Michael Brooks has passed away.

July 20, 2020 9:18 PM

Remembering Michael Brooks; Rest in Power, Brother In some devastating news, Michael Brooks has passed away due to a sudden illness. He has followers here on Metafilter where he has been quoted and referred to with respect, and has united thinking and feeling people across the world.
posted by not_that_epiphanius (27 comments total)

Text: Variety Obituary

More video: Ben Mankiewicz (Turner Classic Movies) in video on twitter: "I do not mean to overstate my friendship with Michael Brooks. So many others knew him better. But his death has shaken me...I recorded this to remind myself - and anybody who cares to listen - about the value of respecting friendship." with accompanying 2 minute video comment, a very sweet illuminating and perhaps inspiring comment.
posted by hippybear at 9:29 PM on July 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

I don't know much about Brooks and don't have much context for him, but he seems to be have been a deeply respected man, and anyone who might have tossed ripples of kindness and friendship out into the pond... I'll try to learn a bit more about him now. Perhaps his ripples will also continue through me once I do.

A very respectful .
posted by hippybear at 9:33 PM on July 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

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🚩
posted by robcorr at 9:44 PM on July 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

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posted by pahool at 9:56 PM on July 20, 2020

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posted by interrupt at 10:19 PM on July 20, 2020

I'm shaken by this. In terms of political analysis and insight, he was without equal.
posted by xigxag at 12:11 AM on July 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

I follow him on twitter and he always came across as a smart and sincere dude with a genuine compassion for people. So much of the young, extremely online left speaks in a language that trades heavily in irony and insults, sometimes to the point of outright cruelty. And when their targets are deserving, this can be cathartic and even necessary. But it shouldn’t be the only way of talking. And Michael never talked in that all-too common register. He was funny but not caustic; intrepid but not pugnacious. And always ready and willing to do his part to fight the good fight.

This is a huge loss.
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:02 AM on July 21, 2020 [16 favorites]

Huge loss. He was so, so, so smart and his analysis was unmatched. There is plenty infighting and disagreement on the Online Left but it is heartening to see so many agree that Brooks was a net positive force, and moving to see how many lives he really touched. I didn't agree with him 100% of the time - more like 90% of the time - but always liked and respected him and found his voice valuable and neccesary, even if to challenge my own preconceived notions about "the discourse". Brooks was really good and this sucks a lot.
posted by windbox at 3:23 AM on July 21, 2020 [4 favorites]

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posted by Obscure Reference at 4:23 AM on July 21, 2020

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posted by smithsmith at 4:27 AM on July 21, 2020

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posted by Cash4Lead at 4:54 AM on July 21, 2020

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posted by JoeXIII007 at 5:49 AM on July 21, 2020

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posted by tofu_crouton at 6:11 AM on July 21, 2020

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posted by graventy at 7:23 AM on July 21, 2020

I'm not sure I really recognise a Michael Brooks who didn't talk with irony, insults and wasn't caustic or pugnacious! Though maybe he was tending away from those things as he got older. But no doubt he was an important and fascinating voice. I'm shocked - I'll miss him!
posted by Drexen at 7:52 AM on July 21, 2020

Seeya, dude.
posted by StarkRoads at 8:40 AM on July 21, 2020

Nation of Islam Obama is the funniest recurring bit he did, and I can't think of anyone else who could pull off something like that and not get immediately cancelled.

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posted by Space Coyote at 9:10 AM on July 21, 2020 [4 favorites]

He recently referred to Bolsanaro as "belligerently stupid" which I thought was pretty good.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 10:03 AM on July 21, 2020

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I really enjoyed him and the show. This is awful.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:09 PM on July 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

My eyes saw "Michael Brooks" and my brain said "David Brooks" and I was SO DAMN CONFUSED.
You know why.
I've never heard of him, but I am going to seek his stuff out, and get caught up on the goodness.
We need more goodness.
posted by Bill Watches Movies Podcast at 12:49 PM on July 21, 2020 [2 favorites]

For anyone looking for a starting point, one of my favorite conversations was with him and Contrapoints about Jordan Peterson - they very carefully deconstruct and analyze his ridiculous arguments and his rise in popularity that was happening in 2017/2018. Brooks did a ton of work picking apart the "Intellectual Dark Web" (Ben Shapiro, Dave Rubin, etc) and wrote a book about it called Against the Web, which I haven't read but is supposed to be good.
posted by windbox at 1:03 PM on July 21, 2020 [6 favorites]

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posted by zardoz at 2:24 PM on July 21, 2020

Thanks for posting this; the news hit me rather harder than expected. I never listened to The Majority Report but I was a frequent listener of TMBS, which I thought was one of the best, if not the best outright, of the newer young-progressive-left podcasts. Brooks was caustic where he needed to be (against people like Dave Rubin and Ben Shapiro) but, with anyone basically on the progressive end of things, he came across as so genuine, open-minded, and empathetic that he really rose above the usual leftist infighting. One of the best things about his show was how interested he was in South American, African, and especially Caribbean politics. He had a genuinely global approach that couldn't be matched by the Brooklyn-centric perspective of his podcasting peers, and a really accessible way of explaining political issues with a mix of comedy and seriousness. Plus, he was amazingly energetic, working all the time on producing new content. Just an unbelievable loss for young progressive independent media.

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posted by demonic winged headgear at 2:25 PM on July 21, 2020 [6 favorites]

fuck. my friendship simulator is fucking broken.

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posted by thedamnbees at 3:31 PM on July 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

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posted by tummy_rub at 6:49 PM on July 21, 2020

This such sad news. He was so young.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:33 PM on July 21, 2020

For anyone looking for a starting point, one of my favorite conversations was with him and Contrapoints about Jordan Peterson - they very carefully deconstruct and analyze his ridiculous arguments and his rise in popularity that was happening in 2017/2018.

I think The Contrapoints Criticism of Peterson was solo, and Natalie's teamup with Brooks focused on Ben Shapiro's mendacity.

If there was also a teamup criticism of Peterson that I missed too, though, I definitely want to hear about it.
posted by wildblueyonder at 12:54 AM on July 22, 2020 [2 favorites]