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Fox, Islam, Jesus ... Fail.

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Songbird, Jul 29, 2013.

  1. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    This is going around the social media the last few days.

    Fox anchor interviews Reza Aslan, professor and scholar of religions with multiple degrees, who has written a book about Jesus. He was a Christian but converted back to Islam. Fox anchor won't let go of that little fact. Her entire speel is "But you're a dirty Muslim so why are you writing about the Lord Jesus Christ?"

    Eventually she analogizes that it would be like a lifelong Democrat writing an in-depth book about Ronald Reagan, to which he offers a pretty strong comeback.

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/is-this-the-most-embarrassing-interview-fox-news-has-ever-do
     
  2. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Mr. Obvious says, in journalistic endeavors you often report and write about stuff that might be outside your personal experience.
     
  3. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    The one criticism I saw was that, despite all his degrees, and his studies, the book doesn't break any new ground. The Jesus he presents is Koranic version of Jesus.

    Though, in this interview, he says his book overturns Islamic interpretations of Jesus as well.

    For example, he says that Jesus was surely crucified, while Islamic tradition does not say this.

    The interview is, obviously, terrible.
     
  4. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    YF, maybe I missed it (re: you saying it's the Koranic version of Jesus) but Aslan said he used 1,000 (plus) books on top of other scholarly information to reach any conclusions.
     
  5. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    I don't know enough about the book -- or even the traditional Islamic/Koranic version of Jesus -- but that is the criticism I saw/read.

    That, while he's a religious scholar, the Jesus he presents is remarkably similar to the Jesus of Koranic tradition -- a version that has been out there for 1400 years.

    Now, if the book says Jesus was crucified, then that alone is a big departure, so maybe the criticism is baseless.
     
  6. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    It's fair to ask about criticisms regarding the book, and the scholarly research that went into it. But the interview went from the conceit that a Muslim just shouldn't be doing this at all. People of one religion do studies of other religions all the time. It's just that Fox News has to keep beating the Muslim-hating drum in a lazy interview like this.
     
  7. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Oh yeah. The interview was terrible. She seemed singularly focused on this one issue.

    And, she tried the whole, "others are saying," bullshit, as if she had no issue with him, his religion, or his book. She was just giving him a chance to refute "other" critics. I fucking hate that.
     
  8. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    "God, Country, Fox". A core tenant of living for flyover country.
     
  9. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Nothing else should be expected from the fascist flagship.

    Nice tits on the anchor-babe, which is really all that counts anyway. After all, how else could she get her job?
     
  10. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    No. 1 on Amazon with 141 5-star reviews.

    http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/reza-aslan-hits-no-1-after-fox-news-interview_b74956

    It may have been an awful performance by the interviewer and yet the whole time I was thinking she's doing exactly what the author probably needed her to do in a situation like this. That doesn't necessarily mean the interview is the reason *why* the book is No. 1 but its controversial tone, which led to SM-sharing galore certainly helped. Probably. I think. Or maybe not. Who knows.

    No. 1.
     
  11. And now I have to click on the link.

    Edit ... meh. Nothing special.
     
  12. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Why is it all the hot news babes wind up at Fox?
     
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