>> Michael Brooks has passed away unexpectedly. For those of you who knew him, I hosted a
show with him on Jacobin. He was an incredibly important person in my life. He's been on
The Young Turks and I want to just read you the official statement that's been released
by his friends and family members.
It's with a very heavy heart that we announce the unexpected passing of Michael Brooks,
a son, brother, friend, and true comrade to so many due to a sudden medical condition.
I'm sorry I can't read through it. It's posted on Twitter. If you guys wanna read the entirety
of it please do.
I'm beyond heartbroken today and it's really hard to accept that he's gone. He was such
a good person, such a good friend, and I already miss him so much. And I just I feel a great
deal of loss today. So- >> Yeah-
>> Anyway, yeah, sorry. >> So Michael Brooks had his own show.
He also was part of the Majority Report with Sam Cedar. He's been on the Young Turks many
times before. In fact, we were just having conversations, about ten days ago, about having
him on more and more. Ana and I were talking about that including, others at the company
were.
He was a great guy. Everybody who ever met him, thought he was incredibly warm and funny,
and personable and a wonderful decent human being. And he was most incredibly smart, knew
foreign policy inside and out. I would of have taken his knowledge against any sitting
United State's senator or congressman by a mile, and he was a force for good.
So, here's my personal take on it. Look, our society's a little sick. And so we judge people
based on so called success and what are our metrics for success? How rich you are. That's
number one by a landslide. And I don't know Michael's personal finances, but I doubt he
was rich.
And so society would not have declared him a success in that sense. Then people judged
based on status. What's your position, what's your power, et cetera. And I don't know that
Michael had much of that, either. But I do know Michael touched millions of people's
lives. And he probably changed thousands of lives.
>> Definitely. >> That's a hell of a thing. And that is a
better metric for success than any status or power or privilege or wealth that the rest
of society values so much. Well, I value what Michael did. I value that he was always reasonable
and logical, always decent and fought for the right things, always held the powerful
accountable, and stood up for the powerless.
To me, that is a life well lived. And for all the good that you did in the world, Michael,
we'll love you forever. And- >> Michael played a huge role in just my political
evolution. There are very few people in this world that encourage you and inspire you to
be a better person.
People who spark your curiosity, who challenge you in the best ways, and that's who Michael
was for me. In addition to an incredibly loyal and loving friend, he was just such an understanding,
compassionate person. And on my most difficult days, he always knew exactly what to say to
make me feel like it was gonna be okay.
And I can't describe at all how much loss I feel and it's not just me, it's so many
people who are having difficulty processing this today. But he was someone who just, again,
made me wanna be a better person and who inspired me to learn more, to challenge myself, to
step out of my comfort zone.
And I already miss him and I'm gonna continue to miss him, and I just can't believe that
this is what's happening. I feel like I'm in a nightmare right now.
>> I'm gonna say one last thing. Guys, here's another problem with our society, we're too
damn negative. And look I know we're in the middle of really tough times where they're
real bad guys in the world, but everything is nonstop attacks, attacks, attacks, criticism,
criticism.
And the media is unfortunately the number one culprit. And in a lot of ways that includes
us as well. And so if Michael had done something quote unquote, wrong, people would have written
articles about it. They would have gone nuts over it. In fact, they did it to his co-host,
Sam Cedar, when Sam actually hadn't said anything wrong, and they tried to get him cancelled
from MSNBC, this was a couple of years back now.
So if Michael had done something wrong, which he didn't, you would have heard about it non
stop. But all the wonderful great things that Michael did, did you hear about it? I mean,
some of you are progressives, so yes, you did and you mourn his loss with us.
But for non-progressives, the media never covers and this just happens to be about progressives,
but I'm making a broader point. We almost never celebrate the positives. So all that's
left is negativity and and just this toxic culture where we're non stop ripping each
other apart and non stop judging one another.
One of the things I feel like is we didn't get to celebrate Michael's life. I mean, obviously
his passing is so abrupt and unexpected and he was so young, but I'm just asking you guys
as one human being to another, celebrate each other while you're still here. So I'll be
cliche, I don't care.
Hug your loved ones a little tighter and make sure that you say positive things about the
people in your life, and make sure you know how much they're valued by you while they're
still here. We love you Michael, and we'll always love you.