01-08-2017, 11:08 AM
Nathan Irving "Nat" Hentoff (June 10, 1925 – January 7, 2017) was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Hentoff was the jazz critic for The Village Voice from 1958 to 2009.[2] Following his departure from The Village Voice, Hentoff moved his music column to The Wall Street Journal, who published his work until his death.
Hentoff was formerly a columnist for Down Beat, JazzTimes, Legal Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Progressive, Editor & Publisher and Free Inquiry. He was a staff writer for The New Yorker, and his writing was also published in The New York Times, Jewish World Review, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Commonweal and in the Italian Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo.
Hentoff began a career in broadcast journalism in the closing days of World War II on WMEX, a Boston radio station. Among his early assignments were live broadcasts of professional wrestling from the old Boston Arena. In the late 1940s, he hosted two radio shows on WMEX: JazzAlbum and From Bach To Bartók. Hentoff continued to do a jazz program on WMEX into the early 1950s, and during that period was an announcer on WGBH-FM on a program called Evolution of Jazz. By the late 1950s, Hentoff was co-hosting a program called The Scope of Jazz on WBAI-FM in New York City.[7]
He joined Down Beat magazine as a columnist in 1952.[8] From 1953 through 1957, he was an associate editor of Down Beat. In 1958 he co-founded The Jazz Review, a magazine that he co-edited with Martin Williams until 1961. In June 1955, Hentoff co-authored with Nat Shapiro Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: The Story of Jazz by the Men Who Made It. The book features interviews with jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Paul Whiteman. Hentoff went on to author numerous other books on jazz and politics.
In 1960, Hentoff served as the A&R director of the short-lived jazz label Candid Records, which released albums by Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor and Max Roach, among others.
In 2002, Hentoff became a member of the Board of Directors of The Jazz Foundation of America.[9] He has worked with the foundation to help save homes and lives of America's elderly jazz and blues musicians, including musicians who survived Hurricane Katrina. Hentoff has written multiple articles to draw attention to the plight of America's pioneering musicians of jazz and blues. These articles were published in the Wall Street Journal[10] and the Village Voice.[11]
Hentoff was known as a civil libertarian, free speech activist, anti-death penalty advocate and anti-abortion advocate. He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq; he supported Israel's right to exist, but opposed Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.
In June 1970, he criticized Ted Sorensen, who was running in the primary election for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from New York, because Sorensen had lived for a time at the "restricted" New York Athletic Club, writing: "what kind of man would choose to live in one of this city's redoubts of bigotry?"[17]
Hentoff espoused generally liberal views on domestic policy and civil liberties, but in the 1980s, he began articulating more socially conservative positions—opposition to abortion, voluntary euthanasia, and the selective medical treatment of severely disabled infants. Hentoff argued that a consistent life ethic should be the viewpoint of a genuine civil libertarian, arguing that all human rights are at risk when the rights of any one group of people are diminished, that human rights are interconnected, and people deny others' human rights at their own peril.[18]
While at one time a longtime supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union, Hentoff became a vocal critic of the organization for its advocacy of government-enforced university and workplace speech codes.[19] He served on the board of advisors for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, another civil liberties group. Hentoff's book Free Speech for Me—But Not for Thee outlines his views on free speech and excoriates those whom he feels favor censorship in any form.
Hentoff was critical of Bush Administration policies such as the Patriot Act and other civil liberties implications of the recent push for homeland security. He was also strongly critical of Clinton Administration policies such as the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.
Starting in March and April 2003, Saddam Hussein was deposed in a U.S.-led invasion and Iraq war. In summer 2003, Hentoff wrote a column for the Washington Times in which he supported Tony Blair's claimed justifications for the war.[citation needed] He also criticized the Democratic Party for casting doubt on President Bush's pre-war assertions about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction in an election year.
An ardent critic of the Bush administration's expansion of presidential power, Hentoff in 2008 called for the new president to deal with the "noxious residue of the Bush-Cheney war against terrorism". Among the national security casualties have been, according to Hentoff, "survivors, if they can be found, of CIA secret prisons ("black sites"); victims of CIA kidnapping renditions; and American citizens locked up indefinitely as "unlawful enemy combatants".[20] He advocated prosecuting members of the Bush administration, including lawyer John Yoo, for war crimes.[21]
Hentoff vigorously criticized the judicial gag order involved in the "Fistgate" controversy.[22]
In an April 2008 column, Hentoff stated that while he had been prepared to enthusiastically support Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, his view changed after looking into Obama's voting record on abortion. During President Obama's first year, Hentoff praised him for ending policies of CIA renditions, but has criticized him for failing to fully end George W. Bush's practice of state torture of prisoners.[23]
In a May 2014, column titled My Pro-Constitution Choice for President, Hentoff voiced his support for Kentucky Senator Rand Paul's potential 2016 run for president. Hentoff cited Paul's support for civil liberties, particularly his stand against the indefinite detention clauses in the National Defense Authorization Act as well as Paul's opposition to the Obama administration's use of drones against American citizens.[24]
On December 31, 2008, the Village Voice, which had regularly published Hentoff's commentary and criticism for fifty years, announced that he had been laid off.[12] In February 2009, Hentoff joined the libertarian Cato Institute as a senior fellow.[13] In January 2010, however, Hentoff returned and wrote one article for the Voice. Beginning in February 2008, Hentoff was a weekly contributing columnist at WorldNetDaily.com.[14]
In 2013, a biographical film about Hentoff, entitled The Pleasures of Being Out of Step explored his career in jazz and as a first amendment advocate. The independent documentary, directed by journalist David L. Lewis,[4][15] won the grand jury prize in the Metropolis competition at the DOC NYC festival[16] and played in theaters across the country.[citation needed]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Hentoff
Hentoff was formerly a columnist for Down Beat, JazzTimes, Legal Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Progressive, Editor & Publisher and Free Inquiry. He was a staff writer for The New Yorker, and his writing was also published in The New York Times, Jewish World Review, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Commonweal and in the Italian Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo.
Hentoff began a career in broadcast journalism in the closing days of World War II on WMEX, a Boston radio station. Among his early assignments were live broadcasts of professional wrestling from the old Boston Arena. In the late 1940s, he hosted two radio shows on WMEX: JazzAlbum and From Bach To Bartók. Hentoff continued to do a jazz program on WMEX into the early 1950s, and during that period was an announcer on WGBH-FM on a program called Evolution of Jazz. By the late 1950s, Hentoff was co-hosting a program called The Scope of Jazz on WBAI-FM in New York City.[7]
He joined Down Beat magazine as a columnist in 1952.[8] From 1953 through 1957, he was an associate editor of Down Beat. In 1958 he co-founded The Jazz Review, a magazine that he co-edited with Martin Williams until 1961. In June 1955, Hentoff co-authored with Nat Shapiro Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: The Story of Jazz by the Men Who Made It. The book features interviews with jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Paul Whiteman. Hentoff went on to author numerous other books on jazz and politics.
In 1960, Hentoff served as the A&R director of the short-lived jazz label Candid Records, which released albums by Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor and Max Roach, among others.
In 2002, Hentoff became a member of the Board of Directors of The Jazz Foundation of America.[9] He has worked with the foundation to help save homes and lives of America's elderly jazz and blues musicians, including musicians who survived Hurricane Katrina. Hentoff has written multiple articles to draw attention to the plight of America's pioneering musicians of jazz and blues. These articles were published in the Wall Street Journal[10] and the Village Voice.[11]
Hentoff was known as a civil libertarian, free speech activist, anti-death penalty advocate and anti-abortion advocate. He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq; he supported Israel's right to exist, but opposed Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.
In June 1970, he criticized Ted Sorensen, who was running in the primary election for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from New York, because Sorensen had lived for a time at the "restricted" New York Athletic Club, writing: "what kind of man would choose to live in one of this city's redoubts of bigotry?"[17]
Hentoff espoused generally liberal views on domestic policy and civil liberties, but in the 1980s, he began articulating more socially conservative positions—opposition to abortion, voluntary euthanasia, and the selective medical treatment of severely disabled infants. Hentoff argued that a consistent life ethic should be the viewpoint of a genuine civil libertarian, arguing that all human rights are at risk when the rights of any one group of people are diminished, that human rights are interconnected, and people deny others' human rights at their own peril.[18]
While at one time a longtime supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union, Hentoff became a vocal critic of the organization for its advocacy of government-enforced university and workplace speech codes.[19] He served on the board of advisors for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, another civil liberties group. Hentoff's book Free Speech for Me—But Not for Thee outlines his views on free speech and excoriates those whom he feels favor censorship in any form.
Hentoff was critical of Bush Administration policies such as the Patriot Act and other civil liberties implications of the recent push for homeland security. He was also strongly critical of Clinton Administration policies such as the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.
Starting in March and April 2003, Saddam Hussein was deposed in a U.S.-led invasion and Iraq war. In summer 2003, Hentoff wrote a column for the Washington Times in which he supported Tony Blair's claimed justifications for the war.[citation needed] He also criticized the Democratic Party for casting doubt on President Bush's pre-war assertions about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction in an election year.
An ardent critic of the Bush administration's expansion of presidential power, Hentoff in 2008 called for the new president to deal with the "noxious residue of the Bush-Cheney war against terrorism". Among the national security casualties have been, according to Hentoff, "survivors, if they can be found, of CIA secret prisons ("black sites"); victims of CIA kidnapping renditions; and American citizens locked up indefinitely as "unlawful enemy combatants".[20] He advocated prosecuting members of the Bush administration, including lawyer John Yoo, for war crimes.[21]
Hentoff vigorously criticized the judicial gag order involved in the "Fistgate" controversy.[22]
In an April 2008 column, Hentoff stated that while he had been prepared to enthusiastically support Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, his view changed after looking into Obama's voting record on abortion. During President Obama's first year, Hentoff praised him for ending policies of CIA renditions, but has criticized him for failing to fully end George W. Bush's practice of state torture of prisoners.[23]
In a May 2014, column titled My Pro-Constitution Choice for President, Hentoff voiced his support for Kentucky Senator Rand Paul's potential 2016 run for president. Hentoff cited Paul's support for civil liberties, particularly his stand against the indefinite detention clauses in the National Defense Authorization Act as well as Paul's opposition to the Obama administration's use of drones against American citizens.[24]
On December 31, 2008, the Village Voice, which had regularly published Hentoff's commentary and criticism for fifty years, announced that he had been laid off.[12] In February 2009, Hentoff joined the libertarian Cato Institute as a senior fellow.[13] In January 2010, however, Hentoff returned and wrote one article for the Voice. Beginning in February 2008, Hentoff was a weekly contributing columnist at WorldNetDaily.com.[14]
In 2013, a biographical film about Hentoff, entitled The Pleasures of Being Out of Step explored his career in jazz and as a first amendment advocate. The independent documentary, directed by journalist David L. Lewis,[4][15] won the grand jury prize in the Metropolis competition at the DOC NYC festival[16] and played in theaters across the country.[citation needed]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Hentoff
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.