for fun. The category this time is...GRAMMATICAL ERRORS. Plentiful indeed, but I like this one. "His ideas WAS incoherent to me." Awesome. Really well done. Not to mention ironic. YOU calling somebody else incoherent. That's comedy. If you want, I'll give you a new one from this article alone everyday. Just ask me for help, and you got it.
Dear B-ret,
I hear you and thank you for your comments.
Mos Def should stick to making music (which he is actually quite good at) and stay out of political commentary. It's this type of inane, incoherent populist nonsense that keeps us from progressing.
Hithens and Rushdie are very thorough and influential thinkers, and even though Bill Maher will take a cheap laugh whenever he gets the chance, he does a pretty good job of respecting others' views, unlike Jon Stewart. Mos Def kept the panel from having a good discussion, instead trying to convince the panel of what a profound individualist he is.
wow... jean and char must be the same person. this article was pitiful. please, stop writing.
correction; this article "is" pitiful.
Jean must not have watched the show. Mos Def embarrassed himself. He was rude (contantly shouting over Rushdie and Hitchens), obnoxious and never on topic unless it was to state the obvious. Rushdie at one point had to say "I don't need to be told that war is bad."
Observations. First I think Jean is joking with her analysis of this show. Second, if she is serious, she should never be taken as a credible writer again. So either she is a complete moron, or lacks any sort of intellectual honesty.
Hitchens and Rushdie are idiots (60's Leftists radicals, intellectuals and accomplished literary statesmen); but Mos is a hero and a saint of the underclass and the solution to their perceived failings? Man, this country is worse off than I thought. Read some classical literature, and stop listening to Mos.
"Observations. First I think Jean is joking with her analysis of this show. Second, if she is serious, she should never be taken as a credible writer again. So either she is a complete moron, or lacks any sort of intellectual honesty."
Words right out of my mouth.
You've got to be kidding... Mos Def is a 9/11 conspiracy nut and apologist for Islam, who thinks the Police are worse than Bin Laden
You're rather silly - the "column [that Hitchens wrote] once for the magazine Vanity Fair" is titled 'The Ballad of Route 66', and is included in his collection of essays, 'Love, Poverty, and War'; anyone who has actually read the essay knows that Hitchens never "complain[ed] about the lack of intelligence of the Native Americans in New Mexico." Moreover, if you had bothered to read Hitchens's succinct book 'A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq', then "his ideas behind the whole Iraq situation [would not be so] incoherent to [you]." Perhaps actually reading Hitchens's work may facilitate your understanding?
You go girl...
HA-ha-ha-ha
YOU.....set Christopher Hitchens straight??? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ah...........I don't think so.
You cannot be serious! I also enjoy Mos Def's music but after that showing he needs to stick to what he's good at. As other comments have pointed out Rushdie knows firsthand about Muslim fundamentalists and if you want the full example of Mos Def's complete lack of knowledge on the issue watch Overtime on HBO.com under the Bill Maher page or on Youtube. In it he not only confuses Al Qaeda and the Taliban but asks if "they" have ever stated an ultimate goal or ideology. Complete ignorance really...
Why do you care about the scotch anyways??? I agree Hitchens can be a pompous assh*le sometimes but right is right and in this case he's right.
What a HORRIFICALLY written and structured article! I was "WAY" disappointed by your complete lack of intellect and writing ability!!!
This article was not written by an adult whose first language is English, right? Say it isn't so. Worthless and illiterate. Hopeless.
Actually, it seems like Jean is putting person over principle, a point Bill made to Mos during the show. It's obvious right at the beginning of the second paragraph when she writes:
"He may have dominated the panel, but..."
There is no but. He rudely shouted over the other panelists the entire night. That's not okay. Even *if* you believe his comments were right on the mark, which of course they weren't.
at the beginning, mos def made a few points but he sunk miserably at the end. he became obnoxious and spoke over the panelists and Bill Maher when he couldn't understand anything. say what you want about his position as an "individual thinker," it's hard to be convinced of this when he can't even tell the difference between the taliban and al-qaeda. even when rushdie, maher, and hitchens tried to explain it, he continued to refuse - he is nothing more than a 9/11 conspiracy junkie (and one with millions of dollars) trying to make bin Laden innocent. the panel with rushdie and hitchens would have been awesome - unfortunately maher finally gave in and let a 9/11 Truth freak from the audience a position in the panel. New Rule: Don't make that mistake again.
Jean - peculiar stuff.
"Salman Rushdie, an author..."
A fun game would be to come up with parallels to that introduction. Just to get the ball rolling...
"Bob Dylan, a musician..."
"Bill Clinton, a politician..."
"Cal Ripken, a baseball player..."
And to all the other commenters - no need to slam the author if you didn't care for the article (which I didn't, speaking as a fan of both Rushdie and Hitchens).
I will admit bewilderment at what drives someone to side with "Mr Definitely" here, though. The guy was like a caricature of the know-nothing celebrity - all opinions, no thought. I personally thought Hitchens exercised tact, even in that "Overtime" segment - and Rushdie looks embarassed the entire show.
Mr. Definatly is definatly an idiot, and it's a free country, he has that right, I just don't think Bill Maher should let him get in the way of people talking who actually think about things--like people who will explode the bomb if they get it, and why OBL is not a made up terrorist! Got it Jean.
Mos Def says he only trusts himself when it comes to information. In that case why did he even bother asking Rushdie and Hitchens his question if he isn't going to believe them anyway?
You have to stop writing now if your level of judgment is this poor. This is terrible. I don't even know where to start, because their is no beginning or end to what is wrong in this article. It is 100% incorrect.
The most obvious thing that I saw (ONLY?!) person allude to was that Mos Def was visibly intoxicated. Whether he was intoxicated by substance or by anger from something else, he was irrational (asking for information while saying he wouldn't believe it), paranoid (accused Maher of setting him up in Overtime for a fight) and unrealistic (Bin Laden, Iran, Al Quieda, nuclear weapons, etc).
Add the FACTS (yes, facts) that he couldn't stop interrupting everyone the whole show, talked over people when he couldn't interrupt, and went off-topic several times...and, well if those aren't signs of intoxication or psychological issues, I don't know what is.
Also, I say this as someone who not only thoroughly enjoys his music (especially Blackstar with Talib), but has seen him many times speak. While he might not be as scholarly as Hitchens and Rushdieo, he usually has good thoughts and ways of looking at things. He is also respectful. He was neither on that show. He was drunk on something, not Hitchens.
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