I don't see it like that. It is arts and entertainment and its value is subjective. Are you being forced to buy or watch his movies? Is he portraying himself to be a qualified expert in black history? If yes, what are those qualifications?
You are under the assumption that Tariq KNOWS that he is mispresenting the facts on purpose. How do YOU know that he doesn't believe in what he is saying? Are you blaming him for the ignorance of his supporters?
I look at people like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly etc the same way as Tariq. Whose to say that they don't believe in what they say to their audience day in and day out? They are in the entertainment industry, their audience has the right to turn off or switch channels.
Totally different standard applies to these types of people compared to a University lecturer who is getting paid to TEACH facts to their students.
I get what you're getting at and I'll answer the questions.
Is anyone forced to watch? Of course not
Is he presenting himself as an expert? Of course
Oh, and yes, many times I KNOW he knows hes full of shit on certain things he says because I see him purposely exclude parts of a story. He will even say a line that would come from a source I know, and leave off the back half.
What are the qualifications? I wouldn't go so far as saying he has to have to academic requirements. Nothing like that. And even guys I consider to be "credible" in that field make mistakes here and there. It's built into the field that there will be some.
But he makes HUGE ones. Doing the goofy etymology word games he and the presenters in his films do, mixing languages up that don't even go together, silly shit like that. When speaking history, there are usually many competing ideas and viewpoints, with reasoning on how the perspective is found. He just does the "white people say it's this, sour must be that."
And you're right. Hannity, Oreilly , all of them are very similar. And they're all snakes. I don't watch them either.
So again, I don't say it's ILLEGAL. You cant arrest him for it any more than you can Oreilly. But it's unethical, and corny and he's arming people with flimsy weapons if they ever find themselves trying to prove a lot of this shit.
Yes, people CAN turn away from it. That's what I'm saying they ought to DO, if they really wanna know the topics they're wanting to know.
Professor Gates does a good job at exposing people to pre colonial African history, as well as African American history. I would say he's the foremost on the topic, but a lot of people here say he's a Tom I guess because he doesn't say African people were gods. Even though you SEE him in every one of the regions he talks about with actual specialists in archeology, linguistics, art, customs, all the pieces needed to paint the picture. People who actually TOUCH the primary sources.
There are numerous books and docs on Haiti, Amazon is full of books on many African kingdoms, all the way back Egypt. Egypt is discussed and written about way too damn much. The Moors too. Anyone who read about them for even a second would say they actually invaded west Africa too. If he were serious, he would also lead people to sources. We need more of THAT.
So , I agree with some parts of what you say. Tariq is an entertainer. A very funny, witty guy. I've watched him since the macking lessons. History is a serious endeavor, especially OUR underserved, underresearched history. I'd prefer he not make a joke out of it.
