Dear Mr Shaun Maguire
Just because people are powerful doesn't mean they're smart, or good, or competent, or patriotic
By now, you’ve all seen Shaun Maguire’s charming tweet about Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor. But in case you haven’t seen it, here it is, in all its Islamophobic glory…
I often come up with ideas for movies which, very likely, will never get made. But it’s still fun. I have one I continue to toy around with, the adventures of a Superman-like character, a megahero who’s incredibly powerful but is also sadly unintelligent. Bleak hilarity ensues as this alt-Superman struggles to make change, can’t figure out how to assemble IKEA furniture, and eventually loses his cover job — maybe he tweets for a living — because he’s just not very good at anything except brute physical strength.
He’s still a great guy, but just not a really adept individual, either. He’ll have to team up with a motley crew of flawed individuals who, together, make up for their weaknesses, and make good for the world. The Averagers? (Yeah, title needs work.)
One of the reasons I want to make this movie is because I want to encourage us to disentangle traits we often assume are correlated. Just because someone is good-looking, after all, doesn’t mean they’re good. Just because someone is rich doesn’t mean they’re smart. (Right now, I’m listening to Hubris Maximus, Faiz Siddiqui’s biography of Elon Musk; talk about a well-timed, very necessary, and really compelling piece of work.)1 Such assumptions are more than wrong. They’re actively harmful to us as individuals, communities, and for us as a country.
You could even say the West is learning this lesson the hard way.
Because shady people understand how well-meaning folks, for whom their accomplishments and abilities might appear foreign, if not unimaginable, while alsosuperficially admirable, make such assumptions — and then use them to manipulate us, if not outright con us.
A lesson the West is learning the hard way, yeah?
Trump appears rich, therefore Trump must know what he’s doing! PS I don’t know about you, but I see a lot of deportations, rural hospitals getting closed, but no sign of new infrastructure or long-term economic prosperity in the making. Elon’s so good at this one thing, lots of folks thought for a long time, so he must also be great at this other thing. In the worst cases, the qualities we admire aren’t even qualities: People called Elon Musk “Iron Man” once, but Iron Man also gave his life for humanity.
We’d actually like Iron Man.
Do you remember the movie when Iron Man convinces the rest of the Avengers to defund USAID, because we’re running out of money, but also we can become an interplanetary species, and build and reach beyond our wildest dreams, but really guys, this budget for medicines for desperately sick people in conflict zones, this is really too much for us to cover. Hint: That never happened.
The guy who tells us we can innovate ourselves to the stars can’t grow the economy to cover medications and medical care?
I’m not pulling punches, either — we do this as people of faith, too, in faith spaces. We look to religious leaders for political advice, or academics for spiritual guidance, when ordinarily most people aren’t great at that many distinct fields… and when we should really know better. Why does this matter? Because if we have a more grounded view of people, we have a better shot at better outcomes.
We’re more likely to build institutions and alliances, the kind that can promote our shared concerns and shared prosperity, if we spend more time dealing with people we know, realistically, than idolizing people we’ll never know, fetishistically. That comes from modesty in a deep, epistemic sense, and that produces resilience and resourcefulness in a way that endures.
Because I have an unusual career set, I often hear Muslims make assumptions about media, journalism, and politics that I know from firsthand experience are unfounded and even actively harmful — to us! At bottom, these assume powerful people are a lot smarter, more organized, and more capable than we think, producing conspiratorial conclusions where far more mundane judgments would suffice.
These assumptions hold us back, preventing us from moving forward or even understanding (say, in one specific instance) where a Mamdani came from. If the system really was that rigged, after all, how could Mamdani even come up? This doesn’t mean the road ahead won’t be hard (e.g., Maguires of the world). Still, we should be honest about what we are — and are not — up against.
Was it really so hard to imagine New York’s hundreds of thousands of Muslim voters wouldn’t be keen to join up with other New Yorkers, linked by common grievances, to push back? Does anyone who’s been alive in America for the last twenty-five years think a tired anti-Muslim trope — lying is part of their religion! — is evidence of someone who actually understands anything? Over fifteen years ago, I had precisely this encounter in Long Island with an attendee at one of my talks.
He politely raised his hand and this encounter unfolded.
HAROON: Yes sir, you in the back, you have a question?
GUY IN BACK: Well, you said a lot of interesting things, but I don’t believe you
HAROON: You don’t believe me?
GUY IN BACK: Yes, because in your religion, you’re told to lie in order to secure power. It’s called taqiyya
HAROON, EXCITED SOMEONE IS FINALLY GOING TO TEACH HIM HIS RELIGION AFTER DECADES IN THE DARK: Yes, actually, I hate to admit it, but you’re right
GUY IN BACK, ENTIRELY KNOCKED OFF BALANCE: I’m… right?
HAROON: Yes, you’re right. I lied.
GUY IN BACK: You’re lying?
HAROON: Yes, I did, and you’re right, Muslims are supposed to lie for their faith. In fact, I’m lying right now.
GUY IN BACK: …
I’ve got four tips for young Muslims (and older Muslims) here.
A Little Halaqa for Jumuah
First, don’t assume that because someone is good at one thing that they’re good at another. In fact, assume that expertise in one field doesn’t reflexively translate into another, short of credentials, demonstrated knowledge, and the confirmation that only other relevant people can collectively provide. This’ll save you from a lot of pain. Do I like Mamdani’s candidacy? Yes. Do I agree with all his proposals?
Not necessarily—but I’m looking for a leader who can bring thoughtful people together and work out positive, productive ideas, who’s open to criticism, takes feedback, and is willing to grow. So far, I’m excited, but I also know it’s really about electing a team and creating a culture of responsible feedback. We should all be so committed in whatever we build.
A masjid, for example, is not one person: It’s a collaborative community.
Second, material success doesn’t translate into moral probity. Even outward signs of religiosity don’t mean someone’s a great Muslim. And parents/teachers/educators: be open about it in your life, in part because you’ll save your kids/students/communities a lot of unnecessary grief. Case study: In my halaqas, I happily answer some questions — and openly admit I’m going to have to go up the chain for certain topics.
Like, I can tell you about Islamic history. But fiqh? Oh man, I need to phone-a-friend. And I make sure to tell my students that. There’s no shame in not knowing. What’s actually embarrassing is running your mouth (or keyboard) off, like you know, when you literally can’t. Imagine if I made a sweeping judgment of Christians or Jews.
I mean, I could study Islam my whole life — and I do! — and what do I really know? After decades of teaching and writing, I still need feedback, guidance, course correction, and work. I’d be arrogant to claim reflexive expertise in a field I know well, let alone another faith tradition entirely.
On that metric, imagine the profound insecurity and pathetic narcissism of a person who thinks he can size up an entire culture that he doesn’t even have the first sense of (uh, anyway, what culture is Mamdani anyway, Astoria?)
Third, if you believe one person is going to save you, you’ve got a problem. I tell my high school boys that they should get married and it’s important they pursue the best person for them (and vice versa). But even then, they won’t be enough. They’ll need support. There’s nothing in life one person alone can solve.
And if you think that, well, there’s this lesson you’ll learn the hard way. People need people. It’s how our species evolved. It’s how God made us. It’s the reality of how we live. Just ask how many people were needed for you to be able to read this, from your education to the technology to the time to—
Fourth, once you realize people are just people with different resources, you begin to realize we spend far too much time thinking about other people and far too little time focusing on our human capital. Let’s spend less time on WhatsApp and Instagram, please. Do you know how much of our lives we waste doom scrolling? On the Day of Judgment, do you know how desperately you’ll want even half an hour a day back? And yet, you had it! You have it! Go out and teach! Build! Learn! Do dhikr! Exercise! Make yourself better, make yourself a resource, and grow… with other people!
Don’t you think God is going to ask us about your screen time? Other people give you feedback. You can grow with and through them. You can’t do that algorithmically.
One of the reasons I started
with my friend Joey (from ) is because we were tired of media that didn’t reflect important conversations we needed to have. And true to the spirit of that post, we’ll be talking to all kinds of people, including our next episode, with a brilliant paleontologist. That’s what real faith is about: Modesty, which by the way also creates competency.I still remember the audacity of a man in an audience, who knew nothing about me, telling me what my faith really was. I laughed. I could’ve cried, too.
Is this man and his tweet any different? Sure, it’s racism. It’s also ridiculous. And people who so openly advertise their ignorance are unlikely to build durable success, over the long-term; there’s a reason this culture of ambitious narcissism has caused so much harm to so many Americans in such a short time. So while there are lots of responses, some funny and some outraged, the best is the kind that takes what we know to be wrong here… and patiently builds what is right, necessary, and enduring.
Should Maguire apologize? Sure, that’d be nice. Should Sequoia Capital? Well, I’ll put it another way. If you were building a firm, and thinking about growing a company that did good for you and your loved ones, for America, for the world and for the afterlife, would you hire and put into such a senior position an individual who made off-the-cuff, utterly foolish remarks, and then doubled-down on them, and trebled-down, and on and on, and would you want him to manage large sums of money? Unless you just don’t care, in which case, well, there are also lessons.
The best response to evil isn’t evil. It’s good. But we get to define the good, the horizons of our ambitions… and the scope of our compassion. Choose wisely.
Faiz is a tech reporter at The Washington Post. Read the book!