This is the worst interview ever!
I mean seriously, what a disrespectful bitch!
No matter how many times the author reminds this woman that he is an academic scholar approaching the subject from what he believes to be a factual basis, she simply CANNOT see past the fact that he is a Muslim.
She is incredibly aggressive and seems determined to undermine his book based solely on his religious affiliation and NEVER bothers to address the content of his writing.
It should be noted that Reza Aslan has written numerous books on religion, and most notably came under fire for writing a book (No God but God) that took Islamic fundamentalists and zealots to task for misunderstanding and misrepresenting the teachings of the Quran.
I have seen interviews with Aslan numerous times, and he has always seemed a fairly intelligent and reasonable fellow. Though of course I disagree with some of his viewpoints, I cannot refute that his books are well researched and his opinions well thought out.
And besides just knowing how pissed off the Religious Right and the Islamophobes are over this book is reason enough to want to read it for myself.
Please consider the following possibility. This particular Fox interviewer is a classically trained pianist with a Masters' degree from Northwestern University. She is actually trained in news, unlike the bimbo you are accusing her of being.
ReplyDeleteIt is entirely possible that she was trying to overstate her part only to bring her viewers around. There is a psychological term for this, though I don't remember it now. Remember: Fox's second-largest shareholder and owner is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the same billionaire who built the Gound Zero mosque. Maybe, just maybe, she thought this type of aggressive questioning would be the best way to quickly get his remarkable credentials before her audience.
Do you honestly believe she didn't know his credentials before the interview, or that she or her producers didn't discuss the interview with him ahead of time?
Very soon, Fox will be competing directly, IN AMERICA, with Al Jazeera news. I am confident that both Murdoch and Alwaleed are fully aware of this, and that they realize just how dingy, biased, hateful, and far gone their audience is. IMO, if Murdoch doesn't ditch Ailes very soon, his 'news' network might be a goner. Ailes is at the root of the poison on Fox.
Just for the Record: Reza Aslan is Iranian. Amazingly, the country that currently is seeing the highest percentage of evangelism growth in the world (even though it is illegal and subject to the death penalty) is Iran. This is happening not in churches, which are mostly illegal in Iran, but in individual homes. Imagine the bravery to undertake such a movement, one by one, with a huge, armed, and constantly snooping theocratic state dogging your every movement. I can't imagine that this reality is not at the heart of Aslan's interest.
Lauren Green *is* a professional journalist with a solid academic background, but this interview cannot be one that she will consider to be among her best. She wasn't necessarily offensive in the first portion of the interview in stating some of the critics of Mr Aslan's book, but she did a very poor job of introducing the credentials of the critics of Aslan's work.
DeleteBut at the end (final two minutes), she was rude and clearly her bias did not allow her to listen and ask related questions that were specific to either the book or the statements that Aslan made. A good interviewer is a good listener, and she simply did not listen.
She called this a debate at the end, but she was unable to debate anything because she obviously had not prepared by reading even extended exerts from the book. The critics that she chose were dismissive and did not direct any criticism at all to this particular piece of work. Therefore, she could not in any way debate his work. In that case, just as in nasty partisan politics, all she could do was attack him personally by overtly questioning his integrity as a scholar and his character as a learned professor and historian of religion. Quite frankly, that was a horrible piece of journalistic work, and anyone who would contend otherwise knows nothing about journalism.
Finally, Ms Green's inference that a biological historian who happened to be a *democrat* writing a book on Reagan would not or could not do so factually and objectively was completely unprofessional and revealed her own projection. Based on her poor interviewing skills displayed here, she appears to be unable to seperate her own personal ideology from her work as a professional. I'll give her the benefit and say that the major reason for her poor performance was her laziness in being completely unprepared. Still, she owes Mr Aslan an apology. Without going back to actually view her interviews with Placido Domingo, Van Cliburn, or any others of the distinguished professionals in their respective fields, I remain certain that Ms Green was neither rude nor disrespectful in her inquiries.
This is a bit deeper than my current knowledge. Thank you. Off to do some reading.
DeleteAnonymous 4:28 makes many good points. Showing rudeness to the person you chose (or were ordered) to interview merely reflects the ignorance of the interviewer, not that of the interviewee.
DeleteAslan is a very bright and very well-qualified man. Green was presumably well-trained in journalism. Did her training 'take'? Is it sabotaged by her personality or shallowness? Or is it thrown off the rails by what she is ordered to say and do each day by Roger Ailes, who reportedly runs the network with a 'hands-on' level of micro-management, determining the daily talking points for each 'news' caster?
Gryphen is right in his next post: Fox's audience is dying out, and most of the next generation of internet reading youth will not tolerate this degree of ignorance and hate.
She wants to keep her job do she acts like a dumb asshole. She's certainly not the only woman on Fix News to do so.
DeleteSo what she is a classically trained pianist? what does that have to do with she is a big mouth idiot and doesn't know how to interview someone like this guy who is very intelligent and its obvious she hasn't read the book.
DeleteAgree with G, sounds like a good book to read.
The stupid it burns over there at FNC! Duh!
Do you have a link for your knowledge "the country that currently is seeing the highest percentage of evangelism growth in the world" Anonymous3:04 PM?
I find it hard to believe. Muslims are very devout. They are not the fakers of the "money changers" that call themselves Evangelicals here.
The woman was a rude bitch bottom line.
And yes Al Jazzera going to kill all the news stations. B/c it actually reports the news and does investigations.
Unlike our "lamestream media" to quote our hateful one...Maybe AJ will get to the bottom of Todd's pimping and how palin never had TriG? Lets hope so!
Typical Fox report. No fact finding. Just try reading the second page! Or even Google!
ReplyDeleteOK, I'm busy and this was so painful that I had to stop at the 6 minute mark. But here's what I think happened.
ReplyDeleteThis woman woke up. Made coffee. Checked mails. Kissed whoever she lives with. Showered. Got dressed. Left home.
Got on the subway. Got off. Walked up to the sidewalk. Went to her job as a Pilates Instructor. And somehow wound up in the Anchor Chair on FOX News. On National Television.
Wow. Wow.
Hey Rupert, how bout paying some attention to what's going on in the Colonies.
A Fan From Chicago
Lauren Green. Miss Minnesota 1984
DeleteGrechen Carlson Miss Minnesota 1989
Just sayin'.
I live in the south. Because of that I know a huge number of fundamentalists. I mean, this IS where southern baptists are, after all (most of them, anyway).
ReplyDeleteAs such I can confidently say that FEW southern fundamentalists are capable of accepting the fact that jesus is extremely well thought of in islam.
And a lot of other people fall in that category as well - like THIS bitch!
Talk about the patience of Job....
ReplyDeleteIf she really wanted to be offended, she should have taken issue with him trying to explain or answer her questions using calm, simple, reasonable words and tone--kind of how you'd talk to any fussy two year old (or a Faux News personality). And as expected, she didn't hear a word he said. And how many "Christians" have written books on religions not there own (looking at you, John Hagee).
Very interesting subject matter. Looks like request time at the library.
With a bachelor's in music and a master's in journalism she could have found an honorable occupation. Instead she gets a job at Fox and panders to the most ignorant in this country. Disgusting. I don't buy the defense some are using that she was just being the devil's advocate. She is part of the Faux Propaganda Network. There is nothing honorable in that.
ReplyDeleteShe must have let her own religious belief interfere with ration. I can't believe she wouldn't know the difference between a scholar and a preacher. Where did she get her degrees?
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine a world where only Republicans wrote books on other Republicans? WTF?
ReplyDeleteObviously she had her religion cap on during the interview and not her news-casting cap, or her intelligence cap for that matter.
BTW this interview seems to be getting lots of attention Slade.com refers to it --- "...this may just be the single most cringe-worthy, embarrassing interview broadcast on Fox News."
She was so outclassed intellectually that it was painful to watch.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to find out from Google searches if Lauren Green is indeed a Christian. I could not get definite proof, but from the disrespect she has taken from a scholar who happens to be Muslim, I'm sure she must be a Christian of the card carrying variety. The way she was talked down to by this educated man is more proof how Christians are a "persecuted minority" in the USA. Don't non- Christians realize they are inferior and should automatically pander to Christian's superior intellect... even when they are bat-shit crazy? That is how it always has been, no need to change now...remember... the earth is flat and the universe revolves around the Earth...Adam and Eve lived with dinosaurs, unfortunately they missed the ark along with the Unicorns, but they all lived at one time together....it is all documented at Gods creation museum in the Christian state of Kentucky for those who want proof.....
ReplyDeleteMy Mom has been puzzled for years about me being an atheist, and things came to a head the past two weeks while I was visiting her. She had assumed for YEARS that:
ReplyDelete1/ I hate Christians, especially her;
2/ I dislike and actively avoid being in a church of any kind;
3/ I would never read the Bible;
4/ I will go to hell.
I countered thusly:
1/ I don't hate Christians - I hate radical fanatical Christians who wish to impose their religious beliefs and morality on me using the legislative process through elected politicians (ie, Bachmann.) When I asked what she knows about Sharia law, (she's an ardent Teabagger, I should mention,) she was violently against it, but she didn't really know anything about it. I said "That's how I feel about Christian imposition of morality in my life."
2/ I love visiting churches. I don't get the swelling of the power of 'god' in my psyche when I enter, but some churches and cathedrals are truly breathtaking. I even showed her several pictures I took inside the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Castries, St Lucia a few weeks ago. Stunning.
3/ The story of Jesus, and the humanist teachings through the parables, is a pretty good primer on how to lead a virtuous life. When I want a cool SciFi story, i just turn to the Apocrypha; when I want stories of genocide, I look to the books of Deuteronomy and of Joshua (Jericho & the walls;) for sexual titillation, I & II Samuel, (King David & whatnot.)
4/ I said: "Shame on you for casting me into the pit, Mother. I thought only your God could do that." Shut her RIGHT UP!
I know I'll never change her, but at least I *think* she has a better idea of how I feel about being an atheist. Bless her. :-)
At least YOUR mother shut up!
DeleteFor all her great intelligence (and I know it was prestigious!), mine was incapable of seeing the brainwashing through which she had been put.
I finally had to leave - permanently
"She is incredibly aggressive and seems determined to undermine his book based solely on his religious affiliation and NEVER bothers to address the content of his writing."
ReplyDeleteIt should be noted that she did NOT read his book, and she so much as agreed with that by not refuting him at all when he suggested just that...
Green: You never identify yourself in the book as a Muslim just like in most of your other interviews I've ever seen you don't identify yourself as a Muslim.
ReplyDeleteAslan: In every interview I've ever done in print or on television, I always identify myself as a Muslim, just as I did on page two of this book.
Green: Uh, okay, well folks, we're out of time here so we want to thank Dr Reza Aslan for joining us on the program to debate today.
Try reading at least the jacket cover next time, Lauren Green. As a journalist, you shouldn't need to be reminded. Also, bring some manners next time, Ms Green. You were quite rude.
This is the worst interview ever!
ReplyDeleteThat's point-of-view dependent. From my POV, her carrying-on facilitated his demonstration of calmness and rationality under fire—though notwithstanding the first commenter's suggestion I doubt that that was her intent. I was impressed by his appearance on Real Time Friday evening, but this interview convinced me to buy his book.
I mean seriously, what a disrespectful bitch!
Clueless and unprofessional, too …
I haven't watched the video yet, but I think it is highly ironic that the man's name is ASLAN! That is the name of the 'God' character in the Chronicles of Narnia!!! Oh the irony!
ReplyDeleteAslan means lion in Persian and Turkish. I think you need a new definition of irony.
DeleteI think you need a new definition of irony.
DeleteI think we have another case of someone not having read the book. "[T]he 'God' character in the Chronicles of Narnia" is a lion—the Great Lion, in fact.
Right, but it's what they call the character who portrays God in the movie. That is what I was referring to.
DeleteIn any case, the character whose name is Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia movie(s), according to IMDb sure looks like a lion, though he's played by the man Liam Neeson.
DeleteTechnically, you're wrong.
DeleteAslan was the *Jesus* character, as made clear by both his sacrifice in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and his general just being the one actually around. His father,Emperor-Over-The-Sea, was the God character.
I have always love Reza Aslan. Can't believe how well he kept his cool !! Basically, the interviewer had her "ambush" segment all planned out and was not able (nor willing) to deviate from her agenda. So rude.
ReplyDeleteSo if Lauren Green IS a professional journalist, and possessed of some intelligence, she's just pushing the Fox attack for a paycheck here, which doesn't reflect on her journalistic integrity so well now, does it?
ReplyDeleteBut . . . she still has a job, right?
ReplyDeleteFox'ed again!
I am a Christian and an academic. This interview was incredibly biased, but Aslan did an excellent job backing up his research. This book is on my must-read list.
ReplyDeleteReza is an important member/adviser/board of the Military Freedom Foundation fighting for all our freedoms, including freedom FROM religion. He's awesome. No wonder the RW hates him, just as they hate Leah, Mikey & all the others on the Foundation.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous3:04 PM
DeleteAwesome to hear! TY for that!
No wonder they h8 him!
♥Leah & Mikey & MFFF! "No jesus guns"!
What a horrible interview. I never watch Fox. Is she their token black? She didn't listen to a word he said.
ReplyDeleteCurious why the fact she can play piano is of any importance. She still sucked at this "interview" NO journalistic skill at all that I could see other than showing cleavage.
By this reasoning, the Faux reporters (and others) can't write about things they don't know about. For example, Sarah Palin can't write a book on American History ("Paul Revere warned the British", remember?). Anne Coulter can't write a book on manners. Bill-o the clown can't write on women's reproductive rights. Other examples, anybody?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, he's a religeous scholar. If she's a Faux reporter, odds are she's a Christianist, and he had her beat before they left the starting gate.