Aww, thanks for posting this. I don't have time to watch it now (that doesn't sound snobby at all!) but I'm a fan of Mos Def and even moreso of Cornel West. Knowledge and experience notwithstanding, I prefer this duo to Sharpton and Jackson.

I was SO happy to hear West talk about Jena on that show. He mentioned it twice and then Maher did a rundown of the case. The MSM have ignored this story for far too long. I really like Mos Def, even if he does sometimes spout sheer silliness (the moon landing is fake). That said, he made some great points about how fear is used as a tool to manipulate the population. He did a better job than Tim Robbins did a couple of weeks ago, that's for sure. And I loved seeing him and West bouncing ideas off each other. It was a great show.

Aside from them both just selling themselves and being where ever the cameras are, I never understood why Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton became the voices of black america. It boggles my mind and sometimes pisses me off that the MSM and ignorant people think they're representing me or my views.

According to my boyfriend, Mos Def is "not a friend of the ladies" / a "total misogynist." I'm embarrassingly, um, un-knowledgeable(?) about him so I cannot confirm nor deny this, but I was surprised to see this on Feministing. Time to do some research, I guess.

I do, however, think Cornel West is a babe.

Mos Def is entertaining, but the moon landing, al-queda, and Simpson outbursts make it hard for me to take him seriously.

Samhita, how can you call yourself a feminist when you are such a huge fan of an artist that objectifies women? I usually love reading what you have to say, but this blunt hypocrisy really bothers me.

Samhita, how can you call yourself a feminist when you are such a huge fan of an artist that objectifies women? I usually love reading what you have to say, but this blunt hypocrisy really bothers me.

What the f*ck is up with people asking Samhita to defend her feminist cred? If you want to open a dialog about Mos Def, that's a lousy way to start. How would you respond to someone asking you how you can call yourself if a feminist if x, y, or z? Geeeez!

BlurpleBerry - yeah, like you ONLY listen to Ani DiFranco.

Must we always ask people to defend their feminist views just b/c they listen to a certain type of music, buy a certain type of dog, shave their pubes, etc etc? (as in recent blogs)

Geez...

Isn't there another clip from this episode where Mos Def says America attacked itself on September 11th? I'm not so sure this guy should be put on a pedestal.

Well, you know, nobody's putting him on a pedestal, that would require stronger language and appraisal, but frankly, maybe it's the conspiracy theorist in me but I am sometimes apt to believe some of the farther-reaching theories out there. Our government is capable of much more than we allow ourselves to believe. That doesn't mean he should be silenced. He may not speak as eloquently as West but he's got a point of view.

I thought Cornel West had a great point about Mos Def's "conspiracy theories" (which I will try to explain but inevitably much less eloquently): in Mos Def's own personal life, he's never seen any reason to trust the sources that would tell him otherwise - he's always seen his own reality being distorted or just plain denied by those sources - so what we call "conspiracy theories" are really not as far-fetched to someone with radically different experiences like Mos Def.

“The truth lies prostate on rugged heels with nameless calvaries.� - Dr. Cornel West

Does anyone know what the f%*k West was talking about when he said that to Maher?

Mos Def conspiracy theories are mainly apologetics for Islamist extremism, which is the kind of thing leftists should oppose.

Here's lyrics of one Mos Def's songs:

Old white men is runnin' this rap shit,
Corporate forces runnin' this rap shit,
Some tall Israeli is runnin' this rap shit,
We poke out our asses for a chance to cash in.
Cocaine, is runnin' this rap shit,
'Dro, 'yac and e-pills is runnin this rap shit,
MTV is runnin' this rap shit,
Viacom is runnin' this rap shit,
AOL and Time Warner runnin' this rap shit,
Quasi-homosexuals is runnin' this rap shit.

So much for "conscious" rap.

“The truth lies prostate on rugged heels with nameless calvaries.� - Dr. Cornel West

Does anyone know what the f%*k West was talking about when he said that to Maher?

Mos Def conspiracy theories are mainly apologetics for Islamist extremism, which is the kind of thing leftists should oppose.

Here's lyrics of one Mos Def's songs:

Old white men is runnin' this rap shit,
Corporate forces runnin' this rap shit,
Some tall Israeli is runnin' this rap shit,
We poke out our asses for a chance to cash in.
Cocaine, is runnin' this rap shit,
'Dro, 'yac and e-pills is runnin this rap shit,
MTV is runnin' this rap shit,
Viacom is runnin' this rap shit,
AOL and Time Warner runnin' this rap shit,
Quasi-homosexuals is runnin' this rap shit.

So much for "conscious" rap.

“The truth lies prostate on rugged heels with nameless calvaries.� - Dr. Cornel West

Does anyone know what the f%*k West was talking about when he said that to Maher?

Mos Def conspiracy theories are mainly apologetics for Islamist extremism, which is the kind of thing leftists should oppose.

Here's lyrics of one Mos Def's songs:

Old white men is runnin' this rap shit,
Corporate forces runnin' this rap shit,
Some tall Israeli is runnin' this rap shit,
We poke out our asses for a chance to cash in.
Cocaine, is runnin' this rap shit,
'Dro, 'yac and e-pills is runnin this rap shit,
MTV is runnin' this rap shit,
Viacom is runnin' this rap shit,
AOL and Time Warner runnin' this rap shit,
Quasi-homosexuals is runnin' this rap shit.

So much for "conscious" rap.

I see how some people may not understand how women can balance feminism and a love of hip-hop, for example. However, I do agree that it gets to be dangerous territory when we ask other women to justify their decisions call themselves feminists and wear make-up, buy name-brand clothing, eat meat, change their last name, etc.

Also, as with everyone, Mos Def is far from perfect in his music or his views, but I don't think we can discount him as having anything to bring to the dialogue simply because of those flaws.

So let's see... a feminist can't listen to hiphop...

Are there other forms of Feminist Sacrilege? At least the religious right makes it clear when you're in violation of their arbitrary ruleset. I think part of the reason so many people are reluctant to call themselves feminists is because they think they're disqualified by embracing popular culture.

That's bullshit, perceptions and portrayals of women aren't nearly as important as actual social inequities and sexist laws. Feminism should be a cause, not an elitist club.

I completely agree that it's ridiculous to say you are not a feminist if you like/say/think X. Frankly, that seems to come up a lot in the comments. It's also worth noting that while many will protest such a statement in relation to something that's a matter of taste, I don't think anyone disagreed in the many times it was leveled during the breastfeeding debacle. Where is the line where it's ok to throw someone out of the 'club'? Is it ever? I don't want to hijack the thread with such discussion, but it would me great to see more introspective posts discussing these tendencies, even if they didn't correlate to a news item.

One thing that's important to remember is that there is a reason that many Black people believe that the government is up to nefarious dealings. It's because there's a long history of the government actually being involved in nefarious dealings with Black people. The Tuskegee experiment is just one example of this.

Mos Def's personal opinion regarding 9/11 is extreme. However, I don't believe it's too far off the mark when he says that this administration has used fear and "the bogeyman" to gain political capital in order to do basically whatever the fuck they want to do. I mean, they're not even looking for bin Laden anymore. Even when they were ostensibly investigating him, there were only five people assigned to the task force! Al Queda has become a catch phrase to promote their war mongering, not an actual target for justice.

However, I do agree that it gets to be dangerous territory when we ask other women to justify their decisions call themselves feminists and wear make-up, buy name-brand clothing, eat meat, change their last name, etc.

Fuck yeah. When I watched this clip, I found Maher's posturing really irritating. He condescends to Mos Def and West and bristles at the insinuation that he isn't at the forefront of advocacy for Black Americans. Maher tries to minimize their voices and deflect their concerns and I can see the same shit happening here in the comments. You've got people doing Google searches of Mos Def's lyrics looking for something to corroborate their racist theories about his intelligence or attitude toward women and you've got people taking this snippet of a video as evidence that Samhita isn't a feminist and can therefore just be ignored.
I mean, have any of listened to Mos Def's music? Or did you just see a black man, assume he was a misogynist and an idiot, and go looking for lyrics to prove your point?

It's good to know that Mos Def and Cornel West agree on the same issue. Either way you look at it these are important issue that needs to be address and someone needs to mention them.

Isn't there another clip from this episode where Mos Def says America attacked itself on September 11th? I'm not so sure this guy should be put on a pedestal.

This is neither the time nor the place to start a flame war about 9/11 conspiracies, but as someone who has researched it quite a bit (as well as the John F. Kennedy assassination) I can tell you that the most important thing is to recognize that, as in the Kennedy assassination, the government's story has gaping, Mack-truck sized holes all over it. Please don't ask me for evidence, as it would take several doctoral-thesis-length posts to explain and the information is publicly available for those who find it worthwhile to do the research for themselves. But please, please, please do not automatically disparage or dismiss someone's overall credibility because they hold a more skeptical view than you do of something with as much overwhelming potential for skepticism as 9/11. It doesn't automatically make Mos Def (or anyone) stupid, crazy, or extreme to express an opinion outside the mainstream. Until you've researched it pretty exhaustively, gone through several cycles of severely doubting both sides, and then formed your own opinion, you probably don't know enough to label the non-majority opinion "extreme." And if you've done all that, you probably wouldn't jump to such labels anyway.

On another note...

“The truth lies prostate on rugged heels with nameless calvaries.� - Dr. Cornel West

Does anyone know what the f%*k West was talking about when he said that to Maher?

I think I have a pretty good idea of what he was saying, because I actually understood what he said: "The truth lies prostrate on rugged hills with nameless cavalries." As far-out and existential as that statement may be, it's far from nonsensical.

I mean, have any of listened to Mos Def's music? Or did you just see a black man, assume he was a misogynist and an idiot, and go looking for lyrics to prove your point?

It's one thing to make assumptions about people based on race or gender, but misogyny is to mainstream hip-hop as electric guitar is to rock music; sometimes it isn't there, but it's well-known as a defining aspect of the genre. To say they must be racist is to make a disingenuous accusation about their observation. It's "genre-ist," if anything. But even then, they'd be statistically correct. This isn't about racial bias, it's about the entire musical genre incorporating misogyny by definition. Please.

Yeah..Unlike, Country or Rock or Pop or any of those upstanding genres.

apparently bill Maher doesn't like lactivists either...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai_Pd95ScyY

Oh, it's at 4:40

I remember that "calvary" in the quote is the hill upon which Jesus was crucified. Kind of key to the understanding, I think. :)

I meant to write this sooner, but I've been very busy lately.

Although I may not agree with the messages some musicians put out there, it does not make Samhita less of a feminist for listening to them, just like it doesn't make a woman less of a feminist if she wears make-up. As long as we are constantly aware of what we do and why we do them, and we do not excessively do them, it is appropriate for us to call ourselves feminists.

I'm sorry, Samhita. I do greatly admire you, along with the other women on Feministing, and I apologize for offending you.