I'm joined today by Howard bloom he's an american author scientific
thinker his new ebook is called how I accidentally
started the sixties Howard it's really great to talk to you know in
in researching for this interview I am confused in be wielded by your entire
career
is it true that you were a publicist in the seventies and eighties first for
your example
Prince Billy Joel sticks were you ever a publicist for Michael Jackson is that
true
Michael Jackson Prince Paul Simon Peter Gabriel David Byrne ac/dc Aerosmith
chess Queen Run DMC and a whole bunch of other
day that I discovered at the age of 10 I got into theoretical physics and
microbiology
and at the age of 13 I discovered the what really fascinated me was the kind
of mass human passion
but shows up the forces of history the kind of the stuff that a
may like Adolf Hitler was absolutely brilliant up and the Pew lighting and
offered
evil guy like adolf hitler could manipulate it and i felt it was up to
those of us who were in science to learn how to do it and do it better
so um I do nothing about pop culture other kids did not want me in their
culture at all
and I was why it was very hard
to get into pop culture but I felt that in getting its pop culture I was getting
to the dark underbelly
word mass messer made where the the forces of history are born
so I went to a feeling you nothing about pop culture and founded the biggest PR
firm in their history music industry
ray and for people who aren't watching you're you're definitely would you
consider yourself an eccentric guy I mean even with this interview
you wearing a bathrobe you wearing two sets of headphones right now
you're gonna have we had an interesting guy right I
yes I look when I look at my own biography I was flabbergasted a Aysen
by it as you are I mean what in the world is a guy who is
I who has worked with rock stars but whose primary cover
whose primary focus get his science and has been his whole life doing at the
office for seven men to your Buzz Aldrin or any of the other people three
government ministers a Malaysia
I do giving a speech on why everything you know about the radical physics is
wrong to an international conference on quantum physicists Moscow
David this doesn't compute right doesn't take any store we get into more
some other more political stuff what's the with them most bizarre
Michael Jackson anecdote that you have from being
a publicist for the most bizarre Michael Janet Jackson anecdote is that Michael
Jackson is the most astonishingly was the most Starshine still her for me to
get used to the fact that he's gone was the most astonishing
Lee beyond human human being I've ever met in my life
the first two rules a science so the truth or any price including oppressive
your life
and look at things are under your nose if you've never seen them before then
proceed from there
the 2nd law or the first loss law courage the second loss law of
astonishment amazement
of when you stood next to Michael Michael ok let's say the
the first page of a portfolio by an artist you saw quality a lawyer Michael
you had never ever expected to see
in your life it hit you like thunder and lightning
he was the second loss I it's incarnate
just flat out astonishing alright not exactly what I was maybe looking for
there but I i think is a phrase ahead with
re saying he was very sane and very deeply committed to his audience and
Gary D
the committed to giving his audience the same kind of wonder and astonishment
that he got from the tiniest of things so so Howard back in 86 you formed this
group music in action and you wanted to protest
against the censorship %uh rock music and a lot of it was actually being
sought out by religious fundamentalist at the same time
you partnered with Ted Nugent in that endeavor who now has become kind of a
mouthpiece for the
gun enthusiasts a but not religious right but certainly
but many of whom are part of the religious right is there any kind a
conflict there has Ted Nugent changed
have you changed since 86 there's an inaccuracy in the Wikipedia repertory
Jean less it was actually David Krebs who was Ted Nugent's manager
david krebs bob guccione junior the founder Spin Magazine
and I i I convince the two of them to join me in music in action
I but there's a lot I never met Ted I only followed him indirectly through
David and that mean a lot more sense to me actually doesn't really make sense
that Ted Nugent would be involved in something
against religious fundamentalism good because that group seems to have
embraced him completely
well if to Ted Nugent I were in the same room today we have a great deal of
difficulty in you would probably have a great deal with it
difficulty with them to not just because it was very far-right leanings
but because of his absolute gun fetishes yeah I mean
guns are I don't know you know I
I'm sure we all have friends who have guns but I loathe and despise the ID and
I loathe and despise what guns are doing to the United States
i wanna talk a little bit about an article in our money magazine
that you wrote which is up some controversy nm am very curious to get
your thoughts on this from what I've read
you indicated that the importance up hugging
suggests that Islamic cultures treat their children harshly
and that it results in violent adult as a consequence in this is a claim that
has led the american-arab anti-discrimination committee
to be displeased with what you said et cetera
explain that comment do you stand by that that inherently
hugging you in Islamic cultures leads to violent adults
yes I ally la boule a God who is an anthropologist she is a an Arab after
apologist and an islamic anthropologist
was the one who came back from from a field trip to Egypt
with very vivid descriptions of the extent to which
I intimate hand-holding hogging even calling her husband by his first name
is banned in a good part of Islamic society and look there's a big Islamic
world out there its 1.8 billion people
the islamic world spans thirteen thousand five hundred miles
from one end to the other I'm so you can make a generalization that applies to
everybody but there is a tendency
according to Arab social scientists and according to
moslem social scientists there are serious problems and
the Islamic family and that of a lot of it comes from the slack Gove
a physical affection from are severe cold less from the old idea that we call
the west's pale
spoiling the rod where's wat sparing the rod
spoils the trials and and one other thing recognizes
most my work I've been doing for years a scholarship now on Islam
in Islamic sources not in western sources
and the result is I appear regularly on Saudi TV I appear regularly on Iranian
TV
and one of my biggest fans is so I'm on the ruling council
Dubai and as the a senior aides to the shaker Dubai and runs Dubai's real
estate operations
no idea what the end that but let let me see if I can refocus the quest going to
have way
do you think it's possible that it is and
the lack up hugging in a bit self that might make someone violent but rather
that the lack of hugging
might simply be a consequence have something else in other words how can we
really say that it is hugging or not hugging specifically
that leads to you XY or Z in adults well I think what you're implying is
absolutely correct it's a complex of things
and I i have a book came out at the same time I so I slowly started the sixties
as an amazon dot com ebook
called them all home in Kolkata Mohammed code is the story of Hama Hama himself
founder jihadism founded Islamic extremism
founded he one of his favorite words mohammed's favorite words
was terror so there's more than just the family structure and specifically the
way in which the family treats
I warmth and intimacy going on here there's a cultural tradition that goes
all the way back to
I was 6 2281 muhammad began to set up a society in Medina
so there is a complex of things and again you'll find many exceptions to any
general rule like the ones we're talking about but I think that this is speaking
exceptions to the general rule the
the overwhelming majority over those who consider themselves Muslim are not
violent rightward II
this is the problem I have with I think that when you at one on one hand you say
you don't want to generalize but it did on the other hand
you're making the generalization that most Muslims or even a significant
portion of muslims are violent
there is extremism in all religions we covered extensively on my program
but it is the exception there is nothing specific
about what Muhammad said in the car on what Jesus said
in the New Testament or whatever the case may be that makes people violent
but these
sacred text can be used by anyone who wants to do violence
well let's imagine because there are no statistics on this
I am there there is polling data periodically comes up with the Muslim
world but doesn't give us a handle
and how many people are violent how many people are non-violent
however if only one tenth of a Muslim world up 1.8 billion people
I'm tended toward violence that ships even that is absurd Howard one-tenth one
in 10 people
is violent based on their association with Islam I mean the
Monday million I think it's absurd it yes you could say that but if you read
the book you'll see
you Butt Mohammad set up by military state that I'm
that publishers in places like and and and religious groups some places like
Gus Saudi Arabian Pakistan
brag about how many square miles of territory who put he
Concord per day yeah he said an extremely violent example
extremely and in mainstream Islam
you are only considered holy righteous in just a few follow in Mohammed's
footsteps
I don't disagree with you there were in the same way that if you literally
follow much of what's in the Bible
you also would be incredibly violent person we have points of agreement here
howard I just think that
where i disagree is that in practice any significant portion actual muslims are
violent in the same way that a very small portion of Christians or Jews are
violent
it's a very interesting thing I know you have a lot more to say but unfortunately
we're out of time
we will have you back very interesting Howard black bear
the new ebook is called how I accidentally started the sixties
really great to have you on alright thanks they would have a good day