MSNBC cancels Muslim bigot's show

[plague311]

Hard to believe someone just walks away from the extreme bigotry he espoused a few years ago. He is also known as MSNBC's harshest critic.

A few years ago? It's been 15 years. I was in my ******* 20s around 15 years ago. Have you seriously not changed in the last 15 years? That explains a lot actually.

 

[smartcooky]

A few years ago? It's been 15 years. I was in my ******* 20s around 15 years ago. Have you seriously not changed in the last 15 years? That explains a lot actually.

Well, I'm a bit older, but in my 20's to 30's I would have had no hesitation telling Jewish jokes or Rastus and Sambo jokes. These days, not so much - time changes and I grew up. I used to think they were funny.

 

[dirtywick]

Well, I'm a bit older, but in my 20's to 30's I would have had no hesitation telling Jewish jokes or Rastus and Sambo jokes. These days, not so much - time changes and I grew up. I used to think they were funny.

well they were funny. what changed is that there's too many people out there that don't get it's a joke. people used to make edgy jokes and everyone knew they were jokes. now there's a ton of people that are just agreeing

 

[dann]

It was not only 15 years ago. It was also, at least according to himself:

During a sermon delivered in 2009, quoting a verse of the Quran, Hasan used the terms "cattle" and "people of no intelligence" to describe non-believers. In another sermon, he used the term "animals" to describe non-Muslims.

In response to criticism for his remarks, Hasan wrote in his New Statesman blog: "The Quranic phrase 'people of no intelligence' simply and narrowly refers to the fact that Muslims regard their views on God as the only intellectually tenable position, just as atheists (like Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris) regard believers as fundamentally irrational and, even, mentally deficient."[76] Hasan returned to this issue in August 2012 following criticism from the columnist Peter Hitchens, stating that "the entire 45-minute speech is primarily an attack on Muslim extremists who try and justify violence against non-Muslims on an 'ends justify the means' basis", but noted of his 2009 comments that his "phraseology was ill-judged, ill-advised and, even, inappropriate".[77]
Mehdi Hasan: Controversy (Wikipedia)

I think people should read the two articles linked to in the quotation from Wikipedia. This is from the HuffPost article:

Here I condemn Iran's anti-Christian apostasy laws; here I unconditionally condemn all forms of suicide terrorism; here I criticise British Muslims for "our navel-gazing and victim mentality"; here I denounce those Muslims like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad who engage in Holocaust denial; here I praise Muslim diplomat Abdul-Hossein Sardari for saving Iranian Jews from the Nazis during the Second World War; here I attack Anjem Choudary for his intolerance and bigotry.

Do these sound like the views of a Muslim extremist or reactionary? And is it too much to ask to be judged on my large body of published works rather than spurious "gotcha" quotes from ancient and dodgy YouTube videos?
Anatomy of a Hitchens Hatchet Job (Huffington Post, Aug 5, 2012)

It's pretty obvious who the bigot/bigots is/are. It's not Mehdi Hasan. And it wasn't Mehdi Hasan 15 years ago, so there's no reason to use his age at the time to excuse him. It's not one of those cases.

The bigots would probably have preferred a Muslim bigot to Mehdi Hasan. They attack him because he is not a any kind of bigot and thus not their kind of bigot.
The irony is that the bigots would agree with the bigoted views he once had!

 

[Jack by the hedge]

... people used to make edgy jokes and everyone knew they were jokes.

People made the same jokes when they weren't edgy, they were just punching down and nobody cared.

But the thing is the edge keeps moving. If you make an edgy joke today, kids in ten or twenty years will think you're a monster and your audience were ******** for laughing. It's not enough to know you were joking. They need to know what you were joking about. The mechanics of the joke work whether you were saying something everyone knew was outrageous and unsayable, while you pretended to be unaware, or whether you were just lazily mocking your target. There needs to be an understanding between the comic and the audience that the joke *is* edgy, otherwise it just sounds crass.

 

[dann]

well they were funny. what changed is that there's too many people out there that don't get it's a joke. people used to make edgy jokes and everyone knew they were jokes. now there's a ton of people that are just agreeing

People made the same jokes when they weren't edgy, they were just punching down and nobody cared.

But the thing is the edge keeps moving. If you make an edgy joke today, kids in ten or twenty years will think you're a monster and your audience were ******** for laughing. It's not enough to know you were joking. They need to know what you were joking about. The mechanics of the joke work whether you were saying something everyone knew was outrageous and unsayable, while you pretended to be unaware, or whether you were just lazily mocking your target. There needs to be an understanding between the comic and the audience that the joke *is* edgy, otherwise it just sounds crass.

The problem is that most of those jokes weren't edgy. They were just dumb and bigoted. The only way to enjoy them would be to be in 'dumb mode'.

One of the most edgy comedians nowadays is Anthony Jeselnik. His 'racist' jokes work only because it is fairly obvious that he is playing a character who is an arrogant psychopathic racist as are most of the characters in his imaginary family, so the joke is on that/those character/s. Many people don't like him because they don't get this. (They are right in a way: If he were who he pretends to be on stage, they shouldn't like him. His character isn't likable.)

I have noticed that many people find it difficult to enjoy books or movies without likable characters, somebody to sympathize or empathize with. It's a frequent complaint in Amazon reviews.

I think that if a bigot goes to one of Jeselnik's shows by mistake, they might 'enjoy' it the same way they would 'enjoy' the show of one of their favourite bigoted 'comedians'. 'HaHa! I get it! He says that blacks are inferior and Jews are greedy!' They would be poe'd and not really get that the joke is on them, the bigots.

But this hasn't got anything to do with Mehdi Hasan. I appreciate the guy and love his shows, but he is always very, very serious! His way of being edgy is to never let bigots off the hook. It's what made his interview with Vivek Ramaswamy so enjoyable, and I am pretty sure that nobody in dumb mode would enjoy that one!

 

[dirtywick]

People made the same jokes when they weren't edgy, they were just punching down and nobody cared.

But the thing is the edge keeps moving. If you make an edgy joke today, kids in ten or twenty years will think you're a monster and your audience were ******** for laughing. It's not enough to know you were joking. They need to know what you were joking about. The mechanics of the joke work whether you were saying something everyone knew was outrageous and unsayable, while you pretended to be unaware, or whether you were just lazily mocking your target. There needs to be an understanding between the comic and the audience that the joke *is* edgy, otherwise it just sounds crass.

that's not really something i worry about with comedians, who many of are their own little form of scumbags but not for this. a lot of jokes don't age well and even in the moment in context at their best they're not for everyone. and that's fine by the way, we can find different things funny. but i think you're right that there needs to be an understanding with the audience, and that's what i'm saying is disappearing.

you can look at joe rogan and alex jones, for example. for normal people, when he has alex jones on you know you're going to have a fun time listening to some kook say crazy things. but there's a certain amount of people sitting there listening and thinking he's making some great points. and if enough of your audience is doing that, you've got a responsibility to stop feeding them that stuff and not have him on to explain covid. but they're so greedy they don't care.

even past that there's edgelord places on the internet. the meme culture.
those places turned from edgy comedy boards and sites where people said awful things for fun and turned into white nationalist sites because they stopped even understanding there was a joke being made but instead over time the users just started agreeing with it.

 

[varwoche]

It was not only 15 years ago. It was also, at least according to himself:

I think people should read the two articles linked to in the quotation from Wikipedia. This is from the HuffPost article:

It's pretty obvious who the bigot/bigots is/are. It's not Mehdi Hasan. And it wasn't Mehdi Hasan 15 years ago, so there's no reason to use his age at the time to excuse him. It's not one of those cases.

The bigots would probably have preferred a Muslim bigot to Mehdi Hasan. They attack him because he is not a any kind of bigot and thus not their kind of bigot.
The irony is that the bigots would agree with the bigoted views he once had!

Perhaps Hercules will follow these links and realize he's jumped to hasty conclusions.

 

[p0lka]

It would seem appropriate to sack him for comments made at work, but old comments that he recanted? A fanatic who has reformed seems an excellent choice as a commentator.

If he still believes in the winged horse shenanigans then no one should care what he proclaims.

 

[smartcooky]

Perhaps Hercules will follow these links and realize he's jumped to hasty conclusions.

 

[novaphile]

Well, I'm a bit older, but in my 20's to 30's I would have had no hesitation telling Jewish jokes or Rastus and Sambo jokes. These days, not so much - time changes and I grew up. I used to think they were funny.

I have been known to tell Jewish jokes, but they're jokes that have been taught to me by Jewish people.

They're quite funny, but some times need culturally specific knowledge to get the humour.

 

[smartcooky]

I have been known to tell Jewish jokes, but they're jokes that have been taught to me by Jewish people.

They're quite funny, but some times need culturally specific knowledge to get the humour.

Well mine tended to be, shall we say, somewhat less than culturally sensitive

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I watched Mehdi Hasan's program tonight because his regular show is on until Jan. It was important to hear a POV not usually heard. There are Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank. We are not hearing enough about that.

 

[Donal]

LOL!!!!

Bigots should not have their own tv shows.

Apologies or not.

-Guy who uses FOX News as a primary source

 

[Cat Not Included]

LOL!!!!

Bigots should not have their own tv shows.

Apologies or not.

So your view is that anyone who expresses fairly typical conservative views at any point in their adult life should be shunned and boycotted from all future endeavors no matter how long its been or how their opinions seem to have changed?

 

[catsmate]

Perhaps Hercules will follow these links and realize he's jumped to hasty conclusions.

I doubt it.

If only USAian Republicans could recover from their illiberal views on abortion and homosexulity....

 

[catsmate]

So your view is that anyone who expresses fairly typical conservative views at any point in their adult life should be shunned and boycotted from all future endeavors no matter how long its been or how their opinions seem to have changed?

Time to ban FOX news...

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

Your source is Faux News. That is all I need to know.

Now, for a more reasoned take on the actual reasons

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4335274-mehdi-hassan-canceled-msnbc/

"MSNBC has canceled Mehdi Hasan’s Sunday night opinion show as part of a broader shakeup across the network’s lineup of weekend programming.

Hasan, who will remain with the network as an on-camera analyst and fill-in host, informed his staff of the decision on Thursday morning, Semafor first reported.

The network plans to fill Hasan’s Sunday night slot with a second hour of a show hosted by Ayman Mohyeldin, whose total broadcast time on MSNBC will be expanding to four hours on both Saturday and Sundays.

The network is also launching an ensemble program titled “The Weekend” airing Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8-10 a.m. and hosted by MSNBC staples Alicia Menendez, Symone Sanders-Townsend and Michael Steele. It will premiere Jan. 13.

Hasan was one of MSNBC’s most outspoken liberal pundits and was hired by the network in 2021 to host a show Sunday evenings.

In a note to staff Thursday, MSNBC President Rashida Jones said the changes were made "to better position ourselves as we head into the presidential election."​

Hercules56, as long as you rely on outlets such as Faux News, and Newsmax to get your information, you are always going to be lied to‎.
‎

It's not like Hercules is that interested in the truth in the first place.

 

[smartcooky]

It's not like Hercules is that interested in the truth in the first place.

Well it looks like he has disappeared from the thread. I guess being overwhelmed with truth, facts and evidence was too much for the poor guy!

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

Well it looks like he has disappeared from the thread. I guess being overwhelmed with truth, facts and evidence was too much for the poor guy!

That's not Hercules' usual MO though. He has a habit of picking up a few PRATTs and running with them ad nauseum until others stop engaging with him.