Bilal Mahmood is not a neuroscientist. Period. There is no argument here; it doesn’t matter how much you like Mahmood, or how much you despise his political opponent Dean Preston, and pretending there’s something to debate may be the closest thing we’ve seen in local politics to the principal’s speech in “Billy Madison”:
Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
The last two sentences are especially relevant. We are all dumber for enabling partisans to make truth into a partisan issue. And that’s not just dumb. It’s dangerous. And loathsome.
Here’s what happened, and why, inexplicably, an article published late on the Friday before Easter wasn’t merely a one-afternoon story about a political candidate inflating his credentials on his resume, a practice that surely stretches back to caveman days.
In his successful campaign for the Democratic County Central Committee, Mahmood — also a declared November challenger to District 5 supe Preston — has promoted himself as a neuroscientist. He hasn’t leaned on this to the degree John McCain touted his military record, but you will hear “Bilal Mahmood is a neuroscientist” within the first two seconds of his ad for DCCC, on his Twitter account and, formerly, his campaign website.
When actual neuroscientists questioned Mahmood’s credentials, he removed such claims from his website last month. This was first reported by SFist and, on Friday, the Chronicle.
I’ve moderated multiple debates in which Mahmood participated during his bid for State Assembly. I found him to be not only smart, but well-prepared and eloquent. But that doesn’t make him a neuroscientist.
Neither does studying neuroscience as an undergrad, nor working a paid undergrad job in a neuroscience lab, nor having your esteemed undergraduate professor vouch for your undergraduate training. Mahmood does not have a neuroscience degree at any level — he majored in biology at Stanford University — and, outside his paid undergraduate work, has apparently not earned his living in neuroscience. It is not his profession, and it is misleading at best to flatly declare “Bilal Mahmood is a neuroscientist” as his promotional materials have done.
“I got a double major at Tulane: One in Ancient Greek philosophy and the other in American history, particularly the Civil War. I don’t hold myself out as a philosopher or a historian,” says crisis communications expert Sam “Master of Disaster” Singer.
And that’s it. Period. There is, again, no argument here. It’s confusing why a candidate as compelling as Mahmood felt the need to do this, especially when he’s already so distinctive from the polarizing incumbent Preston.
“It would’ve been wiser for him to say he studied neuroscience rather than say ‘I’m a neuroscientist,’” Singer continued. “This was an unforced error. When something goes wrong and it’s an unforced error, it’s almost always best to apologize, pivot and move on.”
That’s the advice Singer gave his client, Garry Tan, when the tech investor got liquored up and tweeted “Die slow, motherfuckers” at seven supervisors (including Connie Chan twice). Tan apologized, pivoted and moved on. This weekend, New York Times readers were greeted by a massive photo of Tan gazing into the middle distance accompanying a glowing profile.
But Singer isn’t yet on Mahmood’s payroll. And that isn’t what happened here.
On the contrary, Mahmood and his backers have doubled down. The Chronicle reported on Friday that he “did not back down from describing himself as a neuroscientist,” which makes Mahmood’s decision to proactively remove such a description from his website after being challenged all the more curious.
And newsworthy. When a candidate, under scrutiny, alters his resume, that’s the kind of thing newspapers cover.
This, again, could’ve been over and done with. Singer could tell you that; that’s his profession, even if he studied other stuff as an undergrad. “I’ve always thought of myself as a neuroscientist” … “transparency” … “pivot” … “move on.” And you’re done.
Instead, Mahmood and his online supporters have launched a fulminating campaign against the Chronicle for its straightforward reporting of Mahmood scrubbing his claims that he’s a neuroscientist because he’s not a neuroscientist.
“The @sfchronicle is not a news publication anymore. They will publish lies to push their political agenda,” tweeted GrowSF co-director Sachin Agarwal. Singer’s erstwhile client Tan, a major GrowSF benefactor, offered more of the same, tweeting that “legacy media likes to protect the power (elected officials like Dean Preston) from the truth (the community demands an end to the fentanyl, housing and public safety crisis in SF).”
Lord help us, but this reads as if these two ostensibly intelligent individuals are claiming that the Hearst-owned establishment newspaper has a “political agenda” that involves coddling the democratic socialist and belligerent online Chronicle critic Dean Preston. And it manifested this by publishing “lies” in reporting that Mahmood removed references to being a neuroscientist on his website because he is not a neuroscientist. Did we get that right?
But wait: How deep does this go? Both Agarwal and Tan pushed a tweet thread that “debunked” the Chronicle story. How so? Because the neuroscientist who was the lead signatory on the letter questioning Mahmood’s bona fides stood next to Dean Preston at a rally in 2019.
Well, stop the presses! It’s true! In fact, here’s a 2019 story about that rally — an Anchor Brewing (RIP) unionization rally. And here’s the larger photo, so you can see that this was a moderately well-attended event. For what it’s worth, Preston has said he couldn’t pick neuroscientist Maxwell Turner out of a police lineup, and Turner has let it be known that he, too, has not actually met Preston. But, hey, let’s pretend they went to kindergarten together. Does it alter any of the questions posed in Turner’s letter? And, more to the point, do we need a neuroscientist to tell us that it’s misleading — at best — to portray your undergraduate work as your profession in campaign materials?
It would be one thing if Mahmood’s supporters said, you know what? This doesn’t matter to them. They still like him, they still don’t like Preston, and they’re going to vote for their preferred candidate. That’s fine. No candidate is perfect. But, again, that’s not what happened here. Rather, this is an attempt to make the truth into a partisan issue. The definition of one’s profession, the definition of a neuroscientist, now hinges upon whether or not a particular neuroscientist stood next to Dean Preston on 24th Street Plaza at a rally for beer workers in 2019.
“But the truth is a partisan issue,” says Singer. Yes, he’d have advised Mahmood to apologize, pivot and move on. But he also thinks it was a smart political idea to muddy things up by tying Preston to the neuroscientist who wrote the letter.
“You know when you get all the direct mail, and you don’t know any of the candidates, you look at the endorsers? People are looking at who they trust — or distrust,” Singer explains.
This, he continues, is an example of Mahmood’s campaign making the truth and correctness of the accusation immaterial. Instead, their supporters will think, “I don’t trust the person making the accusation. They’ve got an ax to grind — even if it’s true or correct.’”
Even if it’s true or correct. And this appears to be where Tan et al. want to take us — this is what he was getting on about when he praised Elon Musk’s toxic Twitter cesspool as “a parallel media:” A realm in which disinformation-mongers and partisan hacks are, at last, given their fair shot to present the truth as they see it.
“That’s a possible recipe for reforming San Francisco and building the alternative tech political machine,” Tan went on. “And if it works in [San Francisco], it will work everywhere.”
And, just because everyone in this room is now dumber, doesn’t mean that this plan won’t work, or isn’t working already. God have mercy on us.
reminds me of animal farm where the point is not to be right or wrong but just to be believed even if everyone knows it’s not true. you can’t lose an argument if you’re not agreeing on the facts so just create the alternate world you want to represent and it becomes more about a world view than about solving problems. and if all else fails, eliminate those who question your “facts”
Mahmood ain’t Napoleon. He’s one of the hens!
i wish i never had to hear about garry tan or sachin agarawal again. some very loud people with fascist-tendencies have too much access to money and our attention.
On the one hand, this is stupid self-presentation. On the other hand, some of the same people very anxious about Mr. Mahmood’s integrity also went full-in on “Trevor Chandler is lying about being a substitute teacher” when I literally see him at my kid’s school a few times a month. So there’s plenty of misrepresentation to go around here.
Luis,
You’re full of it on this guy being a Real Teacher.
I’m a Real Teacher.
Got a couple of University degrees and a few thousand former students to prove it.
Also, I’m running against the guy in D-9.
Wait til I get him on stage in a debate.
Pardon my language but Chandler is a no good lying son of a SOB.
When I came near dying a few years back I started wearing my Naval Special Warfare Unit pin on my running gear.
Rough looking guy on a motorcycle pulled over and asked me where I got it.
He was about my age and knew (cause he probably was one) that to wear such an insignia without earning it can get you put into prison.
It’s called, ‘Stolen Glory’ and that’s what Chandler is going here.
Pisses me off.
My Teaching Degrees are from Clemson University.
I taught every subject because my students were too mean to be included in classes with the regular student populations.
I took Credential Exams in …
Special Education
English
and
Social Studies
I scored in the 98th Percentile in Social Studies.
That’s compared to every other Teacher who took the tests.
I drove a School bus and coached football and softball and managed Detention and created School Security Forces and broke up a thousand fights.
This asshole is stealing my Honor.
And, my right to wear my Special Warfare Group pin was earned at …
Naval Special Warfare Group Beach Jumper Unit 2
Out of Little Creek, Virginia
1964-1965
You probably know them as the name they took after I went to Reserves/
U.S. Navy Seals
Founded by Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
What’s Trevor’s military background ?
Go Niners !!
h.
And you know what? Oligarch billionaire Michael Moritz’s (the current William Randolph Hearst of SF) silly tabloid The SF “Double” Standard STILL has not published one word about candidate Bilal Mahmood’s flagrant lies that he is both a neuroscientist and an economist, when he is not.
Mahmood should drop out of the race. Period. This is weapons-grade Kitara Revache BS. If Mahmood is willing to casually lie about his entire career, imagine what else he will lie about once in office. How can we trust Mahmood with the city general fund? How do we know he won’t become the next Mohammed Nuru or Stanley Ellicott?
For the record, I absolutely do not want Dean Preston reelected. His policies are atrocious and we deserve better candidates.
JBS,
Y’all are just trying to associate negative words with Dean Preston with no anecdotal evidence to back them up hoping that if you pile it higher and deeper enough you can make his name into a dirty word like you did to the word ‘liberal’ a couple of decades back.
Fact is that Dean Preston is the Best Tenants Lawyer in California and we are lucky to have him practicing in San Francisco.
In the old days groups like AIPAC could get a reporter fired or a story killed by threatening advertiser boycotts.
Then, wealthy interest groups or individuals simply bought entire newspapers and other Media Outlets.
Now, they create entire internet operations like SF Standard who quickly hired and parted with honest writers like Chris Roberts and Matt Smith.
Next year they might have zero human reporters.
Gonna be hard to tell the difference.
h.
Reading some of these whataboutist comments, I am reminded of Billy’s far more masterful retort: “Ok . . . a simple ‘wrong’ would have done just fine . . . “
Joe’s columns are the reason ML is one of the few – a half dozen – news outlets (local, state, national; all media) that I pay to read.
Even if I might differ on his conclusions, I can track his trail and have always trusted his reasoning.
Voter ’72,
I took my 20 bucks recurring to Katie Porter’s race and used it to double my patronage of Mission Local.
Lydia and Joe are my heroes.
As they used to say back in St. Louis …
“There ain’t any other place anywhere around this place anything like this place so this must be the place.”
Say, huh ??
h.
I’m also wondering about Mahmood’s assertion in his campaign website that he shed light on the bureaucratic mismanagement of SFUSD that led to late payments of teachers. Apparently, he wrote an article in the Chron (you know, that purveyor of lies) about this in May 2023. I’m not sure if he credited Mission local who covered this more than a year earlier, in March 2022 and ongoing.
As a D5 constituent I want to see much more deeply affordable housing & a supervisor who care about San Franciscans even if they are poor or sick. As in many cities, crime and safety is an issue but certainl no worse than in past decades. I want my children and grandchildren to live here near me. No one better than Preston for this.
I don’t care if he’s a neuroscientist or not. He’s not Dean Preston. That’s sufficient.
Mahmood’s behavior and comments muddling up his claims and attacking the press for reporting it is Trumpian behavior. If he wants to represent District 5, he should address the key issues Preston has represented, housing and ground level representation of the working class, people of color and low income residents in D5. I am not certain Mahmood can relate.
“…do we need a neuroscientist to tell us that it’s misleading…?”
Either that or a journalist, and maybe both.
Astrid Kane should have sorted this out a month ago, but instead I was left staring at two identical photos of Mahmood wondering if I should take the red pill or the blue pill.
https://sfstandard.com/2024/03/01/bilal-mahmood-racist-mailer/
That a group of non-San Franciscans wrote a protest letter about Bilal looks, feels, and smells exactly like a Dean Preston operation. Why would they even care, if not to help Dean? Look, if Dean’s campaign wants to make an issue about Bilal’s self-descriptions then fine, but don’t give that some extra veneer of third-party credibility by letting Dean or people like Dean’s campaign manager and political consultant launder accusations through supposedly outside people. That’s propaganda, not news.
Sounds to me like Dean’s campaign people are doing their jobs.
Exactly. Making a mountain out of an irrelevant claim on the back of some so-called neutral “neuroscientists” (aka former SFDSA member and current undergraduate student) is the source of backlash; not whether the label is accurate. It’s proportionality that matters, not veracity.
Joe are you going to do a close text reading of whether Dean’s claim that he’s not a landlord because his wife’s extensive rental property assets are held in a trust holds water? Or is the demand for rigor only for the brown candidates in the race and not the white ones?
We shouldn’t forget that the reporter who cowrote the Chronicle coverage regarding this non-issue was embarrassed in the last election for writing about a “report” analyzing Dean’s housing record which was written by his staffer. The corrections on that article were beautiful.
Generally lying on your résumé is grounds for not giving you a job.
Dean’s campaign is putting flyers under my door implying he helped create 28,000 homes during his first term as supervisor. If that’s not lying, then nothing is. Welcome to San Francisco local politics: when they go low, we go lower.
Jake and DD —
Thank you for missing my point and making my point.
JE
Joe I’m pretty smart person. I probably have better reading comprehension than 95% of your readers. If I’m constantly missing your point, maybe it’s you that’s the problem.
Jake —
You may be one of the smartest of the inveterate commenters, I’ll give you that.
JE
Couldn’t have said it better than you did – it’s apparently “not veracity” that matters to Mahmood, or to some of his rich loud supporters like Garry Tan.
For me, veracity matters. I prefer leaders (and coworkers, and friends, etc.) who when they say something that was wrong, can acknowledge that and move forward with what’s true instead. Some people can’t do that and just have to double down… and we saw with our last president just how bad that can get, but even at less horrific scale it’s never pretty.
No you don’t care about veracity to this degree. A sitting prog supervisor literally issued a statement to local media yesterday that their call to defund the police was misunderstood because they are ESL speakers. Where is the pearl clutching about that being BS? ML local wrote like 3 articles about a non-politician’s drunken threats that were deleted and apologized for while city-funded orgs like Gay Shame graffiti death threats towards tech workers on Mission sidewalks while being featured in local art institutions like YBCA. If Joe wants to opine about the truth being a political matter, he should get out of the Peskin PR industry.
Jake T,
“It’s proportionality that matters, not veracity.”
Exactly, you and your bots or whatever will write such a large proportion of online comments telling lies about Supervisor Preston that you will smother out the voices defending him.
You can afford to do this because you are trying buy this election and I’ve watched such campaigns (Boudin comes to mind) where that succeeded.
Fascinating to watch.
Musk says more than 50% chance it’s a Simulation.
Y’all on fire !!
28 weeks out and everyone is already covered in everyone else’s … stuff.
Dean can take a punch better than anyone on the Local Political Stage.
All else considered, Breed’s crooked Redistricting Map executed by Reverend Arnold Townsend left Progressive D-6 in Moderate, Matt Dorsey’s hands but should build Preston’s margin with the Tenderloin’s reliably Progressive vote added to Dean’s own D-5 Haight crowd makes him much stronger on paper at the moment.
28 weeks to go.
lol
h.
Even if this clown were a neuroscientist, what would it matter? Is there something about being a neuroscientist that makes one more qualified to be a local politician, as opposed to, say, one’s values, neighborhood connections, endorsements, and verifiable history?
Save us from the schmart people. Self-prolaimed schmart people – I’m looking at you, tech dweebs – are the type who gave us such memorable, brilliant achievements as the Salesforce Transit Center, the Valencia Bike Lane, DDT, New Coke, Windows Vista, and the Lockheed Martin F-35. Please, schmart people, just go away and leave us intractable morons alone.
Two beers might be an undercount or perhaps the limits of your numeracy.
Harmless lie (“I’m handsome”) with a certain positive cred that reinforces his brand and gets itself republished. (Bet Dean’s wife’s trust doesn’t own prop in SF , or hopefully CA)
His wife’s family trust absolutely owns multiple apartment buildings in San Francisco. The only bit that’s a mystery is how much it distributes to his wife; probably plenty since neither husband nor wife has had to work for a living.
… Deans wife’s Trust … so, like John Locke, the Abolitionist, and his shares in the Royal Africa Company then?
Jake T,
Normally Mission Local frowns on outright lies but they seem to let slanders such as yours bout Preston slide from wherever it is they come and plop onto these pages.
Dean Preston is the best Tenants Lawyer in the State of California and that wasn’t by dint of a Michael Moritz Poll.
You think that’s easy, try going back to high school and finishing and then come back and look at the facts as a ‘Graduate’.
h.