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[Lime]

Dan Cohen made this 7 minute compilation of some of the inane statements that Bill Maher has made and the people he agrees with. Why do people consider him a progressive again?

I see that many people, mostly liberals, listen to Bill Maher and consider him a valid and progressive voice, yet to me he comes across as a thickheaded buffoon with some incredibly harmful opinions. He complains about so-called political correctness, he supports the Zionist regime in Israel, and his track record in regards to Muslims is incredibly toxic - honestly, I see little difference between people like Steve Bannon and Bill Maher when it comes to their view on "Muslims" and the whole "the West vs Islam" discourse. So I don't know why anyone who considers themselves progressive or liberal would want to respect the guy when he clearly is more similar to an old disgruntled conservative.

According to Maher, “Islam is the motherlode of bad ideas,” the Quran is a “hate-filled holy book” and “the Islamization of Europe” is underway.

“Their cultures are not like ours,” Maher said, justifying the exclusion of Syrian refugees from the West. “They [are] worse!” he said of Muslims, branding Islam as “the only religion that acts like the Mafia.” Maher claims Muslims “bring that desert stuff” to the West, and that “if Muslim men could get laid more, we wouldn’t have this problem.”

“Talk to women who have ever dated an Arab man,” Maher insists. “The reviews are not good.” In Maher’s mind, moderate Muslims don’t exist. As the Iraqi army fights to retake cities controlled by the Islamic State, Maher denies that Muslims are battling ISIS. “Hundreds of millions of [Muslims]” support terror, according to Maher. “Most Muslim people in the world do condone violence,” he claims.

Ironically, Maher is a top supporter of Israel’s violence against occupied Palestinians, particularly in the besieged Gaza Strip. He has personally offered himself as an asset to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. “I love Israel, but you know, if you f**k with them, they will blow the f**k out of you,” Maher declared. Maher has handpicked guests who amplify his toxic views of Muslims, including his longtime friend Ann Coulter, who has taunted Muslim American students, “Take a camel!” and once exclaimed, “Raghead talks tough, raghead pays the price.”

Maher marketed his hosting of Milo Yiannopoulos, the most prominent face of the neo-Nazi “alt-right,” as a defense of the free exchange of ideas. But when Yiannopoulos appeared on stage with Maher, the exchange quickly turned into what the Washington Post described as a "bromance." In the era of Trump, when Islamophobia is being transformed into government policy, Cohen’s shocking video compilation raises an important question: How much longer will we continue to tolerate Islamophobes like Maher, who have built their careers on naked bigotry? —Max Blumenthal, senior editor, AlterNet's Grayzone Project

http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-pr...ageous-statements-about-islam-and-muslims-are

 

[Gattsu25]

Watching now


Also


Cross-Quoting from another thread:

Here's Maher making comments about pedophilia that seem... a little familiar

 

[WedgeX]

I don't listen to him. So there's that.

edit:

Max Brook's parody of him in World War Z was dead on.

 

[Rumblebones]

Maher is a stain.

 

[fantomena]

Cause I find him funny and agreed with him in a lot of things.

¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[RinsFury]

Fuck Bill Maher.

 

[Lkr]

Why do people listen to Howard Stern?

 

[Mr. Giggles]

I think he's a cunt.

I think the atheist niche of liberals like him primarily for his militant stance against Islam.

 

[RangerX]

I find the man absolutely insufferable and think he does harm to muslim relations. He parrots a lot of what Sam Harris says.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

because bigotry exists also among people who are economically left-wing

 

[Count Dookkake]

Maybe he is a bad guy.

How might we quantify the harm he has inflicted so that we can compare it to that of those he criticizes?

 

[Morat]

He's like a far less intelligent version of Christopher Hitchens. Even when Hitchens was wrong about something, you could bet he would have an excellently written argument for it.

 

[Killa Sasa]

I'm glad people are seeing this world class wang for who he really is.

 

[iMax]

Maher uses his anti-Islamic rhetoric as ammunition toward religion in general, which is the overall area he has a real problem with. The problem is that all of his reasoning is mistaking observed cultural traits for the religion as a whole.

 

[Bit-Bit]

Liberals are really turning on Maher this week.

Listen, his comments on Islam are inflammatory and inarticulate but there are truths in them. Maher also has the same comments about Christianity. But I guess Christians don't need defending since they can actually reform and coexist with Western philosophy of free speech and women's rights.

 

[Gutek]

He's right on religion. Religion needs to die.

 

[The Kree]

Because not everything he says is wrong and we're not all aware of every single wrong thing he's ever said.

 

[Loudninja]

I never liked him, what is int he OP is the major reason why.

 

[JeffGrubb]

The guilt by association with Milo and Coulter sucks. That hurts the whole video.

But almost everything a Maher says in this clip is just criticism of the religion. And it weirds me out when liberals characterize criticism as illiberal. Especially when the target is religion, the defense mechanism of the patriarchy.

 

[hidys]

This might be a good thread to bring up that Bill Maher defends pedophilia along similar lines to Milo...

I have a feeling Bill might get into some trouble in the next few days.

 

[SlimySnake]

lol that video is brutal. guy is a total nutjob.

This might be a good thread to bring up that Bill Maher defends pedophilia along similar lines to Milo...

I have a feeling Bill might get into some trouble in the next few days.

OMG.

 

[MetalGearZed]

Will watch later. I like Real Time. His opening monologues are funny an New Rules almost always has and interesting point.

 

[Jangowuzhere]

Isn't he also anti vaccinations?

That's what stopped me from ever taking him seriously.

 

[Enduin]

I stopped watching him a few years ago. He's just not a good person and refuses to re-examine a ton of really troubling and outright terrible views he has. Hearing about shit like the Milo episode just makes me hate him even more.

 

[Alpende]

He's right on religion. Religion needs to die.

It doesn't have to die, it has to be reformed.

 

[Dalek]

I used to watch his show but he really started to get under my skin-and yes he's totally anti-Muslim in any form.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

He's not entirely wrong, but when he is he can still be a real dick about it. He has some bad views on religious people that I can't quite resolve, but I agree with a some of what he says about religions overall.

I don't think he's deserving of the status he has among progressives. He's a solid entertainer at least.

 

[Loudninja]

Liberals are really turning on Maher this week.

Listen, his comments on Muslim are inflammatory and inarticulate but there are truths in them. Maher also has the same comments about Christianity. But I guess Christians don't need defending since they can actually reform and coexist with Western philosophy of free speech and women's rights.

This makes no sense at all :/

 

[RustyNails]

That's a brutal takedown. The quick cuts with Ann Coulter's knees was hilarious.

 

[The Technomancer]

The guilt by association with Milo and Coulter sucks. That hurts the whole video.

But almost everything a Maher says in this clip is just criticism of the religion. And it weirds me out when liberals characterize criticism as illiberal. Especially when the target is religion, the defense mechanism of the patriarchy.

I mean

Maher claims Muslims “bring that desert stuff” to the West, and that “if Muslim men could get laid more, we wouldn’t have this problem.”

 

[Owzers]

Cause I find him funny and agreed with him in a lot of things.

¯_(&#12484_/¯

He has some well put together new rules closing segments.

 

[fantomena]

It doesn't have to die, it has to be reformed.

Reformed in what way?

 

[onadesertedisland]

He's like a far less intelligent version of Christopher Hitchens. Even when Hitchens was wrong about something, you could bet he would have an excellently written argument for it.

I think applauding his writing abilities is a bad excuse for Hitchens' shitty opinions on some things. Hitchens' arrogance and bigotry fueled fear for example.

 

[crooked spin]

Is Islam the only religion he's against? Sorry, not very familiar with this show.

 

[RustyNails]

Liberals are really turning on Maher this week.

Listen, his comments on Islam are inflammatory and inarticulate but there are truths in them. Maher also has the same comments about Christianity. But I guess Christians don't need defending since they can actually reform and coexist with Western philosophy of free speech and women's rights.

Does he also go ALALALALALA when talking about Christianity, like he does in the video?

 

[The Technomancer]

Is Islam the only religion he's against? Sorry, not very familiar with this show.

No but its the one he seems to go off on the most

 

[Toxi]

 

[commedieu]

Maher uses his anti-Islamic rhetoric as ammunition toward religion in general, which is the overall area he has a real problem with. The problem is that all of his reasoning is mistaking observed cultural traits for the religion as a whole.

He has a special venom I'm his heart for islam, the things he says ignore that it's a minority of extremists. He takes a cutie shot at catholicism every now and then, but he has military grade anger and intolerance with islam. As if it's just a terrorist manual.

I checked out years ago due to this, and I was a fan. But it kept coming up. He gets disgusting when he speaks about islam and muslims. You can see the hate in his heart.

 

[Jimmyfenix]

This might be a good thread to bring up that Bill Maher defends pedophilia along similar lines to Milo...

I have a feeling Bill might get into some trouble in the next few days.

oh dear

 

[antibolo]

Maher has always been very outspoken about religion, Islam just happens to be the popular subject at the moment.

 

[Slayven]

People need to stop thinking of The Mahrs, Stewarts, Bees, etc as Political Batmen here to save you. They are first and foremost entertainers, don't give them anymore or any less weight or power than they deserve

Putting the wrong people on a pedestal always been kinda of a liberal failing

 

[NandoGip]

I've been listening to him for a while, it seems like he's slowly gone from a refreshing voice on the left to a jaded old man moving towards the right without even knowing it.

 

[Lkr]

Is Islam the only religion he's against? Sorry, not very familiar with this show.

No, he's vehemently against all religion. He made fun of Milo for being catholic and belittled some Georgia senator for believing in Noah's Ark last Friday. He's not just anti Islam

Also y'all do realize Maher is just an entertainer/comedian right? Why are you taking anything he says to heart?

 

[Caelus]

LOL, what a mess.

 

[ISOM]

People need to stop thinking of The Mahrs, Stewarts, Bees, etc as Political Batmen here to save you. They are first and foremost entertainers, don't give them anymore or any less weight or power than they deserve

Putting the wrong people on a pedestal always been kinda of a liberal failing

Absolutely right. But I think putting the wrong people on a pedestal is more of a human failing than a liberal failing. Just look a Trump voters.

 

[broncobuster]

Video focused too much on his religion hatred and not his other bigoted views.

 

[Scarecrow]

I mean, he made a movie about what he sees as the dangers of religion. It's been his thing for a while.

 

[Slayven]

I've been listening to him for a while, it seems like he's slowly gone from a refreshing voice on the left to a jaded old man moving towards the right without even knowing it.

Him and Dennis Miller are mirror images. Just that Miller if farther down the timeline

 

[The Technomancer]

But yes after this latest escapade I'm fine ignoring anything he says or does from now on

 

[benicillin]

Maher is an average Reddit comment section given sentient life. Pompous, arrogant, uninformed or misinformed about a lot of things but somehow considered intellectual and 'biting'. He's your average white privileged bigoted pseudo-intellectual who lacks the ability to empathize with anyone outside his own demographic and spends his decades railing against a "PC" culture that won't let him spew his garbage without criticism.

Basically he's perfect for the Internet and that's why he's popular.