Michael Brooks (political commentator)

Michael Jamal Brooks (August 13, 1983[1] – July 20, 2020) was an American talk show host, writer, political commentator, impressionist, and comedian.[2] While co-hosting The Majority Report with Sam Seder, he launched The Michael Brooks Show in August 2017 and provided commentary for media outlets, making regular appearances on shows such as The Young Turks. Brooks was a self-identified progressive and democratic socialist.

Michael Brooks
Brooks on Novara Media in March 2020
Born
Michael Jamal Brooks

(1983-08-13)August 13, 1983
DiedJuly 20, 2020(2020-07-20) (aged 36)
Alma materBates College (BA)
OccupationTalk show host, producer, YouTube personality, podcaster, writer

Early life and education

Brooks was from Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Hampshire County, Massachusetts.[2][3] He had a sister, Lisha, who was featured in a stream commemorating her brother's life on The Majority Report on July 22, 2020.[4] During his adolescence he became interested in radical politics, becoming involved with the Northampton-based Revolutionary Anarchist Youth. He also developed an interest in Buddhism, involving himself with the Insight Meditation Society and going on to regularly participate in annual week long silent retreats.[3]

Brooks attended North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens and the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School. He then attended Bennington College[5] before earning a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Bates College in 2009. Brooks spent his junior year abroad studying European and Turkish security studies at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.[6]

Career

Brooks began his career in comedy and meditation, founding the Valley Arts Project and coaching seminars at Sati Solutions. In 2011 he co-authored a meditation guide The Buddha's Playbook with Josh Summers.[7]

His early journalism and hosting work include his contributions to CivicActions, Talking Points Memo, and The David Pakman Show. Upon returning to New York City in 2012, Brooks met Sam Seder, and Seder was “immediately struck by his intelligence and his sense of humor and decided to hire him despite his ominous warning that he’s ‘not great with details.’”[2] That year, Brooks began working for The Majority Report with Sam Seder.[2] Along with many other colleagues, Brooks criticized MSNBC for firing Seder over a tweet that he had made in 2009.[8] Brooks hosted INTERSECTION for Aslan Media and was an analyst for the American Iranian Council.[9]

Brooks was known for his mixture of political analysis with comedy. As Bhaskar Sunkara explained, "Michael wasn’t afraid of controversy – he was happy to give an outlet to guests who criticized the Left’s less productive pieties. But he wasn’t a shock jock either. Michael could 'get away' with controversies because of how he mixed his comedy with earnestness." Sam Seder explained, "I have worked with a lot of great broadcast hosts and some of the most talented comedians in the country, and what was unique about Michael was not just his intelligence and insight into politics, particularly foreign politics, but his ability to do genuinely brilliant political comedy."[2]

Brooks began co-hosting 2 Dope Boys and a Podcast in 2016 and announced in 2017 that he was starting The Michael Brooks Show. The podcast, which was broadcast live on tour from a variety of venues around the United States, reached 131,000 subscribers. It included interviews with Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Adolph Reed, and Slavoj Žižek.[2][10][11] In 2019, Brooks argued that Turkey's response to the Syrian Civil War under Recep Tayyip Erdogan was partly an effort to erase Kurdish culture in northern Syria.[12] Having first heard of Lula da Silva in 2003, Brooks began reading BrasilWire every day during Operation Carwash and the Lula Livre movement in order to deliver updates to viewers.[13] In January 2020, Brooks travelled to São Paulo to interview Lula da Silva alongside BrasilWire editors Daniel Hunt and Brian Mier.[14] Brooks also wrote the foreword to the 2018 book Year of Lead: Washington, Wall Street and the New Imperialism in Brazil, also by Hunt and Mier, which documents the rise of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.[15][16]

From April 2020 until his death, Brooks had been co-hosting a podcast called Weekends with Ana Kasparian and Michael Brooks, a collaboration with Jacobin.[17][18] At the time of his death, Jacobin was planning to launch a second weekday webcast, The Jacobin Show, with Brooks as host.[2]

Brooks contributed to various publications, including HuffPost, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, In These Times, Good Worldwide, Al-Monitor, openDemocracy, Jacobin and Jadaliyya.[14][19] He appeared on various networks and shows around the world such as The Young Turks, HuffPost Live, Al Jazeera English, France 24, Novara Media, CCTV, Rising[20][21][22] and Hear the Bern, the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign's podcast.[23]

Against the Web

On April 24, 2020, Brooks' book Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right was published by Zero Books.[24][25] The book is a critique of the popular figures associated with the intellectual dark web (IDW). It also argues that a focus on deplatforming has harmed the left's ability to organize, drawing upon Mark Fisher's essay "Exiting the Vampire Castle" (2013).[26] Writing for Jacobin, Luke Savage called the book a "model blueprint for countering the reactionary narratives ascendant in the smoldering ruins of the neoliberal order."[27] In his review for UnHerd, James Bloodworth called the book "the most substantial critique of the IDW and its brand of 'classical liberalism' to date."[28]

Death

On July 20, 2020, Brooks died unexpectedly at the age of 36.[2][29] A press statement said that the cause of death was a "sudden medical condition".[30] On The Majority Report, Brooks's sister, Lisha, said the cause of death was a blood clot in Brooks's throat.[31] The statement indicated that a foundation dedicated to his work would be forthcoming.[32]

Reactions

Tributes were paid to Brooks by his Majority Report and Michael Brooks Show colleagues, as well as a range of political commentators from other platforms.[2][33][34]

The former President of Brazil Lula da Silva expressed his condolences, writing on Twitter: "My heart and prayers go to his family and friends. May his passion for social justice be remembered and inspire people around the world."[35] Jane Sanders, wife of Senator Bernie Sanders, also wrote that Brooks' "work on behalf of justice, humanity, and peace and his compassionate intelligence was impressive. It will live on through many he inspired."[36]

Bibliography
  • The Buddha's Playbook: Strategies for Enlightened Living. 2011. ISBN 978-0-55720-190-7., co-written with Josh Summers
  • Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right. Zero Books. 2020. ISBN 978-1-78904-230-6.[24][25]

References
  1. Brooks, Michael. "Michael Brooks Tweet". Twitter. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  2. Sunkara, Bhaskar (July 20, 2020). "Remembering Our Friend and Comrade Michael Brooks". Jacobin. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  3. Chimelis, Ron (July 24, 2020). "Political commentator Michael Brooks forged his own path, friends say". MassLive. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  4. "The Majority Report: Remembering Michael Brooks (1983-2020)". YouTube. July 22, 2020.
  5. "News from North Star alumni" (PDF). 2004. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  6. "Breaking Habits into Healthy Habits: Making Good Habits Stick". The New Man Podcast. January 19, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  7. "The Buddha's Playbook: Strategies for Enlightened Living". JOSH SUMMERS. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  8. Kludt, Tom; Darcy, Oliver (December 5, 2017). "How a joke and Mike Cernovich got Sam Seder fired from MSNBC". CNN. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  9. "Iran's anti-American rhetoric is a good sign for nuclear negotiations". American Iranian Council. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  10. Selimiles (July 23, 2020). "Michael Brooks est mort" [Michael Brooks is dead.]. Mediapart (in French). Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  11. "Political commentator and podcast host Michael Brooks dies suddenly, aged 37". The Independent. July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  12. Bajalan, Djene; Brooks, Michael (October 10, 2019). "Turkey's War on Rojava". Tribune. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  13. Mier, Brian (December 9, 2019). "Michael Brooks Interview: Lula, solidarity and the antifascist struggle". BrasilWire. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  14. Warnock, Caroline (July 21, 2020). "Michael Brooks Dead: Popular Host of 'The Michael Brooks Show' Dies Suddenly". Heavy.com. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  15. McEvoy, John (June 12, 2019). "Massive leak exposes the 'soft coup' that gave rise to Brazil's far-right". The Canary. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  16. Mier, Brian (2020). Year of Lead: Washington, Wall Street and the New Imperialism in Brazil. Blurb. ISBN 978-0464055327.
  17. "Weekends With Ana Kasparian and Michael Brooks". Jacobin. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  18. "Weekends: June 6, 2020 (ft. Touré Reed)". Blubrry Podcasting – Podcast Hosting, Statistics, WordPress Hosting, Syndication Tools and Directory. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  19. Bajalan, Djene (July 26, 2020). "Michael Brooks and the Meaning of Socialist Internationalism". Jacobin (magazine). Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  20. "About". 2 Dope Boys and a Podcast. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  21. "Michael J Brooks". about.me. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  22. "Michael Brooks: Sanders walking a 'fine line' with Castro comments". TheHill.com. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  23. "Ep. 16: Brazil, Bernie, and the Fight Against Fascism (w/ Michael Brooks & Leandro Demori)". Bernie Sanders Official Website. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  24. "Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right". Red Emma's. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  25. "Against the Web from Zer0 Books". John Hunt Publishing. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  26. McManus, Matt (March 31, 2020). "Critiquing the Intellectual Dark Web: Michael Brooks' "Against The Web"". Merion West. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  27. Savage, Luke (July 13, 2020). "The Intellectual Dark Web's "Maverick Free Thinkers" Are Just Defenders of the Status Quo". Jacobin. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  28. Bloodworth, James (July 1, 2020). "The emptiness of the Intellectual Dark Web". UnHerd. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  29. Moreau, Jordan (July 20, 2020). "Michael Brooks, Political Commentator and Podcast Host, Dies at 36". Variety. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  30. Warnock, Caroline (July 20, 2020). "Michael Brooks Dead: Popular Web Show Host Dies Suddenly". Heavy.com. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  31. "The Majority Report: Remembering Michael Brooks (1983-2020) - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  32. Stolworthy, Jacob (July 21, 2020). "Michael Brooks death: Majority Report political commentator and podcast host dies suddenly, aged 37". The Independent. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  33. Wulfsohn, Joseph (July 21, 2020). "Progressives mourn the loss of political commentator Michael Brooks". Fox News. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  34. Morrow, Allison (July 21, 2020). "Michael Brooks, political commentator and podcast host, dies at 36". CNN. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  35. da Silva, Lula. "Tweet". Twitter. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  36. Sanders, Jane. "Tweet". Twitter. Retrieved July 31, 2020.


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