By now you may have heard about possibly the Most Ignorant Interview in the History of Television, in which Fox News’s Laureen Green grilled religious scholar Reza Aslan about why a Muslim would want to write a book about Jesus. Yesterday Fox doubled down and hosted Brent Bozell, who declared that if Aslan really is “just a scholar” and not a propagandist/polemicist he can’t be a good Muslim. Seriously.
Aslan is no fool. After the interview his book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth shot up to the top of the Amazon best seller list, and it’s still there as of this morning. I downloaded the book to my Kindle a couple of days ago, and wow, this guy is a good writer. I haven’t gotten to any parts talking about Jesus yet, but Aslan’s account of all the political/social nonsense going on in the Roman Empire at the time is genuinely engrossing, and some of it is new to me.
Another book I downloaded a few days ago is Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies: On Myths, Morons, Free Speech, Football, and Assorted Absurdities by Chris Kluwe. I couldn’t resist a book written by a football jock titled Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies. This may be a girl thing. But it’s really a fun little read, along the lines of good blog writing.
Another recommendation, briefly reviewed at the other site, is a novel, Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being I hardly ever find a novel I actually like, and I actually liked this one.
This last book might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I got a kick out of it — There Is No God and He Is Always With You, by Brad Warner, also reviewed and blogged about at the other site.
Oh, and if you buy any books from the evil Amazon — and yeah, it’s Amazon — if you get to Amazon by clicking on the Amazon ad in the right-hand column here, I get a small cut of the profits.
I LOVED Brad Warner’s new book, which I was turned on to by your review on the other site, for which, thanks. As I guy who’s practiced cross-traditionally in Orthodox Christianity and Zen for a lot of years, getting either trashed or condescended to by both sides for doing so, the book was like a breath of fresh air, and really expressed succinctly a lot of my own feelings on the subject. I continue to be amused by my fellow Zennists who gratefully no longer believe in God but are REALLY pissed at him just the same. Brad addresses this pretty blatant exchange of attachment for aversion pretty skillfully, I thought.
LOL! Yeah, I know.
If you’re on Twitter Chris Kluwe can be followed @ChrisWarcraft.
And the thing that Aslan can be most proud of, unlike #1 selling Reichie “authors,” is that there won’t be any “bulk-buy” symbol in the NY Times by the title.
Which means that earned that he earned that spot legitimately. He didn’t need Reich-Wing clown groups to bulk-buy thousands of copies in order to give them to poor white schmucks who are members, and save them the $1 for the copy they’d have to pay when they found their favorite Reichie “authors” book on the discount rack at the bookstore, or WalMart.
I’m going to put my name down on the list at my public library, since, sorry maha, I can’t afford to buy books anymore. Not being able to buy books, or eat some good sushi, are the worst things for me about being one of the “Nouveau Poor.”
Thanks for the tip about cutting you in on my Amazon purchases! Yesterday I read a mini-review of Zealot in the New Yorker, and I thought it sounded compelling. Definitely going on my to-read list, if just to annoy Faux Nooz.
One of my favorite lines in Catch 22 is “The God I don’t believe in is a good God, a kind God, a merciful God.”
“the Most Ignorant Interview in the History of Television”
I saw a little of the interview and agree it was textbook FAUX news ignorant (xenophobic, islamophobic, racist, uninformed) , but the MOST ignorant, I don’t think so. FAUX has the following cast of characters either working for them now or in the recent past, Glenn Beckkk, Sean Hannity, Muck Huckabuck, Dick Morris, Caribou Barbie, the list of dim bulbs is so long I could go on……. The most ignorant, I seriously doubt it!
Brent Bozell, who declared that if Aslan really is “just a scholar†and not a propagandist/polemicist he can’t be a good Muslim. Seriously.
Everyone at Faux is a propagandist/polemicist or they wouldn’t still hold their positions in Roger Ailes lie factory. For them to understand the concept of a ‘scholar’ is like explaining particle physics to your dog. Or explaining particle physics to a Fox host.
Brent Bozell ? Whose mission in life is to expose Liberal bias in the media. Fox couldn’t find a more suitable jerkoff to serve their purpose if they scoured the entire planet. He got one thing completely wrong.. Jesus wasn’t the founder of Christianity. It was Saul of Tarsus/ The Apostle Paul…” I preach Christ crucified”. If it wasn’t for Paul, Jesus would have never gotten off the ground( no pun intended).
I will add this to the conversation–Reza Aslan is a really good looking man. Makes me wish I was about 30 years younger. Hubba hubba. However, I thought he handled the interview very well; and, made the interviewer look like a not-so-smart beauty contest winner.
I find myself saying that several times a week these days. 🙁
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/zealot-reza-aslan-_n_3605667.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
If that interview didn’t just top if all off! It was hilarious to watch her try to pretend she had a legitimate question. At least she did not say she had read the book. My tv would have burst into flames.
maha,
Uhm…
Why?
The last 30+ have been bad enough.
You want to stick around, and see a possible Cruz Presidency at some point?
Because I doubt that there’ll be a real Liberal President in the next 30+ years.
Another Reich Wing Presidency is more likely at this point, than the first real Liberal President since LBJ or FDR.
I wonder if Lauren Green is proud of the mention she’s getting, mistaking notoriety for widespread disdain.
Serious reply to Fox baiting, though a necessity, is generally preaching to the choir. It’s their propaganda techniques require the spotlight. We all heard it…that hackneyed “well some are saying blah-blah-blah, what do you say to that?” Something like this might be called for, “Some say Fox is the hate network and their talking heads are shills and hacks who could not get jobs anywhere else, but crazy people say all sorts of things, don’t they?”
Do reasonable people really go into a Fox interview thinking they can change anyone’s perception? And whose perception does a reasonable person think they will change by virtue of an appearance? I suppose one scores a win if they get the talking head to back up a few steps.
One starts from a rational deficit by responding seriously so I’m wondering whether the appearance itself does more harm than good. Apparently some can’t resist. At least he increased book sales here and UK publishers have stepped up their release date for his book on Jesus.