This Breakfast Club Appearance Was Insane...

Friend of mine, friend of the show, as Tim Dillon would say, FRIEND OF THE SHOW, friend of the show, Khabib Retegui made made an appearance on The Breakfast Club. >> [clears throat] >> And uh there, you know, people had a lot of responses. It sort of, you know, threw a If you're in a specific algorithm, it uh went through your feed, and I watched the entire thing. I didn't just watch clips. I watched the entire thing. I have some thoughts about it. Um and let's just get one thing straight, okay? Because in our community, on the Jewish side, on the pro-Israel side, there's there's there's there's sometimes tends to be a little bit of a reactionary piling on of things, and everyone likes to kvetch. Everyone's got opinions, you know, one Jew with a million opinions. Uh let's just acknowledge for a second the positive step in the right direction that something like this is, where you have someone who is given an opportunity, and they gave him the floor. If you watch the whole episode, thought they were The guys at The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne, everybody, did they push back? Did they have questions? Did they sort of give sometimes to the generic, typical sort of warped, distorted understandings of the Middle East and push back with certain things? Sure, but overall, man, did they give him the floor to give a perspective, a point of view? And you and I might not agree on every characterization or conclusion that Khabib might have or uh um uh on his positions politically uh or his analysis. Even though we can acknowledge that he's certainly got the authority and has been an incredible force for good on this topic. Just the fact that it jumped out of a specific algorithm and universe onto a mainstream one is an incredibly positive development. You have to acknowledge that. And before you judge anybody, you know, I've been in the hot seat before. You think it's easy to sit in that position? You know, if you think too much and try to be too calculated over every answer and response that you give on everything, you know, the internet and the people around you that out in 2 seconds. The best thing anyone can do is be as honest and authentic as they possibly can, and I think he did that first and foremost. Whether you agree or not with certain conclusions or uh answers he gave or said you know, the easiest thing to do is wag your finger and say, "You should have done my bidding and said the thing I wanted you to say." So, stop. Relax. Being in the hot seat's not easy, and give credit where it's due. You know, they let Khabib be Khabib on a mainstream platform. Love Dan Senor. Love the world we're in. Love the federations and panels and discussions where we all internally discuss these issues and how to combat this, but you got to jump out of that world sometimes. More than sometimes, because that's where the conversations and the narratives are being shaped and shifted and sometimes and often warped, obviously. Everyone talks about messaging and PR war and all these things, but having honest actors get out there and give their honest takes and opinions with an authentic, informed, authoritative position is the antidote to those without authority, uh information, knowledge, authenticity. The way to combat the dishonest actors is not to get together in a conference and discuss what to do about them, but to actually get out there on the same platforms and give the counter arguments and the counter perspective. And he did it in a way that was different and refreshing. And there were certainly things that I would discuss with him privately about and give, you know, constructive criticism and feedback, but not finger wagging and shame. It's you know, I to this day think that that's happening. You know, you know, from what I've heard that there was there was there's a fair amount of that, and everyone needs to take a step back and realize this opportunity to be on a mainstream platform like that and to be given the floor in a menschlich way, in a gracious way, to uh to express a point of view and give a perspective, a counter perspective, was super important. I got to love Khabib. The most relaxing voice on the internet, I've always said. And he Somebody clipped up a clip which was very funny, which was like uh "I promise, I promise I'm done in 2 seconds. 2 seconds, I'll be done. One more thing." 30 minutes later, "Two more things, and then I promise you I'm done, and I won't speak for the next 40 years. I'll be quiet. I'll take a vow of silence. Let me finish this one sentence. I promise. 2 hours later, two more words and then I promise I'm taking a vow of silence and you will not hear from me for the next 25 years. Two more things. Last thing. One more point. Final point. I promise you this is it. If I say another word after this, you should arrest me. One more point. One more thing. The last thing I'll say and I promise you I promise you I swear this is the last thing I'll ever say. If not, if I say another word after this, you should whip me. Love you, Khabib. But I hope to have him back on the show. Friend of the show. I hope to have him back on the show to properly post game and recap both on his experience in doing that and what the reactions have been. If there's mixed reactions, what what flak he's getting, what praise he's getting. He's getting a mix. I I seen a lot of people praise, too. Um My overall assessment is just the fact that he was able to be given the floor and like really sort of humbled the room in a in a in a nice way of just being offering a certain historical perspective. I felt like he was able to you know, offer sort of a new take on Jewish suffering and trauma without making Jews seem weak. You know, he painted the vulnerability of these are the last surviving Jews in the in the hemisphere. The last surviving Jews. Just like they're the last surviving Yazidis and Coptic Christians. You know, like painting a distinction and and between like the Israeli Jewish experience and the American Jewish experience and just the historical context to give that in a way that wasn't your typical generic viewpoint. I thought was really important. And if you know, you want to get into the details, we're not going to react to detailed clips here. But um it's worth watching the entire thing. There might be things you disagree with. There might be things that upset you, but overall like giving his honest take is the best thing he can do. And I think he opened their, you know, a perspective a little bit. Just to understand the context a little more on the state of the world at the time when the and Israel was created and the the decades that preceded it. Um and even the framing of you know, the fact that he'd be open to conversations with some of these bad actors in the space. But being open to it and I think you know, you've seen whenever you find Hasan actually across from actual intellectuals or people who have knowledge and information and and authority on the subject, they're quickly exposed as Barbie dolls, you know. But listen, part of this is also relationship building too and building these relationships to people can't accept your facts or your data. Like we spend so much time on the pro-Israel side, they spend so much time on facts and accuracy, all true. But they don't focus on empathy and story at all. And on the Palestinian side, it's all the opposite, you know, empathy and story whether or not things are true or accurate. And you got to have a mix of both. You do because people can't receive your information if they can't empathize with your story or your perspective. Otherwise, you're just a robot to them. And so facts [snorts] don't care about your feelings, it's true. But feelings don't care about your facts. If people feel a certain way about you or have been tainted or warped, you need to correct that perspective and you don't just do that with data points and and statistics. Not that that's not important. It's necessary, but it's not sufficient. So I know I'm being very general here in my analysis so I want you guys to all go watch the entire thing and I'll save the the details of getting into the weeds of it the next time I have Khadim Elam which I hope he comes back on the show soon and we can discuss it. But kudos to him, it's not easy to be in the hot seat in that position. Um but yeah, just for you know, stepping up to the opportunity and doing it. I got I got I give him all the credit where it's due and hope there's more counter you know, in the in the place that we're now where we've lost the PR war as people say, you know. Going to these very same spaces where the war where the narrative was tainted, whether it's Rogan or the Breakfast Club or Flagrant or all these pod podcasts, at least having them be open to these um points of view, alternative perspectives on things, is the first step. You got to get the door open. And this was a step in doing that. Um so we'll come we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll get back to that uh the next time Khabib is on the show. I look forward to it. >> [music] [music] [singing]